Apple HomeView - There's Not an App for That, and That’s OK
Apple's new HomeView device for the home does not have support for most kinds of native third-party apps. Maybe that's a good thing.
The HomeView, Apple’s new home automation hub with display and speaker, does not directly support native third-party native apps. Maybe that’s ok. The original iPhone didn’t support third-party native apps.
I believe this is true for most app developers: we have plenty of displays to build for already. iPhone. iPad. Apple Watch. Apple TV. Vision Pro. Don’t forget the Mac! And now, iPhone Duo, which has more ways to position and use than most of us yet know what to do with.
I’ve been working in my spare time on a big update to SketchParty TV, which runs on iPad and Apple TV, and also iPhone and iPhone Duo, and the effort I had to put in to make compelling screenshots for all of those platforms has been, frankly, exhausting.
In our collective race to put our apps on every screen Apple makes, the HomeView “only” supporting audio and video apps - in a means that seems a lot like CarPlay - may be a spot of relief. Another platform I won’t have to make screenshots for? Thank you.
For now, at least!
Who knows what the future may hold… the future of HomeView just might be apps.