visionOS Professionals Survey 2025
CONTEXT
In June 2025, Oliver Weidlich, Yuki Kobayashi, and I released our first edition of the visionOS Professionals Survey as a PDF. I’m posting the web version here after many people asked for it. You can still download the PDF Version here:
SURVEY INTRODUCTION
Nearly two years after Apple's announcement of Apple Vision Pro and one year & half since launch, we wanted to assess where the visionOS ecosystem stands today.
In May 2025, independent visionOS experts Oliver Weidlich, Yuki Kobayashi, and Tom Krikorian launched the visionOS Professionals Survey 2025. We created two versions: a Developer Survey focused on technical implementation and development tools, and a Design Survey targeted at UI/UX professionals working on spatial computing experiences.
The surveys ran from May 15-25, 2025, distributed through visionOS communities on LinkedIn, Reddit, Twitter, Discord, and other platforms.
We received 169 total responses, 99 from developers and 70 from designers.
One person completed the developer survey twice and six people completed both surveys, we decided to keep the data to retain their answers to the different questions between the surveys.
Important Context
This survey is not a perfect representation of the entire visionOS ecosystem. The distribution method likely introduced bias toward engaged community members and English-speaking professionals. These results should be viewed as a candid snapshot rather than definitive market research.
Our goal was to create an honest conversation starter about the real experiences of people building for visionOS. In the following analysis, we'll explore what participants told us about their backgrounds, challenges, platform outlook, and hopes for WWDC 2025.
SURVEY RESULTS
What is your job title?
Developers and engineers make up the biggest group at 34% of people who took the survey. Business owners and founders are the second largest group at 23%. Designers represent 10% of responses. Managers and leaders account for 7%. The rest includes freelancers, CTOs, creative technologists, and other job types. This shows that many different kinds of professionals are working with visionOS.
What best describes your employment?
Business ownership is the most common employment type among respondents at 40%, followed by traditional employees at 31%. Independent workers including freelancers and contractors represent over 25% of responses, with management positions accounting for a small portion.
What is the main visionOS task you do in your role?
Code prototyping is the most common primary task among design survey respondents at 26%. Team and company management roles account for 23% of responses, while UX design represents 21%. Prototyping in design tools and UI design each make up about 11% of primary roles. UX research accounts for the smallest portion at 7% of main tasks reported.
What is the other visionOS tasks you do in your role?
UX design and Xcode development tie as the most common secondary tasks at 56% each. UI design follows at 47%, while UX research accounts for 41% of selections. Reality Composer development represents 37% of responses, and design tool prototyping accounts for 33%. Code prototyping, Unity development, and other development platforms make up the remaining task selections among design survey participants.
How would you rate your current expertise in visionOS development?
Most respondents rate themselves at advanced or intermediate levels, with advanced being the most common response at 36.5%. Nearly one in five consider themselves experts, while beginners represent the smallest group at 13.5%. The responses show a mix of experience levels among those who participated in the developer survey.
Which engine or platform do you primarily use for visionOS development?
Native Apple development tools dominate the responses at 84%, with most developers using RealityKit and SwiftUI for their visionOS projects. Unity3D accounts for nearly 15% of responses, while Unreal Engine is barely used.
What type of company best describes who you work for?
Solo app development represents the largest category at nearly 40% of responses. Corporate and enterprise environments account for about 15%, while small businesses make up 12%. Specialized app development companies and freelance client work each represent about 11% of responses. Various agency types, including digital and UX/UI agencies, round out the remaining responses.
What categories are your apps in?
Entertainment leads all app categories with nearly half of respondents selecting it, followed closely by productivity apps at 40%. Business applications account for about 30% of selections. Education and lifestyle apps each represent about a quarter of responses. Most respondents selected 1-3 categories, with entertainment and productivity being the most commonly chosen combination across the survey participants.
Who are your visionOS apps for?
Consumer targeting dominates the responses with nearly 78% of participants creating apps for general consumers. Enterprise staff represents the second most common target audience at 36%. Pro-sumers account for 26% of selections, while other target groups make up a small portion at 4%. Most respondents focus on a single target audience, with 104 selecting only one category and 50 targeting two different audience types.
Do you/company currently have any apps published on the Vision Pro App Store or Enterprise Apps?
Overall, 52% of respondents have published apps while 48% have not yet published to the visionOS App Store.
Single app publishers represent the largest group at nearly 30% of responses. Publishers with multiple apps make up about 22% combined, including those having 2 apps at 11% and “more than 2 app” publishers at 11%.
22% are planning to publish soon, while 26% have no immediate publishing plans.
Do you use the Apple provided visionOS design templates?
While 21% were unaware that there were templates available from Apple, 34% choose not to use any Apple templates for their visionOS designs.
If we focus in on the 29% who do use templates, 82% of them use Figma and 18% use Sketch.
The responses show a significant awareness gap, with over one-fifth of designers not knowing about Apple's available design resources. It also suggests the dominance of Figma as a design tool, and one Apple have only had design templates for since June 2023.
Do you use any other prototyping tools?
Just over half (54%) of design survey respondents use specialized visionOS prototyping tools. Among those, Spline is the most popular choice, followed by Immersion Lab, then Bezi and several other specialized 3D design platforms.
We acknowledge that many of these prototyping tools serve different purposes and are at different stages of their evolution. This is an exciting new space that is important in bringing new spatial computing ideas to life quickly.
What do you see as the biggest barriers to creating visionOS applications?
According to the responses collected in the VisionOS Professionals Survey 2025, the most commonly cited barrier to creating visionOS applications is access to funding and hardware, selected by 90 participants. Other frequent challenges include identifying relevant use cases (64), understanding the platform’s capabilities (53), and general awareness of the Apple Vision Pro (42). Some respondents also mentioned difficulties with early prototyping (29) and technical development (27).
