Apple is known for many innovative products — phones, tablets, watches, and computers. It has had a harder time getting into the smart home market, but now that Siri is finally closer to an intelligent service, Apple thought that now was the best time to introduce an entirely new product category: the HomeView smart display.
HomeView is the first product of its kind for Apple. Before this, the company dabbled in smart speakers, like the HomePod and HomePod Mini, both with varying degrees of success. HomeView, however, is Apple’s first true home product with a speaker and display united into the same device.
When HomeView launches, it will only come with a small number of Apple’s first-party apps by default.
At first glance, HomeView looks a lot like an Apple Watch-shaped iPad mounted to a stand with a 360-degree speaker grille along the bottom. It features a 7-inch Liquid Retina Display to show information, a 12MP Center Stage camera for FaceTime calls, and four microphones and Spatial Audio speakers to interact with Siri. And it comes in four colors: silver, starlight (gold), rose pink (rose gold), and space gray. Alternatively, you can opt for a wall-mounted version without the speaker stand in either space gray or silver.
HomeView is an odd device in that it doesn’t have its own branded operating system like Apple’s other platforms:
- iPhone = iOS
- iPad = iPadOS
- Mac = macOS
- Apple Watch = watchOS
- Apple TV = tvOS
- Apple Vision Pro = visionOS
Apple filed a trademark for homeOS, which would make sense for HomeView, but so far, the company hasn’t used the name. Instead, HomeView borrows from one of Apple’s existing software platforms.
At first glance, you might expect HomeView to run on iPadOS. It is virtually an odd-shaped iPad on a stand, after all. But you would be mistaken. Early reports suggest that HomeView actually took some software from CarPlay, which is intended for infotainment centers inside automobiles.
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This is a dubious move for Apple — first, because its major platforms usually have their own operating systems with unique user experiences, and second, because choosing CarPlay over iPadOS severely limits HomeView’s functionality. CarPlay devices don’t have access to the App Store, so app availability is limited to developers who support CarPlay through the iPhone version of their apps — which requires special approval from Apple.
That means when HomeView launches, it will only come with a small number of Apple’s first-party apps by default. These include:
- Alarms
- Calendar
- FaceTime
- Find My
- Home
- Intercom
- Messages
- Music
- Podcasts
- Reminders
- Safari
- Settings
- Timers
- Weather
- World Clock
Additional CarPlay-enabled apps include:
- Apple Music Classical
- Apple News
- Apple TV
- Audiobooks
- Any of your third-party apps that are approved
Even more disconcerting are the apps that aren’t approved for CarPlay for safety reasons. Because Apple doesn’t want you driving distracted, you can’t get YouTube, Netflix, TikTok, Starbucks, or ChatGPT in your car. Inadvertently, these won’t be available on HomeView either, at least not at first.
Luckily, unlike CarPlay, HomeView comes with the Safari web browser, so you may be able to navigate to these sites on the web to watch content, but the experience may not be as smooth as using a dedicated app.
The main draw of HomeView is the new Siri, powered by Apple Intelligence. Apple wants this to be the main way you interact with HomeView — by summoning Siri and asking questions. Alternatively, you can use the touchscreen to swipe through the interface, as you would with an iPhone or iPad. Just don’t expect to have all of your favorite apps.
As a Millennial who lived the dream of having an 8-inch TV on a swivel stand in my mom’s kitchen, HomeView could’ve been a great product to invoke that same nostalgia with a new modern twist. It’s odd to me, though, that Apple went out of its way to handicap its first smart display instead of building it off of a well-supported platform like iPadOS. This is virtually what it did for Vision Pro, and although that product didn’t really work out, Apple had the right idea in mind to give Vision access to as many apps on launch day as possible. That’s not happening with HomeView.
Still, my wife insists we get one, so I may have a HomeView review for Blaze News in the future, whether I want one of these or not.
HomeView is currently available for preorder at $299 for either the speaker-stand version or the wall-mounted variant. They will be available in stores and arrive at homes starting on November 13.
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