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• Reply 1 of 16

  massiveattack Posts: 115member

  June 17, 2025 5:22PM

  Home Hub without Siri is useless. Fix Siri first. 

  

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• Reply 2 of 16

  welshdog Posts: 1,929member

  June 17, 2025 5:25PM

  If Apple is going to produce such a product, they really need to make sure from the very start that the code, the processing and the overall speed of the thing are absolutely the best possible. If the thing performs like the current Home system it will be a flop. It has to be flawless and not yet another pseudo-beta pushed out to let users to troubleshoot for Apple. For once it would nice to see Apple (and every other giant software company) release a truly finished product.

  

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• Reply 3 of 16

  sflagel Posts: 883member

  June 17, 2025 6:17PM

  I still don't understand why anyone would prefer to manage their lights, heating, and curtains in one central spot in a big house, instead of in the individual rooms where those things are located. I can understand managing them from a watch or a phone that one always carries around, but a central fixed hub? But what do I know.

  edited June 17

  

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• Reply 4 of 16

  williamlondon Posts: 1,546member

  June 17, 2025 8:38PM

  sflagel said:

  “But what do I know.”

  Hmmm, think that should have been the lead? Perhaps stay in your own lane and let others run things the way they want without your criticism based on “but what do I know?” insights.

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• Reply 5 of 16

  xed Posts: 3,258member

  June 17, 2025 8:52PM

  sflagel said:

  I still don't understand why anyone would prefer to manage their lights, heating, and curtains in one central spot in a big house, instead of in the individual rooms where those things are located. I can understand managing them from a watch or a phone that one always carries around, but a central fixed hub? But what do I know.

  It doesn't mean you can't manage them in each room, it just means that you can also manage them from a central location.
  
  I feel that home automation is still pretty sloppy, but I do like the direction it's going. Having the home connected ultimately does lead to a centralized system that can more intelligently control rooms. For instance, if there are sensors that detect movement it can know to turn off lights and other items when the rooms are not in use. This can also be used to turn items on in an intelligent way. Then there's programming which will eventually be overtaken by a simply AI setup based on usage, which can vary from season to season.
  
  One scenario may be that you're returning home after being gone for 2 weeks. You had already told the system to go into Vacation mode. This mot only turned off your water heater, turned of the water main, and didn't run the heat in your home unless the house got below a certain temp. Your coming home fairly late after this trip so your driveway/walkway lights have already turned off for the evening, but the system knows you are now close by so it turns these on without you having to tell it to. It also reenabled the main water shutoff valve, started the recirc on your tankless water heater, and put the house to the appropriate temp, opened the garage door when you pulled up, and of course turned on necessary lights inside.
  
  These are things that are doable today and have been for years all while still being able to control them yourself in every room.
  
  - - - - - 
  I won't know if Apple's offering will be right for me, but I do look forward to where a connected home is going and I'd like a company that does better with personal information security to handle it.
  

  edited June 17

  

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• Reply 6 of 16

  webmonger Posts: 25member

  June 17, 2025 10:05PM

  welshdog said:

  If Apple is going to produce such a product, they really need to make sure from the very start that the code, the processing and the overall speed of the thing are absolutely the best possible. If the thing performs like the current Home system it will be a flop. It has to be flawless and not yet another pseudo-beta pushed out to let users to troubleshoot for Apple. For once it would nice to see Apple (and every other giant software company) release a truly finished product.

  Apple is one of the few companies that does have a track record of releasing a more polished product.  vs the Microsoft and Google approach of fail fast to prove that a half assed attempt at a good idea still gives you a crap result.  The majority of those companies then blame the idea vs their approach.  Apple then perfects the execution of the idea and then everyone else cries "we did it first". Well yah maybe but you screwed it up several times first more like.  

  

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• Reply 7 of 16

  webmonger Posts: 25member

  June 17, 2025 10:20PM

  sflagel said:

  I still don't understand why anyone would prefer to manage their lights, heating, and curtains in one central spot in a big house, instead of in the individual rooms where those things are located. I can understand managing them from a watch or a phone that one always carries around, but a central fixed hub? But what do I know.

