Which Apple Home Hub Do You Need?
For most UK homes, the answer is a HomePod mini 2 at £149. It is the cheapest of Apple’s four current home hubs, it has Thread networking technology and a temperature and humidity sensor, and it does everything a hub has to do. Buy Apple HomeView (£299) instead if you want a touchscreen to run the house from, and an Apple TV 4K (4th generation) (£299) if one was going under the television anyway. The HomePod (2nd generation) at £349 is a hub too, but the extra money buys sound, not smart home.
You need one hub. Not one of each.
What a home hub does
A home hub is the Apple device that stays at home and keeps Apple Home running when your iPhone is not there. Apple says a hub is required for remote access, sharing your home, notifications, automations, HomeKit Secure Video and Adaptive Lighting. Guest access needs one too. If nothing works once you leave the house, you are missing a hub.
Matter is the half-exception. An iPhone with iOS 18 or later can add and control Matter accessories without a hub, and an iPhone 15 Pro or later can control Thread accessories without one. Apple still recommends a home hub “for the best experience”. Our guide to Matter and Thread explains how the two fit together.
More than one hub is fine: the Home app picks the active one, and the home owner can choose another under Home Settings, then Home Hubs & Bridges.
A hub is not a bridge
A bridge is a translator: it brings Zigbee, Z-Wave or a manufacturer’s own radio into the Home app as ordinary accessories. It adds devices; a hub makes them do things by themselves. A Hue Bridge will not give you remote access, and a HomePod will not make Zigbee bulbs appear.
An AirPlay 2 speaker is not a hub either
AirPlay 2 is not the same as HomeKit. A Sonos or other AirPlay 2 speaker plays music from your iPhone, but it does not run your automations. Apple lists “Multi-room audio with AirPlay” for its own speakers and HomeView; that is the music side, and the hub is a separate job.
The four current hubs compared
| Apple HomeView | HomePod mini 2 | HomePod (2nd generation) | Apple TV 4K (4th generation) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple UK price | £299 | £149 | £349 | £299 |
| In the UK | Pre-order; available from 13 November | Pre-order; available from 30 October | On sale now | Pre-order; available from 13 November |
| What it is | 7-inch touchscreen | Compact speaker | Full-size speaker | Box for your TV |
| Home hub | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Thread networking technology | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Network | Wi-Fi 6E | Wi-Fi 6E | 802.11n Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 7 and Gigabit Ethernet |
| Chip | A18 | S10 | S7 | A19 |
On Matter, Apple puts it like this for the HomePod mini 2: it “acts as a home hub, letting you control your HomeKit- and Matter-enabled accessories remotely”. Each spec page adds that Thread works with HomeKit- or Matter-enabled Thread accessories only.
Which one to buy
Most homes: HomePod mini 2
At £149 it is the cheapest hub, and not a cut-down one. It has Thread, a temperature and humidity sensor you can use in automations, and it listens for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and sends a critical alert to your iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch. With HomeKit Secure Video it can analyse the feeds from your cameras.
A screen for the house: Apple HomeView
HomeView is a 7-inch touchscreen, and the one to choose if you want to run the house by touch. The Home Camera face streams up to nine camera feeds at once. It has an ambient light sensor and a temperature and humidity sensor, and it detects the sound of smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.
There are two models at £299 each. The standard one comes with a USB-C cable and a 30W power adapter. HomeView (Wall Mounted) does not: the wall mount, cable and power adapter (20W minimum) are each sold separately. Schneider’s Home Power Mount is £54.95 for the USB-C Wall Connector and £69.95 for the AC Wired version, which Apple says needs a qualified electrician. Budget for that before you choose the wall.
Setup needs an iPhone with iOS 27.2 or later, or an iPad with iPadOS 27.2 or later.
Already buying a TV box: Apple TV 4K (4th generation)
If you were going to buy an Apple TV anyway, you have your hub. It has Gigabit Ethernet, and a hub on a cable is one less thing to go wrong on busy Wi-Fi. With a compatible doorbell, notifications appear on the TV, and you can see who is there, talk to them and unlock the door without stopping what you are watching.
Do not buy one only as a hub. The HomePod mini 2 does that job for half the price.
Music first: HomePod (2nd generation)
As a hub, the full-size HomePod does what the mini does: Thread, a temperature and humidity sensor, and listening for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. The extra £200 is for sound. For home cinema surround, Apple’s set-up is four HomePod (2nd generation) or HomePod mini 2 speakers in matching front and rear pairs, with an Apple TV 4K (4th generation).
Siri AI in the UK
Apple’s position differs by device:
- Apple HomeView: available in English in the UK at launch. Apple calls it a beta, in HomeView software version 27.2.
- Apple TV 4K (4th generation): available at launch in the UK in English. Apple calls it a beta, in tvOS 27.2. The home owner needs an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone or iPad with Siri AI turned on.
- HomePod mini 2: Siri AI will come “via a future software update”. Apple gives no date.
Buy for the hub, not for Siri AI.
If you already own an older device
One caution first: Apple’s newest Home features, such as Sound Recognition, need the “updated Home architecture”, a separate update in the Home app that “requires all Apple devices that access the home to be using the latest software”. Apple has not said how that treats a device that cannot install the latest software.
HomePod mini (1st generation). A home hub, and Apple names HomePod mini as a Thread-enabled home hub. It has a temperature and humidity sensor and plays AirPlay 2 multi-room audio. Apple has not said whether it will get Siri AI, and it cannot join the four-speaker surround set-up. If the Home app shows it as your active hub, it is doing the job.
HomePod (1st generation). Apple called it a home hub at launch, and it plays AirPlay 2 multi-room audio. Apple’s lists of Thread-enabled hubs name HomePod (2nd generation) and HomePod mini, not this model, so do not rely on it for Thread accessories.
Apple TV 4K (2nd and 3rd generation). All are home hubs, all run tvOS 27, and Apple says Siri AI is available as a beta on Apple TV 4K (2nd generation or later). The 2nd generation lists Thread. The 3rd generation came in two models, and Apple lists Thread for the Wi-Fi + Ethernet model (A2843) only, not the Wi-Fi model (A2737). If you have Thread accessories, check which one you own. None of them can run the four-speaker surround set-up.
Apple TV 4K (1st generation) and Apple TV HD. Apple named the first as a home hub at launch, and still lists Apple TV HD among the hubs for Matter accessories. But neither gets tvOS 27: their last version is tvOS 26.6, from 27 July 2026. With the updated architecture asking for the latest software, these are the two to replace first.
iPad. No longer a home hub. Support for the previous version of Apple Home, the last one where iPad could be a hub, ended on 10 February 2026. Apple says iPad “isn’t supported as a home hub on the latest version of Apple Home”. It still controls your accessories in the Home app; for remote access and automations you need a HomePod, an Apple TV or HomeView.
Home Collection cameras need a hub
Home Collection brings four LG products to the UK: the LG Video Doorbell Wired (£229.95), LG Indoor Cam Plug-in (£179.95), LG Outdoor Cam Plug-in (£279.95) and LG Floodlight Cam (£349.95). Apple says the collection is available from December, with some accessories in early 2027. The lock, thermostats and room sensors are for the US and Canada only.
Apple says the extra features “require a compatible home hub”. LG goes further: use of the products “requires an Apple home hub”. Either way, HomeKit Secure Video recording needs a hub and an iCloud+ plan: £0.99 a month for one camera, £2.99 for up to five, £8.99 for unlimited. Buy the hub first. HomeKit Secure Video explained covers the rest.