After more than two years without a native presence on Apple’s Vision Pro headset, Google has officially launched an official YouTube app for VisionOS, delivering a full YouTube experience purpose-built for Apple’s mixed reality platform. The new app hits the visionOS App Store as of Thursday, enabling users to watch the complete spectrum of YouTube content including standard videos, YouTube Shorts, 3D, 360-degree and VR180-format videos in an immersive environment.
The arrival of a native app fills a long-standing gap in the Vision Pro ecosystem. When the headset debuted in early 2024, services such as YouTube, Netflix and Spotify declined to ship dedicated visionOS versions, instead leaving users to access content through the Safari web browser. This approach limited functionality, lacking features like optimized playback controls and offline viewing.
The new YouTube app caters directly to the immersive characteristics of visionOS, displaying video on a “theater-sized” screen and adapting to spatial content formats that take advantage of the headset’s multidimensional capabilities. On Vision Pro models powered by the newer M5 chip, the app even supports 8K video playback, elevating both clarity and presence in virtual environments.
Additionally, the official release includes a dedicated Spatial tab that surfaces immersive content such as 3D and 360-degree videos, giving users a centralized place to discover formats that make sense in a mixed reality context. Users can also sign in to access subscriptions, playlists, history, and personalized recommendations, features previously handled only through less-capable browser workarounds or removed third-party apps.
Third-party apps like Juno and Tubular Pro once tried to fill the Vision Pro YouTube gap but were eventually removed for violating YouTube’s terms. With Google now stepping in directly, Vision Pro owners finally have an optimized way to experience YouTube content natively, from everyday videos to rich spatial formats that showcase the unique strengths of visionOS.
The app is now available in the visionOS App Store and is compatible with both the M2 and M5 chip models.
