Wesley Hilliard
Despite a lack of first-party YouTube clients on Apple Vision Pro, YouTube has prompted Apple to remove Juno from the App Store, citing vague guideline violations.
Juno was a third-party YouTube client built for Apple Vision Pro by Cristian Selig of Apollo fame. The app was a basic web view for YouTube that didn't go out of its way to alter content beyond aesthetics to make the app appear visionOS native.
Despite that, YouTube has pushed Apple to remove Juno from the App Store with no clarification or discussion. Selig shared the removal via a blog post.
It isn't clear exactly why YouTube would go after a client that acted almost like a web browser showing YouTube videos. There were no ad blockers or any suggestions in the app that it was official or affiliated with YouTube.
With Juno not being compliant, then there's a question about other YouTube clients built for Apple Vision Pro. Television by Sandwich uses a similar visionOS native browser to find videos on YouTube, then plays them in 3D representations of old TVs.
Third-party clients and browsers are allowed to exist and access YouTube, unless the company is taking a specific stance on browsers built for Apple Vision Pro. Even more odd is that YouTube is among the few apps that don't offer any kind of app for Apple's headset, not even the ported iPad version.
Either YouTube is gearing up to launch its own Apple Vision Pro client, or it saw Juno as some kind of problem for its platform. Either way, Juno is no longer downloadable from the App Store.
Users that still have the app downloaded can use it until it breaks or YouTube specifically blocks it. YouTube can still be accessed from Safari and select third-party apps on Apple Vision Pro.
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Andrew Orr
11 Comments
YouTube - has gotten ridiculous since Google bought them. The commercials make watching videos horrible. Have them up front, not every 10 seconds. And now this? It's laughable they don't have an app on the VP and go after someone that allowed a better experience than watching in a browser. I continue to look for other platforms and only go to You Tube when I have to.
I haven’t been on YouTube for months. What a bliss! Only random
embedded YouTube videos e.g. Appleinsider website etc.
AI said:
It isn't clear exactly why YouTube would go after a client that acted almost like a web browser showing YouTube videos. There were no ad blockers or any suggestions in the app that it was official or affiliated with YouTube.
Wait what? I think it's pretty clear. An app using YT content that doesn't pay tribute to YT. I can't want Andrews videos embedded at AI unless I sign in because I might be a bot?! WTF. This is Google being Google. Greedy bastards who binned their catch phrase 'Don't Be Evil' long ago. But hey baby needs shoes and execs gotta eat.
Captive commercials and that constantly annoying popup for Google TV. No thank you Pain–Google.
This is wrong, for YouTube yes, but especially for apple. Shame on apple.
even if YouTube decides to make an app, competitors are allowed to exist. All it was was a presentation wrapper. Sheesh.