Comparison

Controller for HomeKit vs Joint Maker Lab

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

Joint Maker Lab

Features
Read full description

Platform Introduction The platform is committed to building an ecological community for in-depth co-creation among users, and establishing a full-process participation system from demand insight to product implementation. Through the user segmentation (contribution + clustering) operation mechanism, core users are invited to participate in the four key stages of product definition, joint development, scenario testing, and market validation throughout the process, and a real-time feedback closed-loop system is established. Meanwhile, a user incentive point system is constructed to quickly iterate high-quality suggestions into product optimization, ultimately forming an ecological closed loop of "demand co-creation - product co-research - value sharing" to create an ideal product that truly meets interactive experience and offers excellent performance. Product Manifesto From creative inspiration to technological breakthrough, jointly create the ideal product Core Proposition Focusing on the concept of "letting technology products evolve through customer engagement", consumers have transformed from "passive users" to "product co-creators" Platform Audience Positioning Pioneers who love digital black technology, have unique insights into home, audio-visual, and energy storage products, and are creative innovators with boundless imagination A chronicler of daily life, hoping to jointly create more exceptional products with Anker Be willing to share your usage scenarios and needs for Anker products User Rights Participate in the new product internal testing rights and contribute ideas to the new product design Priority participation in irregular brand events, offline interviews... Enjoy exclusive welfare discounts and surprises, making it truly spectacular

Screenshots

Controller for HomeKit4 screens
Joint Maker Lab4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Joint Maker Lab at none against Controller for HomeKit's 10. Joint Maker Lab also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). Controller for HomeKit's advantage is update cadence (every 10 days vs every 2 months) and device support (5 vs 2). On price 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. Joint Maker Lab asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Controller for HomeKit ships an update every 10 days, Joint Maker Lab every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Controller for HomeKit versus Joint Maker Lab: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterController for HomeKitJoint Maker Lab
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (2.7K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews26.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2.7K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size212 MB132 MB
Age rating4+17+
Developeracasa Software GmbHPower Mobile Life LLC

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

Joint Maker Lab

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

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

Joint Maker Lab

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Controller for HomeKit free?
Controller for HomeKit is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Joint Maker Lab free?
Joint Maker Lab is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Controller for HomeKit or Joint Maker Lab have ads?
Neither Controller for HomeKit nor Joint Maker Lab shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Controller for HomeKit or Joint Maker Lab?
Controller for HomeKit ships an update every 10 days, and Joint Maker Lab every 2 months. Most recently, Controller for HomeKit was updated on October 12, 2026 and Joint Maker Lab on October 11, 2026.

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