Juno, developer Christian Selig's YouTube app for Apple Vision Pro, has received its first update since launching earlier this month, introducing several user-requested features like the ability to select video quality.
Juno automatically selects the quality of videos based on its "best guess," says Selig, but previously provided no manual control. As of Juno 1.1, however, the UI includes a playback quality option, allowing users to select the resolution of the videos they watch.
The video player has also gained quick-access volume controls, allowing users to tweak Juno's playback volume without affecting the volume level of the whole system. Selig says that he's looking into ways to link the player's audio volume to the system volume, which hopefully comes as an option.
Another handy addition is the ability to open a video in Juno via Shortcuts or another app. To do so, users can simply replace "http://" in the URL with "juno://" (for example, juno://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7I0vHIWyO4). In addition, when Juno's video playback controls fade out, the system "grab bar" now also fades out to increase viewer immersion.
Elsewhere, the app's code has been improved to increase load time speed, an improved video scrubbing control has been added with a new custom view that expands on selection, and it's now easier to jump between playback speeds. Several bugs have also been squashed based on user feedback, and the player will no longer pause the video if the middle of the screen is tapped.
One of the reasons for Juno's popularity is that YouTube initially said it did not plan to offer a dedicated app on Apple's Vision Pro headset. While iPad apps are available on Vision Pro by default, developers can opt out of having their apps appear on the device, and YouTube opted out.
That was before Vision Pro launched. YouTube has since changed its tune and now claims that it is "excited" by the Vision Pro launch and that an app is on the company's roadmap, but it gave no hint of timing.
Juno for YouTube is priced at $4.99 and the app is available on the visionOS App Store.
