MYHS vs HS mobile vs HS4 on my computer. I'm so confused

[GeorgeLG]

I am one of the Insteon orphans trying to get the three insteon houses that I manage up and running since the insteon server dump. I started at the house with an always on W10 pro desktop using HS4 software and Marks insteon plugin. Some questions:

1) The HS4 software will run locally on my computer, right? Are the HS servers involved at all after set up?

2) How do I control my system remotely with my iphone? Is that MYHS, HS Buddy, HS Mobile? How do these apps dial into my desktop without port forwarding to control my local system?

3) What is the difference between these remote apps. Do I just sign in with my email address and password for HS4 or do new accounts/users need to be configured. So far I cannot control some of the insteon switches that I have installed in HS4 on my local desktop.

Thanks,

George

[Kevb]

HS4 runs locally. You can access your system remotely with another PC through myhs.homeseer.com . Some here use a VPN. I am not a programmer or IT person so I use myhs to remote in. HSMobile is the mobile app from Homeseer. It allows you to build dashboards to view/control devices. HSBuddy is a mobile app from an independent user of homeseer. It is a side project of his, so updates come as he is able. HSBuddy also lets you build dashboards. In addition, HSBuddy has a plugin in HS that allows you to create Geofences to trigger events. There is also a built-in notification system in HSBuddy that is quite useful. I don't have any Insteon products so can't help you there. Hope this gives you a start on the apps. Welcome to Homeseer- the forum users are very helpful.

[GeorgeLG]

HS4 runs locally. You can access your system remotely with another PC through myhs.homeseer.com . Some here use a VPN. I am not a programmer or IT person so I use myhs to remote in. HSMobile is the mobile app from Homeseer. It allows you to build dashboards to view/control devices. HSBuddy is a mobile app from an independent user of homeseer. It is a side project of his, so updates come as he is able. HSBuddy also lets you build dashboards. In addition, HSBuddy has a plugin in HS that allows you to create Geofences to trigger events. There is also a built-in notification system in HSBuddy that is quite useful. I don't have any Insteon products so can't help you there. Hope this gives you a start on the apps. Welcome to Homeseer- the forum users are very helpful.

Thank you.

[mulu]

1) Yes, it runs locally. No internet connection required which is one reason I chose HS (HomeSeer)
2) I am not quite sure how MyHS and HS Buddy is working as I don't really use them. MyHS is a solution from HS to dial into your system. HS Buddy is a customizable user interface that lets you control your devices. HS Mobile is kind of similar to HS Buddy but is from HS. There is another solution which is HSTouch that allows you to completely customize your GUI (Graphical User Interface). That is what I am using. For security reasons I don't have any port forwarding or auto configuration (used by security cameras, etc). Instead, I use openVPN.
3) You can define different users with different access rights.