Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

levander

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 21, 2011
269
231
Has anybody with any authority or reputation for UI design compared the various apps for smart thermostats?

I was just at a rental house for awhile that had an Ecobee. I never did completely figure out the app to control Ecobee although I never had much time to play with it either.

Now my mom is getting a new air conditioner and we’re gonna replace the thermostat as well. She’s 76 years old. She diesn’t take to learning new pieces of software lightly.

She does use computers constantly and has an iPad that is her constant companion. But when something is confusing, I never hear the end of it,

How good is the Honeywell app? Is that thing pretty easy to use?
 
  • Like
Reactions: b17777
It's real easy, first page is just arrows to bump up and down the temp.
 
I have the Sensi app and find it easy to use. However, don't forget that most thermostats can be controlled from the thermostat itself. If you're just going to set a temp and leave it, there's no need to even deal with the app. My current thermostat does require the app to do anything more than set the temp but the one I had previously, you could use the app or the thermostat directly to control/set all functions.
 
Mom travels a lot and uses schedules on her Nest thermostat in her vacation condo. And she uses remote access to change the settings when a friend is staying there or when there’s no one there, etc..

But my understanding is the newer Nest thermostats don’t use the Nest app any more. They use Google Home which is much more clunky than the Nest app was.

She’s already gotten used to using advanced features of this stuff. She’s not just setting it to one term
Erasure and forgetting it.

I was looking around the internet for someone who knows what they’re talking about and has assessed these things in their use of use. But most of the coverage I find is just how many features the various thermostats supports.
 
  • Like
Reactions: b17777
I have no 'authority' or 'reputation for ui design', but I've been happy with multiple Sensi smart thermostats that I have purchased and installed. They are low cost, do what you expect a smart thermostat to do, have a simple, functional app, and integrates with Homekit.

Take that for what you will.

My advice is to find what models fit your needs and budget and then go watch some individual review videos and observe the app functionality for each product. Only you know what is going to satisfy your specific requirements.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.