Vision Pro launched with over a million iOS apps earlier this month alongside a little over 600 native apps created specifically for visionOS. That number has grown steadily, although the biggest entrant lately is TikTok, the first social media giant to be available as a native app on Vision Pro.

TikTok parent company ByteDance released what it calls “a newly imagined” version of its the popular video sharing platform on the $3,500 Vision Pro, which is decidedly different from the straight Android port the company brought to Pico 4, a device from sister company Pico Interactive.

The company says it’s been able to do a few things different thanks to Vision Pro’s immersive ability to break beyond the typical smartphone screen ratio, such as make a larger video search window, move the navigation bar and like button off-screen to optimize for full video viewing, and expand the comment section and creator profiles on the side of the feed.

Image courtesy TikTok

Like many 2D apps on the headset, TikTok for Vision Pro lets you use immersive backgrounds, letting you ‘pinch to like’ and scroll away the day at the foot of Yosemite Nation Park’s El Capitán mountain, or on the Moon. Simply turn the headset’s digital crown to blend in the virtual background.

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Still, the Vision Pro-native app isn’t exactly breaking from the company’s time-tested mold, as the platform’s content still serves up the standard vertical videos we’re all used to, albeit in significantly larger virtual screen than you might normally have. Then again, that was mostly expected when we found TikTok among the then incomplete list of native Vision Pro apps prior the headset’s launch.

While viewing videos is pretty straight forward, posting your own content from within Vision Pro is another story for now, as it seems to be a feature still in development. You can check out TikTok’s Vision Pro app in action below, courtesy CNET:

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Ardra Diva

    Honestly if I’m spending $3500 on a HMD I’d get Varjo instead.

  • Nevets

    This platform doesn’t attract me at all, though I had an open mind before launch day. I’m much more interested in seeing the same display tech come to a Samsung or Meta product.

  • Christian Schildwaechter

    The Pico/Bytedance/TikTok reaction to AVP will be interesting. Bytedance doesn’t compete with Apple yet, so TikTok won’t boycott AVP like Meta did with all their apps. Rumored Pico 5 models for after Meta’s XR2 Gen 2 exclusivity ends in April were apparently scrapped. Pico is shifting towards an AVP clone, with changes most likely focused on OS/UI, as Pico, founded out of Goertek, Qualcomn’s XR HMD partner, will probably stick close to the reference design to save costs.

    And Pico has an interesting advantage over Meta: while Quest 3 is mostly a (significantly) improved Quest 2 that didn’t inherit eye/face tracking from Quest Pro, Pico sells the Pico 4 Pro in China for RMB 3999/USD ~550, almost identical to the Pico 4 except for added eye and face tracking sensors. Elsewhere they sell it as Pico 4 Enterprise for a much higher price and lacking access to consumer apps.

    But nothing prevents Pico from releasing the Pro in all their markets as a stop-gap measure until their AVP competitor is ready, as production cost shouldn’t be much higher than for a regular Pico 4. This would allow them to quickly introduce/experiment with an eye and hand tracking based UI similar to AVP, while Meta has to wait for Quest 4. Pico could make this UI backwards compatible with the regular Pico 4 by allowing selection via head instead of eye tracking, something that is already an accessibility option on AVP for users with medical conditions causing twitching pupils.

  • Well, it’s a 2D app, I was expecting something more…

  • xyzs

    So they can brainwash rich people from all directions now.

    How dumb and naive can governments be to allow a Chinese app that is forbidden in China, and screws up kids faster than alcoholic parents..?

  • Kenny

    What’s the cross section of people who have the money to splurge on an AVP and also waste there time on Tictoc?

  • Mattphoto

    It’s basically tiktok but with a heavy headset strapped to your face. People use tiktok because they like the ability to rapidly browse content anywhere for any moment you have free. Limiting it to if/when you have your headset on seems like it misses the whole spirit of modern content consumption trends. I don’t see this being a thing.