Comparison

HomeWatch vs Extel Lock

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

Head to head
About

HomeWatch

Monitor and control your HomeKit devices with a glanceable status display. This app offers customizable views for rooms, scenes, and individual devices across Apple platforms, including widgets and menu bar items.

Highlights
  • Glanceable room status with color-coded indicators
  • Control scenes and devices within rooms
  • View camera feeds, weather, and website content
  • Customizable home and lock-screen widgets
  • Menu bar items for Mac with real-time updates
  • Extensive interface customization options
Read full description

I made an app for my Apple Watch to see a glanceable status of our home and to control our HomeKit devices. It worked so well on the watch, that I expanded it to a dashboard app for all our Apple devices. I have now added a configuration interface to make it compatible with any HomeKit enabled home setup. I hope some of you will find it useful. HOME VIEW The circle / grid with icons on the home view shows a color coded status of the rooms of the home: red when a door is open, yellow when a window is open, orange when the heating is on, cyan when lights are on and green when nothing is on. On the iPhone, iPad, tvOS and Mac the app also shows the time, date, cameras, feeds, events, reminders, a website and weather information. When there is rain, it will show a rain graph. ROOM VIEWS When a room is selected, the circle layout will show the scenes you can control in that room. The grid layout also shows the devices that can be controlled in that room. Additionally the room view has an information section. To the right it can show any characteristics from your devices. Below is a detail view that can show a camera view, a website, a temperature, humidity and climate history graphs. WIDGETS Fully customisable lock-screen and home-screen widgets. Tap / Clicking a widget item to go directly to a room view, execute a scene or launch any url-scheme. Customisable complications on the Watch can have actions to go directly to a room view and execute any scene. MENU BAR ITEMS On the Mac any HomeKit characteristic can be added to the menu bar and is kept up to date. CUSTOMISATION The interface can be fully customised. The user can add their own background images and icons from the photo library. Customise gradient overlays, icons, fonts, colours and more. Make it your own…

About

Extel Lock

Features
Read full description

Enjoy a more efficient door lock management control! Open the door to your smartphone. Enjoy a safer and more convenient life with this new Extel Lcok Doorlock! You don’t worry about DoorLock security! 1. Unlock with phone's Bluetooth 2. Add visitor settings 3. Door lock events and notifications The Extel Lock app is designed to operate Extel Lock smart lock and its wireless keypad.

Screenshots

HomeWatch3 screens
Extel Lock4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: HomeWatch at every 2 months against Extel Lock's every 10 months. HomeWatch also leads on device support (6 vs 2). Extel Lock's advantage is iOS requirement (13 vs 15.6). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

HomeWatch ships an update every 2 months, Extel Lock every 10 months. The most recent releases landed on October 4, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
HomeWatch versus Extel Lock: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHomeWatchExtel Lock
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (4 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews60.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings4 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 10 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.613 — better
Further details — not scored
Size64 MB34 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperPeter VogelsCOMPTOIR FRANCAIS DE L'INTERPHONE

In-app purchases

None

HomeWatch

No in-app purchases

None

Extel Lock

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is HomeWatch free?
HomeWatch is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Extel Lock free?
Extel Lock is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do HomeWatch or Extel Lock have ads?
Neither HomeWatch nor Extel Lock shows ads.
Which is updated more often, HomeWatch or Extel Lock?
HomeWatch ships an update every 2 months, and Extel Lock every 10 months. Most recently, HomeWatch was updated on October 4, 2026 and Extel Lock on October 8, 2026.

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