From Flock AI-powered security cameras to Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses, people are getting frustrated with their everyday movements being recorded and tracked. Apple likely smells a market opportunity to do something different.

According to Bloomberg News Managing Editor and Apple insider Mark Gurman, the company is developing a home security camera that can detect and notify about intruders — without capturing video footage. The device would be a companion to the new AI-powered home hub the company is slated to launch Oct. 13.

A representative for Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Speaking on his brand-new Power On podcast, Gurman said the cameras would be smallish cylinders — “like a metal ChapStick” — and could be placed anywhere and everywhere in the home. Acting more like sensors than video recorders, the cameras would reportedly use AI facial recognition to determine who and what is moving around inside and outside the house. The devices have a low frame rate, which means they’ll take far fewer still images than typical video cameras.

The upcoming Apple home hub will also use facial and voice recognition to identify homeowners and other users, so the security cameras may work with that data.

The camera would use text descriptions to inform homeowners about what is happening, such as “the dog is in the kitchen” or “someone is outside the back door,” for example. Visual input would interpret an event, but no video footage would be captured, Gurman said on the podcast. “It’s analyzing your environment and your home and around your home, simply using AI. It’s a very similar technology that they’re using for the AirPods with cameras.”

Without stored footage of a burglary or other crimes in the home, however, it’s unclear how police would retrieve much identifying information in an investigation, Gurman said. “You need the actual tape. So, it will be interesting to see how Apple markets this.”

Assuaging surveillance fears

Gurman said that avoiding video recording could be a selling point for Apple amid growing backlash over the surveillance environment of Flock cameras, smart devices and personal tech, like AI-powered glasses.

Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses have acquired the nickname “pervert glasses” because some people are using them to secretly record mostly women without their knowledge. Meta is now reportedly developing glasses that don’t have cameras and will instead rely solely on AI for speech and listening.

Having a smart home device that doesn’t rely on recorded, stored and analyzed data is a good privacy element, says CNET home security expert Tyler Lacoma. Presumably, Apple would rely on some type of on-device feature for capturing data, but we don’t have details. Short-lived machine analysis is quite different from a watchable video stream.

Gurman didn’t say what kind of technology would be used in the cameras, but noted that the new home hub would not use Face ID, which is used to unlock iPhones and iPads. Whatever biometric template is used in the home hub might be the same as the one used by the cameras.

Nonetheless, if Apple does rely on true facial recognition technology, that could “open up a big can of worms,” Lacoma said, pointing to lawsuits against smart home security companies Nest and Ring over their use of identity tracking.

Gurman dismissed the notion that Apple would violate its customers’ privacy, though he said he thought the company will still be accused of turning over personal data to government agencies.

“Anyone who covers Apple close enough, or even remotely close enough, would know that would be hogwash for Apple,” Gurman said. “But I think we all know the reality is far different that Apple won’t be doing that with our data.”

Since Apple hasn’t publicly released the product yet, we’ll have to wait and see.

Ever since being admittedly fascinated by the Cambridge coffee webcam from the 1990s, I’ve written about VPNs, the NFL, smartphones, living wages, over/unders and everything in between.

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