Smart Life - Smart Living

This app dev has squeezed the most use with minimal bugs or issues out of the open source software it’s based on. My use over a years + time span has been nothing but fantastic. I also have extensive use with two other apps based on the same open source software and while they have had minimal bugs or other issues as with this app they didn’t quite have the same expanse of use. This goes for shear range of devices that could be controlled, not to mention how many different ways/signal types could be used to control devices, but also the main use I enjoy is the breadth of color I have to select from with the color changing light. Lighting is my largest use for this app next to power consumption monitoring devices and I have only one complaint about the lighting. I would love a feature that allows my color change lights to change colors in conjunction with the music I have playing with just a couple basic hue settings to keep the color in one area of the color wheel, so in one song I’m not getting every single color available at a strobe lights pace because that just is not pleasant. In synopsis, this is a fantastic automation app that takes advantage WiFi, Bluetooth and WiFi signal variations all while charging not a cent.

Smooth system with great extended coverage as it seems all devices link! If something ever fails, just redo it like it was new without changing the name, and it will reconnect in an instant. I use all the features including several groups, timers, all of the settings offered on the light bulbs, and others. If power goes out temporarily, in a few minutes your devices will automatically be back on line w/o any input from you! I like the energy monitoring switches in various brands that work with this system and they all work very well! Of the colored light bulbs, I have found that the ones that are a dollar or two more than the cheapest will mimic the really expensive colored bulbs! Remember to get WiFi extenders or similar when you add lots of devices so that everything runs smoothly! When I add an extender, every device seems to be much quicker and no bobbles! Last note I will mention is that in 99% of any failures is your WiFi not this program! However, remember to reinstall any device that is not working per instructions that came with the device! BTW, I have around 35 bulbs and switches on this system and about 60 other devices and they all work fine because of an upgraded router designed to handle many devices as well as three extenders!

There even is an App called ‘Smart Home’ to schedule, manage or control them wirelessly. After reading the developer’s privacy policy—I strongly recommend reading prior to using any App—and finding that the company itself is China owed; for my own personal security reasons, I elected not to allow the App access to my location or other areas of my WiFi or WiFi Devices once I completed setup. I use the plugs for a display cabinet and lamps. I particularly like a feature of the App that you can setup some or all of them in groups and schedule them to turn on and/or off on specific days together. I only gave 4 stars because I have a problem with giving China access to my personal information/network knowing it will be shared with whom ever they choose as they see fit through the App. If provided, the app has the capability of accessing and managing your home IP address, Mac Address, you email address, your mailing address, etc.. The App has many other features which allows you to connect security cameras, your public electrical utility account for calculating the devices consumption, as well as link other devices such as Google, Alexa, and Samsung SmartThings, etc. It works great with it’s products, it’s incompatible with most other smart or WiFi plugs.

APRIL 2023 - FIXED!! Thank you for finally fixing the options issues! Hopefully it stays this way. The app seems to be functioning perfectly fine now. (I’ll update if / when there is a fix!) Normally the app is great and everything works perfectly fine. It’s been that way for just over a year since I got the sunrise alarm clock (“Smart White Noise Machine”). For the last couple weeks, though, half of the customizable options haven’t been working. When I tap on the color options, half of them are fine, the other half go to an “error” screen and say to “reload” but reloading doesn’t do anything. I did all the normal trouble-shooting: Force-closed the app and reopened. Turned off my phone and turned it back on. Deleted the app completed and re-downloaded. Unplugged the alarm clock and plugged it back in (it’s the app that’s not working, not the clock, but why not, just to hit all the bases). Nothing has worked. There have been multiple updates on the App Store that I’ve installed but still nothing fixes it. Hopefully it will be fixed soon, I will update my review when it is.

First the app work as expected although pairing some of my plugs was difficult and time wasting. After a couple months the APP got stuck and would not open. After a few days I removed it. In the APP store I found an app that looking identical but it’s name was ‘Smart Life+. I installed it. It work just like this app and the only noticeable different was the main splash screen was a larger tree of devices, etc. Today, not this new version (so I thought) is not in the APP and maybe that explains why the APP would not open. So, now for the third time I have to pair all my plugs and recreate scenes or activities, whatever. Alexa seems to be working as usual. So. I don’t understand how the Smart Life+ app was working in the background. Now I’ve installed this Smart Life app and there must not be a data storage for these apps. I need to pair everything again, recreate scenes and get Alexa to detect my plugs. This is such a mess with duplicate in my Alexa APP for every time I’ve had to start all over again. Crawling on the floor, moving my bed to get to plugs behind it. So tired and even more confused. Developer, Help! What happened to this APP? Where did the + version go?

I use this app to control multiple smart water / hose timers so that we can water our plants and lawn at our little weekend place. The app is “serviceable” but glitchy and suboptimal. Most notably, the on/off timer is often unreliable, meaning that (1) I don’t feel comfortable with *scheduling* waterings, and (2) I must this manually turn the water off and on with the app and use a timer on my phone. The timer is also glitchy in that it doesn’t correctly display the amount of time that is left. For instance, it will show that 10 minutes is left constantly until the timer “should” run out. Again, I work around that by using the timer on my phone. Also, the app sometimes has trouble connecting with the devices, such that I need to press the on/off button multiple times. This is another reason why I don’t feel comfortable scheduling waterings. Another glitch is that the app has a feature that theoretically desists waterings under certain weather conditions. The problem is that the app tracks weather conditions where your *phone* is rather than where the devices are. So, if you’re on vacation or won’t be at the house where the devices are installed, that feature could be unreliable or worthless.

I’ve read the recent reviews and I’m puzzled at all of the low review ratings. My home has ethernet connections at the corner rooms of the house. This allowed me to connect a wifi mesh system and allows me to control so many devices around the house for exterior and interior lights, garage, sprinkler system and all of the pool equipment. It’s all automated with rules around weather and time scheduled. I will admit, the only way I’ve been able to work around the Tap To Run in the Apple Watch app, is to set add those to the Siri Short cuts. If my phone is too far for the Smart Home app, I just use “Hey Siri” and run that shortcut. I did try to install the same devices at a friend’s home but we quickly realized that his wifi signal was not steady where the devices were located. This caused a lot of the issues I see in the reviews about connectivity. I would recommend that you first set up ethernet cabling at the edges of your home, buy a mesh wifi system and cross your fingers and give it another shot. In short I’m very happy and so is the rest of the family.

I have never been a morning person. I have struggled my whole life with waking up on time and getting out of bed. This alarm clock has literally changed my life. I set my alarm to start turning the light on 25 minutes before the sound will go off to wake me up. I have woken up to just the light so many time before the sound even goes off, and it is such a better, more relaxing way to wake up in the morning! I have also noticed that I wake up feeling less groggy and have more energy throughout the day because I’m not oversleeping. I would HIGHLY recommend this alarm clock to anyone who struggles with waking up in the mornings, or anyone who just wants to wake up and feel more refreshed, less groggy during the day, and just overall relaxed in the mornings! The app is pretty easy to use, my only suggestion would be to add more wake up sound options. I usually listen to “River Sounds” or “Ocean Sounds”, but like a light “Rain Sound” would be cool or something :). My overall satisfaction though is still a 10/10!!

I wasn’t going to write a review on this, since I’ve been using it for so long, but after a recent update and request to beta test, I thought I would read some reviews to see what’s up. This app has worked flawlessly for me for so many years (4+yrs) on close to 15 devices, doing everything you would expect. It was relatively easy to figure out and super easy to use. I read some of these comments, and I’m baffled at how people function in life. It’s odd to see the flaky ones where people use their rating as a weapon and people actually said they gave 5 stars but made it 1 when something didn’t go their way, then when fixed they were like yayy you get your 5 stars again..... What??? I see these same types of keyboard hero’s on the other review sites..so ridiculous! Some reviews are mad at this app because they cant figure out the cheap device they bought, not realizing that this app is just the platform on which other companies hardware works. It’s like watching people buy cheap appliances and being mad at the electric company because their gadget doesn’t work! Bottom line...this is decent app that provides the platform to control multiple devices, they do a pretty decent job of trying to accommodate every smart hardware, they seem to get blamed for the manufacturers and programmers of the hardware but I guess that goes with the territory!

