My favourite Apple HomeView feature makes it easier to follow recipes without touching your screen

It's been a busy week for smart home, with Apple unveiling an array of new hardware, including an entire collection of smart home devices. However, the product I'm most excited for is HomeView, and there's one feature in particular that I can already see myself using a lot.

Alongside the usual smart home controls, HomeView has a few tricks up its sleeve for the kitchen. It can turn web recipes into step-by-step cooking instructions, complete with hands-free timers, which sounds like a much better use of a screen than having to keep unlocking your phone with messy fingers.

When viewing a recipe in Safari, users can tap ‘Start Cooking’ to switch to a simplified layout designed for following along as they cook. HomeView also helps with ingredient tracking, so you can keep an eye on what you need without constantly scrolling back through a long list of instructions.

You can also manage multiple timers hands-free, whilst Live Activities keep them visible even when you're using another app.

HomeView further supports Handoff, meaning you can start looking up a recipe on your iPhone and pick it up on the hub when you get to the kitchen. The same feature works with music, podcasts, calls and videos, so it's not limited to cooking.

I've always thought the kitchen was one of the most practical places for a smart home display, especially when your hands are covered in flour, sauce or whatever else is happening at the time. It's one of my favourite things about the Echo Show 8, so I'm interested to see how Apple's take compares.

HomeView isn't available just yet, but with pre-orders due to open in November, it won't be long before we find out whether it works as well in a real kitchen as it sounds on paper.