Controller for HomeKit vs varyAlive
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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/
varyAlive
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Meet up with your friends more often. You want to meet up but don't know what to do? varyAlive puts an end to endless WhatsApp discussions. Discover activities together, find out what you both like and plan your next meetup. How it works: Connect with your friends Swipe on activities in your city together Get a match when you share the same interests Propose a meetup and make it happen Features: Swipe together: New activities every day for you and your friends. Swipe independently and see where you agree. Discover matches: When you both swipe right, it's a match. The perfect starting point for your next meetup. Plan meetups: Propose a date and time, vote and set it up right in the app. Groups: Plan activities not just as a pair, but with your whole group. Reminders: Get reminders about friends you haven't seen in a while. Social battery: Show your friends how much energy you have for activities right now. Why varyAlive? Friendships need shared experiences. varyAlive helps you take the first step. No network for strangers, no profiles to scroll through. Just you and your friends. Try it now and do more things together.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: varyAlive at none against Controller for HomeKit's 10. varyAlive also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). Controller for HomeKit's advantage is device support (5 vs 3). 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
Both are free to download. Controller for HomeKit sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. varyAlive asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | Controller for HomeKit | varyAlive |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.1 (2.8K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 26.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 2.8K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 210 MB | 36 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | acasa Software GmbH | LAURA GROH |
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
varyAlive
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Controller for HomeKit
- Controller Essentials2 variants$4.991 Month
- Essentials Lifetime - Plus Addon$4.991 Month
- Controller Plus$8.991 Month
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- Essentials Lifetime - Plus Addon3 Months trial$39.991 Year
- Controller Essentials7 Days trial2 variants$39.991 Year
- Controller Plus7 Days trial$79.991 Year
- Controller Essentials Lifetime$99.99
- Controller Essentials Lifetime$139.99
varyAlive
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Controller for HomeKit free?
Is varyAlive free?
Do Controller for HomeKit or varyAlive have ads?
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