Apple announces “HomeView” smart home hub

Apple today announced “HomeView,” an all-new type of smart home hub featuring a 7-inch Liquid Retina display and Siri AI.

Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, said:

Apple HomeView is designed to be shared by everyone in the home while being completely personal to each user. It recognizes your face to switch from a home 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 easier to control your smart home. And it’s powered by Apple Intelligence with Siri AI at its heart, drawing on your iPhone’s personal context to help you find what you need and get more done, while keeping everyone’s information private and secure.

The HomeView features an aluminum design, with the screen connected to a dome-shaped speaker base by a stainless steel tilt hinge. Apple says it’s ideal for a kitchen counter, nightstand, or side table. The 7-inch Liquid Retina display offers True Tone and auto brightness between 0.3 nits and 500 nits, making it ideal for dimly lit environments.

A custom-designed acoustic system with two full-range speakers delivers “room-filling” spatial sound. A downward-firing woofer and two force-cancelling passive radiators are integrated directly into the base. With Handoff, users can continue to listen to audio from their iPhone by placing it in front of HomeView. It also supports multiroom audio.

The HomeView features faces that display information at a glance, including a Photos face, a “Flow” face that dynamically responds to motion, a Snoopy face that reflects context like time of day and weather, a Home Modular face that provides instant access to smart home accessories, a Home Camera face that can live stream up to nine video streams simultaneously, and more.

HomeView’s interface adjusts based on the user’s distance, displaying larger, simpler information across a room and richer details as the user gets closer. The device recognizes up to six people and provides a personalized experience. Each user has their own home screen with apps and widgets. Apple says personal content remains private, while shared photo albums and music can be enjoyed by all users, including guests.

The device features ‌Siri‌ AI and, when used with an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone or iPad, ‌Siri‌ AI can act on all apps and display relevant information from Messages and Calendar, Apple Music playlists, and more. Users can also customize the expressiveness and rhythm of ‌Siri‌’s voice on their paired and compatible device. ‌Siri‌ AI conversations sync across devices.

Apple also said that “HomeView is the perfect sous chef,” with the ability to convert recipes from the web into step-by-step instructions with hands-free timer controls and ingredient tracking. Additionally, HomeView offers FaceTime and Center Stage, as well as Intercom for sending a quick message around the house.

The tabletop version is available in silver, starlight, pink rose and space gray, including matching cables. A wall-mounted version is available in silver and space gray only. It can be attached using three mounting options from Schneider Home. The wall-mounted version offers “rich sound” with two custom drivers and computer audio specifically tailored for wall placement.

The HomeView costs $299. Pre-orders begin today, launching on November 13. It is not available in the EU.