> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://spyglass.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Chaos isn't a Pit. Chaos is a Countertop. - URL: https://spyglass.org/panic-at-the-apple-homeview/ - Published: 2026-10-14T12:10:47.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-14T12:32:04.000Z - Description: Apple's strange new HomeView... - Author: M.G. Siegler - Tags: from afar, homeview, apple, homepod, homepad, design, ipad, siri, siri ai, apple watch, apple tv, advertising, facetime, apps, carplay The HomeView is, without question, one of the strangest devices Apple has ever launched. Certainly in recent times where focus has been the name of their game. I'm not certain it's *unfocused* – I'll hold off on full judgement until I have one – but it certainly *feels* a bit all over the place [as a product](https://spyglass.org/apple-homeview/). Start with the way it was launched. While Apple invited select media and influencers to a hands-on experience in New York, there wasn't a "keynote" to unveil the device. There wasn't even a pre-recorded product unveiling as Apple has used [in the past](https://mgs.blog/apple-brings-a-john-ternus-to-a-press-release-438f9ca9909?ref=spyglass.org) for these "in-between" [mini events](https://500ish.com/apples-literal-scary-fast-event-fc04d39cfec6?ref=spyglass.org). There was simply a press release, a few embargoed stories,[1](#one) and [a three minute and thirteen second long commercial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkrYiZ%5Fg9tw&ref=spyglass.org). Perhaps that's an unfair categorization of the video because it's too long to air on television, nor is it really an infomercial,[2](#two) it's just sort of a short of sorts, meant to highlight the essence of the device. It is also pure chaos. I'm not sure I've ever felt such anxiety watching a promotional video, and certainly not one made by Apple. I could feel my blood pressure rising with each new "twist". As a parent, I can of course relate to the chaotic nature of trying to get out the door in the morning, but it's obviously jacked up to eleven to showcase all the various things HomeView can do. And it just left me exhausted and mildly annoyed. This fictional family needs to get their lives in order – and their table top cleaned! – in a way that I'm not sure any device could or *should* help with. It's almost like Apple was going for a tagline of "HomeView: Chaos, Under Control" but nothing and no one really seems in control here. Worse, I think the HomeView makes the mess *worse* in a number of ways. At various points, I wanted to yell at the screen, "*you don't need to ask HomeView for that*, just FOCUS!" My god what a weird introduction. Hopefully Apple's marketing team was simply aiming to get people talking, because I think that worked. But not necessarily in good ways... But in a way, it may be the perfect intro video here because it highlights the strangeness [of the device](https://spyglass.org/apple-homepod-hub/). Even when it was just rumored a few years back, [I had a hard time](https://spyglass.org/facepod-ipad-robot-arm/) figuring out what such a device would be used for. Yes, yes, home controls, but your iPad – or iPhone – can do that. So multi-user home controls, I guess, but what's the actual market size for a stand-alone device there – [let alone an Apple-scale device](https://spyglass.org/apples-new-hip-to-be-square-home-device-2/)? It had to be more than that, [was my thinking](https://spyglass.org/the-imac-desk-lamp-homepod/). And it is! But again, in very weird ways. I almost wonder – [as I long have!](https://500ish.com/apples-missed-facepod-opportunity-b21313e515cd?ref=spyglass.org) – if HomeView being centered more around being [the perfect FaceTime device](https://mgs.blog/facepod-lives-2b339e42f058?ref=spyglass.org) for your home and family wouldn't be better and more straightforward positioning here...[3](#three) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/af/ca/afcaa655-46e2-45b8-889a-2881de5cce69/content/images/2026/10/Screenshot-2026-10-14-at-12.31.04---PM.png) While HomeView may *sound* like a small iPad, it's [clearly](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Gw2vrX1JJ9o?ref=spyglass.org) not one. Perhaps utilizing a square screen was smart in that regard, to avoid the obvious comparison. If anything, it's more analogous to a big Apple Watch. But it's not like it runs Apple Watch apps (thankfully). Instead, it runs... CarPlay apps. What? I mean, the thing doesn't even run homeOS – [the long-rumored](https://spyglass.org/summer-session/#:~:text=Something%20%27FacePod%27%20This,%2C%20please.) name of an Apple OS for... you guessed it, the home. Nor does it run tvOS, Apple's *current* OS for the home.[4](#four) I mean, it doesn't even have an Apple TV app! What? Instead, it runs... 'HomeView software'. What?[5](#five) So it's a device that *sounds* like an iPad, but *looks* and in many ways *acts* like a giant Apple Watch, that *runs* CarPlay apps. What?! To be fair, perhaps the plan is similar to the one way back in the day with the iPhone itself. Maybe it will be Apple-built native apps to start with a native SDK to come later, maybe with actual launch of a 'homeOS' to unify such devices? That would make some sense, but for now, it's weird! And it's not like Apple was pressed for time here – this device has [apparently been on the shelf](https://spyglass.org/apple-homepad-delay-siri/) (and not on store shelves) for months, if not *years*, while the world waited for Apple [to fix Siri](https://spyglass.org/new-new-siri/). Clearly a big part of the reason for this app weirdness is security and privacy. Because the HomeView is meant to be multi-user, Apple is seemingly offloading a lot of that work to the devices you already have, making personalization easier. That is, it sounds like a headache to