The Best Vision Pro Apps (So Far)
What’s a face computer good for? Gazing at the night sky, doing puzzles and re-appreciating ‘Avatar: Way of Water.’
The anticipation that surrounded Apple’s Vision Pro, the multitrillion-dollar company’s nearly $4,000 virtual reality headset, sure made some die-hards go to substantial lengths to lay their hands on one. Tina Debove Nigro, for instance, flew from Paris to Boston via Reykjavík, Iceland, to acquire the device as soon as humanly possible two weeks ago. “It was another $1,000 for the flight and the Airbnb” in Beantown, said the 27-year-old software engineer. “Not that much.” And in her mind, totally worth it.
Since the Vision Pro’s debut, the buzz around it has grown loud enough to blow out a pair of AirPods. That fanfare has included a Vanity Fair cover with a begoggled Tim Cook, as well as viral videos galore, like this one with singer T-Pain. Consumer conversation has increased alongside the hype, and the device has quickly turned into a luxury status symbol—a Birkin bag for the software set. But very few people have actually used a Vision Pro, much less own it (compared to, say, the new iPhone). As a consequence, a sense of mystery hangs over the product: What’s a face computer actually good for?
I thought a list of the best Vision Pro apps currently available might offer a concrete answer. So I went for a Vision Pro demo at the Prince Street Apple Store in New York, and then spoke with a dozen early users and app developers, who generally all brought up the same half-dozen or so apps. (That's out of about 600 Vision Pro apps Apple has boasted are ready now.) In the end, the most intriguing ones generally fell into a few categories: video, photos, games and infotainment. They speak volumes about the headset’s strengths and weaknesses and offer some clarity on whether you should buy into the hype.
