Apple Vision Pro will launch with 600 apps made for it

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, said in a tweet that there are more than 600 apps debuting tomorrow for the Apple Vision Pro.

The mixed reality headset from Apple goes on sale on Friday for $3,500. Estimates suggest the production of the units is in the low hundreds of thousands of units, which is small for a new Apple product but not surprising considering the price and likely production challenges.

“When Apple Vision Pro launches tomorrow, users will be able to explore more than one million apps, including 600 apps made specifically for Vision Pro! The creativity of developers is amazing, and this is just the beginning. Endless possibilities await!” Cook tweeted.

Unity launched its game engine support for the Apple Vision Pro this week, enabling developers to more easily create apps for the platform.

Reviews are coming in from a select group of publications that received products from Apple. They’re positive when it comes to the visual quality of the device, which has M2 and R1 processors, 4K OLED displays, good eye tracking and 3D spatial video. The field of view is slightly less than the Meta Quest 3’s 110 degrees. The tech gets rid of the “screendoor effect” visible in most VR headsets.

The reviewers like Todd Hazelton at CNBC said the ability to see and use multiple screens at once within the headset. You could watch four sports events at once, as an example. Joanna Stern at the Wall Street Journal noted she started getting real work done when she paired the Vision Pro with a mouse and keyboard via Bluetooth. The virtual keyboard isn’t easy enough to use.

And while Apple says you can wear it all day long, a team of Stanford researchers led by Jeremy Bailenson suggested that more study be done about the effects of mixed reality headset use before people start doing that.

For some reason big apps like YouTube and Netflix aren’t available yet. The battery life is only two hours to 2.5 hours, and the tethered cable that leads to the battery in your pocket can get in your way, said Mark Spoonauer of Tom’s Hardware.

Gamers may have to wait for more interesting titles to come, though some are available now, like Lego Builder’s Journey. There are no game controllers for the Apple Vision Pro, as the input system is based on both eye and finger control.

You can use Excel spreadsheets and other Microsoft productivity software across multiple screens. You can also use Webex and Slack. You have to think about tradeoffs like messing up your hair every time you put it on and face pressure, wrote Nilay Pitel at the Verge. That will make you think twice about wearing it all day and every day.

It is a little disturbing to think that 600 apps are arriving for a platform that right now might have 200,000 units available in the market. I’m hoping no one is really counting on this platform to generate a lot of software revenue right now. But we’ll see how those changes over time. Apple is reporting earnings today and we’ll see if there are any new details to report.