Apple to Developers: Don't Refer to Your Vision Pro Apps as VR or AR

Don’t expect Apple to call the Vision Pro a virtual reality headset or an augmented reality product. It looks like the company wants everyone to ditch the mainstream terminology when describing its own technology.

On Monday, Apple published the requirements for how developers can submit apps for the headset, which is slated to launch on Feb. 2, and it's telling software makers to drop the VR/AR wording for its own marketing term. 

“Refer to your app as a spatial computing app. Don’t describe your app experience as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), extended reality (XR), or mixed reality (MR),” the company wrote in the guidelines, which 9to5Mac first noticed.  

It's a very Apple-esque request, but the guidelines underscore how Cupertino is trying to differentiate the Vision Pro from other headsets on the market.

In June, Apple CEO Tim Cook introduced the Vision Pro saying “I believe augmented reality is a profound technology.” But since then, Apple’s marketing and product pages for the Vision Pro have avoided using the VR/AR terms in favor of spatial computing. One reason why is probably because Cupertino wants to stand out from Mark Zuckerberg’s effort to build a “metaverse,” using his company’s VR technology. 

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In addition, Apple has said the Vision Pro is more about mixed reality, rather than enclosing the users in a virtual reality space. Hence, the public will probably hear the company chirp about spatial computing for years to come. 

Of course, the other factor setting the Vision Pro apart from the pack is the price. Apple is launching the headset starting at $3,499, far more than other products, including the Meta Quest 3, which starts at $499.