Apple updated the Home app with some useful new features that rely on Apple Intelligence. The updates improve the way HomeKit Secure Video cameras work on Apple's HomeKit platform.
Apple Intelligence Summaries
The Home app generates written summaries for motion alerts and what's detected, using AI to determine what's been recorded. It can recognize people, animals, vehicles, packages, and general motion, giving a summary of what's happening even if you're not looking at the video footage.
It is intelligent enough to give detail, so you'll see alerts like "a person walked through the room," "two people were in the room," "a dog sat on the floor," or "a cat played in the room."
HomeKit Secure Video cameras have facial recognition, so they can also recognize people who are in your Photo Library, sending alerts and summaries with names.
Grouped Footage
Along with analyzing footage, the Home app can now group footage from separate cameras capturing the same event. If a person walks by one camera and continues on to another, the Home app knows those two events are related. During video playback, you can see relevant footage from multiple cameras with a summary of something that happened across the entire home.
Highlights
If there are noteworthy recordings available, they are shown in a separate section above the general recordings in the camera view.
Search
The Home app supports natural language search for camera footage, so if you're looking for something like when a package was delivered, you can search for it. It can recognize objects, colors, and more. Search works in the Home app and directly in Spotlight.
Notification Summaries
Notifications update in real-time and related alerts are combined instead of being shown as separate notifications. The net result is fewer Home app notifications. Summaries can be turned on in the Home app settings on a per-camera basis, plus there are options for multiple languages.
Video Previews
Long pressing on an incoming video notification plays a preview clip of the footage and includes access to nearby accessories like lights that you might want to turn on quickly.
Reduce Notifications
There is an Apple Intelligence section in the Home app where you can turn on video summaries and cut down on notifications. The Reduce Notifications toggle combines related activities like someone arriving and unlocking the door.
4K Recording
HomeKit Secure Video cameras are no longer limited to 1080p recording. If supported, cameras can stream and record at up to 4K.
Energy Monitoring
Accessories able to track energy usage like smart plugs now display that information in the Home app in the Energy tab. There is no way to create automations based on the data as of now.
Remote Apple TV Updates
It's now possible to update the Apple TV remotely using the Home app, similar to how HomePod updates are installed.
Reliability
Apple says capturing and storing HomeKit Secure Video footage is more reliable than it was before and it is less likely to miss activity.
Connectivity for Thread home accessories has also been improved with Apple adopting Thread 1.4, and HomeKit accessories now pair faster. Apple also says smart home accessory updates are faster than before.
When adding a new device to the Home app, there's a simplified interface that's useful for configuring Matter accessories in particular.
Compatibility and Requirements
The Apple Intelligence features in the Home app require a device that supports Apple Intelligence, which includes the iPhone 15 Pro and later. The Home features also need an Apple TV running tvOS 27 or a HomePod running the HomePod Software 27. Apple is also working on a home hub that could launch as soon as this year, and it too would likely work for the Apple Intelligence features.
HomeKit Secure Video requires an iCloud+ plan. The 50GB plan supports a single camera, the 200GB plan supports up to five cameras, and the 2TB and above plans support unlimited cameras.
4K video recording does not require Apple Intelligence.
Availability
iOS 27 is available to developers and public beta testers, so you can try it out now ahead of its September launch.
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