Comparison

SwitchBot 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

SwitchBot

Control smart devices like bots, hubs, and sensors remotely. Schedule appliance operation and monitor environmental conditions. Expand your smart home ecosystem with new devices and features.

Highlights
  • Remote device control
  • Appliance scheduling
  • Environmental monitoring
  • Hub integration
  • Camera cloud storage
Features
Read full description

You can control the SwitchBot Bot with a tap on the icons. You can schedule your appliances to turn on or off according to your preference with SwitchBot Hub Mini. You can monitor the environment of your family and properties with SwitchBot Thermometer and Hygrometer. And that’s just the beginning. Purchase a SwitchBot device and download the app to get started today. Stay tuned for updates as we add new features and new products to the SwitchBot family. SwitchBot Camera Cloud Storage Service Subscription Cycle: 1 month (monthly plans) Subscription Price: $3.99/month (monthly plans) Payment: Users confirm the purchase and proceed to payment. Users can manage this subscription and the auto-renewal via their Apple ID > Subscriptions. Cancellation: Users can manually cancel this subscription via Apple ID > Subscriptions at least 24 hours before the current subscription period expires. Renewal: The user's account will be charged within 24 hours before the end of the current period, and the subscription will be extended for another period upon successful payment. Term of Use: https://www.switch-bot.com/pages/switchbot-terms-of-service Privacy Policy: https://www.switch-bot.com/pages/switchbot-privacy-policy - Website: switch-bot.com - Facebook: @SwitchBotRobot - Instagram: @theswitchbot - Twitter: @SwitchBot

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

SwitchBot4 screens
Controller for HomeKit4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Controller for HomeKit at 4.1 against SwitchBot's 3.4. Controller for HomeKit also leads on ratings volume (2.7K vs 838). SwitchBot's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, review sentiment, 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. SwitchBot sells 18 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days and Controller for HomeKit sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Controller for HomeKit holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 3.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 838 and 2.7K respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 32% of SwitchBot's written reviews are positive against 27% of Controller for HomeKit's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SwitchBot ships an update fortnightly, Controller for HomeKit every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
SwitchBot versus Controller for HomeKit: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSwitchBotController for HomeKit
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.4 (838 ratings)4.1 (2.7K ratings) — better
Positive reviews32.0% of reviews — better26.7% of reviews
Number of ratings8382.7K — better
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size647 MB210 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerwonderlabs, Incorporatedacasa Software GmbH

Customer experience

SwitchBot

All ratings838 ratings
Positive54.7%
Neutral6.9%
Negative38.4%
Written reviews494 reviews
Positive32.0%
Neutral15.2%
Negative52.8%

Controller for HomeKit

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

User reviews

SwitchBot

From 838 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Reliable and stable app
  • 👍 Easy to use and set up
  • 💡 Useful features like temperature/humidity monitoring
  • 🚀 Responsive customer support

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy app with frequent crashes and disconnections
  • 👎 Poor user interface and unintuitive navigation
  • 🔋 Battery life issues with some devices
  • 🔒 Security concerns with mandatory account creation and data sharing

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

SwitchBot

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Firmware update issues
  • Devices disappearing from the app
  • Unreliable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity
  • Incorrect temperature and humidity readings

Requested features

4 requests
  • Sunrise/sunset automation support
  • Ability to set more than 5 schedules
  • Improved widget functionality
  • Integration with Apple HomeKit and Siri

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

18 purchases

SwitchBot

Subscriptions18
  • cloud storage-2cams weekly$0.997 Days
  • AI Agent Plan$1.691 Month
  • Basic Monthly Plan1 Month trial2 variants$3.991 Month
Show 15 more
  • Test$3.991 Month
  • Test1 Month trial$3.991 Month
  • Starter Plan1 Month trial$4.991 Month
  • Plus Monthly Plan$6.991 Month
  • Home Plan$8.991 Month
  • Basic Monthly Plan1 Month trial$9.991 Month
  • cloud storage-3cams monthly$10.991 Month
  • Home Plus$13.991 Month
  • Family Monthly Plan$20.991 Month
  • Home Max7 Days trial$22.991 Month
  • Basic Annual Plan$34.991 Year
  • Starter Plan(Annual)$49.991 Year
  • Plus Annual Plan$69.991 Year
  • cloud storage-1cam weekly7 Days trial$99.997 Days
  • Family Annual Plan$209.991 Year
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 SwitchBot free?
SwitchBot is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Controller for HomeKit free?
Controller for HomeKit is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, SwitchBot or Controller for HomeKit?
Controller for HomeKit is rated higher. SwitchBot averages 3.4 out of 5 from 838 ratings, while Controller for HomeKit averages 4.1 from 2.7K ratings.
Do SwitchBot or Controller for HomeKit have ads?
Neither SwitchBot nor Controller for HomeKit shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SwitchBot or Controller for HomeKit?
SwitchBot ships an update fortnightly, and Controller for HomeKit every 10 days. Most recently, SwitchBot was updated on October 19, 2026 and Controller for HomeKit on October 18, 2026.

Other comparisons