CasaRay and Home Assistant Companion
Two apps, two jobs, one Home Assistant home.
CasaRay is a calm, Apple-native daily controller. The official Home Assistant Companion app is the broad Home Assistant client. Many households benefit from keeping both.
Choose CasaRay for everyday control
CasaRay is built around the moment you open the app and want to understand the house quickly. It normalizes Home Assistant entities into a whole-home summary, practical control groups, rooms, cameras, energy, people, notifications, widgets, and native Apple layouts. Risky access actions ask for confirmation by default.
Choose Home Assistant Companion for the full platform
The official app remains the natural place for Home Assistant administration, integration setup, entity configuration, existing advanced dashboards, broad notification workflows, and features CasaRay does not attempt to reproduce. CasaRay can hand off to Home Assistant when deeper configuration or an established workflow is the better fit.
A simple decision table
- Quick whole-home status: CasaRay.
- Large-home room and control hierarchy: CasaRay.
- Integration and entity administration: Home Assistant.
- Advanced custom dashboards: Home Assistant. CasaRay Plus can import supported entity-backed views, but it does not reproduce arbitrary custom cards or unsupported dashboard entities.
- Apple-native iPhone, iPad, and Mac daily surfaces: CasaRay.
- Diagnosing the source entity or service: begin in Home Assistant.
Your Home Assistant instance remains the provider and source of truth. CasaRay credentials are stored in Keychain, and live capability depends on what your Home Assistant entities expose.
Frequently asked questions
Does CasaRay replace the Home Assistant Companion app?
No. CasaRay is a focused daily controller and works well beside the official app, which remains the right place for administration and many advanced Home Assistant workflows.
Do I need Home Assistant to use CasaRay?
Live control requires your own reachable Home Assistant instance. Preview Mode lets you explore the interface without connecting a server.
Which app is better for large homes?
CasaRay is designed specifically around summary, groups, rooms, and devices; the best choice still depends on how you use Home Assistant dashboards and administration.
Continue with the large-home guide or view CasaRay on the App Store.