Apple’s $299 HomeView Impresses as 7-Inch Smart Hub, but Stumbles on Siri and Privacy
Updated
Updated · The Verge · Nov 12
Apple’s $299 HomeView Impresses as 7-Inch Smart Hub, but Stumbles on Siri and Privacy
3 articles · Updated · The Verge · Nov 12
Summary
$299 HomeView emerges as a strong first Apple smart display, with the review praising fast smart-home control, guided cooking, solid audio and a responsive 7-inch screen.
Apple’s biggest differentiator—linking the device to iPhone data for texts, calendars and reminders—also creates its biggest flaw, as profile switching sometimes exposed another family member’s messages.
Siri AI improves on older HomePods, especially for local smart-home commands, but personal-context requests were slower, error-prone and sometimes sent users back to their phones.
Wall-mounted setups can push the price to about $400 once mounts and a power adapter are added, while app support remains limited and many tasks still depend on a nearby iPhone.
For Apple-heavy households, the device looks like a category-leading smart display for home control, but privacy gaps and incomplete standalone features weaken its pitch as a shared family hub.