Apple

What Apple makes for Apple Home

Apple makes three kinds of thing for Apple Home, and they do different jobs.

• The home hub stays in the house and does the work: it lets you control accessories when you are out, share the home with other people, run Adaptive Lighting and record HomeKit Secure Video cameras.
• The controllers are the devices you hold or wear: iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro, plus CarPlay in the car.
• The Home app runs on all of them.

The accessories come from other companies. The Apple Home Collection, announced in October 2026, is made by LG and Schneider Electric and sold by Apple.

The four current home hubs

Apple names four: Apple HomeView, HomePod mini 2, HomePod (2nd generation) and Apple TV 4K (4th generation). HomeView is new: a hub with a display, controlled by touch or by voice, on sale in the UK from 13 November. Its Home Camera face can show up to nine camera feeds at once.

A HomePod or HomePod mini becomes a home hub by itself when you set it up. An Apple TV becomes one when you add it to a room in the Home app. Only the owner of the home can add one. If you have more than one, the Home app picks the active hub; you can choose it yourself under Home Settings, then Home Hubs & Bridges.

Without a hub, a lot stops working. Apple says you need one to control the home from outside it, to share control with other people, to get Home notifications, for guest access, for Adaptive Lighting and for HomeKit Secure Video.

Thread. Apple lists “Thread networking technology” on all four, for HomeKit- or Matter-enabled Thread accessories. Apple says Thread accessories need a Thread-enabled home hub or a third-party border router.

Siri AI is not the same on every hub in the UK:

• HomeView and Apple TV 4K (4th generation) have it in UK English at launch. Apple calls it a beta on both.
• HomePod mini 2 gets it “via a future software update”. Apple gives no date.

On a HomePod or Apple TV, Siri AI also depends on the home owner having an Apple Intelligence iPhone or iPad with Siri AI turned on.

Earlier hubs still in homes

Many homes run on an older hub. Apple has called each of these a home hub: HomePod mini (1st generation), HomePod (1st generation), Apple TV 4K (1st generation), Apple TV 4K (2nd generation), Apple TV 4K (3rd generation), in its Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + Ethernet models, and Apple TV HD. Apple’s current Apple TV page still lists Apple TV HD as a hub for Matter accessories.

• Thread: Apple lists it on HomePod mini (1st generation), Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) and the Wi-Fi + Ethernet model of Apple TV 4K (3rd generation).
• Software: Apple TV 4K (1st generation) and Apple TV HD do not get tvOS 27.
• Siri AI: Apple says the beta is available on Apple TV 4K (2nd generation or later).

In October 2026 Apple announced an updated Home architecture, which needs every Apple device in the home on the latest software. Apple has not said which older hubs it supports.

iPad is no longer a home hub. Apple says “iPad isn’t supported as a home hub on the latest version of Apple Home.” It still works as a controller.

The AirPort Express (2nd generation) plays AirPlay 2 audio. Apple’s home hub article does not list it as a hub.

The controllers

• iPhone does the most. It adds, controls and automates HomeKit and Matter accessories, and holds a home key. Apple says Home Collection accessories need an iPhone for NFC pairing. Apple also says iPhone 15 Pro and later can control Thread accessories without a hub, though it still recommends one.
• iPad has the same Home app, with cameras, speaker groups and Intercom. It is no longer a home hub.
• Mac controls accessories and shows HomeKit Secure Video, but it cannot add accessories or set up remote access. Use an iPhone or iPad for those.
• Apple Watch controls accessories, runs Intercom and shows camera streams, and can hold a home key. The home has to be set up in the Home app first.
• Apple Vision Pro runs the iPad version of the Home app. It cannot add accessories, and it cannot create or edit scenes or automations.
• CarPlay controls Home accessories through Siri and Siri suggestions only, for things like garage doors, lights and door locks.

Home Key

A home key is a key to a compatible lock, kept in Apple Wallet on iPhone or Apple Watch. It goes into Wallet when you pair the lock in the Home app, and every resident of the home gets it. With Express Mode on, you hold the device near the lock to open it, with no Face ID or Touch ID.

Not every Home app lock supports home key. Hands-free unlock needs an iPhone 11 or later (not iPhone SE 2nd or 3rd generation, or iPhone 16e) or an Apple Watch Series 6 or later (not Apple Watch SE).

HomeKit Secure Video

HomeKit Secure Video comes with iCloud+. Your home hub analyses the video and uploads it encrypted to iCloud, and it does not count against your storage. You can see the last 10 days. The plan sets how many cameras can record:

It also works if someone else in your Family Sharing group has the iCloud+ plan. Cameras are added on an iPhone or iPad.

The Apple Home Collection

Apple sells the Home Collection, and LG and Schneider Electric make it. Four items are coming to the UK, all made by LG and all listed on this site under LG:

• LG Video Doorbell Wired, £229.95
• LG Floodlight Cam, £349.95
• LG Outdoor Cam Plug-in, £279.95
• LG Indoor Cam Plug-in, £179.95

LG says the doorbell and the indoor and outdoor cameras go on sale in the UK from December 2026. Apple has not given a UK date for the Floodlight Cam. Every item in the collection supports Thread and sets up with a tap of an iPhone, with no other app or account. The cameras need a home hub.

Apple sells the LG lock, the thermostats and the sensors in the collection in the US and Canada only.

US-only features

Some Home app features do not apply in the UK. Grid Forecast, electricity usage and rates, and Clean Energy Guidance are for the US only.