Comparison

Nanoleaf vs Controller for HomeKit

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Nanoleaf

Control and customize your smart lighting experience with this app. Design layouts, set schedules, and explore community-created scenes. Integrate with smart home assistants for hands-free control.

Highlights
  • Virtual Layout Assistant
  • One-touch RGB presets
  • Full customization
  • Remote on/off and brightness control
  • Group and room control
  • Scene creation and discovery
  • Voice command integration
Features
Read full description

Design, set up, manage, and control your Nanoleaf lights all in one place. From the virtual Layout Assistant, to one-touch RGB presets, to full in-depth customization like you’ve never seen before, prepare for a lighting experience that is Smarter by Design. Simple Control Use the App to scan your lights’ pairing code and get set up in seconds, then enjoy your smart light-switch. Remotely turn your lights on and off, adjust brightness (trust us they go BRIGHT), and select your color Scenes from anywhere within your home. Group your lights together for joint control with Group Scenes (because we love a team player), or segment by room to keep your lights as organized as you wish your life could be. Complete Customization Create custom dynamic Scenes by selecting palettes and colors with the intuitive color wheel, adjusting ratios, and choosing animated motions. Try vibrant RGB hues to set a total vibe, or put the “fun” in functional lighting with the whole range of white color temperatures. Advanced Automations Set Schedules to automate your daily lighting needs, from gentle morning light-alarms, to gradually dimming nightly reminders that Holy **** it’s 2AM again, you need to wake up in 4 hours, PLEASE go to sleep. Now You’re Talking Connect your lights with your smart home assistant (HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, or Samsung SmartThings) and use voice commands to control them hands-free. Just say “Hey Siri, turn on my TGIF” Scene” and instantly enter full relaxation-mode at the end of a long week. Join the Community Explore the App’s “Discover” tab for a huge collection of incredible Scenes created by users like you. Well, like you, just more creative. But if you too are the creative type, share your own Scenes and show the community what you’ve got! There are endless Scenes to discover for every mood and occasion, all the way from “Ho Ho Holidays” to “Netflix and Chill”. + More With a virtual AR Layout Assistant, curated Scenes and Playlists, Cloud Control (requires Apple home hub), and additional product information, the Nanoleaf App really is your smart lighting one-stop-shop. The Nanoleaf App supports all Nanoleaf manufactured products including by not limited to: Light Panels, Canvas, Shapes, Essentials, Elements, Lines, Blocks, Sense+ Smart Switch and Matter Wi-Fi products. Enjoy it today on the ever superior iOS operating system.

About

Controller for HomeKit

Enhance your smart home experience with advanced control and automation. Visualize your home with floor plans, track device performance with charts, and create complex automations tailored to your needs. Organize devices, store setup codes, and monitor your entire smart home ecosystem.

Highlights
  • Floor plan visualization with LiDAR
  • Device performance charts
  • Complex automations and workflows
  • Custom notifications
  • Smart folders and filters
  • Setup code storage
  • Device maintenance and logs
Features
Read full description

Get more out of your smart home. Your HomeKit and Matter devices can do more than on and off: Controller for HomeKit gives you dashboards you build yourself, workflows that run over several steps, months of history, and a floor plan you control directly. YOUR OWN DASHBOARD Your devices sit where you need them, instead of in a list. - Views you compose yourself from tiles: per home, per person, and if you want, per device. One for the iPad on the wall, one for the iPhone in your pocket. - More than 25 tile variants: devices, scenes, workflows, time, weather, calendar, charts, battery warnings. - Five standard sizes, or drag your own size on the grid. - Visibility conditions: a tile or a whole section appears only when you need it. - Plus widgets for your Home Screen and a view of your own on Apple Watch. CONTROLLER AI Describe what you need in plain language: a dashboard, a scene, an automation or a workflow. Controller builds it, and you adjust it however you like afterwards. MORE THAN A SCHEDULE Two devices become a sequence that thinks along. - Workflows: multiple steps, conditions and branches for sequences a single automation cannot express. - Automations with advanced triggers and conditions. - States: virtual switches that capture how your home currently stands and drive your workflows accordingly. - Custom notifications for anything you want to know about. - NFC tags: one tap and the workflow runs. YOUR SENSORS ARE ALREADY MEASURING Controller remembers the values and makes them readable. - Charts: see how temperature, humidity or battery level develop over weeks and months, across every device and brand. - Maintenance: which battery is empty, which device is unreachable, which automation is broken. - Logs: every activity and every change, traceable. - Smart folders: devices and automations grouped by filters you define. - Floor Plan: scan your home with the LiDAR sensor of your iPhone or iPad and control your devices right on the plan. - Controller Hub: a dedicated iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or Mac runs your workflows automatically. Charts and States require Controller Hub. SHARE THE WORK, NOT JUST THE SWITCHES - Home Sharing: pass your entire setup to the people you live with. For each person you choose between the whole app or only the dashboards you share with them. - Setup codes: your HomeKit and Matter codes stay safe in the app and never get lost. - Backups: save your setup and restore it whenever you need to. Controller for HomeKit runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV. You already own the devices. Controller for HomeKit brings out what is in them. More on our website: https://www.controllerforhomekit.com Privacy Policy: https://controllerforhomekit.com/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Nanoleaf4 screens
Controller for HomeKit4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Nanoleaf at none against Controller for HomeKit's 10. Nanoleaf also leads on ratings volume (45K vs 2.7K) and iOS requirement (15.4 vs 17.0). Controller for HomeKit's advantage is review sentiment (27% vs 17%) and device support (5 vs 3). On price, rating, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Controller for HomeKit sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Nanoleaf asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.2 for Nanoleaf against 4.1 for Controller for HomeKit. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Nanoleaf has 45K ratings behind it against 2.7K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 17% of Nanoleaf's written reviews are positive against 27% of Controller for HomeKit's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Nanoleaf ships an update every 2 weeks, Controller for HomeKit every 10 days. Both last shipped on October 18, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Nanoleaf versus Controller for HomeKit: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNanoleafController for HomeKit
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (45K ratings) — better4.1 (2.7K ratings)
Positive reviews17.1% of reviews26.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings45K — better2.7K
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS15.4 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size188 MB210 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperNanoleafacasa Software GmbH

