Apple launches HomeView smart home screen with Siri AI

Apple has introduced HomeView, a new home device that combines entertainment, communication and smart home controls in a single screen-based unit.

HomeView has a 7-inch Liquid Retina display and is designed for tabletop use or wall mounting. It can recognise up to six people by face and switch to a personalised home screen showing their apps and widgets.

Recognised users get access to Messages, FaceTime, Calendar, Reminders and Find My, while shared albums and music remain available to the wider household. Personal content appears only when the enrolled user is recognised and their paired iPhone or iPad is nearby and recently unlocked.

HomeView also brings Siri AI to Apple's home hardware. The updated assistant can answer broader questions, hold more natural conversations and, when linked to a compatible Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone or iPad, use personal context from apps such as Messages and Calendar.

Greg Joswiak, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Apple, outlined the company's positioning for the device.

"Apple HomeView is designed to be shared by everyone in the home yet feel completely personal to each user. It recognises your face to shift from a household screen to your own experience, fills the room with incredible sound, keeps you connected to the people who matter most with FaceTime, and makes it easy to control your smart home. And it's powered by Apple Intelligence with Siri AI at its core, drawing on personal context from your iPhone to help you find what you need and get more done, all while keeping everyone's information private and secure," said Joswiak.

Design and use

The tabletop version pairs the display with a domed speaker base through a stainless steel hinge that lets the screen tilt. The interface changes with distance, showing simpler information from across a room and more detail as a user approaches.

The device will be sold in silver, starlight, rose pink and space grey, while the wall-mounted version will come in silver and space grey. The wall-mounted model uses the same 7-inch display and can be attached using mounts made by Schneider Home.

HomeView is intended for a range of domestic tasks. It can be used to make FaceTime calls with Centre Stage, send and receive Messages by voice or onscreen keyboard, broadcast Intercom messages around the house, manage kitchen timers and locate people or items through Find My.

It also serves as an entertainment screen, supporting Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, Apple TV and compatible third-party audio and video apps. Users can also hand off audio from an iPhone held in front of the display. Multiroom audio is supported across multiple HomeView units, HomePod speakers and AirPlay-compatible devices.

Smart home focus

A central part of the launch is smart home management. Users can view camera feeds, adjust lights, lock doors and close blinds by touch or voice. The Home Camera face can show up to nine video feeds at once.

With a supported iCloud+ subscription, HomeView can work with compatible cameras to identify people, familiar faces, pets, packages and vehicles. It can also detect the sound of smoke or carbon monoxide alarms and send alerts to a user's iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch.

HomeView will also work with Apple Home Collection, a line of cameras, thermostats and a lock developed with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric, as well as other Matter and Apple Home-compatible accessories. The video doorbell and camera line-up will be available in the US, Canada and the UK at launch, while the deadbolt lock and thermostat will initially be sold in the US and Canada.

Privacy and availability

HomeView uses Secure Exclaves in the A18 chip to process camera and microphone data separately from the rest of the system. Siri requests can be handled on-device or through Private Cloud Compute, where data is not stored or made accessible to Apple.

Apple is not launching HomeView in the European Union because Siri AI is not currently available there on iOS. HomeView will launch in Canada, India, New Zealand, the UK and the US, with both the standard and wall-mounted versions priced at NZ$599 in New Zealand.

Siri AI on HomeView will be available in English in the US, Canada, India, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and the UK.