Abode vs TailWind Smart
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Abode
Control your home security system remotely. Arm and disarm your system, view live and recorded video, and receive instant alerts. Automate your home with custom actions and notifications, all from your mobile device.
- Arm & disarm system
- View live & recorded video
- Receive security alerts
- Home automation
- Customizable notifications
- System setup & expansion
- Timeline event filtering
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The Abode App gives you complete peace of mind when it comes to your security by allowing you to arm & disarm, view live and recorded video, get a timeline history of your system, and receive immediate security alerts all right from your iPhone or iPad. It’s your security at your fingertips. EASY SETUP abode’s starter kits are incredibly easy to set up using our app. Simply open your kit and app and follow the guided instructions to be up & running in under 30 minutes. DASHBOARD Your system at a glance. The dashboard allows you to arm & disarm, pull up live video, view your most recent timeline events, and run quick actions all without leaving this screen. CUE HOME AUTOMATION Create powerful automations with your connected devices. From turning on lights and raising thermostats for your morning routine to arming your system and locking your doors for bedtime, you can do it all right from the app. EXPAND YOUR SYSTEM Much like the setup process, adding new devices to your system couldn’t be easier via the app. Just follow the guided instructions and build out the system of your dreams in minutes. CUSTOMIZABLE NOTIFICATIONS Determine what you’d like to receive notifications for. From doors opening & closing to water leaks detected, how much (or little) you are alerted to is totally up to you. SET UP CUSTOM WIDGETS & SHORTCUTS Add system arming & disarming, quick actions, and camera images to your homescreen or control center so you can quickly take care of your most important actions without ever having to open the abode app. FILTER YOUR TIMELINE EVENTS View only the events you want with the ability to filter by device type, device grouping, and date. Want to see only what happened at your front door? How about last weekend? With these filters, you can. PUT YOUR SYSTEM ON AUTOPILOT Use your phone’s location to automatically arm and disarm your system as you come and go. Set up the locations important to you and let abode do the rest. IN-APP PANIC ALARMS Manually trigger your alarm audibly or silently to immediately alert our professional monitoring center and other users on your system in emergencies.
TailWind Smart
Automate your garage door with smart technology. This app allows you to remotely open, close, and check the status of your garage doors. It can also automatically open as you arrive and close as you leave, enhancing security and convenience.
- Automatic opening and closing
- Remote control from anywhere
- Vehicle detection for specific door opening
- Customizable alerts and schedules
- Activity history log
- Unlimited user access
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Don’t just open your garage door with your smartphone. Automate it. Tailwind can close your garage door as you leave, open it when you arrive – all automatically. No buttons. No keypads. Just drive. The Tailwind app allows you to open, close, or check the status of your garage doors from anywhere using your mobile device, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and our iQ3 smart garage door controller (purchased separately). Check out the list of things you can do with Tailwind: Automatically open the door as you approach Automatically close the door as you leave (if you forget to close it) Detect which vehicle you’re driving so it knows which door to open or close (can even work with motorcycles, ATVs, etc)* Automatically close all your garage doors at night, even if someone opens them again! Receive customize alerts telling you who opened the garage door and when See a history log of all activity for the last 30 days Create alert schedules so you only receive alerts at certain times of the day Unlimited users * may require optional Tailwind Vehicle Sensor
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Abode at 4.2 against TailWind Smart's 3.4. Abode also leads on ratings volume (4.8K vs 89) and device support (4 vs 2). TailWind Smart's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 8) and review sentiment (52% vs 24%). On price, update cadence, ads and iOS requirement 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. Abode sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. TailWind Smart asks for nothing beyond the download.
Abode holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Abode has 4.8K ratings behind it against 89, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 24% of Abode's written reviews are positive against 52% of TailWind Smart's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Abode ships an update every 6 weeks, TailWind Smart every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Abode | TailWind Smart |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (4.8K ratings) — better | 3.4 (89 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 23.7% of reviews | 51.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4.8K — better | 89 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 16.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 258 MB | 124 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Abode Systems, Inc. | 1931085 Ontario Ltd |
Customer experience
Abode
TailWind Smart
User reviews
Abode
From 4.8K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Excellent security system
- 👍 Easy to install and set up
- 🔒 Reliable monitoring and notifications
- 💡 Flexible automation and integration options
- 🚀 Smooth and user-friendly app
Room to improve
- 🐛 Unreliable camera connectivity and performance
- 🔋 Inconsistent geofencing and location services
- 💸 Paywall for basic features and notifications
- 🐛 Buggy app with frequent crashes and issues
- 👎 Poor customer support and responsiveness
TailWind Smart
From 89 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great product overall
- 👍 Well-designed app
- 👍 Excellent customer support
- 👍 Integrates with Home Assistant
- 👍 Works well with HomeKit
Room to improve
- 🐛 Buggy app
- 🔋 Significant battery drain
- 🐛 Unreliable auto-open/close
- 🐛 Frequent sign-outs
- 🐛 Setup issues (Bluetooth, Location)
Bugs and requests
Abode
Reported bugs
4 issues- Frequent app crashes and freezes
- Inconsistent device connectivity and offline issues
- Inaccurate sensor and alarm notifications
- Incompatibility with certain Wi-Fi network configurations
Requested features
4 requests- Improved HomeKit integration
- More customization options for sensors and automations
- Better battery life indicators and management
- Ability to rename devices within the app
TailWind Smart
Reported bugs
34 issues- Cannot enable Bluetooth during setup
- Location services need manual enabling
- App prompts to download unavailable update
- Auto open no longer works
- App can't diagnose or update firmware
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- App no longer allows adding a vehicle
- App always signed out after update
- Location triggers rarely work
- Update broke auto-close
- Settings changed to auto-close unexpectedly
- iOS widgets no longer work
- Frequently signed out and have to re-authenticate
- Garage doors deleted from app after sign-out
- Unable to close door, shows 'lockout'
- Clicking on one door opens/closes the other
- Massive battery drain for iOS users
- Auto open/close feature works sporadically for iPhone users
- App is buggy
- Garage door shows up sometimes, sometimes not
- Vehicle shows up sometimes, sometimes not
- Garage door shows as 'null'
- Notifications about turning sensor off/on incorrectly displayed
- Horrible battery drain
- Background battery drain issue
- Auto open/close doesn't always work on iPhones
- Auto open feature through IFTTT no longer works after iOS 13
- App crashes on iPad when clicking login
- Consistent backgrounding problem, requires app kill to connect
- Logs out user, password reset fails
- Registration of email didn't work
- App testing severely lacking
- Signs you out all the time at random
- IFTTT integration doesn't work with Apple
- App can't use Bluetooth from iPhone but can with Android
Requested features
8 requests- Clearer setup flow with firmware update check
- Documentation matching latest UX
- HomeKit integration release
- Siri Shortcuts improvement
- Watch face complication for watch app
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Disable notifications while home using location services
- Manage 'admin' settings
- Fix iPad crash on login
In-app purchases
Abode
- Single Camera1 Month trial$3.991 Month
- Standard Plan1 Month trial$8.491 Month
- 24/7 Recording14 Days trial$9.991 Month
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- Pro Plan1 Month trial$26.991 Month
- Single Camera1 Month trial$34.991 Year
- Standard Plan1 Month trial$79.991 Year
- 24/7 Recording14 Days trial$109.991 Year
- Pro Plan1 Month trial$249.991 Year
TailWind Smart
No in-app purchases







