Activate Home vs dear___
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Activate Home
Manage your building's access, communications, and services from your phone. Receive alerts for packages, reserve amenities, and connect with your property team and neighbors.
- Building access control
- Visitor registration
- Service request management
- Amenity reservations
- Package arrival notifications
- Resident communication
- Digital building key
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Stay connected to everything happening in your building and the people within it. From building access, to communications from your property team, or package arrival alerts, it’s all at your fingertips with the Activate Home app. Download the app to: -Register visitors -Submit and manage service requests -Reserve amenities -Get notifications for package arrivals -Communicate with management and fellow residents -See upcoming events in your building -Give feedback through polls -Use your phone as a digital key to access the building -And so much more! *Note: features vary by building.
dear___
This app allows you to create private, temporary photo albums with layered memories. You can add photos, text, dates, and audio, then reveal them through touch before they fade back. It offers reminders and the option to share or export your creations.
- Create layered memory objects
- Edit white masks with computer vision
- Add diary text, dates, music, and audio
- Temporarily reveal memories through touch
- Receive memory reminders
- Export albums as archives
- Design share cards
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dear___ is for the memories you're not ready to look at all at once, and the ones you're not ready to let go of, either. Cover your photographs with an editable white mask. Add a diary entry, a date, a song. Then, when you're ready, erase the cover with your finger — the photograph appears, the words surface, the music begins. After a short pause, the mask slowly returns, and the memory recedes into absence again. dear___ doesn't try to bring anyone back. It just gives you a way to visit — briefly, privately, on your own terms — and to leave the door open for next time. With dear___, you can: • Create personal albums from your own photographs • Generate a starting mask with computer vision, then paint, erase, and adjust it by hand • Add diary text, dates, music, and audio to each memory • Reveal memories through touch, and watch them fade back into absence • Receive "on this day" and weekly memory reminders • Design share cards for the memories you choose to show • Decide exactly which layers to save, share, export, or submit • Export your albums as portable archives Your memories stay yours. Albums remain on your device unless you choose to export, share, or submit them. No account is required to create or browse. We all come to accept the absence of those we have loved, but we can still talk to them across time. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: dear___ at 5.0 against Activate Home's 4.1. dear___ also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs monthly). Activate Home's advantage is ratings volume (413 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
dear___ holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Activate Home has 413 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Activate Home ships an update monthly, dear___ every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Activate Home | dear___ |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.1 (413 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 30.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 413 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 261 MB | 35 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Rise Buildings, LLC | Tianqi Wei |
Customer experience
Activate Home
dear___
Bugs and requests
Activate Home
Reported bugs
17 issues- Mobile key not working
- “No response met from Salto SVN” error
- Visitors disappearing
- Packages checked out/in disappearing
- “General error” when opening
Show 12 moreShow fewer
- “No door found” error on elevators
- App crashes on launch
- Cannot login
- Error when password submitted
- Reset password link trackers not working
- App does not open on iOS 13
- Clicking edit on visitor profile doesn't work
- Cannot log out
- Incorrect apartment number on profile
- App crashes during registration
- App freezing or having other bugs
- Red bubble notification remains after checking
Requested features
8 requests- Add phone key to Apple Wallet
- Improve offline functionality for app launch/key access
- Add a hard fob solution for non-smartphone users
- Implement a buzz-in feature for visitors/deliveries
- Allow users to see other's elevator reservations
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Allow users to stay signed in
- Improve back button navigation in community posts
- More reports for property managers
dear___
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Activate Home
No in-app purchases
dear___
No in-app purchases









