Apple's Face ID Doorbell Rumored to Feature MagSafe

[Cirillo Gherardo]

That makes the most sense, honestly.

Imagine not having your keys on you, and being locked out of your house because the battery died.

I haven't had keys for 6 years. And haven't needed them once.

- My Yale lock is battery powered.
- It notifies me well in advance when the batteries need to be changed.
- If I were to ignore it and procrastinate and the batteries actually died, the thing has 2 contacts on the bottom where I can place a 9v battery and temporarily power the thing to unlock.
- I would never need to do that though, because there is more than 1 door into my house, and they aren't going to both die at the same time.

In other words, the product designers are smarter than you. It works just fine in the real world, and has been tried and tested over many years.

 

[Cirillo Gherardo]

Seriously what type of shady neighbourhood are people living in. Security cameras, smart everything, blah blah blah seems like paranoia overload to me plus add many social media apps and then people wonder why mental health conditions are on the rise.

What an ignorant comment. If you aren't doing everything you can to keep your property and the people living on it safe, then you are a failure.

Somehow you manage to mention the rise of mental health conditions in the same sentence where you question why people are taking protection more seriously. That's an impressive lack of self awareness.

 

[Cirillo Gherardo]

I hope it's battery. I have no option for wired.Tried to get my electrician to do that years ago but it was too complex with the location

Well, that's why companies that know what they're doing have both. Ring offers multiple different types of doorbells, because not every situation is the same. Obviously replacing a hardwired doorbell with a smart doorbell is the best option for a litany of reasons. But for those that don't have the luxury, there are less great ways to get a working smart doorbell. Hopefully Apple keeps that in mind if they are seriously going to enter this space.

 

[MaverickCC]

Not all. I have a Ring Wired Doorbell Pro, which is completely hardwired with no internal battery.

And I hope Apple has a hardwired option if they release this.

All chime wired doorbells have a battery... else it would die/reboot every time some pressed the button!

 

[code-m]

What an ignorant comment. If you aren't doing everything you can to keep your property and the people living on it safe, then you are a failure.

Somehow you manage to mention the rise of mental health conditions in the same sentence where you question why people are taking protection more seriously. That's an impressive lack of self awareness.

All this is causing is hyper-vigilance which is not healthy. One must ask how did we get to this point if not for tech companies to keep pushing more of this in our face and in our lives. One must ask why do people even feel unsafe. Is it a lack of laws, enforcement, scare tactics, etc.

 

[anthonymoody]

Yeah, no. In my experience most smart doorbells need charging at least once a month.

Once a month?!? Our Ring gets 6 months on a charge.

 

[Cirillo Gherardo]

All this is causing is hyper-vigilance which is not healthy. One must ask how did we get to this point if not for tech companies to keep pushing more of this in our face and in our lives. One must ask why do people even feel unsafe. Is it a lack of laws, enforcement, scare tactics, etc.

That's just absurd. Hyper vigilance is intelligence. The opposite is delusion and ignorance.

 

[Cirillo Gherardo]

I don’t know what this means.
Smart doorbells have a battery of some kind, have for years.

Nope. Not all of them. The battery powered models do.

 

[Eriamjh1138@DAN]

I don’t want any batteries or WiFi or Bluetooth in my door knobs.

I’m ok with totally insecure stuff any lock-picking lawyer can open with a key rake.

Oh. This is about doorbells.

 

[Chester Stone]

Don't need more useless sh*t like a doorbell. Hard pass.

The designers/product people behind this are so out-of-touch with what consumers want.

 

[DocMultimedia]

I'd say it varies on how much activity the Doorbell picks up.

My front door doorbell picks up a lot more activity then my garage one does round the back of the house hence why it doesn't last as long as the garage doorbell.

I've currently got renovation going on, so I'm getting a recording every five minutes or so. It's so bad I turned alerts off. Wow that was annoying.

It is kind of fun to tune in line to see who's working on which things every day.

 

[MacAddict1978]

Knowing Apple, the cost of the door bell will exceed the cost of a door bell, plus smart locks, plus a camera or two from a competitor so it needs to be a VERY compelling product line to get people to switch. Needs Matter and to work outside of the Home app for me. I will not use Siri or a home pod to check my doors are locked - I want a one and done solution which is frustratingly hard to get without adopting one companies products even with Matter. I had that with Nest till they EOL'd everything to screw people. Used to be able to say, "Hey Google, Good night!" Would set my alarm, lock the doors if I missed them, turn off the lights. Then Google home got dumber, Amazon cut off Google home access to Ring and Google cut Alexa off from Next and it's been a **** show. Have yet to see Matter really fix this yet.

Apple cannot put FaceID on MacBook Pro but is rumoured to do so on a doorbell, I guess priorities are warped in the spaceship.

Not sure why you really need FaceID on a mac? It would be hard to fit into the thinness of a laptop screen, add cost/price. Maybe an iMac? But touch ID is fine... save asking for your password as insane intervals anyway when the fingerprint is more secure but alas.. Apple.

This would be an instant buy for me. I’m currently using a mishmash of different third-party products and would love a seamless Apple solution for video, doorbell and lock.

Apple does not play nice with others - I have concerns this would make things worse than they are now.

What's the chances of this being Matter/cross-platform enabled?

I'm done with proprietary tech..

This... I currently have a nest doorbell and a Nest door lock but can't have Alexa make sure the doors are locked because Google and Amazon. Older, so no Matter on them. If it's matter compliant and I can use something that is NOT Siri, I'd be game. Otherwise, nope.

Face ID doorbell with a compatible deadbolt lock would also be an instant buy for me. I don't trust any company unlocking my front door at the moment. As for the doorbell, my wired Nest doorbell with Starling is generally rock solid.

Same. Entering a code isn't a big deal, but when you're carrying groceries and other crap that would be very convenient. Especially if you don't have to bend down in front of it. That's the clincher... can you stand normal and have it work.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Needs Matter and to work outside of the Home app for me.

100% this 👆

No Matter = No purchase

 

[Daalseth]

WTH would I want a doorbell I would need to remember to charge?

 

[TheDrakeMan]

A few months ago, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Apple was in the early stages of developing a smart home doorbell and lock system with Face ID. He said the doorbell would wirelessly connect to a compatible deadbolt lock.

In a vague teaser post on X today, a leaker known as Kosutami shared an alleged new feature that Apple is planning for the doorbell: MagSafe.

On select iPhones, MagSafe lets you attach a charger or other accessories to the device magnetically. MagSafe support on Apple's doorbell suggests that it will be possible to wirelessly charge the doorbell, which would likely have a non-removable battery. It is unclear if the doorbell would also have a USB-C port for wired charging.

MagSafe charging would certainly be convenient, but smart home doorbells typically only need to be charged a handful of times per year.

Another thought we had was that Apple's doorbell could have a MagSafe backplate, allowing for the doorbell to be easily taken on and off. However, that would make the doorbell easy to steal, so that theory does not really make sense.

Gurman said Apple's doorbell would launch in 2026 at the earliest, so hopefully additional rumors will paint a clearer picture over the next year or so.

Apple's biggest competitor in this space would be Ring, acquired by Amazon in 2018.

Apple would likely tout the privacy and security benefits of its own smart home doorbell. Apple already offers a HomeKit Secure Video service with end-to-end encryption for storing footage in iCloud, and the doorbell could have a Secure Enclave.

Apple seemingly has plans to make a bigger push into the smart home space over the next few years. In addition to this doorbell, the company is expected to launch a smart home hub this year, and it is also rumored to be planning its own HomeKit-enabled indoor camera that would compete with products like Logitech's Circle View.

Kosutami is best known as a collector of prototype Apple hardware, but they have occasionally shared accurate information about Apple's future product plans. For example, they accurately revealed that the iPhone 16 Pro would be equipped with a metal-enclosed battery, around 10 months before the device launched. They also provided an early look at an Apple Watch band that uses Apple's controversial FineWoven material. On the other hand, Kosutami was wrong about AirPods Pro 3 being imminent in August 2024.

Article Link: Apple's Face ID Doorbell Rumored to Feature MagSafe

I’ll stick with my Reolink doorbell where I get the full HKSV compatibility and 24/7 video recording to my NVR. Not to mention it’s hooked up directly to the existing doorbell wires so it stays connected to power.

 

[maxoakland]

I hate FaceID. It’s so awkward and unreliable, I can’t imagine using it for something as important as my house

I already have to manually enter my password multiple times a day because it just chooses not to work

 

[QuarterSwede]

Hardwired power and ethernet or no sale. Ideally PoE. WiFi is a no go as it is too easily defeated. Needing to charge the doorbell is just stoopid.

Ethernet is too hard to do as a retrofit. I went with hardwired Ring Pro and WiFi bridged into HomeKit via homebridge. Works extremely well.

 

[nutmac]

I prefer a battery that can be swapped out. Living in an area that is below freezing for weeks at a time battery life is impacted. I have two batteries for my ring doorbell making it a quick swap in the cold weather. I also believe it better to bring the battery up to room temperature before charging it.

Hopefully, the battery can be both replaced and charged. MagSafe would enable users to conveniently charge the doorbell using a power bank. If it's replaceable, I won't have to worry about battery degradation caused by harsh weather conditions.

 

[ThomasJL]

Tim Cook is so clueless and mediocre that he reused the name "MagSafe" for things that have absolutely nothing to do with power chords easily detaching when lightly tugged in order to keep devices safe from falling to the floor.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Tim Cook is so clueless and mediocre that he reused the name "MagSafe" for things that have absolutely nothing to do with a power chord easily detaching in order to keep devices safe from falling to the floor.

Re-using the name with the magnetic iPhone chargers was definitely a blunder, as is the stupid Apple TV+ name. I've yet to met anyone, anywhere, that isn't an Apple TV owner that knows the difference.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I haven't had keys for 6 years. And haven't needed them once.

- My Yale lock is battery powered.
- It notifies me well in advance when the batteries need to be changed.
- If I were to ignore it and procrastinate and the batteries actually died, the thing has 2 contacts on the bottom where I can place a 9v battery and temporarily power the thing to unlock.
- I would never need to do that though, because there is more than 1 door into my house, and they aren't going to both die at the same time.

In other words, the product designers are smarter than you. It works just fine in the real world, and has been tried and tested over many years.

This was about using the doorbell to power the phone, not the phone to power the doorbell. I'm not worried about a lock running out of batteries if it's hardwired to my electric supply.

But also, your experience with a Yale lock is much different: It has buttons.

1) Apple doesn't believe in buttons.
2) If they make it exclusive to the iPhone, they will increase platform lock-in by tying your house access to iOS.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

Someone should invent a Yale front door lock with manual code buttons so it never needs to be charged. Oh, yeah, mine is on our door 13 years. K.I.S.S. Another amazing invention is the wall light switch, where you switch it and your light comes on. 100% uptime, essentially. Battery life seems endless in this thing.

 

[supremedesigner]

Dumb idea. Should be wired in.

 

[dannyyankou]

All chime wired doorbells have a battery... else it would die/reboot every time some pressed the button!

A ring wired doorbell pro doesn’t have an internal battery. It’s hardwired from house electricity. And even lots of chime wired doorbells don’t have a battery.

 

[Cirillo Gherardo]

This was about using the doorbell to power the phone, not the phone to power the doorbell. I'm not worried about a lock running out of batteries if it's hardwired to my electric supply.

But also, your experience with a Yale lock is much different: It has buttons.

1) Apple doesn't believe in buttons.
2) If they make it exclusive to the iPhone, they will increase platform lock-in by tying your house access to iOS.

Nope, my Yale lock has absolutely no buttons. You are making way too many assumptions about things in this thread that you just don't understand.