dwellingLIVE vs Smart Shades 2.0
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
dwellingLIVE
Manage your community's guest list and personal account information directly from your mobile device. This app allows residents to easily add, edit, and delete guests, view guest history, and update their profile details.
- Manage guest list
- Add, edit, and delete guests
- View guest history
- Edit user profile
- Manage notification settings
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dwellingLIVE is the #1 access control solution for residential community associations. This is the official dwellingLIVE Guest List app for residents in communities subscribing to dwellingLIVE. Easily manage your guest list and account information on your mobile device. Current Features Include: • View guest list • Add, edit, and delete guests • View guest history • Edit user profile (name, email, password, phone numbers, etc.) • Manage email & text message notification settings
Smart Shades 2.0
Control your window treatments remotely with this app. Automate shade and blind positions with scheduling and manage individual or grouped devices from anywhere. Requires a Smart Hub to operate.
- Remote shade and blind control
- Scheduling and automation
- Control single or grouped treatments
- Room customization with photos
- Compatible with Smith & Noble shades
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The Smith & Noble App allows users to manage their shades and blinds from their mobile device. State-of-the art and easy-to-use, this system can customize functionality and control single and multiple window treatments from virtually anywhere in the world. To use the app, users must also have the Smith & Noble Smart Hub available at smithandnoble.com. Key features: Compatible with Smith & Noble shades and blinds. Has scheduling functionality to automate shades and blinds to preferred settings. Control shades and blinds in real-time without being at home. Operate a single shade or blind as well as groups across entire home. Customize with photos of your rooms or use ours.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Smart Shades 2.0 at 2.5 against dwellingLIVE's 1.3. Smart Shades 2.0 also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 3 months) and review sentiment (23% vs 6%). dwellingLIVE's advantage is ratings volume (641 vs 51). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
Smart Shades 2.0 holds the better App Store score, 2.5 against 1.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: dwellingLIVE has 641 ratings behind it against 51, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 6% of dwellingLIVE's written reviews are positive against 23% of Smart Shades 2.0's.
dwellingLIVE ships an update every 3 months, Smart Shades 2.0 weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | dwellingLIVE | Smart Shades 2.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 1.3 (641 ratings) | 2.5 (51 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 6.0% of reviews | 22.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 641 — better | 51 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 22 MB | 44 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Frontsteps | SMITH & NOBLE, LLC |
Customer experience
dwellingLIVE
Smart Shades 2.0
User reviews
dwellingLIVE
From 641 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Easy to use
- 👍 User-friendly app
- 🚀 Quick and efficient
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent bugs and glitches
- 🔍 Inconsistent performance
- 🔍 Unreliable notifications
- 👎 Poor user interface
- 🔍 Lack of innovation
Smart Shades 2.0
From 51 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great fabric options
- 👍 Well-made shades
- 👍 Stylish shades
- 👍 Superior customer service (specific mentions)
- 👍 Major improvement from previous app (2.0)
Room to improve
- 😞 No customer service
- 😞 App always horrible
- 😞 Needs interface refresh
- 😞 App crashes frequently
- 😞 Shades disconnect from app
Bugs and requests
dwellingLIVE
Reported bugs
4 issues- App not loading or showing blank screens
- Unable to access contacts
- Inability to save guest information
- Inconsistent behavior after updates
Requested features
7 requests- Siri integration
- Quick add for temporary guests
- Ability to update guest information
- Notification to multiple contacts
- Ability to save contact information
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Search function for guest list
- Ability to extend multiple guest passes at once
Smart Shades 2.0
Reported bugs
29 issues- App crashes
- Hub disconnects
- Shades disconnect
- Scenes not working
- Cannot delete scenes/schedules/shades
Show 24 moreShow fewer
- App crashes during WiFi pairing
- App stuck on 'wait while we load your data'
- App stuck on blue screen
- App crashes when adding hub back
- App doesn't advance past 'gathering your data'
- App is unstable
- App removes pre-set scenes
- Alexa close shade malfunction
- Hub will not connect
- App does nothing during firmware upgrade
- Stuck in pairing process
- No feedback on errors
- Pairing caused shades to malfunction
- Invite users doesn't work
- Adding blinds to scene works rarely
- Text rendered too big on one phone
- Voice assistant functions need development
- Google assistant support delayed
- Only one Siri shortcut allowed
- Shades don't open as scheduled
- Scene changes don't stick
- Account verification code issue
- Hub issues
- App non-responsive to updates
Requested features
14 requests- HomeKit support
- Interface refresh
- API for own integrations
- Home Assistant Plugin
- Ability to automate through Apple (Siri Shortcuts)
Show 9 moreShow fewer
- Add shades to scenes in iOS
- Schedule time offset (sunrise/sunset +/-)
- Second signal sent if schedule missed
- Delete schedules
- Delete shades
- Ability to set an offset to sunrise and sunset
- Add Siri shortcut support
- Add Google Home automation support
- Allow multiple Siri shortcuts
In-app purchases
dwellingLIVE
No in-app purchases
Smart Shades 2.0
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is dwellingLIVE free?
Is Smart Shades 2.0 free?
Which has better reviews, dwellingLIVE or Smart Shades 2.0?
Do dwellingLIVE or Smart Shades 2.0 have ads?
Which is updated more often, dwellingLIVE or Smart Shades 2.0?
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