YouTube gets Apple Vision Pro app Juno kicked from App Store

By 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.

YouTube doesn't offer a client for Apple Vision Pro

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.