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For more than a decade, Apple has told other companies to build smart home devices for its platform. This week, Apple launched its own. The Apple Home Collection is a lineup of cameras, thermostats, sensors, a smart door lock, and a video doorbell, all codeveloped with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric. They arrive alongside HomeView, Apple\u2019s first smart display.<\/p>\n
Even after 12 years of HomeKit, Apple\u2019s smart home ecosystem still feels underdeveloped, especially compared to the competition. Amazon\u2019s and Google\u2019s ecosystems support more products, and both have popular in-house brands: Ring and Nest. Apple had nothing of its own to point customers to as an Apple experience \u2014 and now it does.<\/p>\n
But why now? And does Apple actually add anything new here, or is this mostly packaging? At Apple\u2019s \u201cWelcome home\u201d event in New York this week, I spoke with Kaiann Drance, vice president of product marketing for home at Apple, about the company\u2019s new approach to the smart home and what this means for Apple\u2019s commitment to Matter, the interoperable open smart home standard it helped found.<\/p>\n
Apple\u2019s HomeView is viewed as a gateway to bring people into the smart home.<\/em> Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy \/ The Verge<\/p>\n Drance says the big reason was the development of the right technologies. The first was Matter, which provided the ecosystem. The second was AI, which brought a more conversational Siri voice assistant. Both were necessary to create a dedicated home device in HomeView. \u201cWith the magic of Siri AI, it comes together in a way that we haven\u2019t been able to deliver before,\u201d Drance says. \u201cThat\u2019s been a really critical piece of bringing this all together.\u201d<\/p>\n The bigger play is HomeView as a gateway to the smart home.<\/p>\n The bigger play here is HomeView as a gateway to the smart home for Apple\u2019s users. Buy one for playing music, guided cooking recipes, and checking your calendar, and you might soon want a camera or smart lock to go with it. Drance says they\u2019ve seen that once people try a single smart device and find it easier than they expected, it \u201cunlocks this delightful understanding of what\u2019s possible once you bring these products into the home.\u201d She argues that most people just don\u2019t know what a smart home can do.<\/p>\n She\u2019s not wrong. The biggest barrier to buying smart devices is that people don\u2019t see any value in the products, according to research from Parks Associates. Privacy and security concerns and complexity also rank high, along with cost. While Apple isn\u2019t addressing the cost concern here \u2014 the products start<\/em> at $200 \u2014 the other elements are part of its pitch: one-tap setup, your data stays yours, one app to run it all. Apple\u2019s stamp of approval also carries a lot of weight. \u201cPeople who own Apple products are very, very loyal, and there is a large user base,\u201d says Elizabeth Parks, president and CMO at Parks Associates.<\/p>\n Several Apple Home Collection products: LG smart door lock, indoor camera and video doorbell, and a Schneider Electric thermostat.<\/em> Image: Apple<\/p>\n Until now, Apple Home has been a bit like a buffet: You can pick from any brand that supports HomeKit or Matter and hope it all goes together. The Home Collection is more like the chef\u2019s choice, a short list of dishes Apple promises will pair well. Drance says that\u2019s what some customers were asking for. \u201cThere is a lot of choice with Matter, and there\u2019s a lot of great products out there,\u201d she says. \u201cBut sometimes we do get asked, \u2018Hey, what product should I put in the home?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Rather than build devices itself, Apple chose to codevelop the lineup with partners that \u201chave their own expertise in the home.\u201d Both have a global footprint and home experience, she says, \u201cLG more so in consumer products, Schneider through home build and home installations.\u201d Drance says it was a ground-up collaboration with Apple bringing \u201cthe design aesthetic that would be suitable for the home and suitable to go with our family of products.\u201d The company is also partnering with ADT through Apple retail stores to help people install the devices.<\/p>\n Drance says setup and ease of use were a big focus. \u201cThe one-tap setup was really important to make it so easy, having no need for a separate account, no need for a separate app,\u201d she says. \u201cWe just wanted that simplicity to be at its core, and of course, the privacy that we\u2019ve developed together with our partners.\u201d She says everything integrates through Apple Home; you don\u2019t need to create an LG or Schneider account, and all data is end-to-end encrypted, so only you can access it.