Control vs IoT Panels
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
Control
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Your Mac's coding agent, in your pocket. Control is the only native macOS + iPhone app for driving AI coding agents remotely. Pair your iPhone to your Mac over the local network ā no cloud, no clipboard, no SSH setup. Just tap and code. WHAT MAKES CONTROL DIFFERENT ⢠Native macOS companion ā not a CLI plugin or web wrapper. A real app that sits in your menu bar and manages your coding sessions. ⢠WebRTC peer-to-peer ā your prompts and responses travel directly between devices over an encrypted data channel. No relay servers, no third parties. ⢠True orchestration ā kick off AI coding agent sessions, approve tool calls, answer questions, and stop runs, all from your phone. ⢠Real-time streaming ā follow every token as it arrives, read code diffs, and review changes without walking back to your desk. HOW IT WORKS 1. Install Control on your Mac and iPhone 2. Both devices discover each other automatically via Bonjour 3. Open a project, write a prompt, and watch your agent work FEATURES ⢠Streaming markdown ā every token rendered as it arrives, with full code block and syntax support ⢠File diffs ā review every line changed, with additions and deletions highlighted ⢠Git-aware projects ā browse all your repos, switch branches, see session history ⢠Token & cost tracking ā know exactly what each turn costs ⢠Voice input ā speak your prompts naturally ⢠Push notifications ā get alerted when your agent needs input or finishes ⢠Dark & light themes ā designed for any environment ⢠Haptic feedback ā feel the progress PERFECT FOR DEVELOPERS WHO ⢠Run long AI coding agent sessions and want to monitor from the couch ⢠Need to approve tool calls or answer agent questions on the go ⢠Want to review code diffs and conversation history without sitting at their desk ⢠Prefer a native, private, peer-to-peer connection over cloud relays COMING SOON ⢠Apple Watch companion ⢠Home screen widgets ⢠Siri Shortcuts integration Control requires a Mac running the Control companion app on the same network. Works with popular AI coding agent CLIs.
IoT Panels
Visualize and control your smart home devices with custom dashboards. Connect to various data sources like MQTT and InfluxDB, and control actuators directly from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Offers offline support and data export for analysis.
- Customizable dashboards with drag-and-drop panels
- Support for MQTT, InfluxDB, and Prometheus data sources
- Control IoT devices and actuators
- Home screen and lock screen widgets
- Offline support with intelligent data caching
- JSON and CSV data export
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Visualize and control your IoT devices from iPhone, iPad, and Mac. IoT Panels is the essential dashboard app for smart home enthusiasts, IoT developers, and anyone working with sensor data and connected devices. Free, open source, and no ads. BUILD CUSTOM DASHBOARDS ⢠Create interactive dashboards with drag-and-drop panels ⢠Line charts, band charts, heatmaps, gauges, sparklines, stacked bar and area charts, state timelines, tables, and more ⢠Threshold-based color rules for at-a-glance status ⢠Design your own widget templates and use them on your home screen ⢠Grid-based layout with multiple panel sizes CONNECT YOUR DATA SOURCES ⢠MQTT broker support with SSL/TLS, client certificates, and ALPN ⢠InfluxDB 1.x (InfluxQL), 2.x (Flux), and 3.x (SQL) ⢠Prometheus with guided query builder and raw PromQL editor ⢠Automatic MQTT topic and Prometheus metric discovery ⢠Multiple data sources per dashboard ⢠Persistent MQTT data store ā data survives restarts and view changes ⢠Built-in demo data to explore features instantly DASHBOARD TEMPLATES ⢠Pre-built templates for quick setup ā get started in seconds ⢠Node Exporter Lite template for Prometheus with 8 panels ⢠Automatic unit conversion ā bytes, temperature, rates, and more POWERFUL QUERY BUILDER ⢠Visual query builder ā no code required ⢠Select measurements, fields, and tag filters with autocomplete ⢠Aggregation functions: min, max, mean, sum, and more ⢠Compare current data against historical periods ā spot trends and anomalies ⢠Manual query editor for advanced users MULTI-HOME SUPPORT ⢠Organize dashboards by home or location ⢠Switch between homes with a tap ⢠Custom icons for each home WORKS EVERYWHERE ⢠Native experience on iPhone, iPad, and Mac ⢠Home screen widgets with your custom designs ⢠Lock screen widgets powered by your queries ā see live data at a glance ⢠Background sparklines on gauges and single-value panels for trend at a glance ⢠Real-time data with configurable refresh intervals ⢠Offline support with intelligent data caching PUBLISH AND CONTROL ⢠Send MQTT messages directly from the app ⢠Control IoT devices and actuators ⢠Topic discovery for quick access BACKUP AND EXPORT ⢠Full backup and restore of all configurations ⢠JSON and CSV data export for further analysis Available in English, German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Korean, and Chinese. Have feedback or feature requests? Visit our GitHub page ā IoT Panels is open source and community-driven.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: IoT Panels at daily against Control's every 9 days. IoT Panels also leads on device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Control ships an update every 9 days, IoT Panels daily. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Control | IoT Panels |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Positive reviews | ā | 75.0% of reviews |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days | Daily ā better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | ā | Free |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, Mac ā better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 26.0 |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 197 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Sagaya Abdul | Philipp Arndt |
In-app purchases
Control
No in-app purchases
IoT Panels
No in-app purchases









