Apple#039;s VisionOS Menu System
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Developers have started offering information about how their apps work runs on Apple Vision Pro, and many developers are feeling underwhelmed right now.
Apple's Vision Pro library currently numbers around 600 apps, but it remains to be seen whether any of them are considered killer apps. The $3,500 barrier to entry, combined with the fact that devices are still being shipped to developers, means that any ideas that can be gleaned right now may not be relevant within the next few months.
However, it's worth looking at what worked and what didn't. Immersive Wire's Tom Ffisk reached out to developers to find out why some apps work well and others don't.
Ffiske found that many developers struggle to break the 1,000 downloads mark. Zenitizer, for example, only reached 600 downloads as of February 11th. The Hold On timer app only had six downloads.
One reason for this is that using the Apple Vision Pro App Store is not very intuitive. The developers note that the search function could be better and that the top 10 and lists of popular downloads are difficult to find. And searching outside the headset is also not easy.
Of course, there's also the fact that many buyers may be content to explore the apps that Apple Vision Pro already has rather than seek out new experiences.
Immersive Wire notes that the analytics weren't particularly helpful either. Most developers use App Store Connect for analytics, but the service was not configured correctly for Apple Vision Pro. Glitches meant that developers weren't getting accurate data, making it difficult to measure success.
However, some applications performed noticeably well. Of course, any app that Apple highlights in the Apple Vision Pro video and promotional materials works exceptionally well. For example, JigSpace received 14,000 installs in the first week of the device's launch.
If you can't get promoted directly from Apple, Immersive Wire points out that it's better to have your own niche. News Ticker, the highest paid news app on Apple Vision Pro, is downloaded more than 300 times daily.
Solving existing problems is another great way to get downloads. While YouTube has backtracked on its claim that it wouldn't release an app for Apple's Vision Pro, that wasn't always the case.
So when Christian Selig created Juno, a YouTube player for the Apple Vision Pro, he was an immediate success.
However, this is just the beginning of the game, and what is good today may not be successful next week. Ultimately, Apple Vision Pro — and the App Store ecosystem that has arisen around it — will only reach a steady state over time.
