Apple Vision Pro AR headset—how brands are using the new device

As Apple prepares to launch its mixed reality headset, Vision Pro, on Feb. 2, brands are readying apps that will anchor their presence on the immersive and highly anticipated device. Disney will offer 3D versions of dozens of movies inside its Disney+ headset app, as well as four custom iterations of the device’s new Environments feature, which blends content with a user’s physical space. Other streaming and video companies, including TikTok, Paramount and Amazon Prime Video, will offer apps on Vision Pro when it debuts, though many of these may not be as futuristic as one might expect. Other popular apps on iPhone and iPad, including YouTube and Spotify, won’t be there at all. While Vision Pro is, at this point, mainly targeted at developers over consumers, these early applications could be an important test for brands as they gauge what’s possible in immersive technologies. That Apple, which boasts an unrivaled track record when it comes to consumer electronics, is the provider of this particular device lends more momentum—and pressure—to brands getting their experiences right. “This is a gateway drug into what the future could look like, and brands can tap in,” said Dan Burgar, co-founder and CEO of Frontier Collective, a coalition focused on next-gen technologies like augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR). Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Streamers represent the bulk of this first round of brands on Vision Pro, largely because of Apple’s emphasis that the device is for entertainment. (Apple itself is making its movies and TV shows a major part of the launch.) In addition to giants like Paramount and Amazon Prime Video, smaller companies including Fubo, a sports-focused service, and Mubi, which produces world cinema, will show up on the device, Apple announced. Notably, Netflix has chosen not to appear on Vision Pro, per Bloomberg. While currently leaning into entertainment, Apple demonstrated how Vision Pro could be used for categories like productivity and gaming during its WWDC conference last June. A hypothetical app for Ikea, created by an unaffiliated designer named Yanosh Govoshi and posted by Burgar, shows how shopping could soon be augmented through the Vision Pro headset. The video illustrates a screen superimposed on a user’s physical background, and a bowl being selected and placed in that setting. Ikea did not respond to a request for comment. Brands officially and unofficially developing headset apps will have to contend with serious impediments to adoption. Not only does the Vision Pro cost $3,500—more than fivefold the price of Meta’s Quest 3 headset—but consumer interest in immersive technology is also far from established. Hence insiders are calling Vision Pro Apple’s riskiest bet since the iPhone. Apple declined a request for comment for this story. The company released a “Making Apple Vision Pro” video on Jan. 19. Look back: Meta’s Quest 3 push includes Halloween billboards A mixed bag of mixed reality The Disney+ app is the clearest indication of what’s possible for brands on Vision Pro. 3D functionality for dozens of movies leverages the headset’s immersive environment. Disney used a special kind of video coding to integrate the high-quality resolution and frame rate that Apple has enabled within the headset—more pixels, per eye, than a 4K TV. So-called Environments allow a user to customize the background upon which their Vision Pro display appears. While visionOS, the headset’s operating system, will have a series of backgrounds designed by Apple, brands can also build Environments and populate them with Easter eggs for fans. Disney will offer four such designs—three of which are themed to settings from popular movie franchises like “Star Wars” and “The Avengers,” and the other a representation of the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. Disney declined a request for comment for this story. Similar to Disney, Paramount is developing a visionOS-native app that will focus on blending content in immersive settings, according to a person familiar with the matter. But since this project isn’t slated to roll out until the end of the first quarter, Paramount will enable its iPad app to run on the headset when it hits stores on Feb. 2. This “compatibility mode” applies automatically to most iPhone and iPad apps—a move by Apple to ensure that there are over 1 million applications ready to be used on the headsets when they become available. The mode also allows app developers to get in on the action without having to modify their existing applications. For example, retail apps available on iPhone, such as those from Urban Outfitters and Sephora, should be accessible inside Vision Pro, allowing users to shop in mixed reality—as long as the brands did not opt out of compatibility. Neither Urban Outfitters nor Sephora responded to requests for comment. But while perhaps more convenient for developers, compatibility could also mean less immersiveness, said Rolf Illenberger, founder and managing director of software platform VRdirect. Few novel features, beyond superimposing a screen on a physical background, will be available for apps that haven’t created a visionOS-native version. Of course, more developers will create Vision Pro applications over time, but upon launch, merely Disney and a few others will offer an immersive, custom-built experience. 