TCP Smart vs Magic Smoke
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
TCP Smart
Effortlessly connect and control your smart home devices from anywhere. Share access with family members and manage multiple devices through a single application. Schedule timers for automated actions.
- Easy connecting and controlling
- Remote device control
- Family device sharing
- Multi-device management
- Timer scheduling
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TCP smart, fit, connect, play: 1. Easy connecting, easy controlling; 2. Remote control your smart home devices anywhere. 3. Devices sharing with your family; 4. One App controls multiple devices; 5. Timer scheduled, accurately performed
Magic Smoke
Establish custom TCP connections to send specific commands. Save up to ten commands for quick access, or type any message directly. This utility is ideal for testing network connections and embedded systems.
- Custom TCP connection setup
- Save up to ten custom commands
- Send any typed message
- Appends carriage return and linefeed
- Supports IP address and port input
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This app allows you to send custom commands via a TCP connection. You input the IP address and port number for the TCP connection you would like to create, and then you can customize the ten buttons to have ten saved commands. The “Any Command” text field can send any message that is typed into the text field. A carriage return and linefeed are appended to all messages. It was originally developed for the NCSU Embedded Systems course ECE 306, but it works for any TCP connection you would like to create!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Magic Smoke at 100% against TCP Smart's 39%. Magic Smoke also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.1). TCP Smart's advantage is ratings volume (66 vs 10). On price, update cadence, 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.
Magic Smoke holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: TCP Smart has 66 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 39% of TCP Smart's written reviews are positive against 100% of Magic Smoke's.
TCP Smart ships an update every 3 months, Magic Smoke every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on June 8, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | TCP Smart | Magic Smoke |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.1 (66 ratings) | 5.0 (10 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 39.5% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 66 — better | 10 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months — better | Every 5 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 224 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | TCPi | Caleb Barnett Wheeler |
Customer experience
TCP Smart
Magic Smoke
Bugs and requests
TCP Smart
Reported bugs
20 issues- App fails to connect to devices remotely
- Unable to establish secure connection error
- Devices show incorrect status on home screen
- App crashes when changing colors
- Devices randomly disconnect and flash
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- Login attempts fail repeatedly
- Chinese text appearing with English language selected
- Incompatibility with iOS updates (iOS 15, iOS 17, iOS 26)
- Widget functionality missing after updates
- Firmware update failures for TRV devices
- App loses device connection after power cuts
- Schedule changes are ignored
- App lags and takes excessive time to respond
- Device state out of sync with actual state
- App continuously logs users out
- White text on white background in registration
- App not available in certain regions after reinstall
- Incompatibility with 5GHz WiFi networks
- Devices turn on randomly without user action
- Bluetooth connection works better than app control
Requested features
18 requests- Dark mode for app interface
- iOS 18 widget support
- iPad app version
- Siri integration and HomeKit compatibility
- Improved schedule and timer functionality with minute/hour options
Show 13 moreShow fewer
- Ability to save custom color/brightness scenes
- Device status display on home screen
- Ability to change device order on home screen
- Remote access outside home network
- Multi-user device sharing without disconnection
- Google Home integration
- Scene creation and management improvements
- Ability to control brightness/color when light is off
- Seconds precision on timer controls
- One-hour quick-on timer option
- Physical remote control option
- Better Alexa integration
- Device labeling instead of long ID strings
Magic Smoke
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
TCP Smart
No in-app purchases
Magic Smoke
No in-app purchases
