An Apple job posting has mentioned “homeOS,” an otherwise never-before-heard-of Apple operating system, ahead of WWDC next week.
Spotted by developer Javier Lacort, Apple's job posting for a Senior iOS Engineer in Apple Music explicitly mentions "homeOS" on two occasions, alongside Apple's other operating systems including iOS, watchOS, and tvOS.
You'll work with Apple systems engineers, learn the inner workings of iOS, watchOS, tvOS, and homeOS, and optimize your code in ways only Apple can. Join our team and make a real difference for music lovers everywhere. The Apple Music Frameworks team owns the technology stack that enables the embedded Apple Music experience across all of our mobile platforms: iOS, watchOS, and homeOS.
Interestingly, the job posting mentions homeOS as a “mobile platform,” which seems to suggest that it is more related to iOS and watchOS than to systems like macOS and tvOS.
homeOS: Will Apple unify audioOS and tvOS?
But it's unclear why this should be the case. The operating system could simply be a rebranding of Apple's current smart home software, similar to how iOS for the iPad was renamed iPadOS and OS X was renamed macOS, or possibly an entirely new operating system. Earlier this year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman commented that Apple still lacks a "unifying strategy" for the smart home market. It's possible that homeOS could be software designed to spearhead a centralized smart home strategy, perhaps unifying the HomePod's audioOS and the Apple TV's tvOS. Apple is rumored to be developing a combined Apple TV and HomePod device, as well as a HomePod with a screen. What exactly homeOS will entail remains purely speculative for now. Apple's homeOS could possibly debut as early as next week at WWDC 2021, so it remains exciting. (Photo by Unsplash / Omar Rodriguez)
