I’m fascinated by the Apple HomeView, but not because of the hardware (which is decidedly middle-of-the-road), but because of the software running the show. The HomeView appears to be powered by a bespoke operating system that takes the best parts of iOS/iPadOS, CarPlay, and even watchOS into account, assimilating it into something new that makes sense in the context of a living room or kitchen counter setup.

While we don’t yet have an official name for the HomeView’s operating system, it sure does look promising, with its array of screensavers and clock faces, its oversized home screen icons, and its ability to serve as a smart home dashboard or hub. Everything about the HomeView’s user interface looks well-thought-out from an experiential standpoint, and I can’t wait to test it out in person in the coming weeks.

All of this has me thinking: with the HomeView hardware essentially being that of an iPad connected to a speaker base, why not attempt to recreate the HomeView experience at home with an actual iPad? Surely it can’t be that difficult to map out the best parts of HomeView and extrapolate them onto an iPad proper. And, so, with this in mind, I set out on a journey to transform my iPad mini into a makeshift HomeView — here’s how it went.

How I transformed my iPad into a makeshift HomeView

It’s surprisingly easy to do so

To start off, I decided that a dedicated stand or ‘base’ was the most essential component of the HomeView experience that I needed to immediately emulate. I know that the HomeView offers a wall-mounted option, but, really, it’s the speaker base variant that has all my attention. Now, it’s more than possible to use a run-of-the-mill tablet stand to get the job done, and, for that, my product of choice is the Satechi Aluminum Desktop Stand for iPad.

However, I went a step further by adhering a MagSafe magnetic ring adapter to the back of my iPad, and then attaching it directly to a Qi2 magnetic wireless charging stand. This adds just a bit of whimsy to the overall setup, though keep in mind that larger non-mini iPad models will likely be too heavy to stay securely attached to most Qi2 stands. In my case, I opted for the Satechi 2-in-1 Foldable Qi2 Wireless Charging Stand, but just about any Qi2 stand should work adequately.

Next up, I turned to the software side of the equation. The iPad lacks a dedicated iPhone-style StandBy mode of its own, so I had to get crafty when it came to aesthetically pleasing screensavers and clock faces. There are a few third-party applications in particular that really look and feel the part, including the following which I can’t get enough of:

• Fliqlo: adds a retro flip-clock screensaver to your iPad ($1)
• Clocks: adds multiple clock face screensavers to your iPad (free, in-app purchases)
• Bauhaus Clock: adds multiple clock face screensavers to your iPad ($15)
• Fluid Simulation: adds an interactive light show screensaver to your iPad (free, in-app purchases)
• Particlescape: adds an interactive particle screensaver to your iPad (free, in-app purchases)
• Flurry: adds a Windows Mystify-inspired screensaver to your iPad (free)
• Portal: adds a variety of landscape screensavers to your iPad (free, in-app purchases)

For photo slideshows, I relied on Apple’s built-in Photo Shuffle feature (available in iPadOS 17 and later), which automatically displays photos and albums right on the lock screen when configured. You can choose to add a depth effect, which can be pretty neat, and shuffle frequency can be adjusted across the following metrics: daily, hourly, on lock, and on tap. The downside here is that images are only displayed while the lock screen is shown — Apple no longer supports its older Picture Frame (flower icon) mode for displaying photos ambiently as it did back in the skeuomorphic days.

Unfortunately, there aren’t as many applications out there that can truly emulate the smart home hub side of the HomeView experience, though it’s more than possible to simply keep Apple’s Home application in the foreground or in a Slide Over window for easy access. It’s not ideal, but it does get the job done. I also went ahead and increased my screen timeout setting to never as opposed to 2 minutes, though OLED-clad iPad owners ought to be aware of the risks of screen burn-in here.

The iPad deserves its own HomeView mode

Something akin to the Google Pixel Tablet with its Charging Speaker Dock

My experiment with creating a makeshift HomeView out of my iPad was a relative success, but it’s far from a frictionless experience. For one, the launcher itself isn’t fine-tuned with oversized home screen icons, and using third-party applications can feel a bit hacky. Plus, with no automatic charging speaker dock to connect to, I’m left with an unsightly cable dangling off the side of my tablet at all times.

Ultimately, I’d love for Apple to build out a dedicated HomeView mode for the iPad, which would seamlessly trigger when plugged into power à la the iPhone’s StandBy mode or Android’s Screensaver mode. This would transform the iPad into something far more useful when sitting idle at home, and I envision the system looking and feeling a lot like the Google Pixel Tablet with its Charging Speaker Dock.

In fact, I’d go as far as to say I’d be a day-one purchaser of an Apple first-party charging speaker dock accessory for the iPad, especially if it were to take design inspiration from the HomeView. The HomeView itself could be left largely unchanged, but with a magnetic plate to connect to the iPad (through the Smart Connector pogo pins) as opposed to a hard-wired display. When adhered to, I’d love for HomeView mode to simply kick in, and for it to disable the moment I pull the tablet off of the theoretical HomeView base.

Apple clearly wants to sell the HomeView to as many customers as possible, and so I reckon it’s unlikely we’ll see an iPad HomeView mode hit the tablet scene anytime soon. In the meantime, my stopgap solution has proven effective, and I’m finding myself using my iPad mini as a kitchen counter companion device far more often now than at any point in the past. In any case, a HomeView-centric iPad future is well within reach — Apple just needs the courage to make the leap.