  I don't think anyone is expecting that this "central terminal" is the interface everyone will use in a dedicated or primary fashion.  That is a myopic approach that I doubt Apple is taking.  Maybe there will be some that like using it that way and great for them.  But the key need the home hub serves is as a central configuration point where all the devices will be added, managed and also serve in synchronicity with automation rules saved at this hub.  Effectively becoming a new household appliance. The hub will also have local and remote access control rights set up for the home owners to use with their interface of choice, phone, iPad, watch, voice command, web etc.  See above one person saying that Siri must be fixed first.  For sure voice commands will open this to an entire household not just the tech savvy ones in the home.  Apple learned from people having used their old iPads as their home hub that such an appliance is needed.  Early implementations of the past required you to use your PC and or some other appliance, netamo, Insteon etc to get something similar together, and a lot of effort to get it reliable.  So to get something with high reliability working in the home, some kind of centralized hub is needed. If it can also have a screen and also be presentable, thus now appearing on your wall in a central location in your home vs hidden in a dark closet or basement, it has more likely hood of working. 

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• Reply 8 of 16

  mattinoz Posts: 2,679member

  June 18, 2025 4:02AM

  Interesting why now when businesses have been after a kioskPad since the iPad was released?

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• Reply 9 of 16

  radarthekat Posts: 3,943moderator

  June 18, 2025 7:45AM

  J.A.R.V.I.S.

  Nothing less will do.  Just come in and install all the needed sensors and cameras and connect to everything in the house that has function and flip the switch.  It will know me and my comfort parameters and run my home without me much needing to intervene.  How long must we wait for this level of intelligence?  
  

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• Reply 10 of 16

  dewme Posts: 6,093member

  June 18, 2025 12:48PM

  If Apple intends to get serious about figuring out what ambient computing means to them as a product company, the device described in this article seems like them dipping their toe in the water. 

  
  

  If Ambient Computing as currently envisioned becomes a reality the Home Hub as a visual portal device is in my opinion somewhat redundant and unnecessary for very many Apple users. Most of the underlying functionality the home hub is expected to provide sounds entirely necessary, but the display and portal capabilities should be equally accessible through the whole range of Apple devices already available, from Vision Pro, Macs, iPhones, iPads, Apple TV, and to everything in between that has human to system interaction. 

  
  

  For now however, the Home Hub is a placeholder that gives Apple users who don’t have a device to dedicate to the job of being a visual portal that aggregates information, control, and infotainment into a single device. As envisioned in the Apple rumorsphere currently, a spare iPad with AppleTV capabilities dedicated to the purpose the Home Hup provides seems like it could do the job as easily. 

  
  

  Hopefully the Home Hub will be significantly less expensive than an iPad Pro, but I can see where it would be more expensive than a base iPad. In some ways the Home Hub looks similar to Amazon’s wall mountable Echo Show 25” and 21” slab form factor devices that are in the $300-$400 USD range. Factor in the Apple premium (for premium quality?) devices that work better and more seamlessly and without a constant barrage of advertising and hawking of sales pitches, I’d expect something in the $600-$800 range. If Apple stuffs advertising in there the price should be reduced significantly. 

  
  

  These are just some of my thoughts and opinions. I’m excited about ambient computing. I definitely want the underlying “hub” services. I don’t need another dedicated UI device that’s stuck in one location. Access to the functionality should be from anywhere. I don’t want centralized control of semi smart home automation devices including sensors, actuators, I/O from various sources, including AI, etc., that need to be told what to do by a centralized controller. 

  
  

  Finally, if the Home Hub is primarily a voice interactive device, Apple seriously needs to get a version of Siri that actually works and doesn’t make me want to kill. The bar doesn’t need to be very high. If Siri simply worked as well as Alexa does today I would be thrilled. 

