Netflix snubs Apple’s Vision Pro headset, won’t release dedicated app

Photo: Apple

Netflix won’t have a dedicated app for Apple’s Vision Pro headset, Bloomberg reports. The streaming giant has no plans to launch an app for the headset or make its iPad app compatible with it. This means users will have to watch Netflix in a web browser, reducing the immersion and quality of the movies or TV shows. It will also prevent offline viewing and limit the resolution, as Netflix’s web app depends on the browser.

Netflix has an app for Meta’s Quest headsets, but it is outdated. “Netflix can be enjoyed on the web browser on the Vision Pro, like on Macs,” Netflix spokesperson Kumiko Hidaka told The Verge. 

Netflix was missing from Apple’s announcement that the Vision Pro will have 3D movies and experiences from Disney Plus and Apple TV. Daring Fireball's John Gruber says Netflix has a version of its iPad app available for Vision Pro that's supposedly working "just fine," but they don't plan to release it.

Gruber says, "A little birdie informed me that until this week, the Netflix iPad app was available for those with access to Vision Pro hardware, and it worked just fine. This birdie still has the Netflix iPad app installed on their Vision Pro. Perhaps people at Netflix would disagree with just how well it worked — I don’t know — but I get the strong impression that the decision was political/strategic/spiteful, not technical."

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