Customer experience

Nanoleaf

All ratings44,522 ratings
Positive80.2%
Neutral3.4%
Negative16.4%
Written reviews1,398 reviews
Positive17.1%
Neutral8.8%
Negative74.1%

Controller for HomeKit

All ratings2,742 ratings
Positive75.9%
Neutral4.7%
Negative19.4%
Written reviews468 reviews
Positive26.7%
Neutral9.6%
Negative63.7%

User reviews

Nanoleaf

From 45K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Customizable lighting
  • 💡 Innovative features
  • 🎨 Beautiful product design
  • 🕰 Scheduling and automation

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Connectivity issues
  • 🔌 Unreliable firmware updates
  • 🤯 Confusing app UI/UX
  • 🕰 Slow response times
  • 🔍 Difficult to troubleshoot

Controller for HomeKit

From 2.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Powerful automation features
  • 📚 Helpful backup and restore functionality
  • 🔍 Detailed logging and troubleshooting
  • 🧠 Advanced HomeKit control and customization

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy and crash-prone
  • 💰 Expensive subscription model
  • 🤖 Poor customer support
  • 🤔 Confusing and unintuitive UI

Bugs and requests

Nanoleaf

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Lights randomly disconnecting
  • Firmware updates failing or bricking devices
  • Scenes not syncing properly across devices
  • App crashes on launch or during use
  • Delayed or unresponsive device controls

Requested features

5 requests
  • Improved app stability and reliability
  • More intuitive scene creation and management
  • Better integration with other smart home platforms
  • Customizable animation speed and effects
  • Ability to save and restore custom color presets

Controller for HomeKit

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Backup and restore issues
  • Disappearing automations and accessories
  • Compatibility problems with iOS 16.2
  • Slow performance and unresponsiveness

Requested features

4 requests
  • Improved documentation and tutorials
  • Better integration with Apple Home app
  • Support for more HomeKit device types
  • Ability to customize automation triggers

In-app purchases

None

Nanoleaf

No in-app purchases

8 purchases

Controller for HomeKit

Subscriptions6
  • Controller Essentials2 variants$4.991 Month
  • Essentials Lifetime - Plus Addon$4.991 Month
  • Controller Plus$8.991 Month
Show 3 more
  • Essentials Lifetime - Plus Addon3 Months trial$39.991 Year
  • Controller Essentials7 Days trial2 variants$39.991 Year
  • Controller Plus7 Days trial$79.991 Year
One-time2
  • Controller Essentials Lifetime$99.99
  • Controller Essentials Lifetime$139.99

Questions

Is Nanoleaf free?
Nanoleaf is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Controller for HomeKit free?
Controller for HomeKit is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Nanoleaf or Controller for HomeKit?
Nanoleaf is rated higher. Nanoleaf averages 4.2 out of 5 from 45K ratings, while Controller for HomeKit averages 4.1 from 2.7K ratings.
Do Nanoleaf or Controller for HomeKit have ads?
Neither Nanoleaf nor Controller for HomeKit shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Nanoleaf or Controller for HomeKit?
Nanoleaf ships an update every 2 weeks, and Controller for HomeKit every 10 days. Most recently, Nanoleaf was updated on October 18, 2026 and Controller for HomeKit on October 18, 2026.

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