This app has great potential but it has been my personal conclusion that this company’s mission appears to be more vested in adding more compatible devices to this app instead of focusing on adding features or resolving bug fixes for products that already support it. Coming from the ecosystem of WeMo I did not expect to see such a lack of features for a smart device app. I have had WeMo devices inside my house for over 5 years and over time the company did nothing but add features and improve upon itself. How can this company do the same as they do NOT support just a limited number of devices but instead support almost too many to count. Programming in this app is not straight forward. For example to set a device to turn on at sunset you have to create a “scene” in a completely different section of the app. Very confusing as this should simply be coupled with the timed schedule feature. In addition there is not the ability to program an offset time before or after sunset/sunrise. Also, the countdown timer cannot be coupled with a timed schedule. This is annoying as I only want my lights to run for 4 hours everyday 15 minutes after sunset and then I do not want them to be on past 11:00pm. This is impossible to program within this app but not WeMo.

I have two of their interior motion-sensing security camera’s with night vision installed in my small home for a little over a year now. First the good stuff, the camera’s give very clear video. Even the night vision video is clear. The camera’s are great. The big problem is lack of dependability. In the beginning I received sounds on my iPhone 7 Plus and my iPad Pro if motion was picked up by either of the security camera’s. Then I could open the camera app on my iPhone and watch whoever had entered my home. (The housekeeper usually). #1. Now the camera’s no longer send motion-sensor alerts. #2. Neither of the camera’s any longer transmit dependably. Even when I am inside my small home and open the app on my iPhone or iPad to view my camera’s. One time the camera’s will connect, but another time they won’t connect. Or, one of the camera’s will connect. But the second camera will not connect. This has become a big problem lately. Broadcast strength of my 2.4 WiFi is 98%. Neither camera is further than 20’ away from it. This is not right.

I’m using the to control a Durablow micro-voltage fireplace thermostat. Works very well for manual control. Also has a day-by-day/hour-by-hour schedule for a week. Problem is, if the device is following the schedule and you enter a manual temp change, the manually set temp, or any manual change you make to it then becomes a “Hold Temp” that overrides the schedule from then on. The only way I can find to get the device to resume the preset schedule is to go into the schedule, select the then current hour, delete that hour’s setting and reset the desired schedule temp. The is no “End Hold” function that I can find. Not even resetting manually to the schedule temp of the current hour will put the device back in the schedule. You must delete and reset the current hour’s temp to get the device on schedule. And if you then manually set a temp, it becomes a new “Hold Temp”. There are good and bad points to this, but nowhere do I find it explained in the instructions.

I purchased these bulbs in January worked great connected easy hooked up to my Alexa with ease. After six months they stop working they go off-line and switch onAt all times of the day and night I had them set on a timer through Alexa that doesn’t work anymore. They lost connection with Alexa they are not responding in the app. When you contact customer service you get absolutely no help they blame your router or modem your iPhone or do you have power switch On to the devices “yes they asked me that” I disconnected the bulb 4 and tried to reconnect it to my network it will not connect. I reset my modem and reset my router nothing changed in the house I keep trying to explain this to customer support they don’t understand they just keep blaming everything in my house. I can’t get them to help and I can’t get any customer support. There is a 12 month warranty that is useless! Plus you have to contact them through the Smart Life app and using the Smart Life app only allows you 300 characters to respond to any of their questions! Just be aware that if you purchase these there is no customer support if they stop working, they blame everything but the bulbs or the software :(

Revised review on October 31, 2023 Volcano Technology Limited responded to my complaint and explained why the app is not working on my Apple Watch after a certain period of time. The explanation was “ For security reasons, the App will expire after 45 days of login.” I was not aware of this “ feature”, now knowing it I can log out then back in the app and problem solved. Otherwise the app works well for me controlling lights automatically, with custom programs or with Siri. I revised my rating, and based on my experience I do recommend the smart Smart Life app. Old review Lately this app is not working on my watch. It constantly wants me to log in to the app on the phone. But to do this, I have to delete the app from the phone, reinstall and log in. Please fix, it’s getting very annoying. Thanks. It’s been several months that I wrote the above review hoping that the app developers would check the problem out but nothing. I get on my watch every time “Add a device in your I phone Smart life app” and “Add a Tap-to -Run scene in your iPhone Smart Life app”. Not sure why this can not be fixed, worked fine before for years. Either an Apple update or a Smart Life update nixed it. Tired of logging out and then logging back in to have the app work for a few days.

