# AUTOMATE SHADES — user reviews > 227 indexed App Store user reviews of AUTOMATE SHADES by Rollease Acmeda Pty Ltd, rated 3.13/5 from 88 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/automate-shades/id1460852253/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/automate-shades/id1460852253.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 38 · 4★ 7 · 3★ 3 · 2★ 3 · 1★ 31 ## What do users think of AUTOMATE SHADES? Overall sentiment: negative **Pros** - 👍 Great customer service - 🚀 Fantastic support - 🚀 Works as described - 🚀 Excellent functionality and flexibility - 🚀 Timer function is exceptional **Cons** - 🐛 Buggy and unreliable - 🐛 Frequent disconnections and sync issues - 🐛 Difficult to set up and configure - 🐛 Poor HomeKit and smart home integration - 🐛 Unresponsive devices - 🔋 Battery level monitoring issues **Commonly reported bugs** - Frequent app crashes - Shades disappearing from the app - Timers and schedules not working as expected - Connectivity issues between hub and shades - Inconsistent performance after updates **Most requested features** - Improved user interface and navigation - Better sync and reliability across devices - Enhanced smart home integrations - Customizable shade positioning and automation - Battery level notifications ## Newest reviews (18 of 227) ### 2/5 — Ridiculous *2026-07-22, version 320.8* App is incredibly glitchy and hard to use. ### 3/5 — Frustrating *2026-06-26, version 320.8* I changed my WIFI password and 2 days later I am still trying to find how I can connect this mongrel hub. I’ve followed a myriad of instructions, reset the hub multiple times but it will not present me with the opportunity to change the WIFI password. I am now writing here out of sheer frustration. ### 2/5 — Poor working app *2026-06-04, version 320.8* Many times individual blinds are nonresponsive and then magically they work. Currently I cannot raise or lower several blinds with any control but others work fine. Even after 5 years they don't have it right and don't seem to care. ### 2/5 — OMG forget the App *2026-05-12, version 320.8* App is useless and so temperamental. Just use the old fashioned remote. ### 2/5 — Unreliable integration with Apple Home *2026-03-17, version 320.5.1* I purchased the Automate system specifically for integration with Apple Home, so I could open and close blinds with Hey Siri. The system works fine for a few weeks, but then the hub becomes unresponsive and the only solution is to remove it from Home and add it back again. This is very painful if you have lots of blinds and automations, because you have to rename and recreate everything. After 3 failures and no help from Support I have given up. Do not purchase this system if Apple Home integration is important to you. ### 1/5 — URGENT - cannot add a shared hub in the app *2025-12-01, version 320.5.1* The app continues to crash when I add a shared hub in the app!!! I paid $3000 for your blinds and your app is useless!!! Please fix it right away ### 1/5 — Horrible Confusing Waste of an App *2025-12-01, version 320.5.1* I have spent hours trying to get this app to work consistently, I finally got it working and then it just quit and now I am spending an inordinate amount of time trying to get it to work again. The prompts are confusing the ability to effectively is limited. You cannot start all over when you uninstall the app as it continues to pull old information back into the app every time you restart it and try to set it up again! It shows multiple versions of the same device. Every time you open it every screen forces you to Add a New Hub! But I've added the hub multiple times! I've also added the shades multiple times. Then it bogs down when selecting the time zone and eventually it just can't complete the operation. I've tried it with WiFi and hardwired to Ethernet. It's a joke! ### 1/5 — Not functionning - Keep getting same error message. *2025-11-25, version 320.5.1* We were receiving error messages occasionally that our Hub was offline since for the past few months but now, despite having high speed internet everywhere in the house (I am next to the hub with a strong signal when testing) it’s ALWAYS offline. I tried to unplugged the device a couple of times for a reset… still not working. By chance We have a remote controler because the app is not reliable! ### 1/5 — Buggy *2025-11-23, version 320.5.1* Very buggy. No meaningful support. I don’t add the hub to my automations any more. Clients are never happy, and I don’t blame them. This is awful software. ### 2/5 — Hub unreliable *2025-11-07, version 320.5.1* The app and hub work ok most of the time (tho the user experience is not great). However, the hub itself is incredibly unreliable. It repeatedly goes offline for anything from seconds to indefinitely. Makes it quite frustrating when you’re relying on it to open and close window coverings at particular times. ### 4/5 — Fantastic Support *2025-10-29, version 320.5.1* Vince gave me as long as I needed in order to set up my