Apple HomeView security camera: 4 hidden modes, the iCloud catch

The Apple HomeView security camera mode would turn the display into a HomeKit camera that you control from the Home app. The strings were spotted over the weekend by a code sleuth who posts as pdfu on Reddit, and one setup screen states plainly that HomeView can serve as a security camera through HomeKit Secure Video, Apple’s encrypted camera recording service.

The settings describe four levels of camera access. In plain terms:

• Watch and keep clips: home members can open a live view, and HomeView also saves recordings automatically when it sees something.
• Live view only: anyone in the home can check the feed, but nothing gets saved.
• Motion alerts only: the camera spots movement and pings your phone, with no streaming and no recording.
• Off: no detection, no feed, no clips.

That is a bigger step than it sounds. At launch, HomeView can show feeds from other cameras on its screen. This mode would make HomeView itself one of those cameras.

The leaked settings let the camera behave differently depending on whether your household is home, away or asleep. HomeView would work out who is home from the locations of household members’ devices.

So a sensible setup might look like this: full recording while the house is empty, motion alerts only at night, and the camera off while the family is home in the evening. The code also adds one deliberate speed bump. If you want streaming and recording switched on while people are home, you would have to turn that on at the HomeView itself, not remotely from a phone.

Finer controls would live on your iPhone. Face recognition, activity zones (parts of the frame you want the camera to watch or ignore) and the other camera options would be managed in the Home app, just like a third-party HomeKit camera today.

Apple seems to know an always-ready camera on a kitchen counter could make people nervous, and the code reflects that. Only members of the home would be able to see the live view or the saved clips.

Anyone standing near the display would get a warning, too. A green light appears on the screen and HomeView plays a sound when someone starts watching the stream or when a recording begins. Every home member would also get a notification if someone changes the camera’s settings, so a partner or roommate can’t quietly switch recording on.

Apple has already said HomeView uses Secure Exclaves, a walled-off part of the chip, to protect camera and microphone data while it’s processed. That is a launch feature, not part of the leak, but it hints at how Apple wants to sell a camera that sits in your living space.

HomeKit Secure Video isn’t free to use. Under Apple’s existing rules, you can view HomeKit Secure Video footage on an iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple TV only if you or someone in your Family Sharing group pays for iCloud+, and you also need a home hub set up. HomeView’s advanced camera recognition features already need compatible cameras and an eligible iCloud+ subscription.

If the mode ships, getting ready would likely follow Apple’s current setup steps for any HomeKit Secure Video camera:

1. Make sure every device in the home is signed in to the same Apple Account.
2. On your iPhone or iPad, open Settings, tap your name, then iCloud.
3. Tap Show All and switch on Home.
4. Add and manage cameras from the Home app on an iPhone or iPad. A Mac can view and share footage but can’t add a camera.

If you already pay for iCloud+ for photo storage, the camera feature would probably add no new bill. If you don’t, budget for a subscription before you count HomeView as a security camera.

Nobody outside Apple knows, and Apple hasn’t said a word. The fact that the settings are in HomeView Software 27.2 suggests the feature is being tested, not that it’s finished. HomeView is a brand-new product, and Apple usually spends the first weeks after a launch fixing bugs rather than adding risky features.

A reasonable guess is a later point release such as 27.3. Turning up in the next few weeks looks unlikely. It also wasn’t promised for launch day, so don’t buy a HomeView on November 13 expecting it to guard your home out of the box.

There’s a longer-term angle as well. A Bloomberg report says Apple is working on a pricier HomeView with a roughly 9-inch display on a robotic arm that can turn in any direction. A camera that can swing around to look at different parts of a room would make this mode far more useful.

Buy HomeView for what it does today, and treat the camera mode as a possible bonus. Today you get a 7-inch display with FaceTime, Siri AI and home controls, and it can recognize up to six people and show each one their own calendar and reminders.

Watch the hidden costs on the wall version. Both HomeView designs cost $299 in the US and £299 in the UK, but the wall model comes without the speaker base and needs a mount. The cheapest Power Mount from Apple partner Schneider Home is $59.95 and needs your own power adapter of at least 20W. A mains-wired version costs $79.95 and needs an electrician. Pre-orders are open in English-speaking markets apart from Ireland, with no EU date yet.

If home security is your main goal right now, a dedicated HomeKit camera, or the LG doorbell and cameras Apple showed alongside HomeView in October, will do the job today. If you mostly want a smart screen, HomeView may grow into a camera you could also use to check on a pet or a sleeping baby from another room.

For comparison, Amazon’s Echo Show 11 costs $219.99 and has a bigger screen, but you’d be choosing Alexa+ over Apple’s Home app.