I purchased two light/fan fixture controls because the outside plug was so easy to install in the app and works instantly when I use Alexa. Not the case with the fan fixture control. It would not connect to my WiFi and all research online suggested I split my WiFi between 5 and 2.4. I find it ridiculous I would need to change my WiFi when other products connect with no issue. However, I used my iPad for the set up and it worked. I don’t believe my iPad is on 2.4 but I’m happy it works. The unit is great as I can control the fan speed ( up to three) and the on/ off of the attached lights. All this by the app or by my voice ( the whole reason I bought this device). I would prefer if there is a dimming capability in the app and by voice command. Maybe an update can make this occur. I will continue to buy Smart Life type products. They work great and without a hub. 5 stars for product but 3 stars for set up. If a dimmer capability is added I can see making this a 5 star product.

App and Device work great! Tried from great distances (verified by Nest cam) and works every time! My “minor” issue is with the app! I have an iPhone 13Pro, to close the app window I usually swipe up… the app’s “open/close” button sits center, bottom on the page! When I swipe up to close the page I will inadvertently hit that button with my finger causing the garage to go active; and I’ve been surprised to find the door open and not closed. Finally figured out what I was doing. That button really should be located elsewhere. Probably not possible but would like the ability to set the time the app is actively illustrating the garage door moving up or down. My garage door takes 12 seconds up and 12 seconds down. The app up indicator stays active for about 20 seconds. Not a big issue but would prefer a more realistic time. On the plus side the app is clean and simple and does exactly what I expected! Great price!

I used to love this app, it let me control my LED bulb perfectly. Until a storm happened, messing with the electricity for a while. When everything came back to normal, I tried to use my smart bulb again with this app and failed to. I tried to remove the device from my app and reconnect and it has never reconnected. The scan feature is useless, never detecting my light bulb and even stranger: the name of my lightbulb is gone from the app. In my messages section of the app it shows the LED lightbulb that was once connected, it has a completely different icon than the other devices available for pairing. I’m not sure if this app just spontaneously decided to remove the lightbulb from the app since it’s the only way to control it or what, but connecting this has been impossible. I’ve made sure it’s in pairing mode, near the router, on the same network, but nothing works. I’ve spent multiple days trying to connect this to no avail. So disappointed in a once good app.

I have no less than 4 apps and a hub to run various WiFi devices. This works great, after you get the trick of turning the lights off and on several times, setup is a breeze and unplugging and power outages are not problematic as with other devices in loosing connectivity when power comes back on. The light controls are amazing and amazing with Alexa also. The trick is that the color on the app does not always match the light. If you think of it as a suggestion of color rather than the actual color. It is not the app, rather the color bulbs as I have three bulbs, all configured the same, will look different. It’s easy to match color and brightness to be the same. The schedule is easy to create and is very convenient. I will say I spent the least amount of using this product in setup, and I have had the best results.

I have the exterior motion surveillance cameras. The set up and use was easy. Now that I have had them for about five months I would like to see two changes in the software: 1. I would like to be able to see all three cameras simultaneously one one main screen, and not just one at a time. 2. When a motion alert occurs a still photo is taken and a recording of the movement is made. In order to see the video of the movement you must scroll through all of the videos made during the day and find the time stamp that corresponds to the time on the still photo. It would be preferable that finding the recorded video would be easier. It would also be nice to set up viewing and use on a computer and not just phone and tablet. Those are the only reasons I gave it four stars and not five.

