DigitalAnvil

What your looking for is what I aim to do eventually. I already have 2 iPads (in in the kitchen wall and one in the basement for now). I use both the ISY994i Pro and a HomeSeer SE Pro (its a hardware solution that includes HSTouch, but they do also have software only options available as well). HSTouch can be customized to look exactly the way you want it and gives you a lot more control over what your interface will look like (I personally haven't had the time yet to do so and just use their default interface, I plan to invest more time in creating one once I move later this year)

with the official firmware or the beta?

I am also not having any success with the ISY with Smoke Bridge. (currently on the most stable ISY firmware, not the beta like the original post). Should I also be using the beta version?