Apple has finally announced its new bet on the connected home. And I say “finally” because we've had rumours for months, if not years, about a home display, a new HomePod mini and an updated Apple TV. All sorts of rumours: it was coming in spring, then it was delayed, then it needed a new Siri and that was why it was delayed… Well, the announcement is here, so we can separate what Apple actually announced from what we imagined along the way. There are a few differences.

The announcement was on 13 October, and this time we're not talking about leaks but an actual official announcement, although not everything is coming to Europe. Apple has announced HomeView, a sort of HomePod plus iPad, the HomePod mini 2, and a new generation of Apple TV 4K. It was also supposed to announce a collection of smart-home accessories developed with LG and Schneider Electric. Those have been announced too, but they won't be available for us to try for a few months yet.

As you can see, this isn't a one-off product. It looks like an attempt to build a full range of home products and give the category a new push, I don't know… but let's see what's real, what might be useful, and what we'll have to wait for here in Spain, poker face and all, hoping it doesn't end up like Apple's glasses, which still haven't arrived.

HomeView: the screen for controlling your home

HomeView, the new display for controlling your home. Image: Apple.

The star of the show is clearly HomeView. Basically, it's a seven-inch display with a speaker base. You can leave it on a table or mount it on the wall. Apple sees it as a central point for the home: music, FaceTime calls, messages, cameras and smart-home controls, all in one place. The idea, at least, isn't that this is an iPad on a stand, but a fixed device that's always there and ready for anyone in the family to interact with, ask it for things and so on.

HomeView can recognise up to six different people (ha! How many are there in our house? Exactly six! I don't have to sacrifice a child… I mean sacrifice in the nice way, not actually sacrifice them, just leave them out of the ecosystem… well, you get me). The point is that HomeView can adapt its screen to each person, with their own apps and widgets. Personal information, such as messages or calendars, only appears when it recognises the user and the linked device meets the proximity requirements. Everyone else gets a shared experience. I find that an interesting approach for a device in a shared area, because at this price you're not going to put one in every room. But we'll see how it works in real life with children, visitors, people walking behind it and a camera pointing at the room where you've put it.

You can control smart-home devices on the display through the Home app or by voice. You know the sort of thing: adjust lights, thermostats, blinds, locks and cameras. I don't know if we'll be able to ask directly what the temperature is in a room; we'll see. The camera view can show up to nine live streams at once, which could be useful for getting a quick look around the whole house. Like HomePods, HomeView also has temperature and humidity sensors and can detect smoke and carbon-monoxide alarm sounds to notify you on other devices. I have to say this has never worked for me, but anyway… Besides being a control panel and speaker, it's trying to be a security display and a source of information about the state of the home. But you know how little you can customise the Home app or the accessory screen on the iPhone lock screen. Yes, you can put your favourite devices and automations there, but it's not really a panel that lets you control everything quickly without switching between screens. I don't know.

Apple's big promise here is Siri AI: a more conversational, much smarter Siri with all the context that gives it a purpose. When linked to an iPhone or iPad compatible with Apple Intelligence, it can use information from apps such as Messages and Calendar and help with actions related to that context. Apple also says the display adapts to how far away you are: it simplifies the information when you look at it from the other side of the room and shows more detail when you come closer. On paper, all of this sounds great. But what can I tell you? I don't ask Siri to do much. It's not just because the Siri we've had until now is half asleep. It's because my home reacts on its own through conditional automations. I don't go around shouting or asking the assistant for things. If I do need to ask, I usually use my phone or watch. At most, I use my voice to turn off a room's light when I leave it, or switch off all the lights when I'm going out. And even then, I know that if I don't say anything, it'll do the same once we've all left home and moved a few hundred metres away. Voice control has dropped to second or third place in my house. Still, maybe the push from AI will change that and we'll end up chatting more with Siri.

