On an unassuming street in Tribeca sits the six-storey loft that Apple calls home in New York City.
A ceiling of skylights, exposed brick walls and tasteful floral arrangements makes the mansion feel inviting without being overstimulating. It’s the kind of home most people would look at and think, “Yes, I’d live here”.
This isn’t Apple’s NYC headquarters, but it is where they’ve chosen to unveil their biggest home product in six years: Apple HomeView.
The launch marks Apple’s debut into smart display, designed to be a compact, efficient and personal device that makes your home frictionless, allowing you to focus on the things that matter most. Whether you’re trying to spend less time on your phone, constantly bookmarking recipes to test out on friends or live hours away from loved ones, the HomeView was designed with you in mind.
The tech giant announced the new product in the early hours of Wednesday morning (AEST), alongside updates to existing devices, the Homepod mini 2 and Apple TV 4K.
HomeView is available for Australians to pre-order today, with prices starting from $449 for the standalone HomeView device and $543.95 for the wall-mounted models. It will be available to buy from November 13.
Arguably late to the game given the launch comes nine years after competitor Amazon first introduced the Amazon Echo Show, Apple have taken the technology further by allowing full integration with your other Apple products.
The personal context provided by your iPhone is key to setting these new smart home products apart from competitors Amazon and Google. For this reason, HomeView is best suited to people who already rely heavily on Apple devices, like the iPhone or iPad, as well as anyone who found the original Homepod’s Siri capability lagging and lacking.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Apple HomeView.
What is Apple HomeView?
HomeView is the new Apple smart home screen product, developed with three main considerations: how we enjoy entertaining, connecting with loved ones and managing the smart home. It’s essentially an extension of your iPhone or iPad, allowing you to keep those devices away while you’re spending time at home.
It features a seven-inch liquid retina display; 12-megapixel centre stage camera, which tracks you as you’re on a call; and four-microphone array system, ensuring crisp and clear audio, while reducing background noise.
Larger than an iPhone but smaller than an iPad, it was designed to be compact enough to blend into your home, but big enough to be used from across the room. The display is attached to a domed aluminum base by a stainless-steel hinge that’s adjustable for tabletops of different heights and comes in four different colours: starlight, rose pink, space gray and silver.
There’s also three purpose-built mounts, which are priced depending on the type and are an additional cost on top of $449 for the HomeView: Power Mount USB‑C Wall Connector ($94.95), Power Mount AC Wired ($124.95) and Power Mount PoE Wired ($199.95).
To set up a profile, you need to connect your personal device, such as an iPhone or iPad, along with your Apple account. To be able to use the HomeView, your personal device needs to be in the house with you, be connected to the same Wi-Fi and recently unlocked.
When you stand in front of the HomeView screen, it recognises your face and when you swipe up, will automatically take you to your profile, which is fully customisable, in classic Apple style, with various display faces.
Capable of supporting six different profiles, the idea is that everyone in the home can enjoy a uniquely personal HomeView experience.
What makes HomeView different?
Apple is positioning HomeView as singular in the market thanks to how it adapts to each user and essentially functions as an extension of your personal Apple device. Through a combination of facial recognition technology and Siri AI (powered by their AI and machine learning system, Apple Intelligence), the HomeView can leverage your iPhone for personal context understanding.
For example, once you’ve unlocked the device, you can ask it to play the song a friend texted you earlier that day; check, update and add appointments; set reminders and continue tasks started on your phone – or vice versa.
Home cooks will find it particularly helpful. The HomeView has a designated cooking display that makes following recipes incredibly easy. Once you’ve found a recipe online, it will grab the relevant details and clearly show the ingredients list and instructions while you cook, integrating other features like the clock to help you manage your time.
How is your data protected on HomeView?
The Apple HomeView runs on the A18 chip with secure exclaves, which is the security technology the company developed to provide added privacy. With these exclaves, they partition off a secure compartment where the device processes all the data used for recognition and communication. Apple, OS and apps aren’t able to access the camera or microphone data captured by the device.
Similarly, like all Apple products, it uses end-to-end encryption, meaning Apple can’t access any of your data.
When you’re using the HomeView, to access your personal content, the device needs to recognise your face and voice. If you leave it open on your profile and someone you live with tries to read your text messages, for instance, they won’t be able to because the HomeView will see they aren’t you. (Additionally, it will send a notification to your phone to verify if you’re the person trying to access the information.)
If someone else has their profile open, you’ll still be able to use the HomeView for tasks like cooking, playing music or asking general questions, but you won’t be able to access personal content.
Are there parental controls?
Yes. The person who sets up the HomeView has control over what is displayed and can put in place restrictions on apps like Safari and elements like explicit language in music.
For children under 13, the settings on their personal device will be honoured on the HomeView. If there are certain things restricted on their iPad, for example, those same settings will carry over to their HomeView profile.
What other announcements did Apple make?
The company also announced the updated Apple Homepod mini 2 and Apple TV 4K.
Apple Homepod mini 2 now comes with Siri AI, to enhance music discovery and allow for convenient use that leverages your iPhone information (so you can add events to your calendar or set reminders that will automatically sync with your phone).
It has a new feature called Sound Glow, where the lights on top of the Homepod glow to match the colours of the album art that you’re listening to, and comes in three additional colours: blue, green and pink.
The Homepod mini 2 will cost $229. It’s available to pre-order now, you can buy it from October 30.
Meanwhile, Apple TV now comes in a 4K upgrade, along with Siri AI for your living room entertainment. You can ask for recommendations, and it will display results, while also letting you talk to Siri hands-free from your iPhone. The Apple TV 4K will also be able to pair with up to four compatible HomePod speakers for surround sound at home.
And the new Siri remote can now play a sound when lost or be located using Apple’s Find My.
Apple TV 4K costs $449, is available for pre-order now and will be available to purchase from November 13.
The writer travelled to New York City as a guest of Apple.
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