<\/p>\n Drance was clear that the Apple Home Collection isn\u2019t replacing the buffet \u2014 the hardware ecosystem that has grown up around Apple Home. \u201cWe still have this incredible ecosystem with Matter, and with Works with Apple Home, that is going to remain,\u201d she says. \u201cWe know that homes are not a one-size-fits-all solution, so our customers will continue to have that choice, and we remain committed to building that ecosystem as well.\u201d<\/p>\n The hardware mostly backs that up. The lock, thermostats, and sensors are Matter-compatible; the lock supports Aliro and works entirely locally, and every device supports Thread. The exception is the cameras, which use Apple\u2019s HomeKit Secure Video, not Matter. That\u2019s the biggest lock-in. I was surprised Apple didn\u2019t announce Matter camera support. But the Thread radios suggest the hardware might be Matter-ready, and Apple may be waiting for the Matter camera standard to support encrypted uploads, something HKSV already does.<\/p>\n Does the Home Collection do anything other Apple Home devices can\u2019t? In theory, no; in practice, yes. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve done with Apple Home Collection is we\u2019ve added another layer on top of that, that deeper integration,\u201d says Drance. There aren\u2019t features exclusive to the Home Collection; it\u2019s more that Apple is saying all<\/em> the features will be here. It\u2019s a bit like Google making a Pixel phone to show Android developers what Android can do: Apple\u2019s products come with the full suite of capabilities the platform offers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe one-tap setup was really important to make it so easy, having no need for a separate account, no need for a separate app.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Kaiann Drance, Apple<\/p>\n According to Apple, setup is as simple as tapping your iPhone to the device, like pairing AirPods, with no extra account or app needed and no scanning required. Every device uses Thread to stay connected if Wi-Fi drops, and Apple says each can update its own network credentials when you change your Wi-Fi. This could address the offline-device problems that plague Apple Home. Everything is end-to-end encrypted, and the cameras keep recording to onboard storage if your Wi-Fi drops.<\/p>\n The devices also support Apple Home features other manufacturers have been slow to adopt. The LG lock is only the third to offer hands-free Home Key unlocking over UWB, and both thermostats work with Apple\u2019s Clean Energy Guidance and Adaptive Temperature, which adjusts around your location and sleep schedule.<\/p>\n At least that\u2019s the promise. We\u2019ll have to test these devices to see how well they deliver.<\/p>\n The LG door lock and video doorbell pair in the Apple Home app so you can unlock the door when you see who is at the door.<\/em> Image: Apple<\/p>\n Together, Apple\u2019s new devices form a polished, cohesive starter kit for the smart home \u2014 albeit an expensive one. The cameras, lock, and thermostats cost $200 to $400, and camera history requires an iCloud Plus plan. As Drance said, the smart home isn\u2019t a one-size-fits-all solution, so this won\u2019t work for everybody. If you already have a Ring doorbell or Google Nest Hub, this probably isn\u2019t for you. Instead, Apple is trying to guide its existing customers who haven\u2019t bought a video doorbell or smart lock yet down a curated path into the smart home.<\/p>\n However, Apple faces a tougher challenge in the broader market: It\u2019s arriving late. The smart display category is already mature; millions of homes have Echo and Google smart displays. Millions more have Ring or Nest doorbells, neither of which will work with HomeView at launch.<\/p>\n As a smart home platform, Apple Home ranks third in adoption, behind Google, with Amazon holding a big lead, according to Parks Associates research. But customer loyalty to those platforms isn\u2019t guaranteed. Four in five smart-home households would consider switching, Parks says, especially if another platform lets them control everything in one place. \u201cInteroperability will be critical, but the bigger prize is owning the consumer relationship,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n With its Home Collection, Apple isn\u2019t reinventing the smart home; it\u2019s trying to make it easier to get into one.<\/span><\/p>\n Follow topics and authors<\/strong> from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.<\/span><\/p>\nFrom a choose-your-own adventure to a tailored solution<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
So, what\u2019s the benefit?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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