When I first installed the app a couple years ago, it was amazing! But now, completely worthless. Nothing in my house has changed; same Wi-Fi, same switches, same phone, same network, everything is the same. The app no longer discovers anything. The devices worked great right up until the power went out and everything disconnected. When everything came back up, the app only connected to 3 of the switches automatically. I thought “no big deal, I’ll reset and reconnect”. I have 18 devices in my house, the app can’t discover ANY of them. Kasa works great for my TP-link switches, eWeLink and Geeni work great for all the other devices. Smart Life can’t find ANYTHING! I deleted the app and reinstalled it and still nothing, even joined the beta test-flight program and still nothing. Tried creating a new account, nothing. Only thing that was there was the 3 switches that were already connected to the account, but now 2 of those have dropped off so I loved them to Geeni as well. It’s a shame to see an app that was by far one of the best, turn to the worst.

Overall I love using this app. Have the lighting in several rooms in my house fully controlled by the app and once everyrhing is connected its super easy and can even be controlled remotely which I have found some fun ways to take advantage of ;) The pairing process for light bulbs seems overly complicated. For example two of my roomates lost their patience and opted out of using the app alltogether. Its a little annoying but is easy enough if you actually just sit down and do it. I also have some candelabra bulbs that will only pair if Im right next to the wifi router which is annoying but also, easy enough. Apart from that I wish the feature to create preset lighting combinations was more robust. Currently you are only able to create presets with white light. You cant create fun or moody preset lighting combos with colored light, which is a bummer. I dont understand why it's like that.

I am very, very pleased with this app and the supported devices I have. After using the OMOTON outdoor dual plugs (Smart Wi-Fi plug IP44) for floods, I purchased the wall switches (OMOTON Smart Wall light switch). Slight hiccup on the wiring but fixed that and works perfectly. I can be across country or in my bedroom and control all the lights I have associated with these devices with this app. Love it and it automatically updates the firmware in the devices. So far cannot say enough good things about this app, super easy to use, rename devices, find (discover), etc. I have not been paid or compensated in any way, just a real life consumer that likes when things just work. I set up outdoor lights to come on at dusk and off at dawn, and worked just like it is supposed to work. I have not as yet set it up with Alexa to control, but may get around to it this weekend. Highly recommend.

Replaced high end devices with devices that work with Smart Life. I fist purchased 2 light socket devices for just a on at dusk, off at sunrise, but since purchasing these, and seeing the continuous improvements and adding features, I have slowly replaced all of my devices. I’m not sure about the review on here that says Wem0 is better, it’s not, not at all. My only reluctance was that (obviously) I’m on apple, and my other devices worked with HomeKit. After installing my latest devices, I noticed scenes now works with Siri! Awesome new feature. It took me a few tries to realize I had to say “yes” after voice prompts to Siri. It would be nice to skip that step, but in no way a deal breaker. Keep up the improvements, but for now, you already score higher with me than 2 big name brands. Smart Life, for life for me.

I am new to smart devices so I'm not sure what to expect from a smart device control app. But this one seems to do everything I need it to do. It walks you through basic set up of each device, which is especially important to a newbie like me. As others have noted, your Wi-Fi network name must match whatever your device's network is. It will scan for devices on your Wi-Fi network and can even tell you how strong your wifi signal is. Not sure if it needs Bluetooth on during device detection, but I activated mine just to be on the safe side. It recognized & controls all of my Maxico outlets & allows me to group them by room, task, etc. You can share control with others too. You can also program your device to perform tasks when certain events occur e.g. time, sunrise/sunset, humidity, etc. Only minor issues I noted were... 1) it didn't recognize any of my outlets from the main device scanning page. I had to move to the smart outlets page and rescan for it to find each outlet. 2) English language message errors e.g. "Successed" rather than "Succeeded". Note: the App Store has a similar app called JINVOO. It is essentially an older version of Smart Life. I recommend that you do not use JINVOO as it may not recognize the latest devices like Alexa. Stick with this one, it's newer/better.

