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The Verge’s Jennifer Pattison Tuohy tried Apple’s newly announced HomeView, a 7-inch smart display built for home controls, Siri assistance and household use. The $299 device is available for preorder and is scheduled to start shipping November 13; several Siri features were demonstrated rather than tested hands-on.
Apple has announced HomeView, its first smart home display, and The Verge’s Jennifer Pattison Tuohy has tried the $299 device ahead of its planned November 13 shipping date. Learn more in this HomeView and Nest Hub comparison. The 7-inch touchscreen combines Apple Home controls with a speaker, camera and Siri features, positioning it as a shared household screen rather than just another voice assistant—an approach explored in this look at HomeView’s appeal to parents.
In her hands-on report, Tuohy described HomeView as smaller than she expected, with a bright, responsive square Liquid Retina screen and a compact aluminum speaker base. Apple offers both tabletop and wall-mounted versions. The screen can show photos and selectable “faces,” many of them styled like Apple Watch faces, as well as widgets and apps.
The Home Widget presents controls from Apple’s Home app on a larger screen. Tuohy used it to operate a thermostat and door lock and activate a scene. The display also showed live video from HomeKit Secure Video cameras; selecting a camera exposed controls for nearby accessories. When she tried to unlock a door, HomeView required authentication with her face or iPhone.
The interface relies heavily on swipes: users can move between faces, open app controls and bring up a control center. The display also has a 12-megapixel camera, which can be enabled from that control center. The report says HomeView apps populate automatically from a user’s iPhone, though Tuohy’s account did not test every available feature.
HomeView puts smart-home controls, camera views and household information on a screen people can approach and tap, rather than relying only on a phone or spoken commands. That could make it useful in places such as a kitchen or entryway, particularly for households already using Apple Home devices.
Apple is also presenting Siri as a bridge between personal information and home actions. In a company demonstration, Siri used a message about a traveler’s arrival, estimated a transit journey and set a coffee-maker routine. If that kind of request works reliably in everyday use, it would connect messages, schedules and connected devices in one interaction. The report does not establish how consistently it will do so outside the demonstration.
At $299, the device asks buyers to pay for more than a basic smart speaker. Its appeal will depend on the quality of the screen and controls, the usefulness of the Siri features, and how well it fits into an Apple-centered home.
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From Phone Controls to Home Display
HomeView is described as Apple’s first smart home display. Its Home Widget is a larger, walk-up version of controls already available in the Apple Home app, according to the hands-on report. The device adds a dedicated screen and can show HomeKit Secure Video feeds, while also displaying photos, apps and other faces.
The product’s announced schedule is preorders open now and shipping beginning November 13. The report provides observations from a brief hands-on session, not a full review based on extended household use. That distinction matters: the physical display and some touch controls were tried directly, while several of the most ambitious Siri capabilities were shown in demos.
“The first thing that struck me about the HomeView was its size. It’s much smaller than I expected.”
— Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, The Verge
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Siri Features Still Need Testing
Tuohy did not personally test the demonstrated Siri requests that drew on messages and other personal context. The travel-planning and coffee-maker routine, and a separate request to play a song mentioned in a friend’s text, were shown in demonstrations. The report does not establish how reliably these features work in regular use, what limits apply, or how the device handles requests when information is incomplete.
It is also unclear from the hands-on report how HomeView will handle recipes outside the formats Apple says it supports. Tuohy specifically wondered whether it would work with TikTok recipes. The report offers no long-term findings on battery or power requirements, privacy settings, software performance, or compatibility beyond the Apple Home ecosystem described.
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Preorders Before November Shipping
Apple has opened preorders at $299 and says HomeView will start shipping November 13. Tuohy said she plans to test more features, which could provide further information about Siri’s personal-context requests, guided cooking, FaceTime and everyday smart-home use.
Until broader testing is available, readers should treat the report as an initial hands-on account rather than a verdict on the device. The next useful evidence will be whether the demonstrated features perform reliably in homes and whether the screen and controls are practical over time.
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Key Questions
What is Apple HomeView?
HomeView is Apple’s first smart home display, with a 7-inch touchscreen, speaker, camera, Siri features and controls for Apple Home devices.
How much does HomeView cost?
Apple has listed the device at $299, according to The Verge’s report.
When does HomeView ship?
The reported shipping date is November 13. Preorders are open, according to the source.
What smart-home controls did the hands-on report test?
Tuohy used the Home Widget to control a thermostat and door lock, activate a scene and view HomeKit Secure Video feeds. The lock requested authentication before unlocking.
Were HomeView’s Siri features fully tested?
No. The report says key requests involving messages, travel estimates and smart-home routines were demonstrated, not personally tested by the reporter.
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