With previously hidden ‘App Lab’ apps now discoverable on the main Quest store, the $1,000 WeldVR is the most expensive app you can find on Meta’s VR app store. But fret not, you can get a free trial… for 20 whole minutes.
For years, Meta only allowed select apps onto the main Quest store (which Meta recently rebranded as the ‘Meta Horizon Store’). Apps that weren’t greenlit for the Horizon Store could be published to ‘App Lab’, which gave the app a home to be bought and installed, but the apps would remain ‘unlisted’, meaning they could only be accessed with a direct link or by searching the exact name of the app.
Now Meta is finally breaking down the barriers between App Lab and the Horizon Store, essentially making all App Lab apps available to find by browsing or searching terms that are at least similar to the app’s actual name.
With the main Horizon Store and App Lab now mashed together, it’s possible to find plenty of new games but also lots of interesting experimental and non-game apps.
That means the $1,000 WeldVR app is now the most expensive app you can find on the Horizon Store—beating out the previous ‘most expensive app’, the $240 medical training app, Fetal Heart VR. This establishes a new maximum price that Meta has permitted for an app. For comparison, Apple’s App Store allows apps to be priced up to $10,000, and Google’s Play Store up to $400.
WeldVR is a training app that’s designed to teach the basics of welding. While we can’t attest to how well the app manages to train people in this skill, the idea is at least sound: learning to weld normally requires expensive equipment or signing up for training courses; if a $1,000 VR app can teach you the basics for less than the cost of equipment and courses, there could be real value there.
The company behind WeldVR, Cythero, says the app “provides trainees with a range of welding scenarios and welding techniques (MIG, TIG, and Stick), as well as different joint types and welding positions. By incorporating realistic welding sound and lifelike puddle simulations, our simulator helps trainees to develop their ability to respond to and adjust their welding technique, ultimately enhancing their overall welding skills.”
The app also offers statistics and feedback to show users how they’re doing and where to improve.
In addition to the $1,000 version of the app, which anyone with a Quest 2 (and beyond) can use, the company also sells a complete package including the headset, a hard case, software, multiple user profiles, online analytics, and peripheral attachments to more realistically simulate the welding tools being used. Priced at €6,000, the package is built with corporate and course training in mind, rather than individual users.
Not ready to plop down $1,000 to see if welding is for you? Well you’re in luck… you can activate a 20 minute trial right from the app’s store page.