Questions and help.
What you’ll want to know first.
What you need, where to get the app and what happens to your data. For setting things up, there are the guides.
Getting started
In the App Store: search for instnt hub or use the button at the top. Want new versions sooner? Sign up for the beta via TestFlight.
An iPad with iPadOS 18 or later. With or without Home Assistant: without it, clock, photos, weather, calendar, timer and your HomeKit devices work. With Home Assistant, you need your server address and an account or token.
Yes, as controls, with fewer options. instnt hub is made for an iPad that stands in your home in landscape, always on.
Dutch, English, German and French.
Yes. Clock, date, Flow, timer, photos from a shared iCloud album, Apple’s weather, your calendars and your HomeKit devices work without it. Music, cameras, the doorbell and companions need Home Assistant; the voice assistant can also use Apple Intelligence on the iPad.
Yes. Directly over your own network with a six-digit code, or as a file via AirDrop.
Sign up below. You will get a TestFlight invitation at the email address you enter.
About instnt hub
No. HomeView is Apple’s own display, which isn’t coming to the EU. instnt hub is an app for the iPad you already have, inspired by HomeView. With Home Assistant it does more: companions that appear on their own, the doorbell as a call, and an assistant with the language model you pick. The differences are on the comparison page.
A single one-time purchase in the app for companions, the voice assistant, more faces of the same kind and extra photo packs. Nothing that keeps the house usable, like the doorbell, is behind it.
Me, Robin Timman, under the name instnt. I built it for our own living room. How, and what went wrong along the way, is on the blog.
Home Assistant
An optional integration for Home Assistant (via HACS, Home Assistant 2025.6 or later). It adds lyrics, queue artwork and speaker settings. It cannot be installed yet; that comes once the code is public.
Yes. Swipe down or tap the orb and ask. With Home Assistant, the voice assistant you set up there answers; with Apple Intelligence, the model on the iPad itself can answer, even without Home Assistant. The assistant is off by default.
Privacy
No. The app has no analytics, no third-party crash reporting and no instnt server. Your home data stays between the app and your own Home Assistant.
No. The voice assistant is off by default. If you turn it on, it only listens after you swipe down from the top or tap the orb.
Stuck?
The guides have everything step by step. Missing something in the app? Request it on Works with.