Apple CEO Tim Cook (L) takes a selfie with a greets customers on arrival for the release of the Vision Pro headset at the Apple Store in New York City on February 2, 2024.
When Apple revealed the Vision Pro in 2023, it called the $3,500 headset its next "major platform." Two years later, and a year after going on sale, the device is thin on apps.
Apple doesn't regularly release stats on the number of Vision Pro apps that are available, and it's hard to tell how many new apps come out in any given month. According to consultancy AppFigures, which tracks Apple's platforms, the number of new Vision Pro apps has declined every month since the device hit the market in February 2024.
When Apple unveiled the Vision Pro, executives said that developers would be able to create new experiences that weren't possible with traditional computers. But so far, top developers remain mostly focused elsewhere, and major tech companies like Google , Meta and Netflix have yet to release their most important apps for the headset.
Many of the new apps and ideas for the Vision Pro are coming from independent developers, hacking on the weekends while holding down day jobs.
One person in the indie camp is Adam Roszyk, a programmer in Poland who has created 17 Vision Pro apps since the headset was first released.
For $4, Roszyk's Night Vision app lets a Vision Pro user tap the depth-sensing cameras of the device to see objects in the dark. If you spend $5, you can perform a chore in a Luigi's Mansion-like video game using the app Vacuume, which overlays virtual coins on your floor that you can vacuum up, along with any real dirt or dust. And for $6, Roszyk's app Scan Export lets users create a 3D digital scan of an entire building just by walking around, a useful tool for those in construction or real estate.
"We are still early, and we don't really know how it can be really useful in your life," Roszyk said. "There's so many different ideas that just come to your mind."
Roszyk continues to work on Vision Pro apps because he said he believes "spatial computing" — Apple's preferred terminology for headset and glasses technology that can integrate 3D objects with the world around them — will be the next big platform. Roszyk is betting that developing apps now can put him in prime position when more people are walking around with a Vision Pro or, perhaps some day, lightweight glasses.
"This type of computing is the future," Roszyk said. "I would definitely compare it to the first iPhones."
Roszyk's efforts have made him money, but not enough for Vision Pro development to become his full-time job. His 17 apps have cleared about $4,000 on the App Store in the last three months. That number is growing as he releases more apps and more people find out about them, Roszyk said.
Apple updated its most recent Vision Pro app count in August, with CEO Tim Cook telling investors on an earnings call that the platform had 2,500 apps. That number covers fully immersive apps that overlay virtual objects over the real world as well as 2D apps with some spatial components.
By AppFigures' count, less than 1,900 of these apps remained active at the end of January.
Apple declined to comment.