Where do you engage with other visionOS professionals?
Most visionOS professionals who participated connect on LinkedIn, using the general service, specific groups, or both. Then the most popular platforms are X (formerly Twitter), Reddit, Discord, and local meet-ups. Engagement spans both online and in-person spaces, showing a diverse, active community presence across platforms. It is interesting to note that very few (8.7%) use the Official Apple Forums.
What best describes your use of the Apple Vision Pro?
Most respondents use the Apple Vision Pro through personal ownership, with 55% of participants saying they bought one themselves. Others rely on company-provided devices—either individually (21%) or as part of a team setup (15%). A smaller number have only tried the device through Apple Store demos (7%) or other demonstrations (4%), while just two people use a friend or family member’s unit. This suggests that direct access to hardware is common among professionals, primarily through personal investment.
In broad terms, how would you rate visionOS?
The average rating of 8.0 indicates very favorable sentiment toward the visionOS platform among survey participants. The majority of respondents rate visionOS positively, with 8 being the most common rating at 41% of responses. Combined, ratings of 8-10 account for 76% of all responses, while ratings of 7 and above represent over 91% of responses. Very few respondents gave low ratings, with only 6% rating visionOS at 5 or below.
In broad terms, how would you rate Apple Vision Pro?
Apple Vision Pro receives generally positive ratings, with 8 being the most frequent rating at 27% of responses. High ratings of 8-10 represent 66% of all responses, while ratings of 7 and above account for 82% of responses. However, there's more distribution in the lower ratings compared to visionOS, with 18% of respondents rating the hardware at 6 or below. The average rating of 7.8 is slightly lower than visionOS software ratings, suggesting respondents view the software platform as bing stronger than the hardware.
What do you want to see in visionOS 3?
The visionOS professional community is calling for a more open and mature development environment in version 3, with top requests including broader access to cameras and sensors, improved development tools like native Xcode and better debugging, and support for spatial-first UI and Apple ecosystem integration. The message is clear: they’re ready to move from experimentation to building real, production-ready spatial apps.
Here are the top three most frequently mentioned categories.
How do you feel about the future of the visionOS software platform?
Optimism dominates sentiment toward the visionOS software platform, with nearly half of respondents expressing strong optimism at 46%. Combined optimistic responses (very + somewhat) account for 84% of all responses. Neutral sentiment represents 8% of responses, while pessimistic views are minimal at only 8% combined. The data shows strong confidence in the software platform's future among survey participants, with very few expressing negative outlooks.
How do you feel about the future of the Apple Vision Pro hardware platform?
Hardware platform sentiment remains largely positive, with somewhat optimistic responses leading at 43% and very optimistic at 40%. Combined optimistic responses account for 83% of all responses, nearly matching software platform optimism. Neutral sentiment represents 8% of responses, while pessimistic views total only 8% combined. The hardware platform shows slightly more cautious optimism compared to the software platform, with fewer "very optimistic" responses but similar overall positive sentiment among survey participants.
Do you plan to increase your investment (time/resources) in visionOS over the next 12 months?
Investment sentiment leans positive, with nearly 38% planning significant increases and 24% planning slight increases in their visionOS involvement. Combined, 62% of respondents plan to increase their investment over the next year. About 25% expect no change in their current investment levels, while 11% plan to reduce involvement and only 1% intend to stop entirely. The data suggests growing commitment to the platform among survey participants, with more planning increases than decreases in their visionOS activities.
What hardware do you hope to see at WWDC2025?
Interest in a more affordable, “non-Pro” Apple Vision headset dominates at 73% of responses, indicating strong demand for a mainstream-priced spatial computing device. Apple Vision smartglasses follow at 49%, showing significant interest in a potential lighter, glasses-form factor. The premium Apple Vision Pro headset maintains solid interest at 46%, suggesting continued enthusiasm for high-end features. The Apple Car option received minimal interest at 4%, which makes sense given it was included as a humorous option rather than a serious visionOS-related product expectation.
CLOSING WORDS
TOm KRIKORIAN
This survey shows that the visionOS developer community is still here, still building, and still excited!
Most of the developers who responded are actively working on the platform, using native tools and exploring real use cases. They’re optimistic about the future of visionOS, but they’re also clear-eyed about what needs to improve: better tooling, more sensor access, and more support from Apple to go from prototypes to production.
There’s momentum, but also caution. And that’s probably a good thing. We’re past the initial hype, and what’s left are people genuinely invested in making this ecosystem work.
Thanks to everyone who answered the survey, and let’s see what WWDC brings!
Yuki Kobayashi
First of all, I’d like to thank all the creators who participated in this survey.
I truly believe that the visionOS ecosystem will eventually spread across the world and significantly transform people’s lives.It was incredibly encouraging to see that so many visionOS creators still believe in that same future and are working together to grow the ecosystem.
What will Apple announce at this year’s WWDC? Even we don’t know.
But I believe we’ll witness a moment that brings us closer to the future we believe in.
Oliver Weidlich
The participants who completed this survey were very happy with the Apple Vision Pro and even more with visionOS. This is a strong position for the first 18 months of the platform.
It’s great to have engagement with the UX research and design community for visionOS, as well as the Developers. We’ve gained a perspective on the tasks they do in their roles, the design patterns and tools they use (or don’t), the type of apps they create, and how they interact with their industry.
We hope that this report has provided you with some useful information about the community you’re part of. We look forward to doing more surveys and tracking how the industry evolves over the years to come.
