Comparison

Controller for HomeKit vs Aqara Home

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

Head to head
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

Experience and control your Apple Home in a whole new way with Controller for HomeKit. Our app combines all the familiar HomeKit features with numerous additional enhancements, offering you a user-friendly interface, unparalleled control, and flexibility. * CONTROLLER AI: Describe a scene, automation, or workflow in everyday language – Controller builds it for you. * FLOOR PLAN: Create a detailed floor plan of your home using the LiDAR sensor on your iPhone or iPad and control your HomeKit accessories directly through the floor plan. * CHARTS: See how your Apple Home evolves over time. Charts in Controller for HomeKit show how values like temperature, humidity or battery usage change – across all your devices and brands. * COMPLEX AUTOMATIONS: Utilize advanced triggers and conditions for custom automations that are perfectly tailored to your needs. * WORKFLOWS: Optimize your daily routines with workflows that go beyond the capabilities of Apple Home. * NOTIFICATIONS: Create custom notifications to stay informed about important events in your home. * BACKUPS: Secure your setup and restore it easily when needed. * SMART FOLDERS: Organize your devices and automations effortlessly with smart folders and custom filters. * SETUP CODES: Securely store your HomeKit and Matter codes in the app, so they are always at hand and never lost. * MAINTENANCE: Keep track of your setup, quickly identifying which batteries need to be replaced, which devices are unreachable, or which automations are broken. * LOGS: Monitor all activities and changes in your smart home. * WIDGETS: Control your devices faster and easier with convenient widgets or quickly jump into your floor plan. Unlock the full potential of your smart home with Controller for HomeKit. Download the app now and experience how simple and intuitive home automation can be. For more information, visit our website: https://www.controllerforhomekit.com Privacy Policy: https://controllerforhomekit.com/privacy-en/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Aqara Home

Manage and automate your smart home devices remotely. Control lights, monitor sensors, and create custom scenes and automations for a more convenient living experience. Supports a wide range of smart home accessories.

Highlights
  • Remote control of smart accessories
  • Create homes and rooms
  • Monitor appliance status and environmental data
  • Automate actions with timers and triggers
  • Create scenes for multi-device control
  • Siri integration for voice control
Features
Read full description

Aqara Home is an app for smart home automation and control. With Aqara Home, you can: 1. control Aqara accessories anywhere and anytime where there is Internet access; 2. create homes and rooms and assign accessories to the rooms; 3. control your Aqara accessories and check the status of connected appliances. For example: *adjust the brightness of lights and check the power consumption of home appliances; *monitor the temperature, humidity and air pressure; *detect water leak, and human movement; 4. create Automations to automate your home. For example: *set a timer to turn on or off an appliance connected to a smart plug; *use a Door and Window Sensor to trigger lights: turn on lights automatically when the door opens; 5. create Scenes to control multiple accessories. For example, add a Scene to turn on multiple lights and fans; 6. ask Siri to control HomeKit supported Aqara accessories and user defined Scenes; Aqara Home app supports following Aqara accessories: Aqara Hub, Smart Plug, Wireless Remote Switch, LED Light Bulb, Door and Window Sensor, Motion Sensor, Temperature and Humidity Sensor, Vibration Sensor, and Water Leak Sensor. Please see www.aqara.com for more details.

Screenshots

Controller for HomeKit4 screens
Aqara Home4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Aqara Home at 4.7 against Controller for HomeKit's 4.1. Aqara Home also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 10) and review sentiment (41% vs 26%). Controller for HomeKit's advantage is device support (5 vs 3). On price, ratings volume, 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 7 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Aqara Home asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Aqara Home holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2.7K and 7.3K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 26% of Controller for HomeKit's written reviews are positive against 41% of Aqara Home's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Controller for HomeKit ships an update every 10 days, Aqara Home every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on September 23, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Controller for HomeKit versus Aqara Home: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterController for HomeKitAqara Home
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (2.7K ratings)4.7 (7.3K ratings) — better
Positive reviews26.3% of reviews41.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2.7K7.3K — better
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size212 MB539 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developeracasa Software GmbHAqara Software Service Co.,Ltd.

Customer experience

Controller for HomeKit

All ratings2,726 ratings
Positive75.8%
Neutral4.7%
Negative19.6%
Written reviews453 reviews
Positive26.3%
Neutral9.7%
Negative64.0%

Aqara Home

All ratings7,263 ratings
Positive94.2%
Neutral1.2%
Negative4.6%
Written reviews1,480 reviews
Positive41.4%
Neutral11.5%
Negative47.1%

User reviews

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

Aqara Home

From 7.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy setup
  • 👍 User-friendly app
  • 🔒 Reliable hardware
  • 💡 Extensive automation capabilities
  • 🚀 Seamless HomeKit integration

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy app with crashes and glitches
  • 👎 Confusing and unintuitive UI
  • 🔋 Battery drain issues
  • 🚫 Lack of dark mode
  • 🚫 Unreliable notifications

Bugs and requests

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

Aqara Home

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • App crashes on opening
  • Devices disappearing from app
  • Incorrect temperature/humidity readings
  • Delayed or missing doorbell notifications
  • Inability to delete detection zones

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add sunset/sunrise automation
  • Improve camera timeline scrubbing
  • Enable 12-hour time format
  • Provide more customization options
  • Improve Alexa/Google Home integration

In-app purchases

7 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
  • Controller Essentials7 Days trial2 variants$39.991 Year
  • Essentials Lifetime - Plus Addon7 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • Controller Plus7 Days trial$79.991 Year
One-time1
  • Controller Essentials Lifetime2 variants$99.99
None

Aqara Home

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Controller for HomeKit free?
Controller for HomeKit is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Aqara Home free?
Aqara Home is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Controller for HomeKit or Aqara Home?
Aqara Home is rated higher. Controller for HomeKit averages 4.1 out of 5 from 2.7K ratings, while Aqara Home averages 4.7 from 7.3K ratings.
Do Controller for HomeKit or Aqara Home have ads?
Neither Controller for HomeKit nor Aqara Home shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Controller for HomeKit or Aqara Home?
Controller for HomeKit ships an update every 10 days, and Aqara Home every 2 weeks. Most recently, Controller for HomeKit was updated on September 23, 2026 and Aqara Home on September 23, 2026.

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