Juno, the YouTube app for Vision Pro, has been removed from the App Store

Juno, the popular app that brought YouTube videos to Apple's Vision Pro, is being discontinued, the developer announced Tuesday. Since YouTube hadn't launched its own app for Vision Pro, Juno filled an important gap in the app ecosystem by allowing users to watch videos in the immersive environment and interact with the player using gestures, such as resizing windows to change or scroll through a video.

Developed by indie developer Christian Selig, best known for his now-defunct Apollo app for Reddit, Juno was launched shortly after the Vision Pro launched in February 2024. The app helped Selig get acquainted with developing for Apple's newest platform, while also giving users some of the fun that's possible on the device, which launched without a wide range of apps designed specifically for the headset, rather than just made compatible to become.

However, Selig says Google wasn't open to the idea of ​​a third-party app for YouTube playback. The company contacted the developer and later Apple itself, claiming that Juno had not followed YouTube guidelines and had changed its website in a way that they “did not approve of,” Selig explains in a blog post. The company cited its trademarks and iconography in its complaint, prompting Apple to remove the app from the App Store.

Selig argues the move was unnecessary. He says Juno is just a web view of YouTube and only changes the website and player to look more “visionOS-like.” And YouTube's advertising is not blocked.

Unfortunately for Vision Pro users, Selig says he won't appeal the decision because Juno is more of a “fun hobby project.” Instead, he will continue to focus on his iOS app Pixel Pals, which grew 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 stop working.

“I'm sorry it had to end like this, I had some really cool stuff planned for it that I thought would have been a lot of fun,” Selig shared in a blog post about the app's closure. “It was really great to hear all the kind words from Vision Pro users who loved the app,” he added.