Apple’s Home app is getting its most substantial update in years with iOS 27, adding AI-generated camera alerts, 4K recording support, and a new way to track energy usage across smart home accessories.
For anyone who has ever dismissed a security camera notification without watching the clip, the new Apple Intelligence summaries change how those alerts actually work.
Instead of a generic motion alert, the app now generates a written description of what the camera recorded.
You might see something like “a person walked through the front yard” or “two people stood near the door” without even opening the footage.
The system can also identify people by name when they appear in your Photos library, so a familiar face gets a named alert rather than an anonymous one.
Fewer Alerts, More Context
The update reduces notification clutter in a way that previous versions of the Home app never did.
Related alerts from the same event now get combined into a single notification. Someone arriving home and then unlocking the door, for example, appears as a single item rather than two.
Per-camera controls in the Home app settings let you decide which cameras use summaries and which follow the old behavior. Support for multiple languages is included.
Long-pressing an incoming camera notification now plays a short preview clip directly from the lock screen, and the same press also provides quick access to nearby accessories.
If a camera catches motion at your front door late at night, you can trigger nearby lights without unlocking your phone.
Cameras Can Now Follow the Same Event Across Rooms
Homes with multiple cameras get a connected view of the same event as it moves through different areas.
If someone walks past a driveway camera and then a side entrance camera, the Home app links those recordings and presents them together during playback with a single summary covering the full sequence. Previously, those would have appeared as unrelated clips.
A separate Highlights section surfaces recordings that the system considers worth reviewing, displayed above the general footage in the camera view.
Natural language search also arrives in iOS 27, letting you type something like “package delivery” to pull up relevant clips. The same search works through Spotlight, so you do not need to open the Home app first.
4K Recording and Energy Monitoring
HomeKit Secure Video cameras have been capped at 1080p until now. iOS 27 removes that ceiling, allowing compatible cameras to stream and record at up to 4K.
This upgrade does not require Apple Intelligence, so it applies to a broader range of devices.
Smart plugs and other accessories that measure power consumption now display that data inside the Home app under a dedicated Energy tab.
Automation based on energy data is not yet available, but the readings are now visible for the first time.
What You Need to Use These Features
The AI camera features require an iPhone 15 Pro or later running iOS 27, plus either an Apple TV running tvOS 27 or a HomePod running HomePod Software 27 acting as a home hub.
HomeKit Secure Video still requires an iCloud+ subscription. The 50GB tier covers one camera, the 200GB tier supports up to five, and plans of 2TB or higher allow unlimited cameras.
Apple TV software updates can now be pushed remotely through the Home app, matching how HomePod updates already work.
Apple also updated the underlying connectivity layer, adopting Thread 1.4 for improved reliability with compatible accessories. Pairing new devices is faster, and the interface for adding Matter accessories has been simplified.
