This App is MUST HAVE for Apple Home Users
Almost everything that Apple left out is in Controller for HomeKit. This is a serious app that is very easy to use along sideApple Home. Track down issues, logs, WAY, WAY better automation control in Workflows, in app states, great support … the list goes on. No Apple Home user should go without this app. P.S. not to be stereotypical about our Controller for HomeKit developers, but this app drips with solid German engineering.
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fake
says it’s free but needs a subscription to access it
Amazing
Best app to help with Apple HomeKit automations scenes and workflows could not be happier. Is a game changer simply amazing.
Paywall prevents app closure
Can’t even close the app because their macOS paywall has no close button; ridiculous this passed the review process by apple or the developer. Wasted 90 seconds of my life having to open activity monitor to force close the app since they couldn’t be bothered to test what they ship.
NOT FREE!!!
You can’t do anything without signing up for payment, Apple should really let you now that before you download. What’s worse, is after you first open the app, you can not normally quoting without agreeing to pay, you end up having to force quit the application. Major FAIL!!!!!
Update 9.0.1 messes up camera sorting
I updated to 9.0.1 and it has broken the ability to sort my camera order. I am able to sort them but when I click done the settings do nothing to the order of my cameras. Worked great before the update.
Amazing app
The most powerful HomeKit app there is.
SPAM marketing notifications
Recently, I got a pop-up notification with spam marketing from their app. I’ve reached out multiple times to their support team asking how this can be disabled with zero response. I regret spending money on this app.
Quitting on start-up
It’s a great app but the last couple of versions do not load on any of my devices and quit right at start-up. This happens on my iPhone16 Pro Max, My iPad M2 and my Mac Studio M2, all of which are running the latest OS’s respectively.
Pay out the nose forever
I love the app, but I hate the subscription model - $40/year is outrageous - so bye-bye!
Update deleted all Apple Watch scenes
Just when the button order by was fixed, a different update has now deleted all of the Apple Watch scenes.
Junk
Doesn't work. Junk app.
Great app
Very happy with this app. It takes Apple’s Home app to a much higher level for compatible devices (I’m running 60+ devices on a Philips Hue Pro hub) allowing far better automation for compatible smart lights, switches and other gizmos on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. The app handles it all with ease and the widgets and Watch screen facilities, in particular, are fantastic. Far easier than having to rely on clunky Shortcuts to activate favourite scenes etc.
The backup/restore feature fills a very disappointing void in the native Home app and online support for Controller for Homekit is speedy and responsive. Well done to the developers!
The backup/restore feature fills a very disappointing void in the native Home app and online support for Controller for Homekit is speedy and responsive. Well done to the developers!
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latches into your MacOS and refuses to let go!
As soon as I realized this was subscriptionware I attempted to remove it, but it’s TENACIOUSLY latched itself into my MacOS and will not let go! There is no REMOVE APP button either. This is criminal behavior in the Apple Modus Operandi.
Disappointed long-time user
I used to really like this app, and I enjoyed watching it develop new features over time. I’m a lifetime subscription holder to the Controller Essentials because I wanted to support the developers, but to start… that’s truly an awful name. If you want people to pay a lot of money for access to “Essentials”, your branding needs help. I’m fine with the app not being free, so the free functionality being limited isn’t a problem, but you should at least brand your lower tier paid subscription as “Pro” or something. Then the double paywall “Plus” pricing tier could be “Pro+” or something. Anyway, that’s not important, but to me, it shows that the developers are out-of-touch with their customer base. I don’t think the kinds of people who want to pay for a highly technical app would want to pay through the nose to get access to simply the “Essential” features.
What I’m more disappointed about is the double paywall itself. This new Plus tier that has gated trivial features and some admittedly compelling features behind an extremely steep annual subscription. The only ongoing cost for the developers is the weather API, which has a cost is extremely reasonable and nowhere near $40/year, and maybe some extremely affordable, scalable server infrastructure for the URL workflow triggers, again costing nowhere near $40/year. Everything else happens locally, on *my* personal devices. This is exactly the kind of subscription based software nonsense that I can’t justify, similar to Office365 and the like. The difference, of course, is that truly professional apps have the ability to back businesses into a corner and get the subscription added to the cost of business calculation, and if it pencils out, the subscription is justified. This is not a truly professional app. It’s for people’s homes. It cannot be justified, so I can’t subscribe.
Anyway, I’m looking into HomeAssistant now, after years of resisting. I’m constantly running into limitations both from Apple’s Home app and third parties like this app, so it’s time for me to switch.
What I’m more disappointed about is the double paywall itself. This new Plus tier that has gated trivial features and some admittedly compelling features behind an extremely steep annual subscription. The only ongoing cost for the developers is the weather API, which has a cost is extremely reasonable and nowhere near $40/year, and maybe some extremely affordable, scalable server infrastructure for the URL workflow triggers, again costing nowhere near $40/year. Everything else happens locally, on *my* personal devices. This is exactly the kind of subscription based software nonsense that I can’t justify, similar to Office365 and the like. The difference, of course, is that truly professional apps have the ability to back businesses into a corner and get the subscription added to the cost of business calculation, and if it pencils out, the subscription is justified. This is not a truly professional app. It’s for people’s homes. It cannot be justified, so I can’t subscribe.
Anyway, I’m looking into HomeAssistant now, after years of resisting. I’m constantly running into limitations both from Apple’s Home app and third parties like this app, so it’s time for me to switch.
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Stay away from this app
Like many others I purchased a “Lifetime” license and enjoyed this program. Now they are no longer honoring their previous commitment and want additional fees to access features that were previously included.
All I can say at this point is Thank You for pushing me deeper into Home Assistant as that offers better control than this app ever did
All I can say at this point is Thank You for pushing me deeper into Home Assistant as that offers better control than this app ever did
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Worthless money grab
Worthless money grab and data harvester
Unethical company
They failed to honor their lifetime license subscribers. Apple should remove them from Apple Store. This company isn’t likely to be around for long.
Not Worth the Price
For $40 I should own this app forever. It doesn’t do much the Home App cannot do, if anything. The UI is outdated and unenlightened.
Double Paywall
BEWARE - this software used a DOUBLE PAYWALL. From all outward appearances it looks like you’re buying a fully functional App, but in reality even the simplest automations or workflows are hidden behind a second paywall. You can’t even do a simple time based automation without the paying more $$. This is absolutely a SLIMY business practice. $40/year for a barely functional app, they another $79/year for the real functionality. Terrible.
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