I’m just going to come right out and say it. I love the approach Apple has taken with the HomeView. I think it’s the shared, always-available household interface that my family might finally use. Is Apple’s first smart display my dream smart home dashboard? No. But is it the right product for Apple Home at this moment? Absolutely.
A lot of initial reactions to the $299 HomeView (which looks like a giant Apple Watch on a flatter metallic HomePod Mini) are asking why anyone would want it when you can do everything it offers on your iPhone or iPad. And yes, it does replicate many of the things you already do on the devices you use all the time. But that’s kind of the point. HomeView gives you another interface for those things, but crucially one that is always powered, always unlocked, and always in the same spot in your home, making it easy to walk up to and interact with.
I’ve tried using an iPad to control my smart home, run my family’s calendar, and be a shared device for controlling music. It wasn’t great. I’ll have to test HomeView, of course, but my initial impression is that this could be a much better solution for those use cases.
Most iPads are more expensive, have worse speakers, and do not like to be plugged in all the time (I present my sad, warped iPad Mini as tribute). An iPad can’t be a hub for your Apple Home; HomeView can. An iPad famously isn’t a good multiuser device, and controlling home devices on one requires it staying logged in to your personal iCloud account; HomeView offers Apple’s first crack at easy multiuser switching.
Apple designed HomeView as a communal device that sits in a fixed place in the home. This means it’s always where you expect it to be, which matters when you want to adjust the thermostat or can’t find your phone and want to check your calendar. Not having a battery or detachable screen is a feature for me, because devices that do inevitably wander off and die under a couch cushion.
And while many people are fine using their personal phones and tablets to interact with the digital world when at home, and don’t want yet another device with a screen on their countertop or wall, the millions of Echo Shows, Google Nest Hubs, Skylight Calendars, and the like in homes today are a good indicator that there’s interest in this type of interface.
As Apple’s uncharacteristically chaotic launch video shows, HomeView targets a new demographic for the company: busy, Apple-centric households. One feature I’m most interested in is HomeView’s role as a home video phone. Do you know how many times I’ve tried to call my daughter when I’m not home, and her phone is dead or on silent? Based on Apple’s video, if she’s home, my call can now ring on the HomeView. I’ve occasionally used the drop-in feature on Echo smart speakers to get her attention, further proof of the advantage of always-on home devices.
I see HomeView as filling the awkward space where families don’t want phones at the dinner table or on the kitchen counter, but still want to check what time Zoey’s soccer game is or look up the origin of French toast (yeah, just kidding). This inevitably ends with one person pulling out their phone, which gives everyone else implicit permission to do the same.
Smart displays and speakers from Amazon and Google already help with this to some extent, but Apple’s version comes without ads (see the Echo Show) and may have a longer lifespan (RIP Pixel Tablet). Siri AI’s much-hyped “personal context” capabilities, in which it can scan your text messages and emails and serve up relevant information to up to six members of your household, also give it an edge here.
I asked Kaiann Drance, vice president of product marketing for home at Apple, why Apple chose now for its biggest smart home push yet. She said Siri AI and the personal context it brings, which she called Apple’s “privacy story,” came together with a device designed specifically for the home. “With the magic of Siri AI, it comes together in a way that we haven’t been able to deliver before,” she said.
As the Siri AI capabilities continue to evolve, the home experience is fitting to be able to interact with in a natural way.”
— Lilian Rincon, Apple
Siri AI made this possible because it’s “much more capable,” said Lilian Rincon, vice president of product marketing for AI at Apple. She also pointed to its new conversational abilities. “It’s great because you can just ask it to change the temperature on your thermostat in a very natural way. As the Siri AI capabilities continue to evolve, the home experience is fitting to be able to interact with in this natural way.” On why now, Rincon says the natural-language shift is the point where AI goes mainstream. “Because now it can be … my mother-in-law or the Gen Z who’s in college, both of them can use this in the way that they naturally speak and get what they want.”
Siri AI in the home has another big advantage over the competition: It doesn’t say too much. Based on the demos I saw, and my time using Siri AI on the iPhone, when you ask it to do something, it does it without peppering you with follow-up questions. Rincon confirmed this is by design. “A lot of these assistants out there are always asking questions because they want more information,” she said. “For us, it isn’t about that. We’re there to get it done, take an action for you, show you what you need to get done, and then really get out of the way.”
My first reaction to hearing about HomeView’s smart home features, which are basically just what the Apple Home app on your phone can do, was disappointment. I had hoped that, along with new hardware, Apple would bring more functionality and deeper Apple Intelligence integration to Apple Home to make the smart home smarter. I’m still waiting on that.
On reflection, I’m okay with this — for now. Apple trying to make the smart home easier for everyone to use can only be a good thing. As always, the smart home’s most important goal is to come up with an easier way to turn on the lights.
Apple trying to make the smart home easier for everyone to use can only be a good thing.
HomeView’s simplicity may put off hardcore home automation enthusiasts, but I’d argue it’s perfect for their long-suffering spouses. I’ve tried every version of physical smart home control interface in my home, and you know who hasn’t used any of them? My family.
Because my family all have iPhones, and because the HomeView will always be there and will feel familiar, I can see them actually using it. That means I can set up a full Home Assistant instance on a Raspberry Pi with a detailed dashboard on a tablet in my office, then feed the scenes and devices into Apple Home so my husband and daughter can just tap to control them on a HomeView in the kitchen.
HomeView may not be the smart home computer I want Apple to make, but it is the smart home device Apple needed to make. It doesn’t have to run all the iPad apps or do more than my iPhone; it just needs to make the smart home accessible to everyone in the house. If Apple has pulled that off, it could be more valuable than any new smart home feature I’ve been wishing for.
Photos by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge