Apple's Home Hub Will Have a Widget Gallery With iPhone Widget Support

[Antilogical]

Because it's in a home environment it should be able to have a new FartID authentication system.

 

[Macaholic868]

This thing sounds like an absolute waste of time and money.

 

[Pezimak]

I am still keen to see what this offers myself. If you only use an iPad at night for instance to watch videos, this could possibly replace that? I have an Echo Show 5 and whilst it works, it is buggy so the screen sometimes will be very dim. And it shows constant ads. Pricing will be key though.

 

[brightonguy]

According to AI, this is the closest representation of the upcoming product.

 

[macaron35]

I have permanently stopped using Siri a few months after its launch. By far the dumbest assistant ever.

 

[zoozx]

At an Apple special price $999.99 with advertisements of special products

 

[Pezimak]

I have permanently stopped using Siri a few months after its launch. By far the dumbest assistant ever.

I absolutely agree.. however... it works offline. So you can still use your voice to control things when the internet drops. So if Apple get it right, this device 'could' be good for homes with lots of smart devices. Or those who want to run everything off-line. The other alternatives to that are Home Assistant or Homey, so that involves setting up things and in some cases a deep knowledge of how to get it working with automations etc. We will have to wait and see what Apple bring to the table.

 

[Happy_John]

If this is a HomeKit hub it will have that advantage over an old iPhone or iPod for those of us who don’t have an Apple TV 4K.

Yes, but an AppleTV or a HomePod mini also has the same functionality, and it's very likely a user already has one of these devices if they're adding to their smartphone setup.

THAt's what I meant about the price point - you still need a HomeKit hub, and you'll want it to manage Thread, but there's no compelling reason to buy if you already have a Homepod Mini / Apple TV, of if the price point is significantly higher than a HomePod mini or AppleTV.

 

[Happy_John]

The person I'm responding to clearly wants to access their video through HomeKit. That requires Apple's involvement. Otherwise they're free to use whatever third-party system comes with their camera.

Again, HomeKit does NOT need to connect outside of the local network / directly connect to Apple's servers, in order to function.

As per my original point, the iCloud storage requirement Apple are applying is NOT a technical requirement, there is no technical reason why cameras could not run and store footage on the local network.

 

[Lampekap]

Their next half baked product you can throw away after 4 years.

 

[btrach144]

That doesn't sound like Apple.

Ads in Apple Maps. You sure about that?

Personally, I’m not sure I see how this device isn’t a flop

 

[MVMNT]

Horrender

 

[citysnaps]

Hoping it uses MacOS rather than iOS/iPadOS.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

This would've gone down a treat in 2017.

 

[CaptainBlue]

If this can react to the individual who approaches it or talks to it, so that it loads widgets and settings for that user, then I'll definitely have one, sitting on the kitchen island, for use for calls and FaceTime and music, etc. for the closest user.

 

[Yammabot]

I can't be bothered waiting for another lack luster product for Apple Home! It's incomparable with most everything and so NOT user friendly. Just give us a Largely compatible ecosystem that works and is cost efficient. Stop making us wait for air ware! How many years have we been waiting for Siri to work? How many years have we been waiting for Apple Home to work reliably with cameras and sensors?

 

[MiamiFL]

I’ve said before if Apple goes in this direction, they should at least make something you can attach an existing iPad to for display. Extend the useful life of old iPads (good for “mother nature”), include the Matter/Thread hardware and the actual processing for Home stuff in this device so the old iPad’s processor is irrelevant.

At the low low price of $1499 for an iPad stand.

 

[MiamiFL]

Because nobody is dying to know about home hub.

A documentary on fonts is possibly more interesting. Probably.

NGL I watched the documentary about Helvetica.

 

[MiamiFL]

I see a lot of people saying they don’t see the appeal, for me it is the following: i have no light switches anymore, I have one place next to the door for a small on the wall screen. That screen must have a temperature sensor for the heating and should offer the option to manually adjust things in the house. Light is mostly automated. Other companies move into that exact space at the moment - Loxone (wired smart home) offers now such a 7 inch square display.

Basis for all this though, is that Apple updates their home app considerably! For example Energy management for solar is needed.

how is this working for you? I've been considering a reno where I get rid of the physical light switches and just have everything as a smart light controlled from a iPhone, tablet, etc which I'd love but not sure about potentially buyers if I were to sell later.

 

[MiamiFL]

Depending on the specifics, I'd be very interested in something like this. I've got a slew of HomeKit lights, some HomePods and a couple of window ACs all connected. Right now I control it all with my phone or with scenes I say as voice commands to HomePods. It works OK, but the kid has no way of controlling anything, and guests are pretty confused. Something central, visible and accessible to anyone would be very useful to me.

This is why they should call it Apple Command & Control

 

[Happy_John]

NGL I watched the documentary about Helvetica.

Movable type is pretty interesting.

 

[turbineseaplane]

$10 says this thing isn't going to do anything you couldn't do with an iPad, but Apple will somehow gimp an iPads ability to do it in the same way (to push the Hub).

 

[d-klumpp]

Because nobody is dying to know about home hub.

A documentary on fonts is possibly more interesting. Probably.

Really? I don't condone it, but I know people who swear by their Alexa hubs.

 

[Vincent Hanna]

Based on what we have seen in rumors so far, I just don’t see the appeal. Looks like functions we can already do with our personal devices, except now we have to get up and go to this device to do them. And we can each customize widgets in our own devices how we see fit, so why bother with a “shared” device? Looking at Notes and Calendar for example, if everyone in the household is fine with sharing that stuff, I guess it’s ok, but it all seems like extra work since we can already share such things through our personal devices.

It’s a family calendar, photos, notes, to do list display device for the entire household.

It’s the modern replacement for the hard copy school schedule and hand-written to do list that people pin the to fridge door or kitchen bulletin board.

You are absolutely right that all this digital info is already on everyone’s personal devices, and technically this HomePad screen is redundant, but people still want a centralized location.

And many families have members too young or too old to even have their own devices, or (much more commonly) not tech savvy enough to have correctly configured devices that display all shared calendars in real time, etc.

Real world families will love this thing.

 

[Vincent Hanna]

Apple forces loyal customers (like me) to keep a 50GB iCloud plan to record any amount of video with one Circle View camera, so I wouldn't put anything past them.

Apple’s secure, easy to configure home video platform should be free? How many other Apple products are you entitled to without paying for them?