iOS 18.4 hints at a tentpole feature of Apple’s new ‘HomePad’

iOS 18.4 is now available in beta, and one of its main additions came as a total surprise: a new Food hub and cooking experience for Apple News. However, there’s a new Home product launching soon—I call it ‘HomePad’—that the cooking feature seems perfectly built for.

New cooking feature in iOS 18.4 offers guided recipe experience

iOS 18.4 was originally expected to be a big update for Siri improvements. While those so far are absent from the first beta and may get pushed to iOS 18.5, the addition of new food features is an unexpected highlight.

Exclusive to Apple News+ subscribers, the News app in iOS 18.4 provides access to a dedicated Food section containing recipes, info on restaurants, a cooking feature, and more.

The recipe feature and cooking mode, in particular, seem designed for Apple’s forthcoming HomePad product. Here’s how Apple describes them in its press release:

With the new Food feature, users will be able to…browse, search, and filter tens of thousands of recipes in the Recipe Catalog — with new recipes added every day. The beautifully designed recipe format makes it easy to review ingredients and directions, and a new cook mode takes step-by-step instructions to the full screen. Users can also save their favorite recipes for later and access them offline.

The cooking interface bears a lot of similarity to Apple Music’s lyrics feature, as well as transcripts in Apple Podcasts.

Essentially, it’s a clean, elegant view that puts a big spotlight on text.

Your current step in the cooking process will be highlighted, while other steps are dimmed but still visible.

And while this works fine on iPhone and iPad, it no doubt will be a tentpole feature of the new HomePad when it launches—likely this spring. Perhaps there will even be a dedicated Cook app in homeOS.

HomePad looks set to provide assistance while cooking

Mark Gurman has reported that Apple’s HomePad will have a modular design suited for any space around the home:

Apple has designed different attachments for the device, including ones that affix the screens onto walls like a classic home-security panel. There will be bases with additional speakers that can be placed in the kitchen, on a nightstand or on a desk. Apple imagines the FaceTime feature being used while cooking or for videoconferencing during work meetings.

Gurman doesn’t mention this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a magnetic attachment for refrigerators too.

Our own reporting has revealed references to the new Home product in iOS 18.4 code, plus ‘CookingKit’ references that seem ideal for HomePad support.

You can imagine this new cooking interface fitting in perfectly on a HomePad. I suspect the device will support hands-free navigation through a recipe, too, so you can say, “Siri, next step” when you’re ready to move forward.

Cooking support is just one of many features the HomePad is expected to offer, but already it sounds like the new Home device will offer unique advantages over Apple’s existing hardware options.

Would you use a HomePad to help you cook? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments.