Apple is coming for Google Home

Doorbells, locks, cameras, and thermostats are all part of the plan. Apple is coming for Google Home, and LG could help it get there. Smart home Apple is coming for Google Home, and LG could help it get there Doorbells, locks, cameras, and thermostats are all part of the plan.

The products will carry LG branding, but Apple reportedly helped shape their design, features, and engineering as part of its wider smart home reboot. Apple’s new smart home hub is expected on October 13, but the LG-made accessories are reportedly still at least a few months away. Apple’s smart home ambitions are about to get a lot bigger than a new screen on your kitchen counter.

The company has long relied on other manufacturers to fill most of the gaps around HomeKit, leaving Google and Amazon with much broader hardware lineups. But with Apple reportedly preparing to unveil its long-awaited smart home hub next week, we’re now learning that it has quietly helped build the accessories needed to turn that hub into something closer to a complete ecosystem. According to Bloomberg, Apple has partnered with LG to develop a surprisingly extensive collection of smart home hardware.

Google may be getting ready to drop Safety Signal from the older smartwatches. Google could soon take away an important Pixel Watch 2 and 3 safety feature.

The doorbell, security cameras, thermostats and more could be announced next week. Apple reportedly worked with LG on gadgets for its upcoming smart home push.

Wearables and health Google could soon take away an important Pixel Watch 2 and 3 safety feature Google may be getting ready to drop Safety Signal from the older smartwatches. The feature provides cellular connectivity for the watches, enabling safety features when users are away from their phones and don’t have a watch carrier plan.

Big Tech Apple Apple reportedly worked with LG on gadgets for its upcoming smart home push The doorbell, security cameras, thermostats and more could be announced next week. Based on recent regulatory filings by LG, Bloomberg reports that the results of this collaboration should include a smart doorbell, a smart thermostat, a smart deadbolt lock, indoor and outdoor security cameras, and a floodlight camera.

The latest Pixel Watch app update confirms the feature is going away, but Google hasn’t revealed when or what will replace it. It looks like Google is getting ready to remove the Safety Signal feature from the Pixel Watch 2 and Pixel Watch 3 LTE models.

Rather than Apple’s iconic fruit symbol, the hardware will reportedly be sold under LG’s banner, with the South Korean business responsible for the devices’ manufacturing and product support. This smart home slate should be unveiled next week, and the LG product lineup is likely to center around a new hub device from Apple that has been in development for several years.

Safety Signal is a Google Health Premium subscription service that provides LTE connectivity to supported Pixel Watches when they don’t have an active carrier plan. It’s designed to keep certain safety features working when you’re away from your phone and don’t have cellular service on your watch.

A revamped HomePod Mini and TV set-top box may also be coming as part of Apple’s move toward offering a bigger system of connected home tech. While the Apple-branded devices should be available soon, Bloomberg says the LG accessories won’t hit the market for "at least a few more months." This co-development effort also marks a shift for LG.

The service can provide connectivity for calls to and from emergency contacts, Safety Check, Emergency Sharing, Emergency SOS, and Fall Detection.

The brand has long been known for appliances and large electronics rather than smart home products. LG has been a partner for Apple in other verticals in the past, such offering Apple software via its smart TVs and serving as a third-party monitor option for the MacBook ecosystem.