make people download all their apps – and sign in to them – on yet another device. It may have even been a deal-breaker, product-wise given the lack of physical keyboard with this product. If you've ever tried to log in to many apps on the Apple TV you'll know what a pain it is. Yes, Apple tries to get developers to use Bluetooth/WiFi/QR Code workarounds, but it's still just not a very elegant solution. "Casting" your apps, as it were, should be easier from a set-up perspective, at least. But I'm also going to guess this will lead to a fairly confusing and perhaps far less performant product experience. Who-has-the-app-that-the-family-was-doing-that-thing-on? Can they unlock the HomeView so we can use it again? That kind of thing. Also, why are some notifications showing up here but not there. Why isn't this one video app I want to use showing up at all? What do you mean it can't show my Ring camera feed? Those kind of things. We'll see... A lot of breaking-at-the-edges issues are going to be tied to the notion of authentication. Apple wants this to sound simple – it recognizes your face! But the devil is in the two-factor details. [This is not Face ID](https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/10/13/homeview?ref=spyglass.org) even if it sure seems and sounds like it is. Instead, you'll need an iPhone or iPad on the same WiFi for this recognition to fully work. And no, an Apple Watch won't work. What if your kids don't have one of those devices? What if they don't have a phone? What if they have a cheap Android tablet? Sorry kids, no HomeView for you! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/af/ca/afcaa655-46e2-45b8-889a-2881de5cce69/content/images/2026/10/Screenshot-2026-10-14-at-12.30.21---PM.png) Apple's answer would be to get those devices! But that makes a $299 device much more expensive, fast. Speaking of, that might be the single best aspect of the device: the price. [I had been guessing](https://spyglass.org/apple-homepod-hub/) it would be much higher ([though I nailed it in the end](https://spyglass.org/apple-homeview/#:~:text=I%20had%20also,get%20to%20%24299%3F)) just judging by what Apple charges for the HomePod, let alone iPads. But $299 feels downright reasonable for what is clearly a thoughtfully designed and elegant looking home computer centerpiece. Especially when you consider that the new Apple TV 4K is the same $299 price! And that price is clearly in place with the hope that people will put a few of these throughout the home. Yet beyond the kitchen, the next obvious place would be the living room, but this really doesn't feel like a device for that room – again, even if you wanted to watch something on the small screen, it doesn't even have the Apple TV app! At best, it would be a distraction from the big screen there – [your TV](https://spyglass.org/apple-television/). And lord knows we already have enough such distractions in our pockets and hands. Back to the introduction video, the elephant in that messy, chaotic room is the power cord. How many people have a perfectly placed hole in the middle of their kitchen island? How many people even have kitchen islands in their home? Instead, most people will presumably plug the HomeView into an outlet on the wall, like an animal. And you're not going to be spinning it around and moving it all over the place with such a tether. And you're certainly not going to be moving the wall-mounted one around! The video almost makes it seem like Apple wishes they could have made HomeView battery-powered. And I'm honestly sort of surprised it's not given all of the above. [Clearly](https://spyglass.org/openai-ai-device/), OpenAI is [thinking](https://spyglass.org/openai-digital-assistant-device-jony-ive/) about [this direction](https://spyglass.org/openai-chat-robot/) for [their first device](https://spyglass.org/the-anti-iphone/). And others, notably Google, have done some clever things with docking a tablet [in the past](https://www.zdnet.com/home-and-office/smart-home/googles-pixel-tablet-has-a-charging-speaker-dock-that-turns-it-into-a-smart-screen/?ref=spyglass.org) (simply lay it on the dock for powered usage, or lift it off to take around). Maybe that would have felt too iPad-like for Apple. But I'm not sure that's such a bad thing? I wouldn't be shocked if a 'HomeView 2' moves [in this direction](https://mgs.blog/the-need-for-an-ipad-smart-speaker-stand-166014197aa0?ref=spyglass.org)... **One more thing:** the other elephant in this room is Siri. Obviously, "she" will be the key to making this device truly sing. She *seems* [up to the task now](https://spyglass.org/siri-ai/), but again, you can see her breaking at various edges due to all the app permissioning and user-switch aspects here. We're likely to get a bunch of, ["I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5lsExRvJTAI?ref=spyglass.org) because the app he's trying to invoke is not Dave's but his wife's. --- 1 And I believe at least one publication published early – I saw *Wired* but perhaps someone else broke the embargo first? – which led to more chaos as Apple clearly tried to push the website live for pre-orders before it was ready, resulting in error pages galore! [↩](#) 2 Remember when Apple used to do those? [These](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-QBz5ytT90&ref=spyglass.org) feel so [quaint](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIC-O89e4QE&ref=spyglass.org) now! [↩](#) 3 As a bonus for Apple, [how mad would that make Meta?](https://500ish.com/job-alert-facebooks-vp-of-common-sense-a85cb8da022d?ref=spyglass.org) [↩](#) 4 Which presumably would have been roped into homeOS at some point... [↩](#) 5 Yes, HomePod currently [runs on 'HomePod Software Version 27'](https://support.apple.com/en-us/108045?ref=spyglass.org) which was forked from tvOS. Probably time to clean this up, Apple. [↩](#)