Earlier this year, it became painfully clear to us (and no doubt many of you as well) that something was up with ImperiHome – the very popular app for controlling a wide array of smart home devices. The first indication of something wrong was when we tried to log into the app, which failed. When we headed over to the ImperiHome website to manage our account, the entire site was unresponsive. Huh? After a couple days, we stumbled across one simple tweet which revealed the problem: “The Evertygo company, which published the excellent Android/iOS ImperiHome application, is in bankruptcy proceedings. Bye bye ImperiHome!”.
Noooooooo!!!!
Unable to log into the app, effectively rendering it useless, we found ourselves scrambling for a solution. The good news is, if you still have ImperiHome installed on your mobile device, and you never log out, you should be fine. If you’re trying to set-up the app on a new device or for the very first time (assuming you saved the app package in advance, before it was pulled from the app stores) you can still launch it using this very clever hack, which essentially bypasses the logon screen entirely.
These tricks work but they are interim solutions at best. Time to find a replacement app… Enter, Home Remote.
Available for iOS, Android and Windows-based devices, Home Remote is a well-designed, dashboard-style app, for controlling numerous smart devices from a long list of manufacturers. It has built-in navigational elements and integrations for Vera, Fibaro, Logitech, SmartThings, Sonos, Yamaha, LG, HomeSeer and many more, but its real strength lies in its dedicated “Designer” app (for Windows) which allows you to fully customise the UI to suite your individual needs.
Designer is intended for advanced users but following this guide should be simple enough for most people when getting started. Even if you never touch Designer, when only using the default app template and widget tiles, you can use the built-in integrations to get basic device control very quickly and simply. We were able to set-up the app to control our VeraPlus, Yamaha Receiver, Logitech Harmony Hubs and IP cameras in literally a matter of minutes.
Home Remote is well worth a look and appears to be an excellent alternative to ImperiHome; possibly even exceeding its capabilities in terms of UI customisation and 3rd party device integrations.
For more information, check out the Home Remote website.
Noooooooo!!!!
Unable to log into the app, effectively rendering it useless, we found ourselves scrambling for a solution. The good news is, if you still have ImperiHome installed on your mobile device, and you never log out, you should be fine. If you’re trying to set-up the app on a new device or for the very first time (assuming you saved the app package in advance, before it was pulled from the app stores) you can still launch it using this very clever hack, which essentially bypasses the logon screen entirely.
These tricks work but they are interim solutions at best. Time to find a replacement app… Enter, Home Remote.
Available for iOS, Android and Windows-based devices, Home Remote is a well-designed, dashboard-style app, for controlling numerous smart devices from a long list of manufacturers. It has built-in navigational elements and integrations for Vera, Fibaro, Logitech, SmartThings, Sonos, Yamaha, LG, HomeSeer and many more, but its real strength lies in its dedicated “Designer” app (for Windows) which allows you to fully customise the UI to suite your individual needs.
Designer is intended for advanced users but following this guide should be simple enough for most people when getting started. Even if you never touch Designer, when only using the default app template and widget tiles, you can use the built-in integrations to get basic device control very quickly and simply. We were able to set-up the app to control our VeraPlus, Yamaha Receiver, Logitech Harmony Hubs and IP cameras in literally a matter of minutes.
Home Remote is well worth a look and appears to be an excellent alternative to ImperiHome; possibly even exceeding its capabilities in terms of UI customisation and 3rd party device integrations.
For more information, check out the Home Remote website.
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