Juno, the popular app that brought YouTube videos to Apple’s Vision Pro, is shutting down, its developer announced on Tuesday. As YouTube had not launched its own app for Vision Pro, Juno filled an important hole in the app ecosystem, by allowing users watch videos in the immersive environment and interact with the player using gestures to do things like resize windows and or scrub through a video.
Built by indie developer Christian Selig, best known for his now-shuttered Apollo app for Reddit, Juno launched shortly after the Vision Pro’s arrival in February 2024. The app helped Selig become more familiar with developing for Apple’s latest platform, while giving users something fun to do on the device which launched without a wide selection of apps designed specifically for the headset instead of just being made compatible.
However, Selig says that Google was not receptive to the idea of a third-party app for YouTube viewing. The company reached out to the developer and then later to Apple itself, claiming that Juno didn’t adhere to YouTube guidelines and modified its website in a way they “don’t approve of,” Selig explains in a blog post. The company referenced its trademarks and iconography in its complaint, and Apple responded by removing the app from the App Store.
Selig argues the move was unnecessary. He says Juno is just a web view of YouTube and only modifies the site and player to look more “visionOS-like.” And it doesn’t block YouTube’s ads.
Unfortunately for Vision Pro users, Selig says he won’t be fighting the decision, given that Juno was more of a “fun hobby project.” Instead, he’ll continue to focus on his iOS app Pixel Pals, which evolved out of an Apollo app feature.
For those who already have Juno installed on their headsets, the app should continue to work for now, unless YouTube makes changes that cause it to break.
“Sorry it had to end this way, I had some really cool stuff planned for it that I think would have been a lot of fun,” Selig shared in a blog post about the app’s shutdown. “It’s been genuinely awesome hearing all the kind words from Vision Pro users who have loved the app,” he added.
