Technology

Crumbl Cookies launches an app for Apple's Vision Pro headset

Customers will be able to order cookies with their eyes thanks to Apple’s cutting-edge “spatial computing” technology.
Crumbl said it's the first food and beverage app built for the Vision Pro. | Photo courtesy of Crumbl Cookies

The world of spatial computing is here, and there will be cookies. 

Crumbl Cookies has launched a new app designed specifically for Apple’s Vision Pro, the so-called mixed-reality headset the tech giant released earlier this month. People who don the headset can use their eyes, hands and voice to interact with their mobile apps as if they’re objects floating in the room. 

The 900-unit Crumbl said it’s the first food and beverage company to have an app supported by the Vision Pro’s operating system, visionOS.

“When starting this project, we considered porting our existing iOS app to visionOS, but we learned this new platform creates a lot of new opportunities for designing and building an app,” said Colton Lemmon, senior software engineer at Crumbl, in a statement. 

That includes the Vision Pro’s sophisticated eye-tracking technology that allows users to control apps with their eyes. On Crumbl’s app, customers will use their eyes to select a cookie and drag it into their digital shopping bag, which, in Crumbl’s case, is its trademark pink box. (In Crumbl’s regular phone app, cookies simply appear in the box when they’re clicked on.)

The app features large, high-quality images of Crumbl’s cookies, taking advantage of the Vision Pro’s super high-def display. It also has express ordering, allowing customers to quickly order four- or six-pack boxes of pre-selected cookie varieties, as well as order-tracking and seamless integrations with Apple Pay and Siri. 

The app’s default fulfillment option is delivery, so customers can stay on the couch, immersed in their apps, while they wait for their cookies. Walking while wearing the Vision Pro is apparently difficult to do, and Apple says it shouldn’t be used while driving. 

It’s perhaps no surprise that Crumbl is the first restaurant chain to jump on the Vision Pro: It is a tech-forward brand, having been built around online ordering, delivery and social media from the beginning. Crumbl also likes to move fast. It more than doubled its unit count in 2022 and added another 200-plus stores last year. The Logan, Utah-based chain is known for its rotating menu of cookie flavors that is posted to social media every Sunday.

Those cookies start at around $5, while a four-pack goes for approximately $16. A Vision Pro, meanwhile, costs $3,500.

Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.

Multimedia

Exclusive Content

Financing

Podcast transcript: Dutch Bros CEO Christine Barone

A Deeper Dive: Here is the transcript for the May 29 podcast with the chief executive of the drive-thru coffee chain, who talks real estate, boba and other topics.

Financing

McDonald's value perception problem is with its lighter users

The Bottom Line: The fast-food giant took the extraordinary step of publicizing average prices this week. It was speaking to its less-frequent customers, who are a lot less likely to say the chain is a good value.

Financing

CEO pay soared last year, despite a volatile period for restaurants

Pay for CEOs at publicly traded restaurants took off last year, but remains lower than average among public companies, even as tenure for the position remains volatile.

Trending

More from our partners