Apple's moralistic stance against porn on its platform is no new development. Since the App Store first opened, the pioneer of smartphones has enforced a strict, often overzealous, and sometimes hypocritical refusal to allow apps that overtly feature porn– which it categorizes as "objectionable material."
Their puritanical virtue signaling hasn't hampered iPhone-wielding fans of adult content, though. While apps that overtly feature porn are banned, applications that incidentally feature porn are largely unimpeded. Anyone with an objectionable urge and an iPhone can tell you that the stock web browser Safari is perfectly capable of accessing the full bounty of internet smut, just like any Android device.
When the Vision Pro was announced, an enthusiastic subset of the virtual reality community (ie. porn fans) had to temper their excitement and manage expectations, despite the undeniable promise of the hardware itself. Even more than the iPhone, this expensive piece of tech does not enable users to view explicit content by default.
Restrictions on the Vision Pro
As several critics have since pointed out, Apple has chosen a quite risky path. In fact, according to market research firm CSS Insight, almost 70% of all VR users are consuming adult content with their virtual reality headsets.
Yet despite Apple's best efforts, porn has always been accessible on iPhone and iPad – so why is the Vision Pro any different? Can't you just open up Safari and get to the action? If you want to watch 2D videos on a virtual screen, then sure. Have at it. But if you want to watch truly cinematic, immersive stereoscopic VR experiences, well, no. Not really.
VR videos don't work like your run-of-the-mill 2D fare. They require a level of software integration that goes far beyond what it takes to simply display a rectangle of moving pictures in front of your eyes. That level of integration can be curtailed much more easily by Apple. And since the Vision Pro has been released, porn producers have been fighting an incredible uphill battle to circumvent the arbitrary and inconsistent restrictions that Apple apathetically puts in their way.
Vision Pro users are pushing back
As the initial hype surrounding the Vision Pro faded, it became clear to many that these restrictions, which also go beyond explicit material, are severely limiting the long-term wow-factor of the $3500 "spacial computer". Unsurprisingly, demand for the headset has fallen sharply and has now even reached a point where Apple is forced to cut its production.
Fortunately, several third-party developers and VR platforms have decided to fight back by attempting to circumnavigate the tech giant's restrictions.
In the case of 360 adult entertainment, a key feature of the Vision Pro is the API known as WebXR. In short, WebXR standardizes how VR content is handled on the internet by web browsers. So in theory, Safari on the Vision Pro is perfectly capable of displaying VR porn with relative parity to other, less content-restrictive headsets.
All it requires is for VR porn companies to ensure their content libraries are compatible with WebXR and optimized so that subscribers can access them via Safari. Leading VR porn companies like SexLikeReal have already reached that goal, albeit with some minor short-term drawbacks (and are on the verge of delivering full access via an app solution).
Apple doesn't make things easy, though. Perhaps to deliberately hinder porn access, it disabled WebXR by default in Safari. Users must jump through a few simple (but annoying) hoops to enable it. Although the experience is improving, it is far from streamlined. And porn fans who paid for the outstandingly expensive piece of enthusiast kit deserve a much better level of polish for their use case.
Apple's historical record of banning porn apps might leave users feeling a bit hopeless at this point. Fortunately, some app developers are working within the restrictions to provide an actual, optimal solution to this dilemma. VR videos are accessible on a number of platforms, like YouTube.
However YouTube– as ubiquitous as it is– is not the only place where videos live and is certainly not the dominant platform for VR content in particular. The VR video tube sector has not yet been gobbled up by the prudish supergiants, and a healthy and competitive marketplace is still very active as VR technology finds its mainstream legs.
App developers with a less-authoritarian approach to user morality have been racing to create porn-friendly video platforms, where users can subscribe to whichever content they choose (within obvious, ethically reasonable restrictions). By optimizing their platform to work with creators in the VR porn space, seamless integration is not only achievable– it's imminent.
The verdict
Ultimately, the answer is yes: Apple has made a mistake by not allowing VR porn on their new headset. Due to the incredible popularity of 360 adult content, the world's biggest consumer tech firm likely lost countless potential customers by demonizing this type of content and audience.
Nevertheless, it appears the company only really played itself as it became clear that access to top-tier VR porn on the Apple Vision Pro is inevitable. From another perspective, it created a space where competitive and skilled developers could use the landscape to their advantage and bring an even better experience to users. It was only ever a matter of time and determination.
