Apple's Vision Pro headset is going to finally go on sale on February 2 which means that we'll finally start to get more answers to all of those questions we've been saving up since it was announced in June 2023. But one of those questions — what will all of the Vision Pro's first-party apps look like? — has now been answered. And it turns out they'll all look pretty much exactly what you'd expect them to look like.
In a series of posts on the Mastodon social network we're given a good look at what are sure to be some of the most-used apps on the visionOS platform, Those include Apple Music, Photos, Messages, and more and you won't need to buy a headset or even install the visionOS simulator to take a look.
The promise of so-called Spatial Computing is a big one for Apple and a lot of the Vision Pro's success is going to rely on how good the apps are. Much of that will surely require great third-party Vision Pro apps, but the default Apple ones that come preinstalled on every headset are going to go a long way toward setting the tone for users and developers alike. And that's why these preinstalled apps are so important.
All about the apps
Developer Steve Troughon-Smith has been posting tidbits about the Vision Pro headset and apps that will be included including those from third-party developers. But in the case of first-party options, there are plenty to take a look at. That starts with Apple Music with the Vision Pro app offering song lyrics where available as well as large videos and album art to make albums and playlists look as great as possible.
Another example of an app that people will likely be using plenty, especially if they intend to use the Vision Pro headset for work, is Mail. The screenshots show a multi-column view with transparency that we hope will look better in use. The screenshots make it seem like it could be difficult to read the message previews, but this could be one example where the added depth of the Vision Pro experience could make a big difference to the experience.
The Notes app appears to be very similar in layout to Mail and we can imagine this being a great way to plan vacations and more with rich text and media. But the best-looking app is undoubtedly Photos. While Apple's example images go some way to helping here, we can imagine that having your photos appear so big on-screen will be a great way to relive memories.
Other great examples include Messages and the Freeform visionOS app with the latter potentially coming into its own with such a large canvas for Vision Pro users to work on.
You can see the full collection of screenshots in the Mastodon thread posted by Troughton-Smith including Mindfulness, Tips, and more.
The Vision Pro headset is now available for preorder with prices starting from $3,499 for the 256GB model. Models with 512GB and 1TB of storage are also available for people who feel they need a little extra room to breathe, while a cheaper Vision Pro is also thought to be in the works. That isn't expected to be ready for release for some time, however. If you want to try Spatial Computing, for now at least, it'll cost you $3,499 unless you can find a used Vision Pro at a later date.
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