  
  

  I used to cut Siri some slack figuring Apple would eventually get it figured out, but trying to use Siri with current CarPlay very often induces road rage between me and Siri. Things that used to work “okay” no longer work at all. It’s a total cluster-xxxx. They must have shifted all of the Siri servers over to Apple Intelligence and now the entire Siri system is now running on a single Apple II computer located in a garden shed somewhere in Montana with a 2400 baud modem over phone lines. It’s really that bad. If Home Hub’s success is bound to Siri in its current form, it’s doomed. 
  

  edited June 18

  

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• Reply 11 of 16

  applezulu Posts: 2,528member

  June 18, 2025 4:20PM

  The hub would be a central processor that can manage whatever is needed to have AI and AI Siri available to all networked home devices. In my mind, that'll be a puck, like an Apple TV box. It would add this upgraded power to all the HomePods and AppleTVs you already own. This way Apple can roll out AI power in Apple Home without the barrier of expecting customers to replace a bunch of HomePods and Apple TVs before they can access this feature. The home hub tablet would be an inexpensive device, dependent on the hub for processing power (unlike an iPad, this tablet would never leave your home network, so it wouldn't need its own beefy processor). You'd buy two or three, and generally keep them in various parts of the home. One in the kitchen, one in the master bedroom, etc. They'd come with MagSafe chargers that can stand on a counter or hang on the wall. This then adds an always-available visual interface to control home devices, in addition to the verbal control you already have via HomePods situated throughout the home. You'd still be able to control everything from an iPhone, iPad, MacBook, or Apple TV. The home hub tablets would just add the reliable convenience of having a home control station available nearby even when you've left your phone or iPad in another room, or in the car down in the garage. 

  

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• Reply 12 of 16

  gatorguy Posts: 24,769member

  June 18, 2025 4:45PM

  sflagel said:

  I still don't understand why anyone would prefer to manage their lights, heating, and curtains in one central spot in a big house, instead of in the individual rooms where those things are located. I can understand managing them from a watch or a phone that one always carries around, but a central fixed hub? But what do I know.

  That's been my general experience with Google Home Hub. It's not that I NEVER use the home controls offered by the Hub, but it's so rare I would never buy one specifically for controlling home devices. That's done by voice 90% of the time. For that matter I rarely walk up to the Nest thermostats to adjust them, using voice there too.
  
  But a Home Hub from Apple might be useful for other features such as watching TV, music videos, checking weather, following a recipe, making/receiving video calls, checking security cams etc, things I use Google's product for.  If Apple offers those things too I bet they'll have a huge success with it. But if the focus is home control I think the usefulness will be pretty limited. 

  

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• Reply 13 of 16

  dewme Posts: 6,093member

  June 18, 2025 6:27PM

  AppleZulu said:

  The hub would be a central processor that can manage whatever is needed to have AI and AI Siri available to all networked home devices. In my mind, that'll be a puck, like an Apple TV box. It would add this upgraded power to all the HomePods and AppleTVs you already own. This way Apple can roll out AI power in Apple Home without the barrier of expecting customers to replace a bunch of HomePods and Apple TVs before they can access this feature. The home hub tablet would be an inexpensive device, dependent on the hub for processing power (unlike an iPad, this tablet would never leave your home network, so it wouldn't need its own beefy processor). You'd buy two or three, and generally keep them in various parts of the home. One in the kitchen, one in the master bedroom, etc. They'd come with MagSafe chargers that can stand on a counter or hang on the wall. This then adds an always-available visual interface to control home devices, in addition to the verbal control you already have via HomePods situated throughout the home. You'd still be able to control everything from an iPhone, iPad, MacBook, or Apple TV. The home hub tablets would just add the reliable convenience of having a home control station available nearby even when you've left your phone or iPad in another room, or in the car down in the garage. 

  This is inline with my thinking. I’d rather the hub be a headless server more along the lines of Home Assistant. I also think it would be interesting if the home hub could provide functionality akin to a security gateway to provide another layer to protect the user’s private network. At the very least a Private Relay like server for all devices on the internal network rather the device based Private Relay. Of course such a server would probably have to also perform a number of traditional routing functions. 

  
  

  A bonus would be a DNS gateway/server to do things like blocking of known malicious websites and (cough cough) spam and advertising sources. This latter capability would be more akin to a pi-hole. 

