At WWDC 2026, Apple announced a number of AI features that the new generation of Apple Intelligence brings to Apple Home. However, the relevant updates will not be free to all users, but will be deeply bound to the 2TB capacity level iCloud+ subscription. Whether you subscribe to 2TB iCloud+ alone or obtain this level of cloud storage through the Apple One Premier package, users can unlock this batch of AI capabilities for home scenarios.
In the latest macOS Golden Gate beta release notes, Apple clearly stated for the first time that Apple Home’s AI functionality requires a 2TB iCloud+ package as a prerequisite. This level of iCloud+ currently costs $10 per month on its own, or included in the $37.95 per month Apple One Premier package. Users who have subscribed to these two products will automatically receive more Apple Home related features on top of existing services.
In fact, 2TB iCloud+ has long been a necessary condition for HomeKit Secure Video to open an unlimited number of cameras. Now Apple has added more intelligent analysis above this threshold. Apple has not detailed which specific functions are included in this requirement, but from the current information, it is mainly focused on the AI analysis capabilities of HomeKit secure video. The system will locally identify and analyze the video captured by the security camera, including the people, objects and specific events in the picture, and use this to splice out the key situations that occurred in the entire video.
Within the Apple Home app, these recognized events can be automatically strung together into a series of short videos, or highlighted as priority events, with the goal of making it easier for users to review and retrieve past recordings. From the perspective of application logic, this is a concrete implementation of Apple's combination of "local computing + cloud services" into home security scenarios. It hopes to use AI to help users quickly find valuable clips from a large number of videos.
It's important to note that not all updates related to HomeKit Video are tied to premium subscriptions. For example, notification grouping and 4K quality HomeKit Secure Video support currently do not directly rely on Apple's image generation or recognition model, so it does not appear to be locked behind the 2TB iCloud+ threshold. In comparison, the two lower-end iCloud+ packages of 200GB and 50GB still maintain the limit on the number of cameras, supporting up to 5 and 2 cameras respectively for accessing HomeKit Secure Video.
Overall, Apple is sending a clear signal to users: If they want to fully use its AI and smart services in home and cloud scenarios, they must pay for higher-level paid packages. Currently, Apple has not announced whether it will provide separately split AI subscription options in the future, nor has it launched a charging model similar to "pay-per-view" or "purchasing computing power tokens." However, by binding key functions to the high-end iCloud+, it has drawn a clear payment line at the actual experience level.