Apple's HomeView Is Here: What a Smart Home Display Is and Why Apple Wants One in Your Kitchen

On October 13, Apple announced HomeView, a small screen for your counter or wall that doubles as the control center for your home. It is a brand-new kind of product for Apple. We have not tested one, so this is not a review. It is an introduction: what the category is, what Apple says HomeView does, and what is worth knowing before you spend money.

What is a smart home display?

A smart home is a house where everyday things, such as lights, door locks, thermostats and cameras, connect to your Wi-Fi so you can control them from a phone or by voice. Someone has to be the boss of all those devices. A smart display is a screen in a central spot that plays that role. Instead of finding your phone and tapping through menus, you glance at the screen or say what you want. It also works as a speaker, a photo frame, a video-call screen and a kitchen timer. Other companies have sold these for years. Apple is a latecomer, and its earlier smart home products did not catch on widely.

What Apple says HomeView is

The tabletop model has a 7-inch screen on a rounded speaker base, joined by a hinge so you can tilt it. The body is aluminum, in silver, starlight, rose pink or space gray. A separate wall-mounted model, in space gray or silver, has the same screen and features. Both cost $299. The screen automatically dims at night and brightens in a sunny room, and it shows simpler, bigger information when you are across the room and more detail when you are close.

It can recognize up to six people in a household by face and show each their own home screen and widgets (small at-a-glance panels, such as a calendar). Apple says private things like your messages and calendar appear only when it recognizes you and your own iPhone or iPad is nearby and recently unlocked. Photos and music from shared albums are available to everyone, including guests.

What you can do with it

For the home, it controls cameras, thermostats, lights, locks and blinds by touch or voice, and can show up to nine camera feeds at once. It works with Matter accessories, Matter being an industry standard that lets gadgets from different brands work together. It can also listen for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and send an alert to your phone or watch.

For everyday life, it plays music, podcasts and Apple TV content, makes FaceTime video calls with a camera that follows you as you move, sends messages, announces things to the whole house through an intercom feature, and walks you through recipes with hands-free timers. You can start music on your iPhone and move it over to HomeView. Several rooms of HomePod and AirPlay speakers can play together.

The new Siri, and the fine print

HomeView runs on what Apple calls Siri AI, a more conversational version of its voice assistant. Two cautions are worth knowing. First, Apple labels Siri AI as a beta, meaning it is still being tested and refined, and some online features have daily usage limits, with fees planned for expanded access. Second, the most personal features, such as drawing on your calendar and messages, need a newer iPhone or iPad that supports Apple Intelligence. Some extras, such as smarter camera alerts that recognize people, pets and packages, also need a paid iCloud+ plan and compatible cameras.

What about privacy?

A screen with a camera and microphone in your kitchen deserves a hard look. Apple says camera and microphone data is handled in a separate protected area of the device that the rest of the software, and Apple itself, cannot get into. It also says requests sent to its cloud are not stored or made available to Apple or anyone else. Those are the company's claims, and independent reviewers and security researchers will need to test them over time.

Availability and what else was announced

Pre-orders opened October 13 in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and India, with Singapore following on October 15. Sales start November 13. HomeView is not being sold in the European Union, because Siri AI is not available there. Apple also announced a new Apple TV 4K and a next-generation HomePod mini, plus a line of Apple-designed cameras, thermostats and a lock made with LG and Schneider Electric. Those start arriving in December, with some in early 2027.

Should you pre-order?

If you have no smart devices at home, a hub is not the place to start. Try one smart plug or bulb first. If you already use an iPhone and a few smart devices, HomeView could tidy things up nicely, especially if you have a recent iPhone. Because it ships November 13, there is no rush. Waiting for independent reviews costs nothing, and a first-generation product with a beta assistant is worth seeing tested before you buy. We will cover it in more depth once real-world testing is available.

Source: Apple's HomeView announcement (apple.com/newsroom, October 13, 2026).