There is an Apple Vision Pro YouTube viewer app, but it isn't from Google

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in Apple Vision Pro

Even as YouTube itself declines to make a native app for Apple's new Apple Vision Pro, a developer has done it for them with Juno.

Juno for YouTube on Apple Vision Pro (Source: Christian Selig)
Juno for YouTube on Apple Vision Pro (Source: Christian Selig)



Google's YouTube is among the streaming apps that will not get official native apps for Apple Vision Pro. Instead, users of YouTube, Spotify, Netflix and more would have to use these services via the Safari browser.

However, independent developer Christian Selig has made Juno, a third-party alternative viewer for YouTube, and it is now available on the Apple Vision Pro App Store.

"YouTube is probably one of the parts of the internet I consume the most, so I was more than a little sad when YouTube announced that they don't have plans to build a visionOS app, and disabled the option to load the iPad app," wrote Selig in a blog post. "This leaves you with Safari, and the website is okay, but definitely doesn't feel like a visionOS app."

Selig was the developer behind the Apollo reader app for Reddit. In 2023, Apollo was forced to close down after Reddit introduced new fees that made it simply too expensive to run a reader app.

"Then I remembered for years my old app, Apollo, played back YouTube videos submitted to Reddit pretty well, and I developed a pretty good understanding of how YouTube worked," he continues. "That sparked the idea to reuse some of Apollo's code there and build a little YouTube client of my own for visionOS, and after a mad week of coding 'Juno for YouTube' is born."

"Does it feel like a perfectly native visionOS app?" he says. "Well, no, but it's a heck of a lot nicer than the website, and to be fair Google apps normally do their own thing rather than use iOS system UI, so not sure we'll ever fully see that."

Juno is available on the Apple Vision Pro App Store for $4.99.



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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    rax_markrax_mark Posts: 37member
    How long before this goes the way of Beeper?
    williamlondon
  • Reply 2 of 8
    omasouomasou Posts: 576member
    I don't want Google to develop an app. The iPhone one is very confusing, at least for me. Seems like Google doesn't have a UI team for any of their products and probably why they keep killing so many.
    jas99dewmechasmAnilu_777watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 8
    jimthedjjimthedj Posts: 2member
    The BIG question is does it support YouTube VR video?   At this point, it looks like there is no way to see a Youtube VR video on the vision pro like you can on the Meta Quest.  I am sure it is a mater of time, but would buy this app in a second if it did that.

    You can already watch regular youtube videos using Safari on the Apple Vision, but NOT VR.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 8
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,308member
    rax_mark said:
    How long before this goes the way of Beeper?
    Very low chance of that. Beeper was doing something unethical, Juno isn’t. There are plenty of alternative YouTube apps around, this is just another one.
    Anilu_777danoxwatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 8
    RespiteRespite Posts: 111member
    rax_mark said:
    How long before this goes the way of Beeper?
    Why would it?  As long as it drives some traffic and doesn't strip out ads YouTube probably won't care.
    edited February 2 Anilu_777
  • Reply 6 of 8
    JamesCudeJamesCude Posts: 41member
    How pathetic for Google that a single person with zero resources beat them to this platform Apple has obviously committed billions to supporting,
    Anilu_777watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 8
    RespiteRespite Posts: 111member
    JamesCude said:
    How pathetic for Google that a single person with zero resources beat them to this platform Apple has obviously committed billions to supporting,
    You can’t be beaten if you’re not racing.
    wonkothesanethtdanoxmuthuk_vanalingamgrandact73
  • Reply 8 of 8
    danoxdanox Posts: 2,875member
    Unlike Beeper he is using a legally available api I understand?, however that doesn't Google likes it...
    watto_cobra
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