The Verge: Apple HomeView's Best Feature May Be Its Simplicity

The Verge said it had tried using an iPad to control a smart home, run a family calendar, and serve as a shared music controller, and the experience was not great. It said most iPads are more expensive, have worse speakers, and do not like to be plugged in all the time. An iPad cannot be a hub for Apple Home, while HomeView can, and the iPad is not a good multiuser device because controlling home devices on one requires staying logged in to a personal iCloud account. HomeView, by contrast, offers Apple's first attempt at easy multiuser switching.

The publication said Apple designed HomeView as a communal device in a fixed location, so it is always where users expect it when they want to adjust the thermostat or check a calendar without finding a phone. The lack of a battery or detachable screen is a feature for The Verge, because such devices tend to wander off and die under a couch cushion. The Verge also said that while some people do not want another screen on a countertop or wall, the millions of Echo Shows, Google Nest Hubs, Skylight Calendars and similar devices indicate interest in this type of interface.

According to The Verge, Apple's launch video was uncharacteristically chaotic and showed HomeView targeting a new demographic: busy, Apple-centric households. One feature The Verge is most interested in is HomeView's role as a home video phone. The writer said they have tried to call their daughter when not home, only for her phone to be dead or silent; based on Apple's video, if she is home, the call can ring on HomeView. The writer also said they have occasionally used the drop-in feature on Echo smart speakers to get her attention, which The Verge cited as further proof of the advantage of always-on home devices.

The Verge said HomeView fills an awkward space for families that do not want phones at the dinner table or on the kitchen counter but still want to check what time a soccer game is or look up a fact. That situation often ends with one person pulling out a phone, which gives everyone else implicit permission to do the same, the publication said. Smart displays and speakers from Amazon and Google already help to some extent, but The Verge said Apple's version comes without ads and may have a longer lifespan. It also pointed to Siri AI's “personal context” capabilities, which can scan text messages and emails and serve relevant information to up to six members of a household.

The Verge asked Kaiann Drance, Apple's vice president of product marketing for home, why Apple chose now for its biggest smart home push yet. Drance said Siri AI and the personal context it brings, which she called Apple's “privacy story,” came together with a device designed specifically for the home. “With the magic of Siri AI, it comes together in a way that we haven't been able to deliver before,” she said.

Lilian Rincon, Apple's vice president of product marketing for AI, told The Verge that Siri AI made this possible because it is “much more capable,” and she pointed to its new conversational abilities. “It's great because you can just ask it to change the temperature on your thermostat in a very natural way. As the Siri AI capabilities continue to evolve, the home experience is fitting to be able to interact with in this natural way,” she said. On why now, Rincon said the natural-language shift is the point where AI goes mainstream, because both her mother-in-law and a Gen Z college student can use it in that way.

The Verge said HomeView is not its dream smart home dashboard, but called it the right product for Apple Home at this moment. It said if Apple's first smart display finally gets the writer's family to actually use the smart home, the writer will consider it a win.