# MQTT Commander — Watch your MQTT broker live

> Real-time MQTT broker monitoring and management tool for IoT devices. (iPhone/iPad app by Vladimir Chemeris.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mqtt-commander/id6779048421 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Vladimir Chemeris](https://appshunter.io/developer/1854526571)
- Category: Utilities
- Price: Free (on sale, was $2.99)
- Rating: 5.00/5 from 1 App Store ratings
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 17.0 · 22 MB
- Languages: American English, Arabic, French (France), German (Germany), Italian, Japanese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Chinese (Simplified, China) and 2 more
- Released: 2026-06-17
- Data updated: 2026-09-03
- Monetization: freemium
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mqtt-commander/id6779048421/reviews.md

## What is MQTT Commander?

Connect to your broker and the topic tree fills in within seconds, with the latest value next to each topic. Tap one to see the value in large type, a sparkline of how it moved, and the JSON split field by field.

FOUR SCREENS, ONE JOB EACH
• Topics: the tree of what your broker publishes, with filters for what changes, what is retained, what you pinned
• Board: pinned topics as live tiles, so one look tells you the greenhouse sits at 21.4 °C and the pump went quiet 6 minutes ago
• Log: messages in order, with presets for errors, your own publishes and retained values
• Publish: a topic, a payload, Send. QoS, retain, content type and expiry sit one tap away

USE IT TO
• Watch Home Assistant, Zigbee2MQTT, Mosquitto and ESPHome without opening a laptop
• Find the topic a new device announced itself on
• Read a JSON payload by field and compare it with the message before
• Send a test message and see what the broker answers, including a refusal
• Clear a retained payload that keeps coming back

WHEN IT WON'T CONNECT
Connection Doctor walks the connection in 13 stages and names the one that failed: DNS, TCP, TLS handshake, certificate chain, expiry, hostname, ALPN and SNI, CONNACK, authentication, protocol version, and a write test against the broker ACL. You get the stage, the reason and what to change, instead of a red banner.

PRIVACY
Values that look like tokens, passwords or keys stay behind a tap. Exported logs carry hashed topics and metadata, no payloads. Anonymous crash and usage diagnostics are on by default and switch off in Settings. No ad tracking, no data sold.

PRO
The app is free: watch topics, read payloads, publish with QoS and retain, run the Connection Doctor, pin five topics to the Board. Pro is a one-time unlock with no subscription, and it covers the part that runs while you look elsewhere: widgets on the Lock Screen and Home Screen, pins without a limit, history that survives a restart, whole-broker discovery, more broker profiles, one certificate reused across every broker, saved commands with Siri and Shortcuts, log export as CSV or JSON, and the full Doctor report to share. Bought the paid app before it went free? You keep Pro at no cost.

WORKS WITH
Home Assistant, Mosquitto, Zigbee2MQTT, ESPHome, Node-RED, ESP32 and ESP8266, and any broker speaking MQTT 3.1.1 or 5.0 over TCP, TLS, mTLS or WebSocket.

REQUIREMENTS
• iOS 17 or later, iPhone and iPad
• Local Network access for brokers on your LAN

Demo mode lets you look around before you connect anything.

## Key features

- Live topic tree with values
- Detailed payload inspection with sparklines
- Pinned topics as live tiles
- Message logging and filtering
- Publishing messages with QoS and retain
- 13-stage connection diagnostic tool
- Privacy-focused data handling


## Frequently asked questions about MQTT Commander

### What is MQTT Commander?

MQTT Commander is a utility app designed to monitor and manage MQTT brokers in real-time. It allows users to view live topic updates, inspect payloads, publish messages, and diagnose connection issues.

### What devices does MQTT Commander support?

MQTT Commander is available for iPhone and iPad devices running iOS 17 or later. It requires local network access to connect to brokers on your LAN.

### Is MQTT Commander free to use?

The core features of MQTT Commander are free, allowing you to watch topics, read payloads, publish messages, and use the Connection Doctor. A one-time Pro unlock is available for advanced features like widgets and unlimited pins.

### Does MQTT Commander have ads?

No, MQTT Commander does not contain advertisements. The developer has stated there is no ad tracking and no data is sold.

### How often is MQTT Commander updated?

The latest version, 1.1.7, was released on 2026-08-11. The app was initially released on 2026-06-17, indicating active development.

### What makes the Pro version of MQTT Commander worth it?

The Pro version offers widgets for the Lock Screen and Home Screen, unlimited topic pins, history that survives restarts, whole-broker discovery, more broker profiles, certificate and mTLS identities, Siri and Shortcuts integration, and log export options.

### How does the Connection Doctor work in MQTT Commander?

The Connection Doctor guides you through 13 stages of a connection attempt, identifying the specific point of failure such as DNS, TLS handshake, authentication, or protocol version. It provides the stage, reason, and suggested changes.

### What is the age rating for MQTT Commander?

MQTT Commander has an age rating of 4+, making it suitable for a wide range of users.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.2.3 — 2026-09-01

• The app no longer crashes while sending usage statistics.
• iPad: tapping a locked Pro feature did nothing when another sheet was already open. The Pro screen opens now.
• A port outside the valid range shows an error when you save. Tapping Save fast used to hide it.
• The board goes by Live Board across the app. It used to carry two names.

### 1.2.2 — 2026-08-27

• Client certificates connect again. The app asked for the passphrase to your .p12 file and then dropped it, so mutual TLS failed every time.
• Load a certificate once, then pick it for any broker. Importing, checking the expiry date and deleting stay free. Pro covers reuse across brokers.
• Remove a certificate from a profile without touching the profile itself.
• After a backup restore, importing the same certificate file repairs the entry.

### 1.2.1 — 2026-08-24

• Connect, and the topic tree fills itself in. The scan button stays for a repeat run.
• Saving a new broker connects to it straight away.
• Leaving the demo keeps your live connection.
• Tapping Connect twice during an attempt cancelled it and logged a failure. We fixed that.

### 1.2.0 — 2026-08-11

• A broker on your home network now gets the iOS Local Network prompt it needs. If you miss or deny it, the failed connection names the missing permission and points you to the toggle.
• First launch now opens a diagnostics screen. You see the crash reports and anonymous usage data the app collects, with a toggle to turn either off.

### 1.1.7 — 2026-08-11

• Connection failures now name the real cause. The Doctor tells you whether the port is closed, the host can't be reached, the name won't resolve or the TLS handshake timed out, and what to change.
• Smart Home discovery watches six vendor roots (Home Assistant, Zigbee2MQTT, ESPHome and more), and shows a clear quiet state when the broker stops talking back.
• Your session comes back after a restart, unless you disconnected yourself. Pins and recent publishes are where you left them.
• The hero value now picks a field that changes, and skips radio noise like linkquality and rssi.
• Topic names get the width they need, and long names and paths are trimmed in the middle, so living_room_motion and living_room_sensor stay distinct.
• Counts read right in every language, with thousands separators and correct plurals. QoS prints one way everywhere.
• The message you opened in the log stays open when newer traffic pushes it off screen.

## More apps by Vladimir Chemeris

- [iPerf3 Client & Server](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/iperf3-client-and-server/id6755545337)
- [Open Links in Apps](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/open-links-in-apps/id6757597623)
- [Offline AI Translator & Chat](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/offline-ai-translator-and-chat/id6765833139)
- [Modbus TCP FieldKit](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/modbus-tcp-fieldkit/id6768897913)
- [CacheDeck: Redis® Client](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cachedeck-redis-client/id6783852434)

All apps by Vladimir Chemeris: https://appshunter.io/developer/1854526571

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*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 2026-09-03.*
