Netflix isn't coming to the Vision Pro because it's 'not relevant,' co-CEO snipes

Apple's Vision Pro headset is going to finally go on sale on February 2 but there is one app that will be notable by its absence. The visionOS App Store is going to be full of apps for people to take for a spin when they receive their new headset, but there is one that you might go looking for and find that you can't download at all. That app is Netflix, with the streaming service having taken the decision not to work on a Vision Pro app to date.

The streamer has also taken the unusual decision not to allow people to download and install the company's iPad app either, something that few others have also chosen to do including Spotify and YouTube. In all three cases, this means that users of those services will have to access them via their websites in Safari or a similar browser instead.

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Netflix's stance came via co-CEO Greg Peters who was speaking in an interview with Stratechery when he confirmed that the company had thought about launching a Vision Pro app but ultimately decided that it wasn't worth its time. Peters said that it was a case of the company needing to use its resources in the right places, adding that the rarity of the Vision Pro headset means that it simply isn't worth the company's time to build an app. Peters even went so far as to say that Apple's Vision Pro is "subscale," meaning that it just isn't worth building an app for.

"Certainly we're always in discussions with Apple to try and figure that out but right now, the device is so subscale that it's not really particularly relevant to most of our members," Peters said. Peters did suggest that Netflix wasn't above launching a new Vision Pro app in the future, but the company doesn't appear to have any plans for that just now.

However, more interesting here is perhaps Netflix's decision not to make its iPad app available instead. Developers can allow their iPad apps to ship on the Vision Pro App Store as a stopgap solution with minimal work - but Netflix has made a decision not to do that. Why, that isn't clear.

The Vision Pro will go on sale on February 2 with prices starting at $3,499 for the 256GB model, while 512GB and 1TB models are also available for people who need extra space. Apple has also started to sell a number of different Vision Pro accessories including new batteries, holsters for those batteries, and travel cases. Most of the accessories are first-party, although the battery holster is made by Belkin.