I’ve had two Smart Life plugs for a couple of years. After initial set-up, with some difficulty, everything worked fine for about 18 months and then, we’ll, not do much. I don’t know if it was an app update or what, but I lost my settings, including Alexa skills for both plugs and while I was able to get one working, the other won’t work consistently. I have tried several times, but my great room lamp won’t turn on as scheduled, so I have to do it manually. It will turn off as scheduled however. I sometimes wonder if the UI designers actually test their interface when one is as counterintuitive as this one. “Switch One” is on, but doesn’t that imply there could be a Switch Two for off, you there is no option to add Switch Two - the off switch is also Switch One. There are many ways to design a more intuitive interface for something as simple as on-off at scheduled times. I’m going to have to trash these plugs and this app and buy something better. I do not recommend this product.

This app started out rather awesome no unscheduled use of energy happening. Totally great until I decided like an idiot to allow the beta testing and I regret it completely. Now my light turns on and off whenever it feels like it. It was set to turn on at sunset it waits until complete dark, it's supposed to turn on during overcast days, yeah right!, it's supposed to turn off at a specific time at night but I usually stay up later so turn it back on then it's a battle until I finally go to bed. Not only does it shut itself off over and over after bedtime it also begins turning itself on after I've gone to bed. I get up a couple times a night due to severe insomnia ad lucky me my light is on. It's extremely disturbing. I'm ready to remove the bulb add another one that won't give me so many issues. It may not change colors but I want have to deal with my baby sister thinking there's a ghost haunting me.

I had suffered a severe back injury. The injury left me unable to walk. Placed me pretty much into a wheel chair. I have installed all remote light and receptacles in my house remote ones. The lights and receptacles are controlled for my cell phone and from Alexa home system. Also the climate control for the house is also controlled from the cell phone and Alexa. One regret that I have had I wished I had done the sooner to my home updating it to remote control. One does not know how difficult it can be sitting in the wheelchair trying to turn on a light or open the garage door for a salt delivery to the water softener. The system for the house is very dependable and can be done a little at a time or a lot at a time to convert the house. Sincerely yours Garry are Blaskie.

I started using Smart Life about 4 years ago to control a few smart plugs and switches around the house. At that time it was a great app. But it has now deteriorated to steaming pile of junk. Last year it became really wonky when trying turn on a devise from the first screen. I would press the tile for say a lamp, but the app turns the plug for a fan who's tile was at the other end of the screen from the one I pressed. No rhyme or reason for this and it does it about 50% of the time. Infuriating. Next, I had an automation setup to turn off a fan 1 ½ hours after it was turned on. This worked fine for almost 4 years but now it has stopped working and the fan runs until I manually turn it off. And the last few weeks the app has been excitingly slow to open and change between pages. It can take several seconds to open while I stare the spinning circle. This is on an iPhone 13 Pro so it's not an old, slow phone problem. Avoid if possible.

To the developer, please consider ordering the schedule table by time. It is extremely painful to look and work at the schedule of the plug when the times are not in order . I have a plug that I want to start through out the day for 20 minutes every hour, that means I will have 24 entries turning on and 24!turning off. They should show chronological fashion, but instead they ar in some odd order (probably by creation time) Or, you should allow for editing the list if auto order is too hard, so one can move the entries around and preserve the order the user chose to arrange. You should also allow to copy an entry within the schedule (copy/paste) You should also allow to take a device whole schedule and allow for duplicate/clone to another device. These are just the features for the scheduler, that I think would benefit the end user as well as your apps rating, as well as boosting your sales. What makes a device great is the app that has the best and most utilitarian features. Anything that imposes time wasting easily can be overcome by a competitor (would you not agree?) I am rating the app, not the device. Thank you if you are listening.

With the switch from incandescent to LED light bulbs our old dimmer was unable to turn the lights down without initiating a flickering that was so annoying we had to keep the lights on full bright or turn them all the way off. We tried different brands of light bulbs (more expensive ones), to no avail. When we noticed the old switch had started arching because the contacts on the dimmer were wearing out, we decided to upgrade. The installation instructions that came with the smart life switch were easy to understand and I was able to install and connect it to our WiFi without any trouble, myself. When we first turned it on the flicker returned but we soon discovered the ability to change dimmer modes with the smart life app which solved the problem completely. We were so happy with our smart life switch, I convinced my mother to order one which I installed for her. Funny side note: while I was at my mother’s house doing her demonstration and showing her how to navigate the app by showing her how on my phone, I slid the dimmer up and down and because I was connected to my mothers WiFi, I startled my wife who was at home and witnessed the unexplained brightening and dimming.

