Home+ 4

Just in time for iOS 13, there is a new version of Home+. It has a completely new user interface with improvements all over the place.

If you wonder why the app is now called Home+, you should read this blog post.

Improved UI

One major UI change is the introduction of the Accessories tab, where all accessories are shown.

If you want to turn a light on or open a window shade, simply tap on it. Long pressing on an accessory reveals more information in a detail screen.

By tapping on the room name, you can hide the accessories from specific rooms.

Dark Mode

The most requested feature (by far) is finally here – Dark Mode. With the introduction of a system-wide dark mode in iOS 13, you can finally use Home+ in dark mode. It looks gorgeous.

New Accessory Icons

There are also new accessory icons for all accessory types that HomeKit supports. You can even customize the icon of an accessory by choosing from more than 50 icons. All icons are designed to look great in light and dark mode.

If you need more icons, just send an email to home@hochgatterer.me. I’m happy to add more icons over time.

New App Icons

Home+ 4 also has a new app icon, which matches the Apple Watch app icon. But there is more – there are now 7 different app icons to choose from. Those icons were specifically designed for the light and dark mode on iOS 13.

Automation Improvements

Automation is one of the most important part for a smart home. HomeKit offers plenty of powerful automation features. Unfortunately Apple’s Home app doesn’t support all of them.

Home+ 4 includes two improvements when it comes to automations.

The first one is that you can finally add more than one condition of a characteristic to a trigger. This lets you create a value range conditions. For example, the temperature of a room has to be between 10°C-23°C.

The second improvement is the support for string characteristics. You can now set the value of a string characteristic via a trigger and scene, or use the string in events or conditions. This might be useful if you are using a Homebridge plugin, which represents a sensor state as a string.

Home+ 4 is a free update to existing users. Check it out on the App Store.