Apple Intelligence Heads to HomeKit Secure Video in iOS 27, Tied to Higher iCloud+ Tiers
Apple Home will get Apple Intelligence with the public release of iOS 27 and tvOS 27. The update brings generative summarization and retrieval, or AI that writes descriptions and finds moments in recordings, directly to HomeKit Secure Video rather than to speakers or automations first.
The core additions are AI-powered video summaries, video search, and multi-camera stitching. Summaries provide short text descriptions of who and what compatible security cameras saw, delivered alongside the clip. Search allows queries across HomeKit Secure Video history. Stitching combines footage from multiple cameras into one clip, useful for tracking movement across entryways, driveways, or interior zones without scrubbing separate timelines. The Verge
Access is tiered through iCloud+ by camera count. Apple Intelligence for Home for one camera requires the 2TB iCloud+ plan at $9.99 per month. Apple One Premier at $39.95 per month also covers one camera. A second camera requires the 6TB plan at $29.99 per month. Coverage for up to five cameras requires the 12TB plan at $59.99 per month. The Verge
That is a change from prior HomeKit Secure Video entry pricing. Access previously started at $1 per month for the 50GB iCloud+ plan, which included recorded footage from one camera plus smart alerts and facial recognition. Recordings from HomeKit-connected cameras do not count toward iCloud storage quota, so the higher tiers function as feature entitlements, or permission to use the features, rather than capacity requirements. HomeKit Secure Video now supports 4K resolution.
The gating sits inside the broader iCloud+ structure. Apple describes iCloud+ as its premium cloud subscription providing more storage for photos, files, and backups plus additional subscriber-only features. It can be shared with up to five other family members. Included features are iCloud Private Relay, Hide My Email, Custom Email Domain, and HomeKit Secure Video support for an unlimited number of cameras. Users can upgrade from an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or PC, and are billed monthly after upgrading. Apple Support
Apple states its iCloud+ plans and pricing are provided as monthly pricing and plans per country or region. Its support documentation lists tier sets including 50GB for $0.99, 200GB for $2.99, 2TB for $9.99, 6TB for $29.99, and 12TB for $59.99, with other regional listings at 2TB for $10.99, 6TB for $32.99, and 12TB for $64.99, as well as 2TB at 49.99 lei per month and 6TB at 149.99 lei per month. Once an Apple One trial is finished, the user's current iCloud+ plan is canceled.
On privacy architecture, Apple states that with HomeKit Secure Video users can add home security cameras in the Home app to record footage and view it from anywhere, with storage in iCloud described as end-to-end encrypted. Apple has also stated that in iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 or later, activity detected by security cameras is analyzed and encrypted by Apple devices. When you subscribe to iCloud+, you can use HomeKit Secure Video to store video from home security cameras in iCloud.
The broader context here is compute cost shaping packaging. Video summarization and semantic search over 4K streams require sustained AI processing, and Apple is placing that load behind its highest storage tiers even though the video itself does not consume quota. In my view, that will read as logical to infrastructure-minded users and as steep to single-camera households who were comfortable on the 50GB plan. If the summaries reduce false-positive review and the stitching holds across time sync, the practical gain is less time spent watching clips that show nothing. For multi-camera homes, that value compounds.
