YouTube client for Vision Pro: Juno with 360-degree videos and more
Alphabet still does not offer an official YouTube app for the Vision Pro. Dev Christian Selig is happy to step in – and has further improved his Juno app.
Juno 2: Overview of the new functions.
(Image: Christian Selig)
The Vision Pro still lacks some popular apps in the entertainment segment. Despite announcements to this effect, Alphabet has still not released an official YouTube client. Meanwhile, manufacturer Apple has also recognized the problem and will improve video playback in the Safari browser with visionOS 2, which is also helpful for Netflix users who have to make do without their own app. If you don't want to be dependent on using Safari, you can also use an app from indie developer Christian Selig for YouTube. This has now been significantly improved once again and has been released in version 2.
Videos with 180 and 360 degrees
Juno 2 comes with an improved interface that has been adapted more closely to the Vision Pro style. There is a new tab bar that allows you to jump between areas more quickly. The app now plays 180 and 360-degree YouTube videos in immersive mode for the first time. As YouTube is one of the largest providers of such films, this opens up a large content repertoire.
Using the Metal engine and AI, films in Juno 2 can be upscaled to up to 6K, which should make playback on the high-resolution Vision Pro displays sharper. However, according to Selig, 8K is probably not possible due to the lack of an AV1 hardware decoder in the Vision Pro's M2 SoC. Other new features include synchronization of the playback history, control via Siri, support for endcard links, streams and live videos and an optimized search function.
Tricky approach
Selig had to overcome a few hurdles during the development of Juno 2. Since Alphabet does not provide direct access to the videos, the developer uses the YouTube website. "Juno essentially takes a series of quick snapshots of the web browser and stitches them together into a video feed, running each frame through Apple's MetalFX machine learning upscaling engine and then projecting it onto a 3D Sphere that surrounds the user." This is possible because the Vision Pro has such fast graphics cores. The maximum refresh rate is 30 fps.
Juno 2 is available in the visionOS App Store. The app costs just under 5 US dollars and does not require users to subscribe. Alphabet has not yet provided any information on when the official YouTube client for the Vision Pro will be available.
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