In recent months Apple has committed a series of oversights that could indicate the ongoing development of an operating system for home automation, homeOS
An operating system dedicated to home automation, then to the remote control of homes or offices, is still absent within the lineup of Apple systems. Which is already quite large: macOS for Macs, iOS for iPhones, iPadOS for iPads, watchOS for Apple Watch, tvOS for Apple TV and audioOS for HomePod.
That makes six different operating systems, tending to seven. Although to say that they are "different" is not quite correct since iOS and iPadOS share a lot (after all, until a few years ago there was iOS even in the iPads), and macOS itself is getting closer to iOS, especially since the switch from Intel chips to Apple Silicon M1, which are closely derived from those of the iPhones. In short, for a company the size of Apple managing six or seven operating systems does not make much difference, especially if some of them are different only "formally". So the rumors about the debut of homeOS, the operating system for the home automation, are more and more insistent.
The job offers
The first clues arrived in June, when in a job offer published before the WWDC Apple mentioned homeOS, an operating system until then unknown. From there the suspicion that in Cupertino they were working on a brand new operating system for home automation, a suspicion that is renewed again by searching through the job ads of the company.
In June a job offer was published for a Senior iOS engineer to integrate in the Apple Music team that mentioned homeOS. Specifically, the description read, "You'll work with Apple engineers, learning the inner workings of iOS, watchOS, tvOS and homeOS," and when news was derived from the announcement Apple was quick to correct that mention with HomePod, the smart speaker with Siri.
A few months later, the same circumstance brings homeOS back into the news. In a job posting, once again for Apple Music, Apple includes the same passage quoted above that brings up homeOS. In the same way as iOS and iPadOS whose close relationship was mentioned in the opening, Apple has two other very similar operating systems, tvOS and audioOS - which will arrive with the HomePod mini speaker.
homeOS could unite audioOS and tvOS
audioOS is based on tvOS, so the two systems share more than a few elements despite the different name. The main hypothesis currently circulating is that Apple may create a new system that encapsulates tvOS and audioOS, under the unique name of homeOS. After all, both smart speakers and Apple TV generally find their place in a home environment, so the move would make logical sense.
Needless to say, even on this occasion as soon as the presence of homeOS in the job offer description made headlines, Apple proceeded to remove the passage in which the unreleased operating system was mentioned.