What to know about HomeView, Apple's new smart home hub

Apple just gave us a new look at what modern home tech should feel like. Meet HomeView, an all-in-one hub combining a display, speaker, virtual assistant, and smart home control center.

Unveiled on Tuesday, HomeView runs on Apple Intelligence and a next generation of Siri AI. It serves as a shared home device while giving household members access to their own personalized content. Think about how much smoother your routines would be with one main hub managing the lights, music, and daily schedules!

Here’s what to know about Apple HomeView.

What is Apple HomeView?

The smart home hub has a 7-inch Liquid Retina display. It can sit on a table or counter with a speaker base, or be mounted on a wall using mounting accessories.

The device is available in silver, starlight, rose pink, and space gray for the tabletop version. The wall-mounted model comes in silver and space gray.

Unlike a regular smart speaker, HomeView has a touchscreen for viewing information, managing connected devices, displaying photos, and interacting with supported apps.

What can it do?

HomeView brings several everyday functions together in one place. Users can play music through Apple Music, listen to podcasts, make FaceTime calls, read and reply to Messages, check their calendars and reminders, and use Find My to locate supported Apple devices or items with an AirTag.

It can also help with everyday tasks around the house. In the kitchen, for instance, users can view recipes as step-by-step instructions, track ingredients, and set timers using voice controls.

HomeView also supports multiroom audio, allowing users to play music across compatible HomeView devices, HomePods, HomePod minis, and AirPlay-enabled speakers.

Powered by Apple Intelligence, its updated Siri assistant lets users ask questions and make voice requests. HomeView can recognize up to six household members and display personalized apps and widgets for each person.

When paired with a compatible iPhone or iPad, it can also use personal context from apps such as Messages and Calendar to provide tailored responses.

Can it control other smart home devices?

It works with supported Apple Home and Matter accessories, as well as Apple’s newly announced Home Collection, a lineup of smart home products developed with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric.

With compatible cameras and a supported iCloud+ subscription, HomeView can provide notifications about people, pets, packages, and vehicles detected around the home. It can also help users review supported home security footage and send alerts when it detects the sound of smoke or carbon monoxide alarms.

Smart home accessories are sold separately, and some features require additional subscriptions or compatible devices.

What about privacy?

Apple says HomeView keeps personal information private, even when the device is shared by a household. Its A18 chip includes protected processing areas for camera and microphone data. Personal information from apps such as Messages and Calendar are displayed only when the device recognizes an enrolled user and their paired iPhone or iPad is present and has been recently unlocked.

Siri also processes your requests through Apple’s Private Cloud Compute, where your data is never saved or shared with Apple.

How much does it cost?

Apple HomeView is priced at US$299 (around P18,777) for both the tabletop and wall-mounted versions. The wall-mounted model does not include a speaker base, and its mounting accessories are sold separately.

The device will be available on Nov. 13 in the United States, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. As of Apple's announcement, the Philippines was not included in the initial list of markets.

Siri AI will initially be available in English, with availability and features varying by region. 

You can pre-order through Apple's official website here.