The long-rumored Home Hub tablet device appears to contain an assortment of features from across the Apple ecosystem, and a code sleuth has found a connection between it and the iPhone Duo.
Apple’s Home Hub is expected to be unveiled on October 13 as a tablet you can carry around the house. Rumors suggest it will display content based on who is nearby or interacting with the device, but otherwise very little has been shared.
Code sleuth and leaker pdfu shared that setting up the Home Hub will include creating a Photo Face. The Photo Face will also be used in the new StandBy feature of the iPhone Duo.
The Photo Face makes sense for the Home Hub, as it will display something when not in use. The code doesn’t provide a name other than the “Apple device” placeholder.
Setting up Apple’s next Home device includes a new step: creating a Photo Face.
It’s the same Photo Face coming to StandBy on the iPhone Duo. This may explain why Apple hasn’t officially made StandBy available in the simulator.
Photo Face requires iCloud Photos. During setup, pic.twitter.com/Zh3cvAcjPx
– pdfu (@itspdfu) September 30, 2026
Users will be able to choose between shuffling photos, showing slideshows of memories or extracting content from shared albums. Then users will have the option to select photos manually or choose them from specific collections or simply use the featured photos chosen by the device.
The screenshots are tall and thin, suggesting a mode shown over the content, so there’s nothing to glean from the images themselves. However, the preview images are square, which agrees with previous rumors that Apple’s Home Hub tablet could have a square display.
More code leaks
The leaker shared on Monday that the code suggested Apple offered multiple faces and StandBy configurations, but they were hidden in the device simulator. Based on Photo Face’s latest discovery, it looks like Apple may be keeping some features under wraps until the Home Hub is revealed.
New OS updates mean more code to delve into, and pdfu shared several findings, including what Tap to Pay on iPhone will look like on the iPhone Duo. It can be run on both displays.
iPhone Duo supports Tap to Pay on both displays, thanks to an adaptive interface. pic.twitter.com/EmtQWCXe8c
– pdfu (@itspdfu) September 29, 2026
They also found that the Snoopy screen saver on Apple TV will capture audio at some point, even if the files aren’t yet available for review.
These findings are likely related to the fact that Apple isn’t always perfect at cleaning up pre-release files in beta software. pdfu has been reliable and accurate in finding and sharing discoveries, such as discovering that Touch ID would be used in the iPhone Duo.
