Verge’s Jen Tuohy Hosts AMA on Apple’s $299 HomeView Review

Q: Will requiring a paired iPhone for Apple Intelligence features prevent the HomeView from truly functioning as an independent smart hub?

Not entirely, but it does limit HomeView’s independence in important ways. Apple is clearly marketing HomeView as a shared home hub: it handles smart-home controls, FaceTime, recipes, Intercom, camera views, timers, Find My, and multi-user personalization on its own. For core hub duties, it can still function as a central household device. The limitation is on Apple Intelligence’s more personal features. Apple says requests that use “personal context” require a paired Apple Intelligence-capable iPhone or iPad with Siri AI enabled. That means the most advanced Siri help — pulling from your Messages, Calendar, app data, and Siri history — is not fully self-contained on HomeView, even though it has an A18 chip. Some media apps also depend on an iPhone connection, including TV, Audiobooks, Classical Music, and News. That weakens the idea of HomeView as a fully independent computer-like display. It is closer to an Apple home terminal that extends the iPhone and iPad ecosystem into shared spaces, much as Apple Watch extends the iPhone. It can stand alone for many household tasks, but not for the full personalized AI experience Apple is promoting. Whether that is a serious problem depends on the buyer. For Apple households where everyone already has recent iPhones or iPads, the dependency may feel minor. For users expecting HomeView to be a self-sufficient smart display like some Echo or Nest products, it is a meaningful compromise.

1 articles · Updated · The Verge · Nov 12

Jen Tuohy is taking subscriber questions on Apple’s first smart display after spending the past week testing the $299 HomeView.
Her review covered both tabletop and wall-mounted versions across several settings, including a kitchen, bedroom, office, coffee table and entryway control panel.
Tuohy said she used the device for cooking help, smart-home controls, calls and Siri AI tests, while also gauging family reactions that split between favorable and skeptical.
Verge subscribers can submit questions in comments now, with Tuohy scheduled to begin answering at 2 p.m. ET.