Apple Vision Pro Launches With New Spatial App From PGA TOUR, Compatible Apps From MLB, MLS, NBA, and More

Mixed-reality headset promises to reinvent the way fans watch live sports

Launch day has finally arrived: Apple Vision Pro is officially available and, with it, more than 600 apps and games designed to take advantage of the unique capabilities of the much-hyped new mixed-reality headset. With ultra-high-resolution displays delivering more pixels than a 4K TV for each eye, users can watch content on a 100-ft. screen. At launch, Vision Pro offers a wealth of new sports-focused spatial apps — such as PGA TOUR Vision — on top of immersive experience in compatible apps like the NBA App, MLB App, Red Bull TV, MLS Season Pass, and others.

With the NBA app on Apple Vision Pro, basketball fans can stream up to five live or on-demand games simultaneously and easily rearrange games within their space.

In addition, with compatible apps from top cable services — Charter Spectrum, Comcast Xfinity, Cox Contour, Sling TV, Verizon Fios — and sports broadcasters — ESPN, CBS, Paramount+, NBC, NBC Sports, Peacock, Fox Sports, the UFC — Vision Pro users can watch a wide array of live sports content in a “personal theater” environment.

Apple’s new spatial computer seamlessly blends digital content with the physical world to create “an infinite canvas where apps can scale beyond the boundaries of a traditional display,” according to Apple. In addition, Apple Vision Pro features an intuitive three-dimensional interface that users can navigate with their eyes, hands, and voice.

For example, PGA TOUR Vision layers real-time shot tracking on top of 3D models of real golf courses alongside key stats — leaderboards, scorecards, schedules, course information, and other tournament details — to bring the tour to life in a user’s space.

With the NBA app on Apple Vision Pro, basketball fans can stream up to five games live or on demand simultaneously and easily rearrange games within their space. They can also access real-time team and player stats, see the status of other games, and toggle between broadcast and language options for every game, live or on demand.

Apple Vision Pro enables fans to access real-time team and player stats, see the status of other games, and toggle between broadcast and language options for every game — live or on demand.

MLB immerses users in a ballpark with a view from home plate and stats on each pitch, providing users a new level of agency that allows fans to customize the way they enjoy baseball. Red Bull TV pairs 3D maps of races with high-quality video and immersive environments. And soccer fans can access MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app, home of Major League Soccer.

Experience Golf Like Never Before: New PGA TOUR Vision Spatial App

The new PGA TOUR Vision app was built from the ground up to enable golf fans to experience golf and follow PGA TOUR tournaments like never before. Developed for Apple Vision Pro, it is now available to download from the brand-new App Store.

Users will be able to bring the best moments of the PGA TOUR in spatial reality through the Apple Vision Pro. (Photo: PGA TOUR Vision)

With PGA TOUR Vision, golf fans can transform their space into immersive, spatial golf experiences that bring them closer to the action. At launch, the app will debut with the iconic par-3 seventh hole at Pebble Beach Golf Links, site of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and expand to include additional holes each week leading up to THE PLAYERS Championship, when all 18 holes will be covered.

“PGA TOUR Vision for Apple Vision Pro brings golf fans inside the ropes and directly onto the tee boxes and greens of the world’s most iconic courses, no matter where they are,” says Scott Gutterman, SVP, digital operations, PGA TOUR. “The PGA TOUR is proud to be the first professional-golf app on this revolutionary new device, offering fans an innovative and immersive way to watch professional golf. Our fans can look forward to more unique, spatial experiences as the FedExCup season progresses.”

PGA TOUR Vision displays key tournament information and video in 2D windows on top of a user’s space, and 3D-rendered models generated by Virtual Eye map real-time trails from live shot data captured during the tournament. Within 2D windows, fans can view leaderboards, scorecards, course information, schedule, and tournament details, as well as video highlights. Live shot data is provided by ShotLink powered by CDW and made available to the app using the PGA TOUR’s AWS infrastructure. The app was developed by Quintar, the Official Mobile AR and XR Developer of the PGA TOUR, with UX and design led by digital-product supplier Work & Co.

“Harnessing Quintar’s powerful spatial experience platform from prototype to launch and beyond,” says Dr. Jeff Jonas, president/chief business officer, Quintar, “we are excited to be partnering with the PGA TOUR to bring PGA TOUR Vision to life.”

Fans can immerse themselves in a 3D model of Pebble Beach Hole 7 as if they were physically there and can watch real-time shot trails for players currently playing the hole or replays of shots from earlier in the day or previous rounds. Whether from the tee box or right on the green, key information — shot distance, apex, speed — is always available for overlay within the experience to provide context to each shot trail. Inside PGA TOUR Vision, users can also live-stream the CBS simulcast of the third and fourth rounds of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, as well as future FedExCup events televised on CBS/Paramount+.

“With Apple Vision Pro and the power of spatial computing,” adds Gutterman, “Apple is teeing us up to deliver an innovative and immersive way of experiencing professional golf. PGA TOUR Vision, the first golf app developed for Apple Vision Pro, takes fans, no matter where they are, inside the ropes and directly onto the greens of the world’s most iconic courses, from Pebble Beach to TPC Sawgrass.”

A Day at the Ballpark: The MLB App for Apple Vision Pro 

The in-house–built expansion of the MLB App was created specifically for VisionOS and continues to revolutionize the sports-viewing experience, allowing fans to customize the way they enjoy baseball.

Major League Baseball’s brand-new MLB App was created for Apple Vision Pro, a revolutionary new spatial computer that blends digital content with the physical world while allowing users to stay present and connected to others.

“Baseball fans seek out connection with their favorite teams and players with the greatest possible level of depth,” notes Noah Garden, deputy commissioner, business and media, Major League Baseball. “Apple Vision Pro provides us an entirely new way to present the national pastime to fans in their own space, no matter where they are, with remarkable depth, clarity, and sound. Thanks to Apple’s remarkable ingenuity and our incredibly talented staff at MLB, fans can transform their space into a Major League ballpark and surround themselves in a rich, spatial experience that was previously impossible, all while enjoying a more immersive viewing experience.”

Watching a game in the MLB App on Apple Vision Pro, users can enter a fully immersive viewing environment with a variety of three-dimensional, enhanced data visualizations powered by the award-winning Statcast, MLB’s state-of-the-art tracking technology. At release, fans will have unrestricted access to the thrilling, 11-inning classic Game 1 of the 2023 World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers with interactive statistics, play-by-play, and other spatial features fully controlled by the user. Apple Vision Pro also enables users to place their viewing experience within a digitally rendered MLB ballpark as if they were watching on a stadium’s videoboard just steps away. Additionally, fans can interact spatially with the MLB App on Apple Vision Pro while exploring other applications.

An updated version of the MLB App on Apple Vision Pro is slated to be delivered around Opening Day and will include access to additional MLB.TV content for subscribers of the world’s oldest OTT platform. Users with MLB.TV subscriptions will be able to surround themselves with both live games and on-demand content in a completely customizable, dynamic environment. Additional details and features developed specifically for VisionOS will be announced at a future date.

Says Garden, “Technological innovation is at the heart of Major League Baseball. We’ve been evolving sports broadcasting for decades for the betterment of our fans — from the first games on radio, broadcast, cable, and satellite to live streaming and launching MLB Network. If there is an opportunity for a baseball fan to enjoy our sport on any given platform, then we need to have a presence where we can deliver unique storytelling experiences. We will continue this approach to constantly meet the needs of our fans.”