HSBuddy vs CresTap
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
CresTap
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CresTap is designed to control your Crestron automation system using Apple Watch. CresTap integrates natively with any 2, 3 and 4-Series control processor via the standard XPanel communication protocol. In addition you can run any combination of Digital, Analog and Serial commands using the power of Siri Shortcuts. Turn on your lights automatically when you arrive home or add your favorite scenes to your iPhone Home Screen for example (You can leverage the power of CresTap Siri Shortcuts even without an Apple Watch). ***CresTap connects to Crestron via a paired iPhone, please note that your Watch needs to be in (Bluetooth or Wi-Fi) range of the paired iPhone. Features include; -Standard XPanel protocol eliminates the need for custom code. -Add a shortcut to CresTap on your favorite Apple Watch watch face. -Adapt the look and feel of the Watch App by customizing button and icon colors right from within the iPhone App. -Large set of documented built in icons to choose from. -Real time control for button pushes and feedback. -Up to 10 customizable buttons can be configured. -Connect via Wi-Fi or Mobile (TCP port forwarding may be required). SSL/TLS support for secure connections. -Use device discovery to scan your local network for Crestron devices. CresTap is simply setup by adding a standard XPanel symbol in your SIMPL Windows program and setting up button text and icon signals. Inside the iPhone app you will find sample code to help you get started. CresTap quickly connects to your control system after configuring connection details in the iPhone App and synchronizes automatically with your XPanel symbol running on your control processor upon connection. Please note that the IPID number of the SIMPL Windows symbol must match the IPID defined within CresTap. An icon reference pdf is built into CresTap as well as sample 2, 3 and 4-Series control system programs.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: HSBuddy at Free against CresTap's $17.99. HSBuddy also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.5). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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
HSBuddy is free to download; CresTap costs $17.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on July 17, 2026 and May 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | HSBuddy | CresTap |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $17.99 |
| Rating | 4.6 (29 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 76.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 29 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 60 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Antonio Vargas Garcia | Andreas Kaspers |
In-app purchases
HSBuddy
No in-app purchases
CresTap
No in-app purchases




