If you just upgraded to a smart thermostat, you’re probably wondering which app is going to give you the best control over your home’s temperature. We tested a handful of the top options on an iPhone 8 running iOS 13 and broke down what we liked and didn’t like about each one.
1. Nest App (Version 5.x)
The Nest app has been the gold standard for a few years now. On iOS 13 it runs smoothly, and the main dashboard gives you a quick glance at your current temperature and target temperature. The scheduling feature is easy to drag around — just long-press a time block and slide it. One thing we noticed: if you’re still on an iPhone 6, the layout can look a little squished, so you may want to pinch-zoom on the energy history graph.
Nest’s “Home/Away Assist” is still one of the smarter geo-fencing tools out there. It uses your phone’s location to detect when everybody leaves the house and automatically sets the thermostat to an eco temperature. Works great as long as you haven’t turned off location services.
2. Ecobee SmartThermostat App
Ecobee’s companion app got a big redesign sometime in late 2019 and it looks a lot cleaner now. The main thing that sets Ecobee apart is the room sensor support — you can see hot and cold spots in different rooms right from the app. If you’re on an older iPad running iOS 11, note that the new interface does have a few display quirks on that version.
We really liked the “Home IQ” reports page. Every month you get a PDF-style breakdown of your runtime and how your energy use compares to similar homes. It’s more useful than it sounds, especially if you’re trying to hit an energy budget.
3. Honeywell Home (Total Connect Comfort)
Honeywell rebranded their thermostat ecosystem under “Honeywell Home” back in 2018, and the app has caught up nicely. The old Total Connect Comfort app used to be clunky, but the refreshed version in the App Store feels much more modern. That said, if you have an older T6 Pro model that you set up before the rebrand, you may need to re-link your account — a few users on the Honeywell support forums reported losing their schedules during the transition.
4. Emerson Sensi App
Sensi is the underrated option here. The app is straightforward and pairs surprisingly fast — we got it connected to a new thermostat in under four minutes on a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network. There’s no fancy AI or learning mode, but sometimes simple is what you want. Works with Amazon Alexa and Google Home, which are the two main voice platforms as of right now.
A Note on SEER Ratings and Smart Thermostats
While we’re on the topic of efficiency, keep in mind that as of 2020 the federal minimum SEER rating for new central air conditioners is 13 SEER in most of the northern US and 14 SEER in the south and southwest. Pairing any of these apps with a high-efficiency unit (16 SEER or above) gives you the most bang for your buck, since the app’s scheduling features have more headroom to cut runtime without sacrificing comfort.
Bottom Line
All four apps work well on a current iPhone. Nest is still the most polished, Ecobee wins on data nerds, Honeywell is solid for people with existing Honeywell hardware, and Sensi is the easiest setup. Download one, poke around for a week, and you’ll wonder how you ever managed without remote temperature control.