Apple is forcing devs to avoid calling Vision Pro apps VR, AR, MR, or XR

When Apple first revealed the Apple Vision Pro, the company made a concerted effort to avoid using terms like virtual reality, mixed reality, etc. Now Apple is demanding that developers working on apps for the Vision Pro do the same.

First spotted by UploadVR, Apple has published new guidelines for submitting a Vision Pro app to the App Store. In the “Describing your app” section, one of the new rules demands that developers avoid using terms like virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), or extended reality (XR). Instead, the tech giant wants devs to start using the term “spatial computing.”

Spatial computing: Refer to your app as a spatial computing app. Don’t describe your app experience as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), extended reality (XR), or mixed reality (MR).

Although Apple has used these terms on its own website and Tim Cook has previously called visionOS an AR platform, the company has tried its best to separate the Vision Pro from other headsets by describing it as a spatial computing device. Speaking of headsets, Apple also included in the rules that devs can’t generically refer to the Vision Pro as a headset.

It’s currently unclear if these rules would include the title of an app as well. But it would be odd and maybe also confusing if say an app like National Geographic Explorer VR had to rebrand to National Geographic Explorer Spatial Computing.