Apple Launches Collection of Smart Home Accessories From LG and Schneider Electric

Apple revealed today a new collection of smart home accessories alongside its new HomeView smart display. The company partnered with LG and Schneider Electric to co-develop the Apple Home Collection, which includes indoor and outdoor cameras, thermostats, temperature sensors, and a video doorbell and door lock.

“Apple Home Collection makes it easy to choose smart home accessories with confidence,” said Matthew Costello, Apple’s vice president of Hardware Engineering. “Working closely with industry leaders LG Electronics and Schneider Electric, we designed every accessory to work seamlessly with Apple Home, so managing your home is simple, reliable, and private.”

While Apple didn’t manufacture these smart home accessories, the company said that their design and privacy features are consistent with the company’s own products. “Like all accessories in Apple Home, Apple Home Collection products are designed for privacy, with Home app data encrypted end-to-end, so LG Electronics, Schneider Electric, and Apple can’t read it,” the company emphasized.

Here are the first devices included in this initial Apple Home Collection lineup:

LG Video Doorbell ($249.95): This smart doorbell features a front camera with 2.5K resolution and a full HD bottom camera for seeing packages. It also has a built-in spotlight and a chime that plays through HomeView, HomePod, and HomePod mini.

• LG Floodlight Cam ($399.95): This camera can monitor a perimeter in low light and has adaptive dual floodlights that activate automatically when motion is detected.
• LG Outdoor Cam ($299.95): This simpler camera has an adjustable angle and also supports low-light color vision at night.
• LG Indoor Cam ($199.95): This camera lets users tilt the viewing angle via the Home app, and it can also automatically tilt upward and downward.
• LG Smart Deadbolt Lock ($349.95): This accessory leverages Ultra Wideband technology to check when an iPhone user with a home key is approaching the door and unlock it automatically. It can also sense if the door has been opened, closed, or tampered with.
• LG Smart Thermostat ($199.95): This model works with a broad range of HVAC systems and uses Adaptive Temperature in the Home app to automatically adjust temperature based on the time of day, the presence of people in the home, and other signals.
• Schneider Home Smart Thermostat ($199.95): This product offers features similar to the LG model.
• LG Temperature Sensor ($39.95): This new thermostat can read temperature and humidity across multiple rooms.
• Schneider Home Room Sensor ($39.95): This product offers features that are similar to the LG model.

Apple says that all devices in this Apple Home Collection are easy to set up with an iPhone, and with support for the Thread protocol, they also continue to work without an Internet connection. For the cameras, customers need an iCloud+ subscription to access 10 days of event video history, and select plans also offer automatic event descriptions and advanced search.

LG’s new smart cameras are available in the US, Canada, and the UK, but the LG Smart Deadbolt Lock and other thermostats are only available in the US and Canada. While these devices work with a HomePod, HomePod mini, and Apple TV 4K, which all serve as HomeKit hubs for HomeKit accessories, Apple’s new HomeView smart display isn’t available for sale in the European Union yet.