Apple's first home camera reportedly won't record video at all
Apple's smart home camera reportedly won't record video
Apple's upcoming smart home camera, known internally as J450, reportedly skips video recording entirely. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the device uses a low-frame-rate sensor, facial recognition, and infrared to detect people and pets, then reports activity and drives automations instead of storing footage. That sets it apart from Ring, Google Nest, and even Apple's own HomeKit Secure Video — and raises questions about how it would help after a break-in or package theft.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, speaking on the new Power On podcast, says Apple's camera will have "no video recording."
- coef2
> It could also create limitations for customers who expect a security camera to provide footage after a break-in, package theft, or other incident. How Apple’s wider security system would handle those situations remains unclear.
What would be the main advantage of this design? My understanding is that it captures image frames, retains them in RAM, and processes them with a CPU without saving them to a flash (or an SSD). Even if an attacker manages to compromise the camera, there wouldn't be historical data to retrieve. But couldn't an attacker with sufficient access read the frames currently in RAM and possibly capture footage while maintaining the access? Could hardware isolation prevent this even if some of the camera's software were compromised?
It feels like it's becoming harder to strike the right balance between privacy and the actual utility that the device is supposed to provide.
- SoftTalker
> switch lights off when a room becomes empty
How is this getting investor money, and how are consumers seeing this as something worth paying for?
It's just not hard to flip the light switch when you leave the room, and you don't need an all-seeing eye uploading everything that happens in your house to a massive corporation.
I can't believe this is a feature that gets the hype that it does. It's almost as cliche as the example of making a dinner reservation.
- m463
sound like they are trying.
Unfortunately apple devices collect EXTREME amounts of telemetry, you are opted-in by default, and much of it is impossible to opt-out of.
- zx8080
> expected to use a low-frame-rate camera alongside facial recognition and infrared sensors to identify people and pets around the home.
Thanks for letting us know that it's mainly the surveillance device. The advanced one.
- bangonkeyboard
Sure, just like the Apple Watch doesn't "record" audio, it "flows."
"You think your watch records the audio around you? No no no. The audio flows into the Secure Enclave, and flowing is definitely not recording because it’s a different word." (https://leancrew.com/all-this/2026/09/new-apple-watches-have...)