HomeKit

Apple’s new ‘second-party’ HomeKit products will have this exclusive iPhone feature

Chance Miller | Oct 9 2026 - 7:10 am PT

Apple could showcase its new co-developed smart home accessories as soon as next week. Ahead of that, a new leak today reveals a HomeKit feature exclusive to these “second-party” accessories.

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An exclusive new HomeKit feature

Earlier this week, Aaron Perris discovered code references to a new feature where “nearby smart home accessories could show controls in the Dynamic Island.” Now, @itspdfu has found even more details about how this feature will work.

In a new social media post today, pdfu says Apple’s “second-party” home accessories co-developed with LG will support this new “Proximity Control” feature.

When you tap or bring your iPhone near one of LG’s accessories, a notification will pop out of the Dynamic Island. The notification will show an “Open Controls” button for accessories like thermostats. For cameras and doorbells, you’ll see a “camera viewer.”

The account explains:

You’ll also see feedback in the Dynamic Island as iPhone launches setup when you first tap the accessory to pair it.

Behind the scenes, the accessory writes an “apple-deviceid” in the Matter payload stored on its NFC tag that helps iOS identify it when tapped. It also broadcasts a Bluetooth Low Energy advert for Apple Proximity Control.

You’ll seemingly have the option to turn this feature off in the Home app. As always, features referenced in Apple’s code might not ship, or they could work materially differently when they do launch.

Apple’s “second-party” LG accessories will debut another Home feature: Proximity Control.

As with HomePod, tapping or bringing iPhone near the accessory shows a hint in the Dynamic Island. An “Open Controls” button opens the accessory’s controls. Cameras and doorbells show a… pic.twitter.com/GiFADVwQe3
— pdfu (@itspdfu) October 9, 2026

Still, this is a clear example of a feature that will be unique to these so-called “second-party” accessories. Bloomberg first reported on Apple’s collaboration with LG earlier this week, detailing that the two companies worked together to develop smart home products including a thermostat, deadbolt lock, indoor security camera, outdoor security camera, and flood light camera.

In the days since, we’ve seen a number of other leaks about this initiative:

According to Bloomberg, Apple likely won’t release these accessories “for at least a few more months.” They could still be shown off at next week’s “Welcome home” Apple event.