Apple

Apple’s HomeView Has No App Store, and Third-Party Apps Run Only Via the iPhone

co-produced by AI14. October 2026, 09:59

Three Apple HomeView displays showing podcasts, song lyrics and Apple Music — Apple HomeView with media apps. © Apple

An Apple display, but no apps to download: Apple’s new smart home display, HomeView, comes without its own App Store, Apple confirmed to MacRumors. Third-party apps cannot be downloaded onto the device. They appear only when a compatible iPhone or iPad is nearby. Even before the unveiling, Mark Gurman of Bloomberg had reported that developers would be left out of HomeView for now.

Apps Come From the iPhone, Much Like CarPlay

Instead of a store of its own, Apple relies on a system similar to CarPlay in the car. Third-party apps run on the paired iPhone or iPad and are merely displayed on HomeView. According to Apple, the display supports “compatible third-party audio and video apps” from the iPhone. According to a Wired report cited by 9to5Mac, developers can use their existing CarPlay apps for this. A CarPlay app already installed on the iPhone is supposed to appear on HomeView automatically after setup.

Strict conditions apply for this to work:

Device nearby: A paired iPhone or iPad must be nearby and must have been unlocked recently.
Recognizing the person: Third-party apps and personal content such as Messages and Calendar appear only once HomeView has recognized the person by camera or voice. Up to six household members can enroll.
Mostly media: Support covers mainly audio and video apps, such as Spotify and Audible. Whether other CarPlay categories, such as communication or A.I. apps, will work is unclear.

Only Apple’s own apps come preinstalled, including Music, Podcasts, News, Calendar, FaceTime and Messages. Apple has not announced a developer kit specifically for HomeView.

Criticism and Counterpoints

That is unusual for a device with a screen, given that Apple has built its own App Stores for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV and Vision Pro. The Apple blogger Stephen Hackett calls the approach “weird” on his blog, 512 Pixels. He doubts that HomeView will push developers to put more effort into CarPlay. At the same time, he sees HomeView as a successful combination of building blocks Apple users already know, held together by the iPhone, iCloud and Continuity. The advantage for users: Anyone who already has CarPlay apps on their iPhone does not need to install anything extra on HomeView.

Not in the E.U. Because of Siri AI

For Europe, the question does not arise for now anyway. HomeView will not be sold in the European Union because Siri AI on iOS is currently not available in the E.U., as Apple said at launch. Apple blames the Digital Markets Act, saying it would otherwise have to give any virtual assistant direct access to users’ private data and the ability to control other apps. The European Commission disagrees. “The decision not to launch Siri AI in the E.U. is Apple’s and Apple’s alone,” said Thomas Regnier, a Commission spokesperson.

HomeView costs $299 (about €266) in the United States and is available for preorder there and in Britain, Canada and Australia. Deliveries start in mid-November.

Competitors With Open Platforms

Competitors take a different approach. Amazon has opened its Echo Show displays to third parties for years through Alexa skills, and Google’s Nest Hub can play content from numerous apps via Chromecast. Apple, by contrast, relies on a tight link to the iPhone, with privacy and encrypted camera data as selling points.