Changelog: Controller for HomeKit

Feb. 13, 2024

v 6.5.1

Bugfixes and Performance Improvements

Dec. 18, 2023

v 6.5.0

We're thrilled to present a range of enhancements and new features in our latest update:

Battery Management:
- Effortlessly monitor accessories powered by batteries.
- Track the quantity and types of batteries in use.

Enhanced Accessory Details View:
- We have added images for many accessories.

Simplified Backup Creation:
- Creating backups is now more straightforward, ensuring a hassle-free process.

Advanced Automation Creation:
- Explore more suggestions when creating automations.
- For contact sensors, window and door sensors are now also visible.
- Motion detectors now include occupancy sensors.

Improved Support for Matter Accessories:
- Setup codes can be saved for Matter accessories even when no serial number is available.

HomeKit Bug Fix:
- Addressed an issue in HomeKit where deleting the last condition from an automation was not possible.

Upgrade now to enjoy a smoother, more feature-rich experience with our app! Your Apple Home management just got even better.

Nov. 16, 2023

v 6.4.1

- Fixing an issue that made the sidebar unusable
- Fixing some translations

Nov. 15, 2023

v 6.4.0

Exciting News in our Latest Update!

We've supercharged automation in Apple Homes to make your smart living experience even more seamless and intuitive.

What's New:

- Quick and Easy Automation for Common Scenarios:
We sat down and fine-tuned the most common automation types. Creating automations is now a breeze, thanks to streamlined triggers and simplified steps tailored for everyday use.

- Expert-Level Automation Made Simple:
For our tech-savvy users, automating existing scenes is now as easy as a long-press in the scenes list. Effortlessly take control and customize your environment with just a touch.

- Bug Fixes and Polished Performance:
We've squashed pesky bugs and made several under-the-hood improvements to ensure a smoother and more reliable user experience. Your smart home deserves nothing less!

Upgrade Now and Elevate Your Smart Living Experience!

As always, we appreciate your feedback. If you encounter any issues or have suggestions for future enhancements, reach out to us. We're committed to making your smart home experience the best it can be.

Oct. 10, 2023

v 6.3.2

Bugfixes and Performance Improvements

Oct. 3, 2023

v 6.3.1

Bugfixes and Performance Improvements

Sept. 25, 2023

v 6.3.0

Our Family is Growing
We are delighted to announce that HomeDevices has officially become a part of our family!
Therefore we integrated the new HomeDevices Courses into Controller.

Further, this update contains the following improvements:
- Improved handling of family-shared lifetime licenses.
- Several improvements for Advanced Notifications.

June 12, 2023

v 6.2.0

SHARED NOTIFICATIONS:
Our Notification feature is a big success, and we have received a lot of positive feedback. Many of you have expressed interest in sending notifications to devices belonging to other users. With this update, we have made that possible.

Using a new secure linking process, you can establish a connection with another Controller user, and both of you will be able to send notifications to each other's devices.

FRENCH:
Great news for our French-speaking users: our app is now available in French!

Feb. 18, 2023

v 6.1.3

Bugfixes and other improvements.

Feb. 3, 2023

v 6.1.2

This update contains bug fixes and other improvements.

- Apple Watch: Fix the tinted complication icon. Dropped custom icon support.
- Notifications: Support Emojis and non-asci languages.
- Setup Codes: Improved handling of leading zeros in manual codes.
- Backups: Improved calculation of time passed since "last backup".
- Accessory Setup: Closing the "add accessory" dialog no longer prompts an error.
- User Setup: Resolved visual bug of overlapped buttons.
- Smart Folders: Improved handling of unnamed folders.
- Smart Folders: Improved localization of options.
- Automation: Improved description of user presence start events for selected users.

Jan. 25, 2023

v 6.1.1

Bugfixes:
- Setup Codes that start with a 0.
- Monthly subscribers not having access to pro features.

