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Apple Rumored to Launch Smart Home Doorbell With Face ID and More

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Apple is in the early stages of developing a smart home doorbell and lock system with Face ID, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Ring Doorbell
In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the doorbell would wirelessly connect to a compatible deadbolt lock, allowing users to automatically unlock a door with Face ID. The doorbell would likely work with third-party HomeKit locks, but Apple could also partner with another brand to offer an all-in-one solution, he said.

Apple's doorbell would compete with Amazon's line of Ring doorbells, but Gurman did not say if Apple's solution would capture video.

Apple would almost certainly tout the privacy and security benefits of its own smart home doorbell. If the product is ever released, Gurman expects that it will be equipped with Apple's rumored Wi-Fi chip, which is said to have a Secure Enclave to protect user data. And if the doorbell does end up offering video capture, Apple already has a HomeKit Secure Video service with end-to-end encryption for storing footage in iCloud.

Gurman believes Apple's doorbell is unlikely to launch until 2026 at the earliest.

Apple seemingly has plans to make a bigger push into the smart home space over the next few years. In addition to this doorbell, the company is expected to launch a smart home hub next year, and it is also rumored to be planning its own HomeKit-enabled indoor security camera that would compete with products like Logitech's Circle View.

Tag: Mark Gurman

Top Rated Comments

cicalinarrot Avatar
cicalinarrot
17 months ago
As a long time Apple user, I'm the first to talk **** about Apple when they deserve it.
But one thing is sure, I'd rather trust them with my face and private videos than Amazon, who basically gave the police a new dystopian-novel-grade video-surveillance system.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
R
rymc02
17 months ago

Apple is extremely late in the connected home. To only think about the home now after years of other companies do it, it has to come up with something special for anyone to buy or replace their existing devices, especially as we know it won’t be cheap.

Apple seems to be very unfocused. Wasting time, effort and money on a car, leaving its own devices, apps and services languishing with bugs and in-intuitiveness, not promoting services that a lot of people don’t even know exist, etc. Before, Apple cared about the user and what ways it can make their lives better, now it doesn’t care because it has the money to do anything- or nothing- it wants
Apple had the perfect device to expand into home automation 10 years ago but the discontinued it. The Airport was amazing. It would have made the perfect home hub with Apple Silicon. It could handle Siri requests locally for HomePods, Time Machine backups and even have the ability to have local iCloud storage. It could download, store and push updates for all connected Apple devices. If they do make cameras it could store local backups better than most other systems right now that charge for it. Apple would never do this but if they allowed external hard drives to be connected to operate as a NAS, it would be absolutely amazing.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
M
masterleep
17 months ago
All I want for Christmas is a decent doorbell with HomeKit Secure Video...
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
emmab2006 Avatar
emmab2006
17 months ago
OK I have to admit that is pretty cool.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
211 Avatar
211
17 months ago
Apple is extremely late to the connected home. To only think about the home now after years of other companies doing it, it has to come up with something special for anyone to buy or replace their existing devices, especially as we know it won’t be cheap.

Apple seems to be very unfocused. Wasting time, effort and money on a car, leaving its own devices, apps and services languishing with bugs and in-intuitiveness, not promoting services that a lot of people don’t even know exist, etc.

Before, Apple cared about the user and what ways it can make their lives better, now it doesn’t care because it has the money to do anything- or nothing- it wants
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
filmantopia Avatar
filmantopia
17 months ago
Makes sense to me. Won’t be Apple’s first ecosystem accessory, and this is an area they could make something exceptionally well.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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