Why Apple is finally making its own smart home devices
8 min read
Summary
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’s first smart display.
Why Apple is finally making its own smart home devices
Apple’s new smart home lineup promises easier setup, tighter integration, and data privacy. But with steep competition and steeper prices, can Apple convince more people to adopt its vision of the smart home?
Why Apple is finally making its own smart home devices
Apple’s new smart home lineup promises easier setup, tighter integration, and data privacy. But with steep competition and steeper prices, can Apple convince more people to adopt its vision of the smart home?
Even after 12 years of HomeKit, Apple’s smart home ecosystem still feels underdeveloped, especially compared to the competition. Amazon’s and Google’s 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 — and now it does.
But why now? And does Apple actually add anything new here, or is this mostly packaging? At Apple’s “Welcome home” event in New York this week, I spoke with Kaiann Drance, vice president of product marketing for home at Apple, about the company’s new approach to the smart home and what this means for Apple’s commitment to Matter, the interoperable open smart home standard it helped found.
Why now?
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. “With the magic of Siri AI, it comes together in a way that we haven’t been able to deliver before,” Drance says. “That’s been a really critical piece of bringing this all together.”
The bigger play is HomeView as a gateway to the smart home.
The bigger play here is HomeView as a gateway to the smart home for Apple’s 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’ve seen that once people try a single smart device and find it easier than they expected, it “unlocks this delightful understanding of what’s possible once you bring these products into the home.” She argues that most people just don’t know what a smart home can do.
She’s not wrong. The biggest barrier to buying smart devices is that people don’t 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’t addressing the cost concern here — the products start at 200—theotherelementsarepartofitspitch:one−tapsetup,yourdatastaysyours,oneapptorunitall.Apple’sstampofapprovalalsocarriesalotofweight.“PeoplewhoownAppleproductsarevery,veryloyal,andthereisalargeuserbase,”saysElizabethParks,presidentandCMOat[ParksAssociates](https://www.parksassociates.com/index.php/blogs/home−systems−and−controls/welcome−home−apple−becomes−a−smart−home−contender).Fromachoose−your−ownadventuretoatailoredsolutionUntilnow,AppleHomehasbeenabitlikeabuffet:YoucanpickfromanybrandthatsupportsHomeKitorMatterandhopeitallgoestogether.TheHomeCollectionismorelikethechef’schoice,ashortlistofdishesApplepromiseswillpairwell.Drancesaysthat’swhatsomecustomerswereaskingfor.“ThereisalotofchoicewithMatter,andthere’salotofgreatproductsoutthere,”shesays.“Butsometimeswedogetasked,‘Hey,whatproductshouldIputinthehome?’”Ratherthanbuilddevicesitself,Applechosetocodevelopthelineupwithpartnersthat“havetheirownexpertiseinthehome.”Bothhaveaglobalfootprintandhomeexperience,shesays,“LGmoresoinconsumerproducts,Schneiderthroughhomebuildandhomeinstallations.”Drancesaysitwasaground−upcollaborationwithApplebringing“thedesignaestheticthatwouldbesuitableforthehomeandsuitabletogowithourfamilyofproducts.”ThecompanyisalsopartneringwithADTthroughAppleretailstorestohelppeopleinstallthedevices.Drancesayssetupandeaseofusewereabigfocus.“Theone−tapsetupwasreallyimportanttomakeitsoeasy,havingnoneedforaseparateaccount,noneedforaseparateapp,”shesays.“Wejustwantedthatsimplicitytobeatitscore,andofcourse,theprivacythatwe’vedevelopedtogetherwithourpartners.”ShesayseverythingintegratesthroughAppleHome;youdon’tneedtocreateanLGorSchneideraccount,andalldataisend−to−endencrypted,soonlyyoucanaccessit.DrancewasclearthattheAppleHomeCollectionisn’treplacingthebuffet—thehardwareecosystemthathasgrownuparoundAppleHome.