3D movies will be offered by several streaming apps starting Feb. 2, according to Apple. Burgar also views compatible-only apps as a disservice to the capabilities afforded by Vision Pro. “If [the app] just looks like a screen on your phone, people aren’t going to care about that,” he said. Even some of those that Apple specifically announced as appearing on Vision Pro could show up with compatible-only applications. The ESPN app, for instance, does not incorporate any custom Environments, an ESPN spokesperson told Ad Age. Amazon Prime Video, Fubo and the MLB declined to provide comments for this story. Also read: Behind ESPN’s giant college football championship ring How TikTok, the only social media company named by Apple, will appear on Vision Pro is unclear. Illenberger expects the app to leverage from the start as many of the headset’s immersive capabilities as possible. But App Store API code is showing no such app, according to research conducted by the publication MacStories. Interestingly, the publication’s methodology indicates that TikTok may not offer its app in compatibility mode either. This seems unlikely to be true given that Apple named the social media company as a definite presence on the headset. TikTok did not respond to a request for clarification on how it will show up on the device. Social media news: The top 5 TikTok trends of 2023 More brands to come While streamers dominate this first wave of brands on Vision Pro, expect non-streamers to eventually enter the fold. Burgar sees retail and cosmetics as two categories particularly primed for the kinds of experiences offered through Apple’s device. “Being able to see [an item] in your own living room is where you’ll recognize the power in the Vision Pro headset,” he said, alluding to the Ikea hypothetical he re-posted on LinkedIn. Illenberger said that some of his enterprise clients are looking into developing visionOS-native apps around professional services. Although VRDirect hasn’t yet started building for Vision Pro, other technology platforms are doing so for immediate application. Obsess, which has helped brands offer virtual stores in Roblox and Meta Quest 2, is offering a service specifically for Vision Pro activations, including native apps and web-based experiences that can be accessed via the headset, according to its website. Among the capabilities that the platform claims to be building for brands are 3D product discovery and interaction, virtual stores through the Environments feature and shared shopping experiences via Vision Pro’s updates to FaceTime. Obsess has not publicly disclosed for which brands it is developing apps. The company did not return a request for comment. Blippar, the AR software and creative studio, has been developing marketing activations on headsets since Google Glass, and plans to bring brands into Vision Pro, according to Keith Curtin, Blippar’s chief revenue officer. The firm developed an AR campaign for Snickers during the NFL season, and while the ad was designed for mobile, Blippar now wants to configure it to run on Vision Pro devices in time for the Super Bowl, Curtin said. The marketing effort is experimental, because it’s unclear how many early adopters will even have the Vision Pro, Curtin said. Still, Blippar wants to make it possible to open the ad on the headsets. Although many brands, from Netflix to Spotify to YouTube, are sitting out the launch, they could be taking a “wait and see” approach to determine how content appears on the device, Illenberger said. “The question [they’re asking]: ‘Is the user experience better on the headset than on existing devices?’” he said. Netflix, YouTube and Spotify representatives did not respond to requests for comment. Roblox, which has said it aims to be on every gaming platform, has not announced any plans for a Vision Pro presence. A Roblox spokesperson declined to comment on whether the company is currently developing such an app. Burgar offered another reason some brands are hanging back: VisionOS-native apps could take anywhere between six weeks and six months to develop, with run-up costs of $200,000 up to more than a couple million dollars. Contributing: Garett Sloane Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs

Apple Vision Pro AR headset—how brands are using the new device

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