system. It was being tricky as I wanted it on HomeKit and Google Home. Turns out I could not do both at the one time which is the only reason this is not five star. But the really amazing thing was the amount of time Vince gave me and the effort he went to to try and help. Achieve the result I wanted. It showed the company really cared. ### 1/5 — Not working *2025-10-20, version 320.5.1* Have had this for less than a year. Now it won’t let me log in. I get in for a couple of seconds and then it sends me back to the log in page. ### 1/5 — Trash *2025-09-29, version 320.5.1* Doesn’t connect or work with my smart shades. Whenever an update was done it would delete my rooms and scenes. ### 4/5 — Much, much improved. Some small tweaks needed. *2025-08-08, version 320.4.1* The app is now much improved in functionality, stability & ease of use. Couple of tweaks needed: 1) Allow tile positioning in the room tab so we can arrange the shade tiles consistent with the physical order of the shades in the room. 2) When scrolling through the rooms (if you have many rooms) it is too easy to accidentally activate rooms when you actually were trying to scroll up or down. ### 4/5 — Improved but still bugs *2025-08-07, version 320.4.1* App reports low battery alerts for shades that are AC connected and without batteries. ### 1/5 — Fundamentally doesn’t work at all *2025-07-19, version 320.4* Scan code and wait and after a few minutes it says try restarting. I had a few days when it was at least found but the number of times it would open / close on demand was about 1 in 5. Rage inducing. ### 1/5 — Make it not suck *2025-07-04, version 320.4* This app and the associated hub is the most buggy piece of smart home software I have ever used. I’m throwing this thing in the bin and just using the physical remote because the hub won’t even connect to wifi ### 2/5 — Going backward *2025-04-11, version 320.2* App features appear to be going backward. Charge level and signal strength information no longer indicated on the shades overview/summary screen. Opening the app on two devices gives two very different charge levels on some shades in Shade Health. Signal strength now just says ‘Online’ rather than Strong/ Average/Poor. Disappointed I updated to this version. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — So Many Bugs *2026-07-05, version 320.8* Does not connect to Apple HomeKit. You’ll spend days trying, but it doesn’t work. Avoid. ### 1/5 — FIX THE APP!!! *2026-07-05, version 320.8* This used to work *reasonably* well, but since the last update about 8 months ago, it’s absolute rubbish. All shades now reporting ‘low battery’ even though NONE of them are battery - all are mains powered. And the ability to slide the screen up on the app to a new position is stupidly glitchy to the point of being 90% unusable. These are not cheap blinds. The app should WORK. If your last update was as rubbish as this, and with ZERO improvements in any area, then REMOVE THIS VERSION AND REVERT TO THE PREVIOUS. Leaving it as bad as this is a clear message that I should buy a different brand of blinds for the next house. ### 1/5 — Don't do it!!! *2026-06-26, version 320.8* **UPDATE** to save you the frustration, make sure your phone is in data mode, not on the same WiFi network as the hub when changing settings. As soon as I did this, it made a difference for the better. I can delete some profiles but the app is still very challenging to use. I've had this unit for about 6 months and although it took some effort to connect it to my system, it worked as it should. But over the last month, this thing has been playing up either not running on schedule or only running some of the schedules and then it pretty much stopped. I did a firmware upgrade and now I can't even pair it. I have tried pretty much everything apart from plugging it directly to my router. The app is buggy (when I deleted profiles they just come back), it is now looking for a 3rd party app (My Home) and appears to have issues talking between the apps. It's just become to painful to get this thing to work and I will just stick with my remote. I now have a $250 paperweight. Very disappointing. ### 1/5 — It’s terrible doesn’t work *2026-06-17, version 320.8* Had timers set but have since deleted them but the blinds still go up at the deleted time. New timers don’t work. Tried to do a single blind and I get a pop up but the pop up appears non stop and doesn’t work if you try to press it. It’s all just extremely bad and doesn’t work ### 1/5 — Worst App *2026-05-22, version 320.8* Ghost shades keep appearing. Try to delete. It shows the shade is deleted. But the shade reappears after a few seconds. ### 1/5 — Infuriating software and hardware *2026-02-23, version 320.5.1* After spending 2 hours going through various bugs with ChatGPT I finally got the shiny demon to connect with my blinds using Ethernet. For about 24hrs. Then pairing failed the app gave confusing messages, was slow to respond and generally seemed designed to drive the user