Comparison

Activate Home vs dear___

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Building access control
  • Visitor registration
  • Service request management
  • Amenity reservations
  • Package arrival notifications
  • Resident communication
  • Digital building key
Features
Read full description

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.

About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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

Activate Home4 screens
dear___4 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Activate Home ships an update monthly, dear___ every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Activate Home versus dear___: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterActivate Homedear___
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (413 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews30.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings413 — better1
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size261 MB35 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRise Buildings, LLCTianqi Wei

Customer experience

Activate Home

All ratings413 ratings
Positive74.6%
Neutral6.1%
Negative19.4%
Written reviews46 reviews
Positive30.4%
Neutral4.3%
Negative65.2%

dear___

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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 more
  • “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 more
  • 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

None

Activate Home

No in-app purchases

None

dear___

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Activate Home free?
Activate Home is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is dear___ free?
dear___ is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Activate Home or dear___?
dear___ is rated higher. Activate Home averages 4.1 out of 5 from 413 ratings, while dear___ averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Activate Home or dear___ have ads?
Neither Activate Home nor dear___ shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Activate Home or dear___?
Activate Home ships an update monthly, and dear___ every 9 days. Most recently, Activate Home was updated on October 11, 2026 and dear___ on October 4, 2026.

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