The cheapest piece of Apple’s new smart home range costs $39.95. The dearest, a floodlight camera, costs $399.95. Between them sit nine accessories that Apple unveiled on October 13 under the name Apple Home Collection, built with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric and announced at its Welcome Home event alongside the HomeView display and a new HomePod mini.
Most of the hardware is LG’s. The list covers the Video Doorbell Wired at $249.95, the Outdoor Cam Plug-In at $299.95, the Indoor Cam Plug-In at $199.95, the Smart Deadbolt Lock at $349.95, a Smart Thermostat at $199.95 and a Temperature Sensor at $39.95. Schneider Electric supplies its own Home Smart Thermostat at $199.95 and a room sensor at $39.95. Everything sets up with one tap on an iPhone and runs inside the Apple Home app, with no separate apps or accounts.
Cameras and the doorbell
LG makes four cameras: indoor, outdoor, floodlight and the doorbell unit. Each records up to 2.5K video and picks out people, familiar faces, pets, vehicles and packages. Digital Trends noted that the doorbell carries two cameras, one for visitors and one for parcels. The floodlight model adds motion-activated adaptive dual floodlights and low-light color night vision.
Footage history lives in the owner’s iCloud+ plan, so there is no separate camera subscription. A home hub such as HomeView, HomePod, HomePod mini or Apple TV 4K does the work. Apple Intelligence adds automatic summaries of what happened in a clip and lets owners search recordings in plain language. Both features need an eligible iCloud+ subscription and compatible Apple devices.
The lock
This is the part with some technical interest. The LG deadbolt uses Ultra Wideband, so the door can unlock as someone with a compatible iPhone or Apple Watch walks up, with no need to tap the device. A PIN pad and a hidden backup key slot cover the cases where the phone is dead. It can also tell when the door has been opened, closed or tampered with, and it alerts the owner if the door stays open while the lock is engaged.
The lock supports Matter and Aliro, which lets its core access functions keep working without an internet connection. All the accessories support Thread.
Thermostats and installation
The LG and Schneider thermostats adjust temperature depending on whether people are home, getting ready for bed or away, with no manual schedule. They can also draw temperature and humidity readings from sensors in other rooms. Digital Trends described the Schneider sensor as a standalone Matter-compatible unit meant for balancing several rooms.
Apple says all data in the Home app is end-to-end encrypted, so neither Apple nor LG nor Schneider can read it. Wired products are not trivial to fit, so Apple plans to offer professional installation by ADT through Apple Retail in the U.S. for an extra fee, starting this fall.
Availability begins in December through Apple’s website, the Apple Store app and Apple Store locations. Some accessories will not ship until early 2027. Some readers were unimpressed: the top comment under the 9to5Mac report called the prices overblown.
Sources
- Apple unveils Apple Home Collection smart home accessories developed with LG and Schneider – 9to5Mac
- Apple unveils new Home Collection with security cameras, doorbell, locks, and thermostats – Digital Trends