Jan. 2, 2023

v 6.1.0

Controller for HomeKit 6.1
- Save your new Matter codes besides your HomeKit codes.
- New "Critical" interruption level for Notifications.

Bugfixes & Performance Improvements.
- Fixed the "Time-Sensitive" interruption level for Notifications.
- Fixed issue with manual input of temperatures, if the unit is Fahrenheit.

Dec. 22, 2022

v 6.0.3

Family Sharing:
- Improved synchronization of Purchases for family members.

Notifications:
- Devices can now be renamed more easily.
- "Learn More" link to external documentation.
- Improved visualization, if no device is set in a notification.

Nov. 18, 2022

v 6.0.1

Controller for HomeKit 6.0 is here and introduces "Advanced HomeKit Notifications"! For years we've been asked whether we can improve Home Notifications. So now we did it.

With a combination of HomeKit automation, Shortcuts, and our powerful Notification Server, you can design much more useful Notifications than Apple Home offers.
On top of that, each Notification can have multiple actions, so you can choose how to react when you receive it.

This way, you can be part of an automation chain and influence the result as you need it.

Here are some messages to give you an idea of what's possible.

IMPORTANT
- High humidity and closed window in the bathroom!
- The living room is above 23°C, and the heating is on!
- You left home, and some light is still on!

OBSERVING STATE & TIME
- The bathroom window has been open for more than an hour!
- Backyard motion detected (3x in 10min). Tap to view camera.

USAGE DEPENDENT
- You slept 15 times in your bed. Time to change the sheets!
- The coffee machine has been used more than 30 times since the last cleaning!

HUMAN TASKS
- Irrigating since 15min. Move the sprinkler!

INFORMATIONAL
- The swimming pool is now 22°C warm.
- Motion sensor battery below 5%!
- Finished cleaning of 1st floor.
- The laundry is done.

SIMPLE REMINDERS
- This is your monthly backup reminder!
- Remember to water your plants!

TROUBLESHOOTING
- Your Automation was just executed!
- The device state has not changed in the last day.

################

Four key elements make "Advanced HomeKit Notifications" possible:

ADVANCED HOMEKIT AUTOMATION
Automation is the starting point of most Notifications. Controller enables you to use the full capabilities of HomeKit automation. Including multiple start events, complex conditions, and manufacturer characteristics.

SHORTCUTS
Apples Shortcuts App lets you modify HomeKit Automations to run a Shortcut instead of a Scene. These offer much more flexibility, as you can read current values from devices and use many actions to extend your Automation. Crucially, the "Get contents from URL action" allows you to send Notifications with our Notification Server.

NOTIFICATION SERVER
In addition to sending out a Notification immediately, our server can send notifications with a delay or at a future date. It can also keep a count and send a message when that count reaches a specific value.

The ability to reset a count or cancel scheduled notifications gives you even more powerful use cases, as one of your Automations can schedule a message while another cancels it.

NOTIFICATION ACTIONS
When you receive a Notification, there's a good chance you want to react to it. Controller lets you set multiple actions you can choose from when you get the Notification. The possible action types are:

- Execute a scene
- Run a workflow
- Open a specific view
- Open a camera stream
- Snooze and remind me again later

################

IN SHORT:
"Advanced HomeKit Notifications" offer a new level of interaction between you and your smart home.

### BONUS:

APPLE WATCH:
In addition to executing Scenes, you can now check your HomeKit Cameras from your wrist. Controller Notifications from your iPhone can be forwarded to your Watch. Actions that execute a scene or view a camera are supported.

WORKFLOWS:
We've added a new "CALL URL" step. Of course, you can use it with the new Server Notification URLs. With that, a workflow can schedule a notification or raise a count on the server.

Nov. 10, 2022

v 6.0.0

Controller for HomeKit 6.0 is here and introduces "Advanced HomeKit Notifications"! For years we've been asked whether we can improve Home Notifications. So now we did it.

With a combination of HomeKit automation, Shortcuts, and our powerful Notification Server, you can design much more useful Notifications than Apple Home offers.
On top of that, each Notification can have multiple actions, so you can choose how to react when you receive it.