to despair. This app is for $300 hub that looks beautiful but is pure evil. The app also looks nice compared to the old Rollease Acmedia and the gen 1 hubs, but the big difference is that it rarely works. As per the hardware software upgrade trap, built in future vulnerable equipment is upgraded with features no one wanted and a plethora of bugs.I have been frustrated before, but the Kafkaesque torture of this beta app is a thing of genius. ### 1/5 — Battery display *2026-02-06, version 320.5.1* The battery level displayed are now incorrect… ### 1/5 — Compete garbage! *2026-01-09, version 320.5.1* Experience dumber programmers. Really, this is the best you guys can do? ### 1/5 — Simply does not work *2025-12-07, version 320.5.1* Great app if worked ### 1/5 — Garbage *2025-12-06, version 320.5.1* I work with a ton of automation integrations and this one takes the cake for being the worst. Can’t connect to my hub via ethernet or Wi-Fi. Set up a dedicated 2.4 GHz network, but that didn’t do any good. The app developers clearly don’t care about quality control or putting in enough resources to ensure it works reliably on iOS 26. Kicking myself for not having gone with Lutron from the start. It’s entirely unacceptable to have this poor software for shades that routinely cost thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Works as described *2025-08-09, version 320.4.1* Easy set up with the Pulse Pro and setting up the rollers. Intuitive and easy integration with Apple HomeKit. ### 5/5 — Latest update 👍👍 *2025-07-03* The latest update fixed the most annoying issues. The long delay on startup is gone. It now takes less than a second. **Developer response:** Thanks, Sami, for your honest feedback. We have been working hard to improve the App experience for our users, and we are glad to hear that you have perceived an improvement in the performance. ### 5/5 — What a mistake this was *2025-03-18, version 320.2* This is the worse app!!! We purchased battery powered shades and this is the only app that runs them. Now I’m so sick about spending thousands of dollars on these shades knowing what we know now. We’ve had nothing but problems with this app since day one. Although we may not have the best internet connection, we have other devices that work fine and are further from the hub than these shades are. After the company owner spent a few hours here at our home trying to figure out what the problem is, she left with no resolution and now the hub seems to be offline and we can’t connect to the shades at all through the app. ### 5/5 — Great tech service *2025-02-20, version 320.1* Karill was so patient and so helpful. We fixed my blinds in no time! He listened and guided me patiently through each step for all of my blinds. Thanks, Karill. ### 5/5 — Automate *2025-02-18, version 320.1* App keeps improving and works well. ### 5/5 — Timer function - Excellent Feature. *2025-02-18, version 320.1* Timer function is exceptional. Energy efficiency achieved for under $1000 ### 5/5 — Contacting support was a breeze! *2024-10-21* I’ve been having trouble getting these automatic shades from Blinds-to-go to work with the application for awhile now. Representatives would be sent out from blinds to go, but they didn’t know how to trouble shoot this problem very well. I spoke with Quinten (who is one of the support for this app) and he was FINALLY able to get my blinds to work with the app very quickly! My blinds can finally be opened/closed with the app!! I recommend contacting the support for this app with any trouble shooting issues. Quinten knew exactly what to do and I had no trouble following his instructions over the phone. He was very clear and understandable. ### 5/5 — Customer support. Excellent *2024-08-09, version 318.2* I contacted customer support and Kirill took the call. He demonstrated clear understanding of what i needed and patiently walked me through the steps to install and link my remote to the hub. ### 5/5 — Superb customer service *2024-06-27, version 318.1* Kirill was able to fast and efficiently guide me through the setup process. Great experience. ### 5/5 — WOW what customer service *2024-06-10, version 318.1* My wife and I have a Pulse 2 that we had for years for our cloth privacy blinds that was great. Knowing that we would be going away for 6 months to Mexico we replaced them with metal roll down ( store front ones for safety reasons ). When we got back 1 of them didn’t work and I assumed it was the Rollease hub . After 1/2 hr Kirill figured out that we were using the wrong hub and even went so far as to look up the right one on line and the associated .app . We of course will need to speak to a different vendor but MAN what great customer service from Kirill ,, something that is no longer part of the service industry. When we had the Pulse Hub 2 it always worked and was amazing . I am not one to write reviews but Kirill went way above and beyond what he had to do. Thank You 😀 --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-24.*