Because it captures all the highlights and features of the native YouTube viewing experience, Juno for YouTube is the #1 best way to consume video content from YouTube on the Apple Vision Pro.
- DESIGN
- EASE OF USE
- PRICE
Juno provides the best possible way to watch YouTube content.
One of the apps I use on a daily basis is YouTube. I always check-in with creators I follow and look up various tricks and tips about technology. Because of my daily use of YouTube, I was hesitant to dive into content on the Apple Vision Pro since YouTube does not have a visionOS native app yet. Fortunately, Juno for YouTube exists.
Juno for YouTube was developed by Christian Selig as a way for Vision Pro users to consume YouTube content in an app rather than through Safari. He came up with the idea when trying to find a work around for the YouTube app problem. He reused some code from another app he developer (Apollo) and built a YouTub client for visionOS utilizing YouTube’s APIs. Below is a snippet from Selig’s blog about the development of Juno.
How does it work technically?
YouTube has a few different APIs.
They have a “Data API” for fetching information (thumbnail, duration, etc.) for a video, that requires an API key, auditing, and you can only call so many times a day. This API doesn’t actually get you the video to play or anything, it’s purely for metadata, and for uploading.
They have private/internal APIs that they get grumpy at you for using because you can circumvent ads. The goal with this app was to not make Google grumpy.
Lastly, they have an embed API that’s pretty powerful, and is what I used in Apollo and now Juno. There’s no API keys, or limits to how many times a day you can call it, as it literally just loads the video in a webview, and provides JavaScript methods to interact with the video, such as pause, play, speed up, etc. It’s really nice, you can play YouTube videos back, and YouTube still gets to show ads (if the user doesn’t have YouTube Premium) and whatnot so no one is grumpy.
This means you can build a fully native visionOS UI that then using JavaScript interacts with the underlying YouTube player, so you get the best of both worlds. Juno even supports detecting aspect ratios of the videos and will resize the window automatically, so ultra-wide 21:9 movie trailers are respected, as are nostalgic 4:3 uploads.
The one downside is that occasionally you’ll get a creator who disabled playback for YouTube embeds. This is rare, especially with videos made in the last few years, but for those Juno will auto-detect that and just load up the normal video website page rather than the fancy player.
The Juno app is using the YouTube website directly — not scraped. The nice thing is that the app provides a viewer that is more like the visionOS experience than just loading YouTube in the browser gives you.
Privacy Policy
“Juno does not use any trackers of any sort, nor does it keep, track, sell, rent, or share any information on you throughout your use of the app with any third parties.”
According to the App Store, the developer states that the app’s privacy practices may include handling Data Linked to You. That data might include:
- Purchases
- Location
- User Content
- Identifiers
- Diagnostics
- Financial Info
- Contact Info
- Search History
- Usage Data
- Other Data
Click here to read the full privacy policy.
Main Features
- Beautiful translucent visionOS interface
- Automatic aspect ratio detection
- Speed up or slow down video
- Native controls for video playback
- Pinch-drag anywhere to scrub through video (an Apollo classic)
- Double-pinch either side of the video to jump forward or back 10 seconds in time
- Quick launch YouTube from Home Screen
- Dim your surroundings to focus on the video
- View your recommendations, subscriptions, playlists, etc.
- Resizable (while maintaining correct aspect ratio)
- Automatic quality selection, should scale up or down based on the size of your window all the way to 4K
Pricing and Availability
Juno for YouTube requires visionOS 1.0 or later and has a one-time fee of $4.99.
User Experience
When I first started using the Vision Pro, I was extremely disappointed with the YouTube experience via Safari. Did it work? Yes, but it was clunky and I had a lot of accidental selections that led to a frustrating viewing experience instead of a pleasant, relaxing one. Juno for YouTube has been a breath of fresh air. I was very excited to find it and it’s been one of the first visionOS-only apps that I’ve installed. Juno has completely transformed my video-watching experience. This app is a true game-changer for anyone who loves consuming content on YouTube.
The interface is sleek, intuitive, and user-friendly. Navigating through my subscriptions, playlists, and recommended videos has been a smooth process. The app’s design is both aesthetically pleasing and highly functional, making it a joy to use. All of the features that I wanted to use in YouTube are available through Juno. I’m thrilled that this app experience also shows me recommendations, playlists, and subscriptions — just like the YouTube iOS and iPadOS apps do.
I am extremely delighted with the developer’s attentiveness to suggestions and bug reports. The original release of Juno was on February 1, 2024 and the developer pushed two updates since then with the latest being on February 14 – less than two weeks since the app’s initial launch. The developers seem dedicated to providing a top-notch user experience, and it clearly reflects in the app’s performance.
Conclusion
Because of Juno’s outstanding interface, it has become my preferred way of watching YouTube content now. Its intuitive design, frequent updates, and customizable features make it a must-have for anyone who enjoys consuming content on this platform.
For more information, visit christianselig.com or X (Twitter).