This way, you can be part of an automation chain and influence the result as you need it.

Here are some messages to give you an idea of what's possible.

IMPORTANT
- High humidity and closed window in the bathroom!
- The living room is above 23°C, and the heating is on!
- You left home, and some light is still on!

OBSERVING STATE & TIME
- The bathroom window has been open for more than an hour!
- Backyard motion detected (3x in 10min). Tap to view camera.

USAGE DEPENDENT
- You slept 15 times in your bed. Time to change the sheets!
- The coffee machine has been used more than 30 times since the last cleaning!

HUMAN TASKS
- Irrigating since 15min. Move the sprinkler!

INFORMATIONAL
- The swimming pool is now 22°C warm.
- Motion sensor battery below 5%!
- Finished cleaning of 1st floor.
- The laundry is done.

SIMPLE REMINDERS
- This is your monthly backup reminder!
- Remember to water your plants!

TROUBLESHOOTING
- Your Automation was just executed!
- The device state has not changed in the last day.

################

Four key elements make "Advanced HomeKit Notifications" possible:

ADVANCED HOMEKIT AUTOMATION
Automation is the starting point of most Notifications. Controller enables you to use the full capabilities of HomeKit automation. Including multiple start events, complex conditions, and manufacturer characteristics.

SHORTCUTS
Apples Shortcuts App lets you modify HomeKit Automations to run a Shortcut instead of a Scene. These offer much more flexibility, as you can read current values from devices and use many actions to extend your Automation. Crucially, the "Get contents from URL action" allows you to send Notifications with our Notification Server.

NOTIFICATION SERVER
In addition to sending out a Notification immediately, our server can send notifications with a delay or at a future date. It can also keep a count and send a message when that count reaches a specific value.

The ability to reset a count or cancel scheduled notifications gives you even more powerful use cases, as one of your Automations can schedule a message while another cancels it.

NOTIFICATION ACTIONS
When you receive a Notification, there's a good chance you want to react to it. Controller lets you set multiple actions you can choose from when you get the Notification. The possible action types are:

- Execute a scene
- Run a workflow
- Open a specific view
- Open a camera stream
- Snooze and remind me again later

################

IN SHORT:
"Advanced HomeKit Notifications" offer a new level of interaction between you and your smart home.

### BONUS:

APPLE WATCH:
In addition to executing Scenes, you can now check your HomeKit Cameras from your wrist. Controller Notifications from your iPhone can be forwarded to your Watch. Actions that execute a scene or view a camera are supported.

WORKFLOWS:
We've added a new "CALL URL" step. Of course, you can use it with the new Server Notification URLs. With that, a workflow can schedule a notification or raise a count on the server.

Oct. 4, 2022

v 5.15.3

Bugfixes and other improvements.

Sept. 7, 2022

v 5.15.2

We have fixed some bugs.

Sept. 3, 2022

v 5.15.1

This update brings a few bug fixes:

● We fixed an issue that prevented some users from creating Scenes.
● We fixed an issue with camera snapshots and stream loading.
● We fixed some spelling errors and improved some texts.
● Complication Icons on Apple Watch are working again. It's now also possible to choose an alternative app icon as a complication icon.

July 2, 2022

v 5.15.0

! New App Icon !
After four years of continuously improving our features and design inside the app, it was time to create a new app icon! We hope you like it as much as we do!

You can also choose your favorite color variant within the app settings.

Further Improvements:
Users within our Free Trial can now change to a Lifetime License more easily.
The new export sheet for logs explains the used timestamp format.

June 14, 2022

v 5.14.1

- Fixed order of main accessory services.
- Fixed "Open / Closed" state of contact sensors.

June 13, 2022

v 5.14.0

Since a recent iOS 15 update, there have been many reports about unreliable Automations. After a lot of research, we found that Automations with missing weekdays are one cause for this. With this update, our Maintenance feature can identify and repair such Automations. While this isn't causing issues for everyone, we are sure that many users can improve the reliability of their Automations significantly with this new feature.

