Comparison

Visual Home vs dS Smart Home

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

Head to head
About

Visual Home

Unify and control your smart home devices from a single dashboard. Visualize data from various sources and trigger actions on connected devices. Offers advanced features through an optional subscription.

Highlights
  • Unified dashboard for smart home data
  • Control connected devices
  • Support for Philips Hue, HomeKit, Homematic, and more
  • MQTT and HTTP REST client
  • JavaScript Lambda functions
  • Homescreen widgets
  • Favorites management
Features
Read full description

Visual displays the data from different sources on an unified dashboard. In addition it allows controlling and triggering actions on connected devices. Directly supported are currently - Philips Hue - HomeKit - Homematic - Ezcontrol XS1 - HTML Widgets - Open Weather Map - PVOutput.org The more experienced user can also use - MQTT Client (Subscribe, Publish) - HTTP REST Client - JavaScript Lambda functions # Information on HomeKit Visual offers to visualize the values of all HomeKit accessories with readable characteristics and scalar data formats (e.g. integer, float). In addition Visual can set values to writable characteristics with scalar data formats. # Information on the In-App purchase • This App offers an auto-renewing subscription "Advanced Features" that unlock extended features: - JavaScript Lambda functions - Search and filter datapoints - Trigger scenes defined in the Philips Hue bridge - Debug logging for all endpoints - Multi column dashboard - Homescreen Widgets - Favorites • This In-App purchase is an auto-renewing subscription • The subscription duration is 1 month • For the price please check the In-App purchase details on AppStore or in the App itself • Your iTunes account will be charged for the purchase at the time of subscription purchase. • The subscription is renewed automatically, unless the automatic renewal is terminated at least 24 hours before the end of the current subscription period. • Your iTunes account will be charged the same amount as the original subscription within 24 hours before the end of the current subscription period. • Subscriptions can be managed and auto-renewal can be disabled in your iTunes account after the original purchase.

About

dS Smart Home

Control your smart home devices, including lighting, shading, and music, with this intuitive application. Monitor energy consumption, weather, and alarms. Easily manage rooms, create custom scenarios, and adjust settings for a more comfortable living environment.

Highlights
  • Device control (light, shading, music)
  • Energy consumption monitoring
  • Weather and climate readings
  • Custom scenario creation
  • Room and device management
  • SONOS speaker control
  • Heating control
Features
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• Simple and convenient The new dS Smart Home is the perfect app for the perfect smart home. Setting up and operating your digitalSTROM Smart Home has never been easier and more convenient. Whether light, shading or music - the app offers everything you need to make your life easier and more comfortable. • Clear structure The app has four tabs (Favorites, Cockpit, Rooms, Settings) that help you to quickly switch between different features: • Favorites: In the Favorites the most important scenarios of the whole flat are displayed. And you can add your personal favorites. These can be scenarios from the rooms, individual devices or user-defined actions. • Cockpit: the cockpit shows the current energy consumption and that of the last 7 days, weather and climate readings, current alarms and warnings, and user-defined states. In the detailed view of energy consumption, the individual circuits are displayed to the second. The climate data details show the temperature and humidity readings from the past days and weeks.. • Room overview: All rooms (including scenarios, devices and buttons) of your digitalSTROM Smart Home are displayed in the room overview and can be operated directly. • Settings: In the settings you can add further installations (for example your holiday home) and have direct access to the tutorials or the help page. • Custom actions Add custom actions to your favorites and retrieve them at any time. • Create and edit scenarios New scenarios can be easily and conveniently created and existing scenarios can be adjusted or deleted as needed. • Control of the SONOS speakers All SONOS speakers integrated into your digitalSTROM Smart Home can be operated via scenarios or the Play-Pause-function and the volume can be adjusted. • Overview of rooms, scenarios and devices Check the different measured values (e.g. temperature or humidity) and the current state of scenarios and all devices for "light" and "shading" for every room of your digitalSTROM Smart Home. Any changes made are displayed in the app immediately. • Make temporary settings Adjust the current brightness or color of lights and the position of shutters, blinds or awnings at any time easily. With a long click (3D-Touch) on a scenario or device you can open the temporary settings and make adjustments. • Control your heating Check the current temperature in the rooms, choose between Comfort and Eco mode in each room and set the desired temperature for each mode and room. • Assignment of buttons Try out how the various clicks on your light and shading buttons work and adapt the displayed scenarios to suit your requirements. • The home at a glance In the cockpit you will find information on current alarms and weather warnings, the user-defined states as well as the current energy consumption in your home.

Screenshots

Visual Home4 screens
dS Smart Home4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: dS Smart Home at none against Visual Home's 1. dS Smart Home also leads on review sentiment (33% vs 13%) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 17.6). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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. Visual Home sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $1.49 per month. dS Smart Home asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 1.0 for Visual Home against 1.0 for dS Smart Home. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 13% of Visual Home's written reviews are positive against 33% of dS Smart Home's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Visual Home ships an update every 4 months, dS Smart Home every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on August 25, 2026 and June 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Visual Home versus dS Smart Home: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVisual HomedS Smart Home
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.0 (1 ratings)1.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews12.5% of reviews33.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings11
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.614.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB38 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperAndreas BinnerdigitalSTROM AG

Customer experience

Visual Home

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive12.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative87.5%

dS Smart Home

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Visual Home

Subscriptions1
  • Advanced Features$1.491 Month
None

dS Smart Home

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Visual Home free?
Visual Home is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is dS Smart Home free?
dS Smart Home is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Visual Home or dS Smart Home?
Visual Home and dS Smart Home are both rated 1.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Visual Home or dS Smart Home have ads?
Neither Visual Home nor dS Smart Home shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Visual Home or dS Smart Home?
Visual Home ships an update every 4 months, and dS Smart Home every 2 months. Most recently, Visual Home was updated on August 25, 2026 and dS Smart Home on June 8, 2026.

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