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Vulpo vs Wrist Assistant: which one fits your Apple Watch?
Wrist Assistant is built around the Apple Watch, with an iPhone app to design its pages. Vulpo is a native Home Assistant app for iPhone, iPad and Mac with an Apple Watch app included. Both put your home on your wrist, in different ways.
How is Vulpo different from Wrist Assistant?
Vulpo is a native SwiftUI app for iPhone, iPad and Mac whose free Apple Watch app is a full client: pages you arrange on the iPhone, Digital Crown controls, sensor history and complications for any entity, over Wi-Fi or LTE with the iPhone off. It needs nothing on the server: you sign in on the iPhone once, and the watch gets its credentials from there. With Vulpo Pro comes Whisker, in Labs: point your wrist at a lamp and double-tap to control it.
Wrist Assistant is an Apple Watch app with an iPhone companion. You design pages of tiles on the iPhone and they sync to the watch, which shows your Home Assistant devices with purpose-built controls, Digital Crown input, camera streams, Assist and complications, and toggles a device you point at. The watch reaches Home Assistant over Wi-Fi, the iPhone's Bluetooth connection or cellular, and keeps working with the iPhone off.
It needs its own integration on your Home Assistant server, installed through HACS or by hand. That integration is open source, under GPL-3.0.
| Feature |  Vulpo |  Wrist Assistant |
|---|---|---|
| Look and setup | ||
| 3D view of your homeLinked to your devices | YesLumen, Pro | No |
| Native screensDashboards drawn without a web view | Yes | Yes |
| Dashboards built without YAML | Yes | Yes |
| Your existing Lovelace dashboards | No | No |
| Custom Lovelace cardsThe kind HACS installs | No | No |
| Apple devices | ||
| Mac app | YesNative | PartlyiPad app |
| Point at a device to control itFrom Apple Watch | YesWhisker, Labs, Pro | YesNeeds a room sensor |
| Apple Watch app | Yes | Yes |
| Watch app works without the iPhone | Yes | Yes |
| Complications and Smart Stack | Yes | Yes |
| Digital Crown controls | Yes | Yes |
| System features | ||
| Home Screen widgets | Yes | Yes |
| Control Center controls | Yes | Yes |
| Siri and Shortcuts | Yes | Yes |
| Lock Screen widgets | Partly3 types | Yes |
| Home Assistant | ||
| Automations drafted from a sentenceA draft you review first | YesApple Intelligence | No |
| Automation editor | YesNative | No |
| Nothing extra to install on the server | Yes | NoIts own integration |
| IntercomA spoken message on your speakers | YesPro | Yes |
| Push notifications | Yes | Yes |
| Live cameras | Yes | YesPro |
| Media players and Music Assistant | Yes | Yes |
| Actionable notificationsButtons that send events to Home Assistant | No | Yes |
| AssistHome Assistant's voice assistant | No | Yes |
| More than one Home Assistant server | NoOne server | Yes |
| Price and access | ||
| Free to use | YesCore app | YesOne page |
| One-time purchase | YesPro Lifetime | YesPro |
| No account neededSigns in to your own server | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | No | PartlyServer integration |
Pick Vulpo if…
- You want Home Assistant on iPhone, iPad and Mac too, with dashboards from 40+ card types.
- You want a native Mac app rather than an iPad app on the Mac.
- You'd rather install nothing on your Home Assistant server.
- You want to build and edit Home Assistant automations in the app.
- You want to describe an automation in a sentence and get a draft to review.
- You'd like Lumen, a 3D view of your home linked to your devices, with Vulpo Pro.
Pick Wrist Assistant if…
- You live on your Apple Watch: it covers 50+ entity domains, most with their own view.
- You want live cameras on your wrist with its Pro upgrade, and tap-to-act notifications.
- You want Assist on your watch, or to switch between Home Assistant servers from it.
Loved at home.
4.7 out of 555 ratings on the App Store
Hand-picked positive reviews and posts, quoted as written. How they're picked
The average above is the App Store's own, across every rating, not just these. Apple only lets people who downloaded the app review it on the App Store; Reddit and X posts aren't checked for whether their authors use Vulpo. Each card links to its source.
Questions
Can I use both?
Yes. Each app connects to your Home Assistant on its own, and both can live on the same iPhone and Apple Watch. Wrist Assistant needs its integration on the server; Vulpo doesn't.
Is Vulpo affiliated with Wrist Assistant?
No. They're independent apps from different developers. Wrist Assistant's listing says it isn't affiliated with Home Assistant or Nabu Casa, and Vulpo is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by the Open Home Foundation or Nabu Casa. Home Assistant is a trademark of the Open Home Foundation.
What does each one need on the server?
Wrist Assistant needs its own integration in Home Assistant, installed through HACS or by hand into custom_components. Vulpo needs nothing extra: no integration, add-on or HACS component.
Do both watch apps work without the iPhone?
Yes. Wrist Assistant's watch reaches Home Assistant over Wi-Fi, the iPhone's Bluetooth connection or cellular, and Vulpo's over Wi-Fi or LTE, so both keep working when the iPhone is off.
What does each one cost?
Wrist Assistant is free to download, with a 30-day trial of every feature. After it, a free mode keeps one page, and Pro is a one-time purchase of $9.99 on the US App Store ($17.99 for Family), with no subscription. Vulpo's watch app is part of its free tier; Vulpo Pro adds Live Activities, 3D rooms, unlimited widgets and Vulpo Labs for $4.99 a month, $29.99 a year or $59.99 once.
Sources
Sources16
- apps.apple.com/us/app/id6759152098
- apps.apple.com/de/app/id6759152098
- wrist-assistant.com/
- docs.wrist-assistant.com/getting-started/setup/
- docs.wrist-assistant.com/getting-started/concepts/
- docs.wrist-assistant.com/features/devices/
- docs.wrist-assistant.com/watch-app/dashboard/
- docs.wrist-assistant.com/watch-app/cameras/
- docs.wrist-assistant.com/watch-app/music-hub/
- docs.wrist-assistant.com/watch-app/voice/
- docs.wrist-assistant.com/watch-app/quick-menu/
- docs.wrist-assistant.com/watch-app/gestures/
- docs.wrist-assistant.com/features/point-control/
- wrist-assistant.com/changelog
- docs.wrist-assistant.com/watch-app/complications/
- github.com/NylonDiamond/homeassistant-wrist-assistant
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