GoKawiilOne of the things tucked away in the small print of macOS 27 beta 3 is the news that you’ll need a 2TB iCloud+ subscription in order to use the new AI features for home security cameras in the Apple Home app.
While some are suggesting that we shouldn’t be too surprised by this, I do find it a somewhat disappointing move by Apple …
Apple announced significant AI-powered upgrades to the Home app at this year’s WWDC.
Intelligent Home app notifications
One of these was using Apple Intelligence to replace a whole sequence of individual security notifications with a single summary. At present, something as routine as a family member arriving home might generate a notification that they were seen in the driveway, then that the garage door was opened, then that the garage door was closed, then that they were seen at the front door, then that the front door was unlocked, and finally that it was locked.
In iOS 27, all of those individual notifications are replaced with a single one saying that the family member arrived home.
But the bigger improvements was an upgrade of HomeKit Secure Video from 1080p to 4K, and the use of Apple intelligence to analyze footage from home security cameras. Apple highlighted three intelligent capabilities.
With generated video descriptions, users can quickly understand what happened across a sequence of video clips, even without watching them. They can also search through camera clips so they can easily find what they’re looking for, like a package delivery. At the top of the Search page, the Home app elevates noteworthy clips that users may want to review, so they can quickly see important moments.
The company illustrated this with footage from multiple cameras capturing a UPS delivery as well as a friend dropping off a fruit bowl.
But the new features won’t be free
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