June 14, 2025 – According to a recent post by tech media outlet AppleInsider, Apple has not yet transformed its proprietary apps like Books, Calendar, and Maps into native applications for the visionOS 26 system.
Since the launch of the Vision Pro headset, Apple’s first foray into the spatial computing realm, which was unveiled in 2023 and hit the market in February 2024, the software ecosystem has been advancing at a sluggish pace.
Back in 2023, during the WWDC Global Developers Conference, Apple made a commitment to developers. It promised that it would be effortless to transition apps from a 2D format to a 3D native experience. In this new paradigm, toolbars, menus, and buttons would “leap” out of the flat plane, offering an immersive 3D experience.
However, two years have passed, and now, at the 2025 WWDC Global Developers Conference, after Apple announced the visionOS 26 system update, there has been no progress on the list of Apple’s own apps being converted to native ones.
A series of apps including Books, Calendar, Maps, and News still fail to run natively. Instead, they can only operate in an unoptimized 2D iPad or iPhone – like mode. The media finds this oversight puzzling and even goes as far as to label it as “neglect.”
visionOS 26 does bring some new features, such as more collaboration options, the ability to retain object positions after a restart, and new gaming experiences supported by PSVR2 controllers. Nevertheless, the lack of native app support for the platform remains a significant drawback.
Although Apple has introduced spatial widgets for apps like Calendar, News, and Podcasts, and even launched a widget for the non – existent Weather app, these minor enhancements are far from being a suitable replacement for genuine native applications.
