Comparison

Controller for HomeKit vs iSmartgate Access

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

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/

About

iSmartgate Access

Control and monitor your garage doors or gates remotely using your smart device. This app works with a separate iSmartgate device to provide status alerts, manage multiple doors, and integrate with smart home assistants.

Highlights
  • Remote garage door control
  • Garage door status alerts
  • HomeKit, Google Assistant, IFTTT compatible
  • Supports multiple garage doors (PRO version)
  • IP camera integration
  • Unlimited user access
Features
Read full description

This App works with the iSmartgate device that can be purchased separately at www.ismartgate.com. The iSmartgate Access app will connect your iPhone or iPad to the iSmartgate device via your Wi-Fi home network or internet. Product details: •HomeKit Compatible (iSmartgate PRO and LITE). •Google Assistant Compatible. •IFTTT Compatible. •Amazon Echo Compatible via IFTTT. •This APP (when used in conjunction with the iSmartgate device) will open up to 3 garage doors/gates (PRO version) or a single garage door/gate (LITE, LITE 2 and MINI versions). •Live video streaming: watch your garage in real time from the door screen, without leaving the app. •Connect an IP camera to your iSmartgate device to see what is happening in your garage (up to 3 cameras, one for each door on the PRO version). •Garage door status alert: shows if your garage doors are Open or Closed. •Push notifications when a door is opened or left open. •Event history: see who opened each door and when. •Guided Wi-Fi setup for iSmartgate MINI and LITE 2, and automatic Wi-Fi setup through HomeKit for PRO and LITE. •Clean, intuitive and user friendly interface. •Unlimited number of users can download the app and operate a single garage. •Remote access. •Compatible with all garage door openers. What's new in 2.9.0: •Live camera video is now built into the door screen. •Rebuilt and much faster iSmartgate MINI setup. •Improved settings and event history on MINI devices with older firmware. •Lower battery consumption and general stability improvements.

Screenshots

Controller for HomeKit4 screens
iSmartgate Access4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Controller for HomeKit at 4.1 against iSmartgate Access's 2.5. Controller for HomeKit also leads on ratings volume (2.7K vs 34) and update cadence (every 10 days vs every 2 months). iSmartgate Access's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and iOS requirement (14.4 vs 17.0). On price, review sentiment 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. iSmartgate Access asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Controller for HomeKit holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 2.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Controller for HomeKit has 2.7K ratings behind it against 34, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 27% of Controller for HomeKit's written reviews are positive against 23% of iSmartgate Access's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Controller for HomeKit ships an update every 10 days, iSmartgate Access every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Controller for HomeKit versus iSmartgate Access: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterController for HomeKitiSmartgate Access
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (2.7K ratings) — better2.5 (34 ratings)
Positive reviews26.7% of reviews — better23.0% of reviews
Number of ratings2.7K — better34
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.014.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size210 MB84 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developeracasa Software GmbHPYKRS

Customer experience

Controller for HomeKit

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

iSmartgate Access

All ratings34 ratings
Positive29.4%
Neutral14.7%
Negative55.9%
Written reviews61 reviews
Positive23.0%
Neutral13.1%
Negative63.9%

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

iSmartgate Access

From 34 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Works with HomeKit
  • 👍 Works with Apple Watch
  • 👍 Saves time
  • 👍 Good support when available
  • 👍 Reliable when working

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy and cumbersome app
  • 🐛 Inconsistent performance
  • 🐛 Frequent connection issues
  • 🐛 Poor HomeKit integration
  • 🐛 Baffling interface

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

iSmartgate Access

Reported bugs

19 issues
  • App crashes and freezes
  • Login forms break password manager integration
  • Automations stopped working after iOS updates (e.g., ios26, 16.2, 16.4, 18)
  • Device stops responding after a few minutes
  • Door sensor keeps losing connection
Show 14 more
  • Lost Wi-Fi connection after updates
  • HomeKit 'no response' errors
  • App slow to refresh and load pages
  • Incorrect door status in HomeKit
  • App doesn't detect door position
  • Alerts not working for the app
  • Cannot access users menu
  • Warning 'feature' (sound/light) requires factory reset to disable
  • Device stops working after Wi-Fi upgrade
  • App doesn't match screenshots, missing remote access/add user options
  • Wrong doors opening after update
  • Sensor states flipped, identity flipped
  • HomeKit compatibility broken after firmware update
  • Video codec requires additional payment

Requested features

5 requests
  • CarPlay integration
  • Schedule open/close options
  • Apple Watch app
  • Ability to open gate partially (e.g., 20%)
  • Add additional users/user menu access

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
None

iSmartgate Access

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Controller for HomeKit free?
Controller for HomeKit is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is iSmartgate Access free?
iSmartgate Access is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Controller for HomeKit or iSmartgate Access?
Controller for HomeKit is rated higher. Controller for HomeKit averages 4.1 out of 5 from 2.7K ratings, while iSmartgate Access averages 2.5 from 34 ratings.
Do Controller for HomeKit or iSmartgate Access have ads?
Neither Controller for HomeKit nor iSmartgate Access shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Controller for HomeKit or iSmartgate Access?
Controller for HomeKit ships an update every 10 days, and iSmartgate Access every 2 months. Most recently, Controller for HomeKit was updated on October 18, 2026 and iSmartgate Access on October 13, 2026.

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