I Know Me. That's the Problem With Apple's New Smart Home.

Apple's latest smart home announcements have me thinking about replacing devices that work perfectly fine. And I know exactly how expensive that temptation could get

Remember in Season 3 of Lioness when Joe's family staged an intervention, practically begging her to stop throwing herself into war zones? And Joe's basically like, “Nah, I'm good!”

I bet that's how my wife Ashley feels every time I press play on another Apple keynote.

She's probably sitting there thinking, “When is enough enough?”

Meanwhile, I'm over here with a perfectly functional smart home, already figuring out what I want to upgrade next.

I know me. And that's the problem

The first thing that caught my attention from Apple's smart home announcements wasn't the $350 deadbolt. It wasn't the cameras. It wasn't even the new HomeView display.

It was the HomePods.

I actually tweeted that I might finally be ready to cop a couple.

Not because I desperately need another speaker in my house. Trust me, I've got enough speakers. But as an iPhone user, there's something appealing about having a little assistant that just works with the devices my family already uses.

My wife, who we'll refer to as First Lady from here on out, is constantly asking where her phone is.

And listen, I LOOVVEEE helping my wife find her phone. But imagine being able to call out to a HomePod and have it ring her iPhone.

That's it. That's the feature.

I know I could probably set up something similar with Google.

But sometimes you just want one band, one sound.

Everything working together without having to be the IT department for your own house.

And then Apple showed me the HomeView.

That's Where I Started Seeing Dollar Signs

I've had a Google smart display in my kitchen for years. First or second generation, I believe. It's old, but it works.

So when I saw Apple's new HomeView display, my first thought wasn't that I needed one.

It was, well, damn.

Because now we're talking about replacing something one-for-one.

A HomePod? I could probably sneak a couple of those into the house without changing much. They'd serve their purpose, and I'd move on.

But a HomeView? That's a different conversation.

If I put one in the kitchen, what happens to the Google display? Do I start using HomeView as the centerpiece for everything?

And if I'm doing that, why wouldn't I want the rest of my devices working through Apple too?

See where I'm going with this?

I know me.

Once I get started on a project like that, I don't stop until I've got the ecosystem set up the way I want it.

So while everyone else might have been looking at a nice new smart display, I was sitting there thinking:

Dollar sign. Dollar sign. Dollar sign.

And the funny thing is, I was still interested.

My Smart Home Works. That's What Makes This Complicated.

I've spent a lot of time building my smart home.

I've got my growing Home Assistant setup, Aqara presence and door sensors, and other smart sensors. Then there's my Ecobee thermostat, Ring doorbell, smart lock, Google speakers and displays, and a few Alexa devices.

It's not all one brand. It's not all one app.

And some of it took way more work than it should have.

But it works.

That's the part I keep coming back to when I look at what Apple announced.

We're not talking about replacing broken technology. We're talking about replacing technology that's already doing its job because something newer might do it a little more conveniently.

But there's a difference between spending money to solve a problem and spending money because you've convinced yourself the new way of solving it is cooler.

I've absolutely been guilty of the second one.

Everything working together without having to be the IT department for your own house.

Apple, You're Gonna Have to Give Me More Than That

The camera pricing is where Apple started losing me.

• $199.95 for an indoor camera.

• $299.95 for the outdoor version.

• $399.95 for the floodlight camera.

It just kept creeping up another hundred bucks.

And by the time I got to the floodlight, I was looking at it like, what is this, the Outdoor Cam Ultra Pro Max?

But these aren't new product categories. There are already plenty of cameras on the market that work reliably for significantly less.

I've been satisfied with cameras that cost around a hundred bucks. So what am I really getting for the extra money?

A better view inside Apple Home? A cleaner setup? Everything under one roof?

But are they worth another hundred or two hundred dollars?

For me, not right now.

It feels like Apple is betting that familiarity with its ecosystem will make the extra money easier to swallow.

One band, one sound.

But you've still got to give me a reason to spend the money.

At those prices, I need more than a camera that plays nice with my iPhone. I need it doing something my current setup genuinely can't.

Now, That Doorbell and Deadbolt? We Can Talk.

This is where my tune changes a little.

I've got a Ring doorbell and a smart lock that I've integrated through Alexa. Getting everything connected was an adventure.

Amazon Skills. Third-party accounts. Linking devices. Figuring out which commands actually worked.

I eventually got it figured out, but it was not sexy.

And even now, there's a delay sometimes.

Ideally, I want to be able to tell my system exactly what to do. Somebody rings my doorbell? Maybe I want that camera feed to automatically pop up on the TV I'm watching.

That's the futuristic home automation I've always wanted.

And that's why Apple's deadbolt caught my attention.

You're telling me my phone can recognize that I'm approaching the house and the door can automatically unlock?

No digging for keys. No opening an app. No telling Alexa to do something and waiting for three different services to communicate.

Just walk up.

Now we're talking.

Of course, then you see the $349.95 price tag and remember this is still a smart lock.

My God.

But I can at least understand what I'm paying for.

And in my head, that deadbolt goes hand in hand with the $249.95 video doorbell.

For me, though, if I'm going to invest in a new front-door experience, I want the whole thing working together.

Show me who's at the door. Let me manage access. Make the experience feel like one system instead of three products that happen to be connected.

That's something I'd genuinely consider spending money on.

Which is also how Apple gets you.

I Don't Need Apple to Reinvent My House

I like what Apple's trying to do.

A smart home shouldn't require somebody who enjoys troubleshooting technology just to make everyday features work.

First Lady shouldn't have to know which speaker controls which device. I shouldn't have to remember which integration handles the front door or why one command works from one room but not another.

The house should just work.

But I've also been around long enough to know that a beautiful product demonstration and living with something every day are two completely different things.

I'm not volunteering to be the day-one tester for that.

Because that deadbolt is still calling my name. But I'm gonna need Siri to prove she's ready before I start replacing perfectly good hardware.

I'll happily watch somebody on YouTube put it through its paces first.

And I want to see how these products work beyond Apple's own ecosystem, too. The last thing I want is to spend hundreds of dollars simplifying my setup only to discover I've created a different set of limitations.

That's not progress.

That's just a prettier headache.

One Band, One Sound. But At What Cost?

I want my technology playing together instead of each company trying to convince me its app should be the center of my house.

• The HomePods got my attention.

• The HomeView made me pause.

• The cameras made me laugh at the prices.

And the doorbell and deadbolt? Those are the products that actually made me picture changing something in my home.

But I know how this movie goes.

It starts with a speaker. Then the display. Then you convince yourself the lock would work better if you upgraded the doorbell. And suddenly you're looking at a thermostat that's replacing an Ecobee you had absolutely no complaints about yesterday.

Meanwhile, the stuff you already own is sitting there doing its job.

But I don't need to rebuild my house just because Apple finally decided it wants to run it.

At least that's what I'm telling myself today.