Channel 4 has today announced the launch of its streaming app for Apple Vision Pro, becoming the first UK broadcaster to develop for Apple’s premium mixed-reality headset.
The app offers viewers a cinema-style experience, with content that can be overlaid onto their physical surroundings, along with a specially created virtual environment for watching Taskmaster.
The move comes just weeks after Channel 4 finally brought its streaming app to Google TV devices – marking the end of a frustratingly long wait for many UK viewers who had been forced to rely on mobile casting for years.
What’s New?
The Apple Vision Pro, Apple’s latest venture into mixed reality technology, is a premium headset that blends digital content with the physical world.
While wearing the device, users can interact with virtual screens and experiences whilst still maintaining awareness of their surroundings – a significant departure from traditional VR headsets.
The Channel 4 Vision Pro app offers viewers a cinema-style viewing experience, with content appearing as an overlay in their physical space – meaning you could have your favourite show “projected” onto your living room wall.
The broadcaster has also created a special virtual environment for watching Taskmaster, which aims to transport viewers directly onto the show’s set, complete with its signature red room, wallpapers, chandeliers, and throne.
Channel 4 seems particularly proud of this Taskmaster integration, positioning it as a showcase of how television viewing might evolve.
The virtual environment is being pitched as more than just a viewing experience – it’s an attempt to create what the broadcaster calls “viewer delight” by moving content from the traditional TV screen into the physical world.
The Vision Pro app offers access to Channel 4’s full streaming catalogue, including popular shows like Gogglebox and The Great British Bake Off.
While this sounds impressive on paper, there’s an elephant in the room: with the Apple Vision Pro carrying a steep price tag of over £3,499 in the UK, the actual audience for this app will be extremely limited at launch.
Better Late Than Never?
It’s worth noting that Channel 4 has historically been somewhat slow to embrace some platforms.
Until October 2024, the broadcaster didn’t offer a native app for Google TV devices, forcing viewers to rely on casting from their mobile phones – hardly ideal for a major UK broadcaster.
That situation was finally resolved last month, though even that launch came with some limitations, as certain programmes were initially unavailable on the platform, and some devices – like the Nvidia SHIELD – are still not supported.
Furthermore, Channel 4’s app (formerly known as All4) was missing from Freesat devices for several years – though it was finally added back to Freesat’s 4K boxes in late 2023 – but it will not be added to Freesat’s older Humax boxes, which are still in use around the country.
Looking to the Future
Grace Boswood, Director of Technology & Distribution at Channel 4, frames this week’s launch within the broadcaster’s wider digital ambitions:
“The new Channel 4 Apple Vision Pro app builds on our heritage of viewer innovation, be that the first broadcaster in the world to offer a TV-based on-demand service, or the first PSB to launch an HD channel in the UK.”
She added that this development aligns with Channel 4’s transition to becoming a “public service streamer,” suggesting that we might see more technological experiments from the broadcaster in the future.
While the Vision Pro app offers an intriguing glimpse into how we might watch television in the future, its premium price point means most viewers won’t experience it just yet.
However, this development could signal Channel 4’s broader interest in virtual and mixed reality platforms – raising the possibility of similar immersive experiences coming to more widely accessible devices like the Meta Quest in the future.