(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Soon after the release of the Apple Vision Pro headset, Google confirmed plans to introduce a native YouTube app. That’s finally here, after a two-year delay from the brand, meaning you no longer have to watch through a web browser.
The new app lets you watch any type of YouTube video, including 3D, 360-degree, and VR180 content. You can also watch Shorts, although they won't look as immersive.
Standard YouTube features, such as your watch history, subscriptions, playlists, and more, are available through the headset. Each standard video can also be watched in Apple’s visionOS environments.
Those with the latest Vision Pro M5 headset can also watch 8K footage on YouTube, though content at that resolution is rare on the platform. There's a reason 8K TVs aren't doing well right now: it's partly down to a lack of content to watch.
The YouTube app is now available to download from the Apple App Store.
Google wouldn’t confirm support for any visionOS apps until the headset's launch in February 2024, when it first said a version of YouTube was on its roadmap for a future release. It’s not clear why YouTube chose to release this version now, but it may be to tie in with the headset's two-year anniversary.
YouTube pointed users toward using Safari to watch videos when the headset first launched, while third-party developers built unofficial apps to watch without using a web browser.
Christian Selig, the developer behind Apollo for Reddit, built an app called Juno for watching YouTube, which launched soon after the headset first hit shelves. Juno was then removed by Apple in late 2024 after Google said it “violated” its API and trademarks.