For those of you living under a rock, plenty of rumors are flying and alleged details have leaked regarding Apple’s big “Welcome Home” event slated for two days from now (Wednesday, October 14th, 2026). It all sounds…great? I guess. At least in the context of 5 years ago. But in 2026, and the latter part of 2026 no less, it sounds not only dangerous, but stupid, wasteful, and expensive. Why dangerous? What about these alleged details poses such a great threat to warrant the use of such a serious word? Well… again, for those of you living under a rock, the smart home space is no longer “plug in this thing and magic things happen”. The past year and a half of shoving AI down everyone’s throats has begun leading folks to realize just how screwed we are letting these devices into our homes. Between AI summaries of camera clips feeding, training, and being exploited by models (and advertisers, AND government), people are hitting pause on this stuff. And rightfully so- even without the AI dangers it’s becoming clear that Apple’s partner (LG) especially is one of the most untrustworthy brands in tech given the shovelware forced onto machines by way of McAfee for doing nothing more than plugging their LG monitor into their computer. LG smart TVs have had their reputation take it on the chin pretty hard with the revelation that even disconnected from the internet these devices monitor and harvest MASSIVE amounts of viewing data, user preferences, network information, and even audio/video recordings. While that may not sound quite that bad given the disconnected state, the minor detail missing in that statement is that they will actively seek out unsecured wifi networks, connect, upload the data, then disconnect. Given the prevalence of “Free_Public_Wifi” networks in dense residential areas, or god forbid, a car parked at a stoplight that has a wifi hotspot, you can see how you quickly lose control of the situation. Apple, who have built their smart home and really entire platform around concepts like “privacy” and “security”, really screwed themselves here. What’s worse- details are now leaking out that “ADT will be handling installation of LG devices partnering with Apple’s HomeView’. Last I checked, ADT was not only partially owned by Google but a HEAVY distributor/integrator of their Nest/Google Home devices and platform-integrated devices. This situation sounds more and more like Apple skipped the foxes and went straight to letting wolves into the henhouse, and we’re all about to have feathers ripped out and our heads bitten off in what will surely be a bloody massacre. Bear in mind that not only have smart light bulb companies like Hue begun using their bulbs to track motion in rooms around the house, but even Comcast have gotten onboard by turning their borderline-mandatory ISP equipment into motion trackers that follow not only you but anyone passing by or around your domicile. I can’t think of ANY way this could be exploited by the government… nooooo. :eyeroll Ok so clearly this COULD be dangerous, but Apple wouldn’t do that to people, right? They… they wouldn’t go against the grain of their pinky promises to respect privacy and protect users from these nasty threats, right? I mean… it’s not as if the newest generation of AirPods aren’t rumored to include cameras. Or they announced a new Apple Watch that literally listens to and transcribes every word spoken within earshot of its microphone. Or something a bit more nuanced- shoveling ads into apps like Apple Maps that they’ve historically avoided tainting due to user experience and safety concerns. Hence the stupidity. Or maybe, the genius. They, like all tech companies, continue playing the long game, slowly wearing you down to a tiny little compliant nub that will just buy whatever they’re selling, ignoring the potential threat(s) of these devices, apps, and services. My advice? HomeKit-enabled devices as-is are fine. HomePods (full and Mini) are fine. The AppleTV that doesn’t have a camera or a microphone built into the actual unit, but have one on the remote you must press and hold a physical button to trigger to talk into? All fine. Mostly. You could argue HomePods with a 24/7 listening microphone for a trigger word are a bridge too far, and I get that. And, truth be told, I’m in agreement because I’ve ripped down every smart speaker in the house. It’s not that I found Apple’s HomePods doing anything particularly nefarious, my threshold for trust is just so eroded I won’t risk it, especially with a young child in the house. So if you haven’t gone down this rabbit hole yet and are waiting to do so with this announcement, maybe consider lagging a generation behind on this shit. Or just DON’T DO IT. But don’t be like me- don’t piss away literally thousands on all this stuff- from TVs to vacuums to speakers in every room to thermostats to… you name it. Part of me wants to “justify” it by saying “some of this was for research”… and truthfully it was. But I have a tech graveyard in my basement now of devices I no longer trust, creating an eWaste nightmare of my own making. What will be worse than that though? The folks still leaning HARD into this industry, who will immediately run out and replace every current device. You know what I haven’t replaced? My light switches. I’ve owned this house for 6 years. Some truly need replaced due to wear over the 30 years they’ve been in the home, but they aren’t suddenly ineffective because of a borked firmware update. But it’s not like bad software updates happen, right? Not like… that bad software update that not only bricked every smart fridge from Samsung made in 2024 or newer, leaving potentially millions of dollars of spoiled food rotting in them right? You see how this becomes a problem real fast- not just concerning the eWaste. That last paragraph did a bit of blending of the “stupid, wasteful, and expensive” concepts here, but I’ve taken enough of your time beating this dead horse. Smart homes need to die. They aren’t without their merits, but until the hackerspace builds up enough of a cottage industry around “purely local, no internet access at all, it’s plug and play” so you aren’t beholden to whatever ad networks have wormed their way into everything… I’ve can’t put my personal stamp of approval on them any longer.