  
  

  I’m not in favor of reducing device-level privacy or security at all. I just see the threat level continuing to rise in scale and frequency so it would be nice to have another layer of protection on top that can be updated very quickly and reliably as opposed to having to update a slew of devices individually but all at the same time. 

  
  

  I don’t see Apple allowing it, but having an upper layer of defense could potentially extend the service life of devices that can no longer be updated due to lack of support from the manufacturer. It’s one thing to talk about Apple devices alone, but with with home automation components from multiple vendors being integrated into the system this becomes a real issue, especially for automation devices that have service lives that go beyond Apple’s support lifecycle policies. 

  

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• Reply 14 of 16

  mattinoz Posts: 2,679member

  June 18, 2025 9:55PM

  AppleZulu said:

  The hub would be a central processor that can manage whatever is needed to have AI and AI Siri available to all networked home devices. In my mind, that'll be a puck, like an Apple TV box. It would add this upgraded power to all the HomePods and AppleTVs you already own. This way Apple can roll out AI power in Apple Home without the barrier of expecting customers to replace a bunch of HomePods and Apple TVs before they can access this feature. The home hub tablet would be an inexpensive device, dependent on the hub for processing power (unlike an iPad, this tablet would never leave your home network, so it wouldn't need its own beefy processor). You'd buy two or three, and generally keep them in various parts of the home. One in the kitchen, one in the master bedroom, etc. They'd come with MagSafe chargers that can stand on a counter or hang on the wall. This then adds an always-available visual interface to control home devices, in addition to the verbal control you already have via HomePods situated throughout the home. You'd still be able to control everything from an iPhone, iPad, MacBook, or Apple TV. The home hub tablets would just add the reliable convenience of having a home control station available nearby even when you've left your phone or iPad in another room, or in the car down in the garage. 

  Exactly, except they could do that with refurbished iPads and could have done it any time in the last 5 years.

  

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• Reply 15 of 16

  applezulu Posts: 2,528member

  June 19, 2025 3:57PM

  mattinoz said:

  AppleZulu said:

  The hub would be a central processor that can manage whatever is needed to have AI and AI Siri available to all networked home devices. In my mind, that'll be a puck, like an Apple TV box. It would add this upgraded power to all the HomePods and AppleTVs you already own. This way Apple can roll out AI power in Apple Home without the barrier of expecting customers to replace a bunch of HomePods and Apple TVs before they can access this feature. The home hub tablet would be an inexpensive device, dependent on the hub for processing power (unlike an iPad, this tablet would never leave your home network, so it wouldn't need its own beefy processor). You'd buy two or three, and generally keep them in various parts of the home. One in the kitchen, one in the master bedroom, etc. They'd come with MagSafe chargers that can stand on a counter or hang on the wall. This then adds an always-available visual interface to control home devices, in addition to the verbal control you already have via HomePods situated throughout the home. You'd still be able to control everything from an iPhone, iPad, MacBook, or Apple TV. The home hub tablets would just add the reliable convenience of having a home control station available nearby even when you've left your phone or iPad in another room, or in the car down in the garage. 

  Exactly, except they could do that with refurbished iPads and could have done it any time in the last 5 years.

  You’re kidding, right? You don’t seriously think they (or any company) would build something like Apple Home around the resale of used gear, do you? I mean, apart from the image and marketing problems around that (the advertising licensing fee for the Sanford and Son theme song from the Quincy Jones estate could be prohibitively expensive), there’s a built-in supply chain problem of having minimal control over the number, specs and quality of devices coming back in to be used for this purpose. What happens when the demand exceeds supply? Build and sell more iPads and wait for them to come back in a few years?

  

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• Reply 16 of 16

  mike1 Posts: 3,501member

  June 20, 2025 7:15PM

  williamlondon said:

  sflagel said:

  “But what do I know.”

  Hmmm, think that should have been the lead? Perhaps stay in your own lane and let others run things the way they want without your criticism based on “but what do I know?” insights.

  
  Amazon sells an awful lot of Amazon Echo Shows, so some people must find the concept useful.

  

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