Comparison

Aqara Home vs Command for Philips Hue

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

Head to head
About

Aqara Home

Control and automate your smart home devices from anywhere. Manage accessories, monitor environmental conditions, and set up custom automations and scenes for a more convenient living space.

Highlights
  • Remote control of Aqara accessories
  • Create homes and rooms
  • Monitor appliance status and environmental data
  • Automate home functions with custom rules
  • Create scenes for multiple device control
  • Siri integration for HomeKit accessories
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.

About

Command for Philips Hue

Instantly control your Philips Hue lights with this app. Manage rooms, create scenes, and set custom effects. Features include circadian lighting, entertainment sync, and remote access for seamless home automation.

Highlights
  • Instant room and light control
  • Customizable scenes and effects
  • Circadian lighting
  • Entertainment and music sync
  • Switch and button programming
  • Remote access
  • Energy usage insights
Features
Read full description

Command is the fast, dependable way to control your lights. It opens straight to your rooms and responds instantly, and your rooms are one swipe away in Control Center and on the Lock Screen. At bedtime, Goodnight fades any room gently to off. NEW IN 1.2 • Instant: opens straight to your rooms, with lights and scenes that respond the moment you tap • All On and All Off for the whole house • Goodnight: fade any room to off over 1 to 60 minutes. It runs on your Bridge, even after you close the app • Room toggles in Control Center, on the Lock Screen and on the Action button (iOS 18 or later) • Always in sync: reconnects on its own, finds your Bridge if its address changes, shows live sensors and batteries, and tells you if a change fails • Made for iPad and iPhone Duo: more rooms at a glance, a side tab bar and a fold-aware layout • Demo mode: explore every feature before you connect a Bridge COMPLETE LIGHT CONTROL • Precise color picker with accurate XY color • Color harmony overlays: complementary, analogous, triadic, split complementary • Brightness, color temperature and on/off for every light SCENES • Create static or dynamic palette scenes and save them to your Bridge • Set per-light colors visually, then name and save • Activate scenes from room cards or the scene library EFFECTS THAT STAY ON • Candle, Fireplace and other animated effects • Effects that run on your Bridge keep glowing after you close the app ROOMS AT A GLANCE • Every room with its live light status • Quick toggle, brightness and scenes for each room • Sensor and accessory status: motion, temperature, battery CIRCADIAN LIGHTING • Color temperature that follows the day • Sunrise and sunset times based on your location • Presets for wake, focus, relax and sleep ENTERTAINMENT & MUSIC SYNC • Real-time 25 Hz light streaming through the Entertainment API • Music sync with 5-band frequency analysis SWITCH & BUTTON PROGRAMMING • Assign custom actions to dimmer switches, Tap, Smart Button and other switches • Toggle rooms, start scenes or set brightness with any button press GEOFENCING • Start scenes automatically when you arrive or leave • Processed on your device, with a custom radius per location REMOTE ACCESS • Control your lights from anywhere, not just on your home network • Secure OAuth sign-in ENERGY • Estimated energy use per light and per room • Daily, weekly and monthly kWh trends MULTI-BRIDGE • Connect and manage several Bridges at once • Each Bridge keeps its own rooms and scenes ON ALL YOUR APPLE DEVICES • Native apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV and Apple Vision Pro • Apple Watch companion and Home Screen widgets • One Command Pro purchase works on all your Apple devices Requires Bridge v2 or Bridge Pro. Control Center, Lock Screen and Action button controls need iOS 18 or later. Light and room control, scenes, effects and circadian lighting are free. Command Pro adds remote access, multiple Bridges, automations, switch programming, energy insights and more, with a monthly or yearly subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase. Command is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Signify or Philips. Philips and Hue are trademarks of Signify Holding. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://huecommand.com/privacy

Screenshots

Aqara Home4 screens
Command for Philips Hue4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Aqara Home at none against Command for Philips Hue's 3. Aqara Home also leads on ratings volume (7.9K vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). Command for Philips Hue's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and review sentiment (50% vs 41%). On price, 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. Command for Philips Hue sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Aqara Home asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Command for Philips Hue holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Aqara Home has 7.9K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 41% of Aqara Home's written reviews are positive against 50% of Command for Philips Hue's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Aqara Home ships an update fortnightly, Command for Philips Hue every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Aqara Home versus Command for Philips Hue: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAqara HomeCommand for Philips Hue
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (7.9K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews41.4% of reviews50.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings7.9K — better1
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 4 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size539 MB46 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperAqara Software Service Co.,Ltd.Joseph Leporati

Customer experience

Aqara Home

All ratings7,861 ratings
Positive94.4%
Neutral1.2%
Negative4.4%
Written reviews1,502 reviews
Positive41.4%
Neutral11.4%
Negative47.2%

Command for Philips Hue

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

Bugs and requests

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

Command for Philips Hue

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Aqara Home

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Command for Philips Hue

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Yearly$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$39.99

Questions

Is Aqara Home free?
Aqara Home is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Command for Philips Hue free?
Command for Philips Hue is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Aqara Home or Command for Philips Hue?
Command for Philips Hue is rated higher. Aqara Home averages 4.7 out of 5 from 7.9K ratings, while Command for Philips Hue averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Aqara Home or Command for Philips Hue have ads?
Neither Aqara Home nor Command for Philips Hue shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Aqara Home or Command for Philips Hue?
Aqara Home ships an update fortnightly, and Command for Philips Hue every 4 weeks. Most recently, Aqara Home was updated on November 8, 2026 and Command for Philips Hue on October 31, 2026.

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