Setup of the 4 lights that were purchased was relatively easy once my WiFi was set to operate at 2.5 GHz. In order to get my dual band modem to operate at 2.5 GHz, I had to call my service provider for them to configure my modem to operate at this lower frequency as well. For a 60+ couch potato like myself, I’m so happy that I don’t have to get up to turn the lights on and off, that I can automate when to turn them on and off and that I can control whatever light color I chose from the comfort of my couch. For those who have an iPhone and have used others Apps, the App that controls these lights is pretty standard and loaded with features. I installed these lights today and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they continue to function as well as they’ve functioned today. Two thumbs up!!

I love this app. I can’t wait for other “smart devices to adopt it. I can turn on and off devices remotely. It allows me to setup multiple schedules. If I want a countdown for a particular device, yep it’ll do it too. It’s a centralized location for many of my smart plugs and light switches. You want to see stats on power usage for your particular devices, that’s in there too. I’ve not played around with sharing of the devices with other family members as I’m the only one at the moment using the smart devices, but it’s there too. I’ve only mentioned a few of the features I personally use , but there are many more and more I’ve not discovered. To the developers: Please keep innovating and adding more devices. One of the best apps I’ve seen. Thank you!

The outlet devices worked great initially. So great that I ordered two more. Of course within days of the arrival of the new set the first set stopped working. Multiple attempts to reset failed. Trying to connect the new outlets failed. I followed the Troubleshooting directions, re-downloaded the app twice, reset my router and when all that failed I tried to contact support. There appears to be no help request within the app but I found a message about an upgrade causing issues. Unfortunately it appears there is more to the message but there is no way to expand it so I am left in the dark. So I tried to submit the help request through the Link on the App Store but found it launches a website in Chinese. Unfortunately I don’t read Chinese. I have to give this app 1 star. I will be happy to upgrade my rating if I can get some help AND they agree to make some app changes that will make it easier for users to read messages and to submit help requests in the future.

Smart life contact/help email does not work!!!! I’ve tried it, but it isn’t recognized as a viable email and thus my email can’t be sent. The review I wrote below was submitted awhile ago and I expected to hear from someone...no help. Others have had this problem and had to reinstall all their devices. I’m considering switching to WEMO as they appear to be far more reliable with the 2 devices I have. But my 10+ Smartlife devices are no longer cooperating or showing in my app. Previous review. I have several devices installed around my home. Several have been added to Alexa routines, and those still function within the routine. But individually they will not function and after the last update they’ve all disappeared from my app. I can no longer operate them from the app or individually via Alexa. I’ve tried multiple ways to connect with you to no avail, so I’m hoping this review will get your attention. It was great when it worked...no longer even fair.

I’ve owned and used 3 generic Wish smart plugs with this app for over 3-4 years now and I am impressed with how well they are still operating and how the app remains stable and frequently shows effort and support with updating it. I like the overall experience of the home life app and of course their controlling abilities on my cheapo (sub 20$ in 2018) Wish sourced 3pk of Smart Wifi Plugs to control lights and various items in my house. They work on the Wifi when I’m home and also work on cellular when I’m away from home- this app works perfectly and I appreciate the time spent to make sure all the various new devices I’ve owned since I began years ago have all worked with the app and it’s remained very stable and just as reliable as the big smart plug companies-

I see massive potential security risks for this app. Say someone at the company or someone they sell your data to finds out you use the app to open your house. Sharing of location would allow them to know where your house is and there could be a trigger designed in so the company can tell your app to open your home. How does the company assure your safety? Also I learned you don’t need to be on wifi to use the app. I can use it on cellular data only. That means someone who cracks phone could open your home from anywhere. It would be good to be able to make the app work on wifi only and not cellular. That way, the user could choose to be exclusively at home for the app to work. These are just a couple of the security risks I can think of. It would be way too much to write it all out.

