Apple Home
Apple's smart home platform, already on the iPhone in your pocket and run from the Home app. What it is, when you need a hub in the house, and what the badge on the box is actually promising.
- Apple Home
- Google Home
- Amazon Alexa
- SmartThings
- Home Assistant
- Philips Hue
- Shelly
Releases
What Apple changed
Apple Home changes arrive with the iOS releases rather than on a schedule of their own. Here is the newest one in plain English.
Full release archive Latest release · December 2025
Apple Home 2025.12: multipack accessory pairing arrives
iOS 26.2 adds one quiet but useful upgrade to the Home app: pairing every accessory in a multipack with a single setup code, instead of one by one.
Multipack accessory pairing
Read the rundown How Apple Home works
The plain-English versions first: what the platform actually is, which name to use, and what happens to it all when the internet drops out.
Explainer Explainer Explainer
What is Apple Home?
Apple Home is Apple's built-in smart home app for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Here is what it does, the home hub you need to run it, and who it suits.
HomeKit or Apple Home? What to call it
HomeKit and Apple Home are the same system, split into two layers. There was no rename, both names are still official Apple usage, and nothing sold as HomeKit is out of date.
Does Apple Home work without internet?
Partly, and Apple's answer is the best of the mainstream platforms. What keeps working on your own network when the internet drops, what stops, and what Apple actually promises.
Do you need a hub?
Not a prerequisite to get started, but the thing that decides what your home can actually do. Whether you need one, which Apple devices count as one, and the cheapest way to get Thread into the house.
Explainer Explainer Buying guide
Does Apple Home need a hub?
You can add and control accessories on a current iPhone with no hub at all. What a HomePod or Apple TV actually adds, and why Apple's own pages disagree about it.
Which Apple devices are a home hub, and which have Thread?
Apple's home hub list and its Thread border router list are not the same list. Which HomePod and Apple TV models do both jobs, and which popular pick does only one.
The cheapest way into Apple Home with Thread
The HomePod mini at A$199 is the cheapest Apple device that is both a home hub and a Thread border router. The A$299 Apple TV 4K (Wi-Fi) is dearer and routes no Thread at all.
Adding things to it
What the badge on the box is promising, what you give up when you add an accessory over Matter, and how to keep the same device in Apple Home and someone else's app at once.
Explainer Setup Setup
What 'Works with Apple Home' means
The badge means an accessory completed Apple's certification programme. Compatibility is a different, broader claim, and knowing which one you are reading changes what you can rely on.
Adding a Matter accessory to Apple Home, and what you lose
You can add a Matter accessory with just an iPhone on iOS 18 or later; no hub needed to start. What the steps are, what a hub adds later, and which features stay in the maker's app.
Sharing an accessory between Apple Home and Google Home, Alexa or SmartThings
A Matter accessory can belong to Apple Home and Google Home, Alexa or SmartThings at once. The sharing steps, the code that expires, and the factory-reset trap to know first.
Living with it
Once it is running: what Apple Home automations can and cannot do, what the camera subscription costs, and the architecture upgrade you were prompted to take.
Explainer Explainer Explainer
Apple Home automations and their limits
Apple Home automations run on a hub in your house: arrivals, departures, times and accessory triggers. What each trigger can do, and where the honest ceiling sits.
HomeKit Secure Video and iCloud+: what it costs
HomeKit Secure Video does not record anything without a paid iCloud+ plan. Australian tier prices, how many cameras each allows, and what the hub in your house actually does.
The Apple Home architecture upgrade
Support for the old version of Apple Home ended on 10 February 2026, and the iPad lost its hub role along the way. What changed, why your setup may have broken, and what fixes it.
Head to head
Comparison
Apple Home vs Home Assistant
Home Assistant wins on capability outright. The real axis is how much of your life you want to spend on it, and the best answer for many Apple households is running both together.
ComparisonApple Home vs Google Home
The decision usually follows the phones in the house, and saying that plainly beats a feature matrix. Where each platform genuinely wins, what each costs, and when we would not sell you Apple Home.
The library
Everything Apple Home
Every guide we have written about Apple Home, filtered by what kind of read it is.
Setup Update hub Comparison Comparison Explainer Explainer Explainer Setup Setup Explainer Explainer Explainer Buying guide Explainer Explainer Setup Explainer
Shelly and Matter: supported devices, setup and limits
Gen4 Shellys ship with Matter on by default; Gen3 needs a firmware update and a toggle. Which devices support it, what your network needs, and how to pair with Apple Home, Google Home or Alexa.
Apple Home updates
Every Apple Home change that matters, summarised in plain English each month. What's new, what moved, and what to check in your own setup.
Apple Home vs Home Assistant
Home Assistant wins on capability outright. The real axis is how much of your life you want to spend on it, and the best answer for many Apple households is running both together.
Apple Home vs Google Home
The decision usually follows the phones in the house, and saying that plainly beats a feature matrix. Where each platform genuinely wins, what each costs, and when we would not sell you Apple Home.
Apple Home automations and their limits
Apple Home automations run on a hub in your house: arrivals, departures, times and accessory triggers. What each trigger can do, and where the honest ceiling sits.
The Apple Home architecture upgrade
Support for the old version of Apple Home ended on 10 February 2026, and the iPad lost its hub role along the way. What changed, why your setup may have broken, and what fixes it.
Does Apple Home work without internet?
Partly, and Apple's answer is the best of the mainstream platforms. What keeps working on your own network when the internet drops, what stops, and what Apple actually promises.
Sharing an accessory between Apple Home and Google Home, Alexa or SmartThings
A Matter accessory can belong to Apple Home and Google Home, Alexa or SmartThings at once. The sharing steps, the code that expires, and the factory-reset trap to know first.
Adding a Matter accessory to Apple Home, and what you lose
You can add a Matter accessory with just an iPhone on iOS 18 or later; no hub needed to start. What the steps are, what a hub adds later, and which features stay in the maker's app.
What 'Works with Apple Home' means
The badge means an accessory completed Apple's certification programme. Compatibility is a different, broader claim, and knowing which one you are reading changes what you can rely on.
HomeKit Secure Video and iCloud+: what it costs
HomeKit Secure Video does not record anything without a paid iCloud+ plan. Australian tier prices, how many cameras each allows, and what the hub in your house actually does.
HomeKit or Apple Home? What to call it
HomeKit and Apple Home are the same system, split into two layers. There was no rename, both names are still official Apple usage, and nothing sold as HomeKit is out of date.
The cheapest way into Apple Home with Thread
The HomePod mini at A$199 is the cheapest Apple device that is both a home hub and a Thread border router. The A$299 Apple TV 4K (Wi-Fi) is dearer and routes no Thread at all.
Does Apple Home need a hub?
You can add and control accessories on a current iPhone with no hub at all. What a HomePod or Apple TV actually adds, and why Apple's own pages disagree about it.
Which Apple devices are a home hub, and which have Thread?
Apple's home hub list and its Thread border router list are not the same list. Which HomePod and Apple TV models do both jobs, and which popular pick does only one.
Sharing SmartThings devices with Google Home, Alexa or Apple Home
SmartThings hands a Matter device to another platform happily. It will not republish the Zigbee and Z-Wave gear already on its hub as Matter devices, and that is the half people get wrong.
What is Apple Home?
Apple Home is Apple's built-in smart home app for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Here is what it does, the home hub you need to run it, and who it suits.
Ready to add something to Apple Home?
The Philips Hue lights we stock reach Apple Home through the Hue Bridge, which shows up in the Home app and brings the bulbs paired to it along with it.