ADT Pulse ® vs Google Home
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ADT Pulse ®
Control your home or business security and automation system remotely. Manage cameras, lights, locks, and thermostats, and receive alerts for peace of mind. Arm or disarm your system, adjust settings, and set custom automations from anywhere.
- Remote system arming/disarming
- Control lights, locks, and thermostats
- View live surveillance camera feeds
- Receive security and arrival alerts
- Set custom automations and schedules
- Remote door lock/unlock
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The ADT Pulse® app allows you to control your home or business security and automation system from virtually anywhere. Using your iOS device, you can manage your home or business security system, surveillance cameras, lights, locks, thermostats and more! With a tap or swipe you can easily help protect what matters most to you, and enjoy an additional level of peace of mind. With ADT Pulse, you can: • Arm your system before you leave your home or business from virtually anywhere in the world. • Turn on your lights right from your app before you arrive at home or work. • Ensure you have turned off small appliances after you leave your home directly through the app. • Lock and unlock your doors remotely to allow the dog sitter or others to enter your home when you’re away. • Receive alerts when your children arrive home from school and view live video to check in on them. • Adjust your thermostat or put it on a schedule that fits your life. • Set up custom automations and schedules with vacation modes for the ultimate amount of control for your home! To use the ADT Pulse app, you must be an active ADT customer and subscriber to ADT Pulse interactive services.
Google Home
Manage your smart home devices and stay updated on home activity. Easily control devices with voice commands and view live camera feeds. Organize your home into custom dashboards for quick access.
- Home status overview
- Device grouping into dashboards
- Live camera view and history
- Voice control with Gemini for Home
- Streamlined settings navigation
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The Google Home app helps you get the most out of Gemini for Home. See your home at a glance The Google Home app is designed to show you the status of your home and keep you up to date with what you may have missed. Keep up with what’s important Updated design and streamlined organization help you group your devices into dashboards and easily navigate your settings. Plus you can check in on your home anytime. Scan camera events quickly The camera live view and history interface makes it easier than ever to see what happened. Search or ask your home Control your home in a brand new way. Just say what you want your devices to do with Gemini for Home. * Some products and features may not be available in all regions. Compatible devices required.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Google Home at ad-supported against ADT Pulse ®'s subscription. Google Home also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 3 months) and chart position (#11 vs unranked). ADT Pulse ®'s advantage is ads (none vs shown) and rating (4.8 vs 4.6). On price, ratings volume 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.
ADT Pulse ® holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 851K and 1.4M respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 28% of ADT Pulse ®'s written reviews are positive against 15% of Google Home's.
ADT Pulse ® ships an update every 3 months, Google Home weekly. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.
| Parameter | ADT Pulse ® | Google Home |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (851K ratings) — better | 4.6 (1.4M ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 28.0% of reviews — better | 15.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 851K | 1.4M — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Subscription | Ad-supported — better |
| Best chart rank | — | #11 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 17.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 99 MB | 606 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ADT LLC | |
Customer experience
ADT Pulse ®
Google Home
User reviews
ADT Pulse ®
From 851K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Reliable system
- 👍 Easy to use app
- 🔒 Provides peace of mind
- 🚀 Convenient remote access
Room to improve
- 🐛 Connection issues with app
- 🐛 Slow camera feed loading
- 🐛 Frequent app crashes
- 🐛 Inconsistent performance
- 💰 Expensive service
Google Home
From 1.4M App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Excellent camera quality
- 👍 Secure home monitoring
- 🚀 Reliable notifications
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent disconnections
- 🐛 Buggy app performance
- 👎 Lacking advanced features
- 👎 Unintuitive user interface
Bugs and requests
ADT Pulse ®
Reported bugs
4 issues- App unable to connect to security system
- Camera feeds frequently going offline
- Arm/disarm functions not working reliably
- Notifications not working as expected
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to view full video history
- Geofencing for automatic arming/disarming
- Tighter integration with smart home devices
- Faster app response times
Google Home
Reported bugs
3 issues- Inability to remove 'ghost' devices
- Inconsistent connectivity between app and devices
- Unreliable motion detection
Requested features
3 requests- Ability to customize notification settings
- Integration with more smart home devices
- Improved video history browsing
In-app purchases
ADT Pulse ®
No in-app purchases
Google Home
No in-app purchases