But, as you may have guessed from the camera, here's the cold shower for those of us in Spain: HomeView won't be sold in the European Union for now because Siri AI isn't available in the EU version of iOS. It's almost a joke that the most eye-catching product from the presentation is kept out of our market because of the very feature Apple puts at the centre of its pitch. And this isn't a case where Apple has announced a product for Spain with a date still to come, as sometimes happens. Apple says it won't be available for sale in the EU, at least for now, with no date and no language-related excuse.

Apple also highlights privacy. It says camera and microphone processing are handled securely and that Siri can work on-device or through Private Cloud Compute. That's great, but we'll have to see what data is processed in the home, what needs the internet, and what options we'll have to control recognition. For example, will the smart-home features still work if our internet connection goes down? Will sensitive information be uploaded? When we talk about local processing in Home Assistant, for instance, it's not just about data not going back and forth to a server and everything still working without the internet. That's great, but the internet doesn't go down any more. The main concern is the data sent to a third-party server, which could tell them things like what time I'm home, how many people are in the house and when I go to bed. I know, people at Tado aren't going to use that information to come and rob my house. It's like professional locksmiths: they can open almost any lock in almost any situation, even if it means making a hole in the door, as happened to Jacobo Vidal… and they still don't go around robbing houses. I can open several car models from several brands with the hardware I have at home, and I've never stolen a car and never will.

HomePod mini 2: an overdue refresh

HomePod mini 2. Image: Apple.

The HomePod mini 2 is arriving too. I've been especially keen on this one because, as you know, several of my HomePod minis and a Classic have died on me over the past few months.

It comes in five colours: pink, green, blue, white and midnight. It has an S10 chip to run the new Siri and promises better sound through real-time processing. It adds something called Sound Glow, a silly visual effect that makes the top react to music like an equaliser. Fine, it's fun, but what I really care about is whether it sounds better, whether Siri responds better and, above all, whether these things will last longer instead of ending up in the bin.

The mini 2 will still work as a smart-home hub and speaker for controlling accessories and triggering automations by voice. At launch it doesn't have the new Siri AI, but Apple says it'll arrive in a future software update and hasn't given a date. And here comes the European problem again: that feature won't initially be available in the European Union. The speaker itself is coming to Spain, but the feature Apple is making the biggest deal about is stuck waiting for the Siri AI issue to be resolved. Give me a break.

But wait, the price in Spain is €169. Pre-orders are open and it will be in shops on 30 October, which is great, but the previous one cost €100! They've nearly doubled the price! Yes, yes, I know I'll probably end up buying several, but the €100 price made it attractive despite being more expensive than Sonos speakers that sound at least as good as the HomePod mini. At €169, you have to think about it a bit more; it's no longer an impulse buy.

Oh, and if you pair them with the new Apple TV 4K, you can now use four HomePod mini 2 speakers for surround sound. That's an interesting option if you already own a few. Starting from scratch with four speakers and an Apple TV costs a lot more right now than other surround-sound systems from well-known brands.

New Apple TV 4K: entertainment and home hub

Apple TV 4K and Siri Remote. Image: Apple.

Speaking of the new Apple TV 4K, this is the fourth generation and it gets an A19 chip. Apple says it performs better than the previous model and has a dedicated AV1 decoder for more efficient video playback. The Siri Remote keeps its design but adds a small speaker so you can find it with Find My and make it play a sound. For those who lose the remote between the sofa cushions every other day. Not me, never… but anyway.

Besides watching content, I use the Apple TV as a smart-home hub. That lets me control accessories when I'm away, run automations as you know, and get notifications on the TV from a compatible doorbell while I'm watching Netflix. It's a silly thing, but it looks pretty cool: you can see who's at the door, talk to them and, if you have a compatible lock, make a decision without leaving what you're watching. The new model also has Wi-Fi and Thread—Apple doesn't say which generation—and the price has gone up too. It now costs a whopping €349, which seems outrageous to me. The previous model, the one I have, with Ethernet, Thread and all that, cost €249. Paying €100 more for the option to control four HomePod mini 2 speakers for surround sound? I don't see it.

