Hisense

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Yes — Hisense televisions work with Apple, and this directory lists 38 of them, plus a soundbar. What “works with Apple” means is worth pinning down before you buy anything, because it covers two separate features and the one most people actually want is not the one with HomeKit in the name.

AirPlay 2 sends pictures and sound from an iPhone, iPad or Mac to the television. Apple Home puts the television in the Home app as an accessory, with a tile you can drop into a scene or an automation. Almost every Hisense set with the second has the first. The reverse is not reliable.

Hisense sells two different televisions in this country

This is the thing that catches people out, and no amount of reading the box will help if you do not know to look for it. Hisense ships sets on two operating systems:

• VIDAA is Hisense’s own platform, and the one most Hisense sets sold here run. Apple support is built into the set, in a settings menu of its own.
• Roku TV sets are Hisense hardware running Roku’s software. The directory lists Hisense Roku TV separately for that reason. On these, Apple support comes from Roku rather than from Hisense, and the menu you are looking for is somewhere else.

Both end up doing the same thing. But instructions written for one will not match the screen in front of you if you have the other, which is usually why the menu “is not there”.

Pairing one

It starts on the television, not in the Home app.

1. On the TV, open the settings menu named Apple AirPlay and HomeKit.
2. Turn AirPlay on, then choose the HomeKit option and ask it to pair.
3. The television puts an eight-digit setup code on the screen.
4. On the iPhone, open the Home app, add an accessory, and scan or type it.

There is no universal code and no sticker on the back to find — the set generates one when you start pairing. If the television never appears at all, put the phone on the same network and the same band as the TV before looking for anything more exotic.

Adding it to the Home app also needs a home hub in the house — a HomePod or an Apple TV — the same as any other Apple Home accessory. AirPlay 2 on its own does not.

A Hisense set from the directory

Hisense A6K

The Hisense A6K is the mainstream 4K Hisense here and the sensible starting point: a 2023 VIDAA set with Dolby Vision and Freeview Play, at the price Hisense has built its reputation on.

Check price on Amazon UK

The rest of the range is in the grid below — the U series above it, the E and A series around it, and Hisense’s laser projectors (the L, PL and PX models), which the directory lists alongside the flat panels.

Check the model, not the brand

“Hisense supports HomeKit” is not a fact about the television in the shop. Support arrived at different points in different ranges and in different regions, several sets gained it by firmware update rather than shipping with it, and the entry-level model in a range often does not have what the flagship does. The model number is the only thing worth trusting — and a grey import is exactly where that bites, because the same model number sold in another market can behave differently.

Worth knowing what you do not get: power and input selection are the useful parts in the Home app. Changing channel or driving the interface is not something Apple Home does, on this brand or any other.

Also worth reading

• AirPlay-enabled TVs and video accessories — every brand in the directory, and how to add Apple support to a set that has not got it.
• AirPlay-enabled receivers — for the sound the television cannot make.