Did you remember to turn all the lights off before you went away on vacation? How about lowering all those zones of thermostats—or maybe there were a few rooms you wanted to make sure were heated up before you got home?

Fans and owners of Crestron’s home automation systems will be happy to know they can always have their controls with them, so long as you’ve got an iPhone or iPod touch.

The New Jersey company has made its Crestron Mobile application available as a free download from the iTunes App store.

You can use the graphical interface on the portable Apple device to tap into your home’s climate, lighting, shades and security systems in real-time. It’ll allow you to view the room and device status, and make adjustments as you like.

Adjustments or updates to the Crestron control program are automatically sent to your iPhone when the app is launched, and new locations can be added by going to the “Connections” page on the Apple device.

Sure, we’d all love to carry around an 8-inch super cool Wi-Fi touchpanel with us, but iPhones may fit a little more comfortably in our pockets—and they’re becoming more powerful by the minute with all of these new apps and features.

Arlen Schweiger - Managing editor of Electronic House Magazine

Arlen contributes product news items to electronichouse.com along with his role on the print publication. Got a tip? Send it along!