IoT Assistant vs IoT MQTT Panel
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
IoT Assistant
Discover and manage the data collected by Internet of Things devices. Understand who is collecting your information, how it's used, and access privacy controls. Receive customized notifications about data practices.
- Discover IoT data collection
- Understand data usage
- Access privacy controls
- Receive customized notifications
- Manage data sharing
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Discover and control what data is collected about you by Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. The IoT is everywhere. It consists of a myriad of devices and technologies that collect data about us - from cameras with facial recognition, to smart speakers that record what we say, or sensors that track our whereabouts. The IoT Assistant app helps you discover what data is being collected about you and how it is used. This includes who is collecting it, who it is shared with, and whether there are any privacy controls. New privacy regulations around the world require people who deploy IoT technologies to disclose their data collection and use practices and to also give us some control over these practices such as opting in or out of them. The IoT Assistant app provides users with a single interface through which they can discover IoT data collection around them and access available privacy controls. The IoT Assistant app also allows you to receive customized notifications about data collection and use practices you want to be notified about and control the frequency of these notifications. An IoT portal associated with the app (https://www.iotprivacy.io) is available to also publicize the presence of IoT technologies ("IoT resources") collecting our data, whether you are the administrator controlling that technology or a volunteer contributor. Once you have defined an entry for an IoT technology through our portal, IoT assistant app users can discover this IoT technology and its data collection and use practices.
IoT MQTT Panel
Create DIY smart home projects quickly with a configurable dashboard. This app supports MQTT and Websocket protocols with SSL for secure communication. It offers real-time updates, customizable panels with over 250 icons, and various data visualization options.
- Always-on dashboard
- MQTT & Websocket support
- SSL secure communication
- Real-time panel updates
- 250+ customizable icons
- Dark theme
- Import/Export configuration
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With this app you can make DIY Smart Home project in a minute. The configurations are very simple. Well documented FAQ and User Guide are available at application info page. Features: 1. Can run as always on Dashboard. 2. Supports both MQTT (TCP) and Websocket protocol. 3. SSL for secure communication. 4. JSON Support for both subscribe and publish message. 5. Panels subscribe and / or publish the topic automatically, hence get updated in real time. 6. Designed to work with public broker efficiently (using device prefix). 7. Sent and Received timestamp from broker. 8. Material design. 9. Flexible panel width, merge any panels 10. More than 250 icons to customize specific panels. 11. Dark theme for comfortable use in low light. 12. Clone connection, device or panel for effortless configuration 13. Import/Export application configuration for easy share with multiple devices. 14. Re-connects automatically if connection lost. 15. Persist export message for log and graph. Available panels: -Button -Slider -Switch -LED Indicator -Combo Box -Radio Buttons -Multi-State Indicator -Progress -Gauge -Color Picker -Time Picker -Text Input -Text Log -Image -Barcode Scanner -Line graph -Bar graph -Chart -URI Launcher This list will grow upon feedback from users. Your feedback is much appreciated. If you find any issue please feel free to leave a comment in my blog with steps to reproduce. https://blog.snrlab.in/iot/iot-mqtt-panel-user-guide/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: IoT MQTT Panel at 85% against IoT Assistant's 20%. IoT MQTT Panel also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.6) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months). IoT Assistant's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, ratings volume, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
IoT MQTT Panel holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 15 and 43 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 20% of IoT Assistant's written reviews are positive against 85% of IoT MQTT Panel's.
IoT Assistant ships an update every 3 months, IoT MQTT Panel fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | IoT Assistant | IoT MQTT Panel |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.6 (15 ratings) | 4.8 (43 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 19.6% of reviews | 84.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 15 | 43 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 71 MB | 34 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Carnegie Mellon University | Rahul Kundu |
Customer experience
IoT Assistant
IoT MQTT Panel
User reviews
IoT Assistant
From 15 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💡 Interesting concept/idea
- ✨ Beautiful/cute/clear interface
- 👍 Useful for privacy
- 🚀 Seems buttery/smooth (recent review)
- 🤩 Great concept/design
Room to improve
- ❌ Limited/dated/sparse data
- ❌ App doesn't work/crashes/won't load
- ❌ Verification email issues
- ❌ Registration/signup loop/errors
- ❌ No device discovery/scanning
IoT MQTT Panel
From 43 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use and configure
- 👍 Great for testing MQTT
- 👍 Versatile and flexible app
- 👍 Good for visualizing MQTT data
- 👍 Well-thought-out design
Room to improve
- 🐛 Connectivity issues reported
- 🐛 Inconsistent connection to brokers
- 🐛 App can freeze or become unresponsive
- 🐛 Some users experience random disconnections
- 🐛 Background operation limitations on iOS
Bugs and requests
IoT Assistant
Reported bugs
14 issues- Web page errors after signup
- App crashes after map loads
- App won't progress past setup screen
- Map loads then crashes
- Different screen pops up and disappears
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- Blank Google map shown
- Doesn't pick up surveillance in known areas
- App doesn't scan/find IoT devices on its own
- Pinpointing location but no tracking found
- Signup process in an endless loop
- App doesn't log in after verification
- Verification email not received
- App won't log in after web app login
- Verification email doesn't work
Requested features
3 requests- Ability to add device through the app
- Option to opt out of data sharing
- User manual
IoT MQTT Panel
Reported bugs
7 issues- Randomly won't connect to public MQTT brokers
- App fails to connect to broker frequently
- Connectivity seems very inconsistent
- App freezes when trying to input URL in web page panel
- App does not reconnect after MQTT server disconnects, requires restart
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- After update, panel window periodically moves up
- Sometimes switches sensor tabs with significant delay or stops working
Requested features
13 requests- Configuration example would be useful
- Gauges showing color portions instead of whole gauge changing color
- Apple Watch support for viewing data
- Option to search for keywords in payload
- Icon for opening and closing windows
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- Ability to print user guide
- Siri shortcuts integration
- Widgets support
- Customizable graph scales
- Alarm rules and notifications
- Ability to change font color in Text Log widget, possibly based on value condition
- Traditional Chinese language support
- More options for panel size on iPad
In-app purchases
IoT Assistant
No in-app purchases
IoT MQTT Panel
No in-app purchases









