Apple's smart home camera reportedly won't record video

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.

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... )

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.

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.

walrus01

"we're gonna put a camera on a closed-source/closed-firmware device in your living room but it's totally not recording, trust me bro"

brcmthrowaway

Too little, too late. Seeya, Appleberry!

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.