Source: Apple.

We’re excited about the Apple Vision Pro. In planning our coverage at MacStories, we’ve already collected a list of over 50 apps from some of our favorite developers who have been hard at work on visionOS versions of their apps. Soon after the Vision Pro ships, you’ll start seeing reviews of the best of those apps on MacStories.

However, as we surveyed the App Store, looking for the best examples of upcoming Vision Pro apps and heard the news that Netflix won’t be building a visionOS app or making its iPad app available on the new device, it got us thinking. What other popular apps aren’t coming to visionOS yet, and of those that are, which have gone to the trouble of creating native experiences?

You see, iPhone and iPad apps are compatible with Apple Vision Pro and made available to its users by default. Developers have to affirmatively opt-out, using App Store Connect if they don’t want their apps to show up in the device’s App Store.

It’s possible to check visionOS compatibility with Shortcuts.

As it turns out, it’s possible to tell if a developer has opted out by using App Store API endpoints. So, with a little help, we built a shortcut to check some of the most popular apps on the App Store. We had heard through the grapevine that Spotify was showing that it would be available in compatibility mode several days ago but had flipped to unavailable on the Vision Pro, and sure enough, our shortcut confirms Spotify has opted out of offering its app on day one. Also, in testing the shortcut and fact-checking its results, we came across a Gist on GitHub that was last active last week and uses a similar approach to our shortcut but by using a Python script, which lends support to our findings.

Before we get to our findings below, a word of caution. An opted-out app may become available in the future. A good example is Disney+, which was demoed by Apple to members of the press earlier this week. Disney’s app currently shows that the company has opted out of Vision Pro compatibility. Instead of indicating that Disney is taking a pass on the device, this is most likely because the app isn’t ready yet, and an app update will flip the switch to make it Vision Pro-compatible.

Sports seem like a natural fit with the Vision Pro, but so far, the list of compatible apps is a little thin.

So, as you browse the results below, keep in mind the following:

• Apps that indicate there’s a native version available means you can count on that app being available on Vision Pro launch day unless the developer withdraws it from sale in the interim
• Apps that are available in compatibility mode may or may not be available on launch day because a developer can always withdraw an app in App Store Connect
• Apps that are not available in compatibility mode or as a native app have been manually opted out by the developer and won’t be available on launch day unless they opt back in between now and February 2nd

All that said, it’s worth keeping in mind that it’s likely that many popular apps won’t be available when customers start receiving their Vision Pros. They may become available later, but there’s no guarantee that will be the case.

What we found when we searched 46 of the most popular apps on the App Store is that as of today, none will be available on launch day as native apps, and just over one-third will be available in compatibility mode. Again, those numbers can change, but we’re only 15 days out from launch, so it’s hard to see those numbers swinging significantly. Here are the full results of our research:

Finally, we checked a bunch of Apple apps that are available on the App Store and discovered several that haven’t been mentioned by Apple that may be available in compatibility mode on the Vision Pro, including:

• Shortcuts
• Reminders
• Numbers
• Pages
• Home
• Maps
• Books
• News
• Podcasts
• Apple Music Classical
• Shazam
• Stocks

It’s not entirely clear if the list above will be available on the Vision Pro in compatibility mode or not because many of these apps are App Store listings that are effectively placeholders to deal with the circumstance where users delete an app and want to reinstall it later. Those App Store listings are fundamentally different than third-party apps, and as a result, we are unable to confirm whether they will in fact be compatible with Vision Pro.

So, where does that leave you if you’re considering ordering an Apple Vision Pro tomorrow? I think it’s fair to say that you’ll be able to do quite a lot with the built-in native apps Apple offers supplemented by its apps that will run in compatibility mode. Beyond that, big-name apps are likely to be hit-or-miss affairs at launch, with some running in compatibility mode and, aside from those already announced by Apple, very few running natively. That’s a little disappointing, but this is a new platform that will have few users at first, so it’s also understandable that many companies are playing ‘wait-and-see.’

However, what I expect you’ll also see at launch is a significant number of high-quality apps from indie developers. We haven’t had a chance to test those apps yet, but we’ve been talking to developers for weeks and like what we’ve seen a lot. We’ll have lots of coverage of those apps in the coming weeks.