Apple unveiled its Apple Home Collection, a handful of “recommended” smart home products produced in partnership with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric, during its “Welcome Home” event on Tuesday.
The new gear, including a door lock, temperature sensors and security cameras, work with Apple’s new HomeView smart home hub and give consumers an easy way to outfit their homes with trusted devices. The company played up ease of use and security in a bid to differentiate its products from the sea of similar products.
“Apple Home Collection makes it easy to choose smart home accessories with confidence,” said Matthew Costello, Apple’s vice president of hardardware engineering, in a press release Tuesday. “Working closely with industry leaders LG Electronics and Schneider Electric, we designed every accessory to work seamlessly with Apple Home, so managing your home is simple, reliable, and private.”
Apple Home Collection launches
The unusual partnerships with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric give Cupertino a way to add smart home products to its Apple Home Collection while avoiding the nitty-gritty hassles of actually manufacturing and supporting them.
The strategy provides a convenient way to kick-start Apple’s renewed push in to the smart home category and ensures its new HomeView home hub, also introduced Tuesday, will benefit from a carefully curated selection of smart locks, thermostats and other essentials available soon after the long-delayed product reaches store shelves in November.
“Building on the thousands of Works with Apple Home and Matter accessories available today, Apple Home Collection offers customers a new array of recommended products to better understand what’s happening inside and outside their home, manage access, and keep the temperature just right throughout the day,” Apple said. “Availability for all products begins in December, with select accessories available starting early 2027.”
One-tap setup reminiscent of HomePod
Photo: Apple
The products use premium materials and connect to Apple’s Home app with a new one-tap system that eliminates the finicky setup employed by existing HomeKit-compatible products. They work with Matter, the cross-platform home automation platform backed by Apple, Google, Amazon and other manufacturers.
They also eliminate the need to download a separate app from the manufacturers. This shields iPhone owners from the software clutter that accompanies many competing devices.
Overall, the design of the Apple Home Collection products looks slick and minimalist, just as you would expect. The pricing of the devices, while not competitive with the low end of the smart home market, doesn’t seem outrageous.
Apple Home Collection devices for home monitoring, access and climate
Apple laid out three broad device categories: home monitoring, home access and home climate.
In the monitoring category, LG’s video doorbell is joined by three video cameras (floodlight, indoor and outdoor). In access, there’s LG’s Smart Deadbolt Lock. And in climate, there are two smart thermostats, one from LG and one from Schneider.
Apple positions the new smart home products as built to seamlessly integrate with each other.
“A single ‘Good Morning’ scene can simultaneously adjust the thermostat, tilt an indoor camera down while a user is getting ready, and start music on HomePod,” Apple said. “Using on-device intelligence from iPhone or Apple Watch, users can set up Apple Home to recognize key moments throughout the day: As the last user leaves for work, the thermostat adjusts for an empty home, the door locks, and cameras begin monitoring again. Before they arrive home, the thermostat begins adjusting the temperature, and the front door unlocks automatically as they approach.”
Video doorbell and smart deadbolt lock work together
Photo: Apple
On a more granular level, the video doorbell and smart lock work hand in hand to secure a user’s entryway while offering streamlined access to the home and easy monitoring from other Apple devices.
“Controls in the Home app allow the doorbell and lock to work together as a front-door system — letting users see who’s there and unlock the door in a single view or by asking Siri,” Apple said. “When a visitor rings the bell, a chime sounds through HomeView, HomePod, or HomePod mini, and a notification appears on the user’s Apple devices, like iPhone or iPad. From wherever they are, users can see who’s at the door, speak to the visitor, and unlock the door for them.”
The smart deadbolt is Matter-compatible and works with Aliro. (Sometimes dubbed “Matter for door locks,” Aliro is an industry-standard communication protocol that lets smartphones and wearables act as secure digital keys for doors.) LG’s smart lock works “entirely locally so core access functions continue even without an internet connection.”
Photo: Apple
Security cams from LG Electronics
Photos: Apple
Four distinct security camers in the Apple Home Collection, all made by LG Electronics, cover the home on the inside as well as the outside.
LG’s indoor cam seems the most creative of the bunch. It “takes a distinctive approach to privacy in the Home app by automatically tilting upward and downward to adjust the view when users check in on the home, and tilting back down to stop monitoring as soon as the first member of the household returns,” Apple said. “Users can also tilt the camera manually or in the Home app at any time, whether to take a quick look around the room or adjust the view to exactly where they need it.”
Apple emphasized seamless integration with its ecosystem when introducing the four LG security cameras.
“Every camera captures up to 2.5K resolution video and recognizes people, familiar faces, pets, vehicles, and packages, with video history securely stored in users’ supported iCloud+ plan, so there’s no separate camera subscription,” Apple said.
The Video Doorbell comes with dual cameras that “capture separate views of visitors and packages — allowing users to switch between the front and bottom camera views seamlessly — along with a built-in spotlight and a chime that plays through HomeView, HomePod, and HomePod mini. The front camera captures 2.5K resolution video, and the bottom camera captures full HD resolution.”
Photos: Apple
LG’s floodlight cam, which starts at $399.95, employs adaptive dual floodlights activated by motion detectors to light up areas in need of monitoring.
The LG outdoor cam, which starts at $299.95, “can be easily angled, delivering flexible outdoor coverage with simple self-installation,” Apple said.
Both the floodlight and outdoor cameras offer low-light color night vision that “preserves clarity in darker conditions so users can see more of what’s happening outside,” Apple said.
Smart thermostats from LG Electronics and Schneider Electric
Photos: Apple
The two smart thermostats aim to simplify keeping the user’s smart home comfortable.
“Using on-device intelligence from iPhone, Adaptive Temperature in the Home app automatically adjusts the thermostats based on whether someone is at home, winding down at night, or away, ensuring the home is always at the right temperature without any manual scheduling,” Apple said.
Both thermostats and temperature/humidity sensors work with Matter and are “DIY-friendly,” according to Apple. The company said they “work with a broad range of HVAC systems, with on-device wire detection to simplify installation.”
While the company says it worked to make the devices easy for consumers to install, Apple also will offer “third-party installation from ADT for an additional charge, available in the U.S. starting this fall.”
Apple will sell installation accessories for the smart thermostats separately in its online store and in the Apple Store app. Both LG’s and Schneider’s C‑wire power adapters start at $24.95. Schneider’s home trim plate starts at $14.95.
News of the Apple Home Collection, and the so-called second-party collaborations with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric, leaked last week ahead of Apple’s Welcome Home event on Tuesday. Apple also introduced its new HomeView smart hub, an updated HomePod mini and an upgraded Apple TV 4K at the event.
Lewis Wallace is the managing editor of Cult of Mac and author of our weekly newsletter, The Weekender. He appears weekly on the Cult of Mac podcast. You can find him on X @lewiswallace.
