HomeView Reviews Are In, and Apple Promises a December Siri Fix

Apple’s dedicated HomeView smart display has officially landed in the hands of reviewers over at The Verge, marking the tech giant’s first direct play for a centralized smart home centerpiece.

Blending a 7-inch Liquid Retina display, robust room-filling audio, a 12MP Center Stage camera, and deep HomeKit and Matter integration, the device aims to sit squarely in your kitchen or on a nightstand.

Designed with a playful nod to the classic iMac G4, the tabletop HomeView positions its sharp 1088×1088 square display atop a rounded aluminum base that houses dual drivers, a down-firing woofer, and force-cancelling passive radiators. Audio quality easily punches above its weight class, delivering rich Spatial Audio and clear vocals for everyday music and podcasts.

The display itself adjusts intelligently depending on your distance. From across the room, glanceable widgets like clocks and weather are enlarged for scannability. As you walk up, the interface dynamically populates with deeper controls and personalized feeds.

For homes heavily invested in Apple’s ecosystem, the HomeView unlocks several long-awaited features. Using local voice and facial recognition, the device can personalize context for up to six household members. When a recognized user approaches with an Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhone nearby, Siri seamlessly unlocks personal reminders, messages, and calendars.

The smart home dashboard is equally capable, allowing users to control HomeKit accessories with minimal latency and stream up to nine live camera feeds simultaneously on a grid. Useful features like seamless Handoff from your iPhone and an internal home Intercom system round out the shared appliance experience.

Despite glowing marks for hardware integration, early testing has revealed underbaked software areas and specific Siri AI bugs. Apple has already confirmed that it plans to release a dedicated software update in December to fix these Siri execution issues.

The device also lacks a dedicated full web store, relying instead on adapted CarPlay-style media apps and built-in Apple services. Popular third-party options like Spotify are accessible via CarPlay extensions, but broader native third-party app support remains limited at launch.

Here’s a roundup of early HomeView reviews from around the web.

Apple HomeView Reviews

• Engadget: Praises the sleek design, room-filling audio, and multi-user family features, though notes it heavily relies on a nearby iPhone or iPad.
• PCMag: Awards it an Editors’ Choice for its ad-free interface, intuitive touch controls, and seamless facial recognition profile switching.
• Forbes: Highlights the sturdy build quality and color-coded multi-calendar integrations for busy households, while noting its strict ecosystem lock-in.
• Geeking Out: Calls it the central nervous system for smart homes, praising the exceptional low-end bass and 12MP Centre Stage video call clarity.
• CNN: Emphasizes the strong audio performance and useful HomeKit camera dashboard, though points out that third-party app options are still limited.