Apple's rumored home accessory devices hint at a more accessible smart home

A rumored new device from Apple could make your smart home even easier to use.

MacRumors

Once again, the Apple rumor leak.

Readers, friends, and colleagues in the tech media often ask me why I don't engage more with Apple gossip. For those who follow Apple closely, it's a fodder machine. While it's true that Apple gossip is lucrative in terms of content and viewership, the honest truth is that accessibility and assistive technology rarely translates into interesting, well-sourced reporting. I do, however, read the articles from the leading Apple news publications, 9to5 Mac and MacRumors, as well as Bloomberg's preeminent Apple scoopster, Mark Gurman. Every once in a while, one (or more) of the articles posted on these sites is thought-provoking enough to be worth writing about from a disability perspective.

In fact, one such instance occurred earlier this week when I posted about the new Tao to Provision mechanism for adding new cards to Apple Pay in iOS 18. As I wrote, tapping a card to the back of your iPhone is a much easier way to add a card to the Wallet app than manually entering the data printed on the card itself.

Today, inspiration struck again when I stumbled across an article by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris, who reported on a discovery in purported Apple back-end code that suggests the company is working on a new home device to complement its Apple TV set-top box and HomePod speakers. Perris reports that the recently discovered code references a device with a new identifier category: an identifier called HomeAccessory17,1. He also notes that the name is similar to the HomePods AudioAccessory identifier, and that the device will likely run a variant of tvOS that will run on the upcoming A18 chip. This silicon is especially important because, according to Perris, the A18 chip may power Apple Intelligence.

What makes this mysterious device so interesting is that it looks like Apple is finally going to release something to compete with kitchen-based smart home devices like Amazon's Echo Show and Google's Nest Hub. From an accessibility perspective, this is not a trivial development. As someone who has been immersed in the Apple ecosystem for centuries, one thing that is noticeably missing in my HomeKit-centric setup is the lack of an Echo Show-like product from Apple. Especially in the kitchen, where I currently have a HomePod mini, being able to control the doorbell and garage camera, as well as access media like music and podcasts on a relatively large screen would make it much more accessible. While the HomePod can obviously handle audio content, the point is rather about video. Instead of carrying your phone in your pocket or placing it on the counter in case the doorbell rings, Apple's new device will show you the camera feed when the doorbell rings. It will also be better for unexpected FaceTime calls. In practical terms, the screen of this new device is considerably larger than my gigantic iPhone Pro Max. It also eliminates the need to reach for the phone to operate Face ID and tap notifications. This means having a device in your kitchen means you don't have to strain your vision and motor skills, especially in time-sensitive situations like when someone knocks on your front door to deliver something.

More broadly, it's not unreasonable to assume that this yet-to-be-announced product will be as easy to use as any other Apple product. I've used the aforementioned Echo Show and, due to my love for Nest products, the Google Nest Hub. Neither was bad. It was nice to have native integration with Nest equipment instead of hacking it, but it still felt separate from my main devices. I chose to use Apple products for a variety of reasons, but ecosystem and accessibility are not the most important ones. The Google Home Hub is useful for adjusting the thermostat and locking the front door, but it's not made by Apple. It's not compatible with HomeKit. In other words, for these reasons, while I appreciate Google TV's native integration with Nest and content recommendations, I prefer Apple TV for entertainment.

Paris also wrote that he was referring to a yet-to-be-released Apple TV model, repeating previous reports that Apple appears to be preparing upgraded hardware that could be released later this year. The company last released a new Apple TV in October 2022. The model I have connected to my living room TV right now is equipped with the A15 Bionic chip, and in my case, it has 128GB of storage and an Ethernet port.

If the rumors turn out to be true and Apple does indeed show off this new screened device, the HomePod, I'll be very excited. It would be the missing and perhaps long-overdue piece of my HomeKit puzzle, lending further credence to the idea that smart home technology is more meaningful than just convenient.

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenaquino/2024/07/04/apples-rumored-home-accessory-device-portends-more-accessible-smart-homes/ The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

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