Rumors about an all-new smart home accessory from Apple have been circulating for a long while as references to a “HomeAccessory” have been discovered in Apple’s backend code. Now 9to5Mac has discovered even more details about the future device.
First, the leaked “HomeAccessory”, codenamed J490, will feature the latest A18 chip that’s found in the iPhone 16 models, and it may also allow support for Apple Intelligence – a feature that’s currently omitted on current HomePods.
Secondly, the HomeAccessory in its development has a display with a square aspect ratio as well as a built-in camera for FaceTime and other video conferencing apps. Similar to the technology found in Vision Pro, the HomeAccessory’s camera will be able to identify hand gestures even from a distance, which is essentially useful for quickly performing actions across the room. It will also be able to identify the user’s face to enable Personal Requests, similar to how Vision Pro identifies users’ faces for Personas.
Finally, the home accessory will also work similarly to an Apple TV in that it can run apps and stream media independently, and other devices can stream content to that device via AirPlay. It’s likely that this HomeAccessory will run tvOS or at least a variant of that operating system dubbed “homeOS” and the source says that the product will feature customizable Lock Screens that were introduced in tvOS 18. That same source also discovered a touchscreen-optimized Lock Screen in the tvOS beta.
As with any future products, release plans and/or features may change for the final product, but sources indicate that Apple is aiming to launch this smart home product as early as the first half of 2025.