Additionally, we have included some bug fixes and internal improvements.

May 17, 2022

v 5.13.1

Bugfixes & performance improvements.

May 5, 2022

v 5.13.0

This update brings a better user experience and a much-improved camera view. Additionally, some previous PRO features are now free to use for everyone.

CAMERAS
Many users use our camera view to keep an eye on their cameras, and in the last year, we got much feedback about it. So we used that feedback and gave cameras a make-over.
We improved the camera overview to look nicer, and you can simultaneously start the live stream of all your cameras. In addition, when you look at a single camera, it’s now possible to pan and zoom the camera feed to get a better look at what’s going on and quickly execute Scenes in the camera’s Room.

IMPROVED ACCESSIBILITY (VOICE OVER)
We took some time to make sure our app is navigatable for visually impaired people. While there still are some issues, it’s now much easier to use it with VoiceOver. We will continue to work on this, and if you use VoiceOver, please let us know if things are bothering you.

CUSTOMIZATION
Custom Icons, Aliases, and Hidden Characteristics are now free for everyone.
You can choose from almost 300 icons, rename HomeKit characteristics and hide characteristics or services to feel more at home in your setup.

MISCELLANEOUS IMPROVEMENTS
- It’s now easier to see if an Automation or Scene is active.
- Improved reliability of a Scene’s active state.
- Scenes show you in which Automations they are used.
- Smart Folders can be duplicated now.
- New option to remove an action from a NFC-Tag.
- The home image in the menu can be hidden.

BUGFIXES
- Fixed alerts which sometimes appeared behind other views.
- Entering values for time-based start events works as expected.
- Automations without Room are now displayed correctly.

March 31, 2022

v 5.12.2

Controller for HomeKit 5.12

Our first update in 2022 makes it easier for you to interact with Controller for HomeKit. With Widgets, NFC Tags, and better Smart Folders, it’s full of exciting new features.

WIDGETS
When you want to control your Home, it’s supposed to be effortless. You don’t want to look for a way to do something; you just want to do it. The faster, the better.

With Widgets, you bring HomeKit to your Home Screen. Use them to have your most essential Scenes, Workflows, and Cameras at your fingertips or access Controller for HomeKit’s features faster.

NFC TAGS
NFC Tags are an inexpensive solution to integrate HomeKit seamlessly into your everyday life. They are like Bookmarks for controlling your Home. Hold your iPhone next to them to run Scenes and Workflows or open a specific view in Controller for HomeKit.

URL SCHEME
Widgets and NFC Tags use our URL Scheme to access HomeKit features. We decided to make the scheme public so that you can use it too. That means you can create links like controllerforhomekit://v1/rooms. When you click it, Controller for HomeKit will open and show your Room overview. There is much more the scheme can do.

IMPROVED SMART FOLDERS
We made Smart Folder even more helpful by making it much quicker to switch between them. You can now see all your Smart Folders at first glance and use them with a single tap. You can edit your Folders by touching and holding them. To avoid you having to start from scratch, we will automatically create a selection of helpful folders for you if you don’t have any yet.

WORKFLOWS
There are four improvements for Workflows in this update:

- You can now see the progress of a Workflow when you execute it.
- The step ‘Write Value’ can use parameters. With this, you can save an Accessories state and restore it later in the Workflow.
- We added a new step that allows you to enable or disable Automations.
- Start Workflows quickly with Widgets or NFC Tags.

HOMEKIT CODES
With this update, it’s possible to save HomeKit Codes for Accessories that require a Code despite being a bridged Accessory.

AUTOMATIONS
All Automations in a Smart Folder can now be enabled or disabled at once.

CAMERAS
The camera preview isn’t flickering anymore.

FEEDBACK
Do you like the new features? Or do you have suggestions on what we should do next? Feel free to contact us and let us know!

March 25, 2022

v 5.12.0