HSBuddy vs Insteon Director
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
HSBuddy
Control your HomeSeer home automation system from your mobile device and Apple Watch. Manage devices, run events, view camera feeds, and create custom dashboards. Automate tasks with Siri shortcuts and widgets.
- Control and edit devices
- Run and edit events
- View camera feeds
- Customizable dashboards
- Siri shortcuts
- Home Screen widgets
- Push notifications
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HSBuddy is a free application for iOS® that turns your mobile device into the ultimate companion for your HomeSeer® home automation system. With the included Apple Watch companion app you can take control of your home from your wrist! Certain features require an additional HomeSeer controller plug-in which you can install from the plug-in manager in your HomeSeer configuration pages. Look for HSBuddy under the User Interfaces section. Complement your home automation experience and use HSBuddy to: • Control and edit devices • Run and edit events • View history of device state changes * • View images from your home cameras ** • Create your own customized dashboards • Speed up your daily automation tasks » Create Siri shortcuts » Place Widgets for your Home Screen • Send push-notifications to your devices as part of your server events • Browse your HomeSeer server logs * • Enable geo-location on the app and location-based events * • Automatically switch between local-WiFi and remote connectivity to your server based on your location. • Connect to multiple HomeSeer servers and switch quickly between them • Use Smart Tags to quickly control a device or run an event by tapping a tag with your phone *Requires installing the free HSBuddy HomeSeer controller plug-in **Compatible with some existing HomeSeer controller camera plug-ins To use this app you need a running instance of HomeSeer. To find out more, visit http://www.homeseer.com For more information and troubleshooting help, go to http://hsbuddy.avglabs.net
Insteon Director
This app offers a redesigned home management experience with quick access to devices and scenes. It introduces new scheduling features, including sunrise/sunset offsets, and improved sensor monitoring. Enjoy faster performance for device control and scene creation.
- Redesigned interface with bold tiles
- One-touch actions for multiple devices
- Favorites management
- Schedules view with sunrise/sunset offsets
- Sensor check-in tracking
- Faster device control and scene creation
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Hello everyone! If you are a user of the older Insteon for Hub app, are using a Hub 2 (2245-222), and haven’t yet tried this newer app version, here are some great enhancements to know about: This app is an entirely new experience, redesigned to simplify how you manage your home. Bold tiles give you quick access to your devices and scenes. New one-touch actions make it easy to quickly control multiple devices in your home all from the same screen. And adding favorites is now as simple as tapping a single icon. The app also brings new features to Insteon, including a Schedules view that makes it easier to see what’s happening in your home throughout the day. We’ve also added one of the most-requested features to schedules: sunrise and sunset offsets, so your scenes can occur up to 4 hours before or after the sun goes up or down in your local area. We’ve added sensor check-in tracking so that if your sensor supports heartbeat broadcasts, we will let you know when it’s time to check the battery or other communication issues. You’ll also find that everything in the app is faster. From logging in to navigating between screens, you can expect a faster, fluid experience. Statuses display quickly—no more waiting for each individual device to update. You’ll see the most significant improvements in creating and editing scenes. We’ve completely overhauled how we manage scene updates, in many cases bringing the experience down from minutes to seconds (depending on scene complexity). Here are some high-level things you should know about the new mobile app before you dive in. --Faster time from launch to device control - Depending on device you can be in less than 3 seconds from launch --Faster scene creation - Depending on the complexity of the scene, up to 80% faster in some cases --Easier scheduling – Schedule multiple devices for the same time without the need to create scenes [Device Support] Wired-in Devices --i3 Dial, Paddle, Outlet and Keypad --Paddle Switch and Dimmer --Toggle Switch and Dimmer --Keypad On/Off and Dimmer --Inline On/Off and Dimmer --Micro On/Off, Dimmer, and Open/Close --Dual Outlet --Outlet Dimmer --Ceiling Fan and Light Controller --240V Controller --Ballast Dimmer --Din Rail On/Off and Dimmer --Wired Thermostat Plug-ins and bulbs: --Dimmer Module --On/Off Module --Outdoor On/Off Module --LED Bulbs --I/O Module (aka IOLinc) --Siren --Range Extender Sensors: --Hidden Door Sensor --Open Close Sensor --Leak Sensor --Motion Sensor --Motion Sensor II [Requirements] Compatible with North American Hub 2 (2245-222) and requires access to Insteon Hub service. Learn more at http://www.insteon.com/hub
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: HSBuddy at 76% against Insteon Director's 32%. HSBuddy also leads on rating (4.6 vs 2.8) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). Insteon Director's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (164 vs 29). On price, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
HSBuddy holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 2.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Insteon Director has 164 ratings behind it against 29, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 76% of HSBuddy's written reviews are positive against 32% of Insteon Director's.
HSBuddy ships an update every 2 months, Insteon Director monthly. Both last shipped on November 2, 2026.
| Parameter | HSBuddy | Insteon Director |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (29 ratings) — better | 2.8 (164 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 76.5% of reviews — better | 31.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 29 | 164 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 60 MB | 47 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Antonio Vargas Garcia | Insteon Technologies |
Customer experience
HSBuddy
Insteon Director
Bugs and requests
HSBuddy
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Insteon Director
Reported bugs
4 issues- Login issues and inability to reset password
- Devices not showing up in the app
- Scenes not working as expected
- Crashes and freezes when using the app
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for Insteon thermostats and cameras
- Improve device status reporting accuracy
- Introduce landscape mode and iPad-specific layout
- Allow customization of button/icon sizes
- Preserve existing scenes and automations
In-app purchases
HSBuddy
No in-app purchases
Insteon Director
No in-app purchases