“WestillhavethisincredibleecosystemwithMatter,andwithWorkswithAppleHome,thatisgoingtoremain,”shesays.“Weknowthathomesarenotaone−size−fits−allsolution,soourcustomerswillcontinuetohavethatchoice,andweremaincommittedtobuildingthatecosystemaswell.”Thehardwaremostlybacksthatup.Thelock,thermostats,andsensorsareMatter−compatible;thelock[supportsAliro](/news/854091/aliro−smart−lock−standard−launches−2026−apple−uwb−nfc)andworksentirelylocally,andeverydevicesupports[Thread](/23165855/thread−smart−home−protocol−matter−apple−google−interview).Theexceptionisthecameras,whichuseApple’s[HomeKitSecureVideo](https://support.apple.com/en−gb/guide/icloud/mm7c90d21583/icloud),notMatter.That’sthebiggestlock−in.IwassurprisedAppledidn’tannounce[Mattercamerasupport](/tech/821707/matter−smart−home−standard−supports−cameras−apple−ring−google−nest).ButtheThreadradiossuggestthehardwaremightbeMatter−ready,andApplemaybewaitingfortheMattercamerastandardtosupportencrypteduploads,somethingHKSValreadydoes.So,what’sthebenefit?DoestheHomeCollectiondoanythingotherAppleHomedevicescan’t?Intheory,no;inpractice,yes.“Whatwe’vedonewithAppleHomeCollectioniswe’veaddedanotherlayerontopofthat,thatdeeperintegration,”saysDrance.Therearen’tfeaturesexclusivetotheHomeCollection;it’smorethatAppleissayingallthefeatureswillbehere.It’sabitlikeGooglemakingaPixelphonetoshowAndroiddeveloperswhatAndroidcando:Apple’sproductscomewiththefullsuiteofcapabilitiestheplatformoffers.“Theone−tapsetupwasreallyimportanttomakeitsoeasy,havingnoneedforaseparateaccount,noneedforaseparateapp.”—KaiannDrance,Apple[AccordingtoApple](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/10/introducing−apple−home−collection−a−new−lineup−of−smart−home−accessories/),setupisassimpleastappingyouriPhonetothedevice,likepairingAirPods,withnoextraaccountorappneededandnoscanningrequired.EverydeviceusesThreadtostayconnectedifWi−Fidrops,andApplesayseachcanupdateitsownnetworkcredentialswhenyouchangeyourWi−Fi.Thiscouldaddresstheoffline−deviceproblemsthatplagueAppleHome.Everythingisend−to−endencrypted,andthecameraskeeprecordingtoonboardstorageifyourWi−Fidrops.ThedevicesalsosupportAppleHomefeaturesothermanufacturershavebeenslowtoadopt.TheLGlockisonlythe[thirdtoofferhands−freeHomeKeyunlockingoverUWB](/tech/963100/schlage−sense−pro−review−apple−home−key−uwb−handsfree−unlock),andboththermostatsworkwith[Apple’sCleanEnergyGuidanceandAdaptiveTemperature](https://support.apple.com/en−gb/guide/iphone/iphdf6fde3d8/ios),whichadjustsaroundyourlocationandsleepschedule.Atleastthat’sthepromise.We’llhavetotestthesedevicestoseehowwelltheydeliver.AcuratedgardenpathTogether,Apple’snewdevicesformapolished,cohesivestarterkitforthesmarthome—albeitanexpensiveone.Thecameras,lock,andthermostatscost200 to $400, and camera history requires an iCloud Plus plan. As Drance said, the smart home isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, so this won’t work for everybody. If you already have a Ring doorbell or Google Nest Hub, this probably isn’t for you. Instead, Apple is trying to guide its existing customers who haven’t bought a video doorbell or smart lock yet down a curated path into the smart home.
However, Apple faces a tougher challenge in the broader market: It’s 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.
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’t guaranteed. Four in five smart-home households would consider switching, Parks says, especially if another platform lets them control everything in one place. “Interoperability will be critical, but the bigger prize is owning the consumer relationship,” she says.
With its Home Collection, Apple isn’t reinventing the smart home; it’s trying to make it easier to get into one.
