A communications method and a communications apparatus and system are provided, and are applied to smart home systems. The method includes: a home device sends operation information to a server, where the operation information is used to indicate an operation performed by a user on the home device; and after receiving the operation information from the home device, the server determines a target account, where the target account is one of accounts associated with the home device, and sends a notification message to a target terminal device, where the notification message includes status information used to indicate a status of the home device, the status information is related to the operation information, and the target terminal device is a terminal device on which the target account is logged in.