Genius Hub 4+

Going to switch the system now. For an iPhone user, the App is more than painful. From having to go through log in every time, to not being able to access navigation buttons, everything is painful and time consuming. The App has not evolved over the past 7 years. Fed up now and bite the bullet and invest in better tech. A shame as we thought to give a British start up a chance but they can‘t even be bothered to reply to customer feedback / questions. Not even worth one star.

This is a rather basic app that has promised improvements for a long while. Don’t get me wrong - it works ok (and the hardware and heating is quite reliable), but it should be so much better given it’s been developed for quite a while now. This said, I’m pleased that it does keep improving (albeit slowly), and their support is very reactive and helpful.

It has improved improved and is much easier to diagnose issues but it is a bit slow slow to load and you often get a white screen or a baffling NaN msg, or random values when setting a new room temperature. It’s also a bit clunky when overriding a room temperature (requiring too many clicks and screens). None of these things are deal breakers, but they spoil the experience.

There is a lot of untapped potential here - as it’s computer controlled it should let you have heating profiles for different seasons, or more easily let you diagnose inefficient heating schedules - but sadly none of this seems to be in development.

There is one great feature - it supports IFTT so if you turn off your heating when on holiday, when you arrive back at the airport you can automatically trigger your heating back on in advance of arriving home. I just wish there was more of this kind of magic.

Still, I think as a complete system it’s probably better than a Nest. Although guests staying with me, after trying it over their visit, opted for a Nest.

It's everything the other reviews say. It also does quite a bit more than control heating... We have it controlling ventilation and even the fish tank.

It would be great if it could be extended to act as a burglar alarm, as all the inputs are already there, and if it could trigger cameras it would be pretty useful. Maybe easier to implement would be some simple logic and inputs (eg solar panels are running, so switch on y and z).

This is the future and in time we will want to control electrical devices according to the price of electricity (boost freezer, heat water, charge car when electricity is cheap)... So much potential for this platform!