Apple’s “Home Hub” reads faces for user switching
Apple is preparing a new home hub for the smart home. According to code leaks, it will feature seamless user switching.
Logo of Face ID: Soon also for HomeKit?
(Image: Apple)
Apple does not yet use its proprietary Face ID facial recognition in smart home applications, unlike on the iPhone and iPad. However, Apple’s iCloud+ video service HomeKit Secure Video can distinguish between different people if they have been tagged in the Photos library. With a brand-new home product, the so-called Home Hub, Face ID is now supposed to be integrated directly into a home device, albeit for a different functionality than unlocking a device, making payments, and the like. Instead, the plan is to display personalized content or provide only suitable services. Details were discovered in the leak-rich release candidate version 1 of macOS 26.7.
Home Hub can hear and see
Among the discovered strings, which Macrumors reports on, are those that distinguish between voice and face – apparently Apple is relying on two biometric features. For example, if the system doesn’t recognize the voice – a corresponding personalization already exists in the current Siri – the user will be asked to approach the Home Hub so that their face can also be detected. The same applies to people who have not interacted directly with the Home Hub on the device for a long time. They will also have to step in front of the camera again.
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What is displayed on the Home Hub is called “personal content” by Apple. This must be activated in the device’s system settings. What this includes (e.g., a HomeKit device selection or the personal Apple Music account) is currently unclear. The Home Hub also apparently supports “Ambient Sensing,” i.e., monitoring the environment. This will apparently only be active temporarily to verify user identity. The Home Hub could also use Face ID to personalize the content shown: You would then only have to step in front of the device, for which Apple is reportedly planning a wall mount, to see “your” screens.
Different models and own operating system
It remains unclear whether the newly discovered strings will actually appear in the final version of the Home Hub. They could also be software components that were needed during device development. Apple is reportedly planning several variants of the Home Hub: a simple, iPad-like version with a 7-inch screen for the wall, and a variant with a speaker base station.
The Home Hub, whose final name is not yet determined, is said to receive its own operating system called homeOS, which, however, will not support apps at least initially. So there will be no separate App Store at the beginning.
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