And if this is your first Apple TV… still no. I'd rather look for the previous model on Wallapop or somewhere similar.

Apple Home Collection: accessories from LG and Schneider

Finally, I wanted to talk about the Apple Home Collection I mentioned earlier. These aren't devices made exclusively by Apple, but products developed with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric. You add them from your iPhone and control them in the Home app, without installing another app or opening another account. That could reduce friction and cut down on new apps. We already have enough usernames and passwords in smart homes, especially when the Home app was supposed to manage every device update and pairing.

The collection—I don't know why they call it that—includes indoor and outdoor cameras, a video doorbell, a smart lock, thermostats, and temperature and humidity sensors. The cameras record at up to 2.5K. The doorbell has two cameras, one for the visitor and one for packages. They support iCloud+ and Apple Intelligence, and so on. According to Apple, they stop monitoring when the first person in the family gets home.

LG's lock can open when you bring an iPhone or Apple Watch with a digital key close to it, because it has an Ultra Wideband chip. It has a number pad and can also be opened with a regular key if you have a double-clutch cylinder. It's compatible with Matter and Aliro. Apple says the basic access features work locally, which is great because opening a door shouldn't depend on whatever server happens to be running. But all of them work that way. Still, we'll have to see the tests and installation details, and make sure it's compatible with European lock cylinders too.

For climate control, this collection includes thermostats from LG and Schneider. Apple gives us some very innovative examples, such as adjusting the temperature based on who's home, whether it's bedtime or whether people have left, rather than relying only on schedules. You don't say; we've been talking about those conditions for six years. Of course, the thermostats and sensors support Matter.

Apple says all these devices support Thread and can be set up with a single tap over NFC. One thing I like is the claim that they can update their credentials if you change your Wi-Fi password. That's really nice… but I have doubts, because the current HomePod is supposed to support this, not the new one, and all it did was tell you that the password had changed and needed updating. It took a couple of taps, sure, but it wasn't automatic or unattended. I don't know.

The collection is supposed to start arriving in Spain in December, with the full range available by early 2027. When it gets here, we'll put it through its paces and compare it with equivalent products from Aqara, Eve, Netatmo and other brands that have been working well for years.

What about Home Assistant and the rest of the house?

If you already have Home Assistant, Homebridge, Homey or something else at home—even though Homey has now said it will stop supporting HomeKit devices—you've probably been mixing accessories from lots of brands, adding them to automations and linking them through Matter's multi-admin feature without any trouble.

Matter makes it easier to share devices, but it doesn't guarantee that every feature is shared. We've seen a lock appear in both Apple Home and Home Assistant, yet show different codes, access logs or battery levels. Even performance can differ: the Nuki Ultra works better over Wi-Fi than Thread. It's the same with cameras: recordings, recognised people and notifications… will we be able to bring all of that into Home Assistant? The question isn't just “Is it Matter-compatible?” but “Which features can I use on each platform?”

Anyway, we'll see.

Is this the upgrade Apple Home needed?

Apple has announced a complete and interesting range of new accessories: the display, a new HomePod mini, an Apple TV and a family of home devices from LG. I think the most interesting thing isn't adding more screens but trying to reduce friction: setup without another app, using the same Home app for everything, and making a shared family display more useful. If we even need a shared display, that is. We'll see. You know I've always said that the usual iPad hung on the wall to control smart-home devices is silly. The home should act based on conditions and, at most, give us some information. The important thing is that it acts. I don't care what the living-room temperature is: I know that when it's cold and we're home, the boiler will be on, and when we leave it will adjust itself so the house doesn't freeze but also doesn't burn a fortune in gas.

Then there's availability. HomeView isn't coming to the European Union because Siri AI isn't available here. It looks as if that feature will arrive later on the HomePod mini 2. Apple has put artificial intelligence at the centre of the pitch, which is great, but in Spain the main selling point is blocked from day one.