Most of the problems I have with my camera are caused by my internet connection. When the camera seems sluggish, so is my connection. Increased distance from the router is not a huge problem. The cloud recordings are good but not perfect. SD cards work a little better. The picture quality itself is awesome. Location of the camera determines effectiveness of tracking and motion detection. Closer to the body being recorded is better. Too much distance and activation is choppy. If you try to test it too much you’ll get frustrated. Work on camera location and let that location ride a day or two, then try a different location. You will see differences in motion activation with different locations. I’ve found that higher locations work best.

I’ve had these lights for three years now and they work very well. Indoor and outdoor; two of them are my porch lights with no cover. The only reason I don’t give five stars is because of the app. It’s a bit clunky, hard to use and I often have to the hit the on/off switch more than once to get them to work. The ones on the porch are set to the timer and that function works great. They come on at Sunset and go off at sunrise. I really enjoy the voice control as well. Even the white mode is adjustable from warm to cool, and are as bright as the white LED bulb that it replaced. I haven’t tried it yet, but there is a feature that turns them on when you get home and off when you leave via GPS.

Keeps all areas safe. Doesn’t catch our cats night prowls. Except when another feline dare to try for their “UNLIMITED SNACK DISH!?!” Which are fun and amusing to watch. So, IMO kind of a WIN! Let’s us see packages delivered. Keeps all eyes on our pool. Another benefit. Only keep those “eyes” on your mind if you decide to go skinny dipping or hanky panky! While our daughter was at college my phone rang every time I arrived home. At first I thought she had some kind of intuition. Only later to have her tell me that the notifications let her know. So, another reminder of “eyes watching”. Adding, the clarity of voice speech from and to keeps the neighborhood kids OUT during dinner and other family times.

Wow, I was just going to see if there were any other complaints about the app have issues on iPhones. I pull up one of my devices and it won’t let me edit it. It’s like the app doesn’t recognize finger touches at the top part of the screen. I’ve got no other real issues and don’t have this problem on my iPad. After reading all these recent negative reviews though I feel lucky . I’m crossing my fingers and hoping none of this stuff starts happening to me because I use the app to control a whole house full of smart switches, bulbs and even my low voltage landscape lighting. I do have some issues when initially adding a device but I just started using the backup method and get it added within a couple minutes.

I use this app specifically for my Heat Storm independent heaters. I have them in each room for my basement as a primary heat source - it’s working really well. The WiFi enabled is an excellent option and to tie them all together to work as one unit is exactly what I wanted. It’s even better really based upon scheduling and custom cycles - more capability than expected....but, I’d like to know three key things when using the app 1) which programmed cycle it’s currently on, 2) how long it’s been on the cycle, and 3) what the temperature of each location is currently at without having to click into each individual the unit to see if I need to make adjustments.

worked perfectly fine for about 6 months. then out of nowhere one of the bulbs i ordered completely broke on me. but you’d hope that when a lightbulb stopped working it would just shut off. nope. whatever’s happening here is managing to actually shine fully white/yellow and about 3/4 of the colorwheel works. however when you start reaching the reds and yellows in the wheel the color completely dims to a dim red. and the worst part is when you turn off the bulb through the app, the broken bulb STAYS ON with the dim red light. makes absolutely 0 sense. ive tried repairing the bulb dozens of times to no avail. and i write all of this before mentioning the countless bugs, delays, random layout changes that are NOTHING like their previous version leaving you completely clueless as to how to work your lightbulbs. i bought these so my room could look like cool colors, not to get a headache all the time. fix this app now please.

I like the idea of the app and enjoy some of its features. It is a mess to program and has a lot of bugs within itself. I wish the app was a little more user friendly as well. It shouldn’t be this difficult to set up a set of bulbs in a program. Programming in Java is easier than this program sometimes. If you have a smart home where you and your spouse set up different programs and use different bulbs good luck with this app. It’s frustrating because if I set up my spouse’s lighting, then I’m the main controller to the bulbs and she has to use my app to modify things. That is poor oversight on this apps developer. Some of your users might share spaces. I give this app 3 stars because after the frustrating set up, it works smoothly most of the time. It still has some bugs and glitches but it isn’t a bad app overall. One huge concern for me is location services it uses. I disabled it because I assume it’s an innocent feature on the surface, but unless it’s a weather app or map app I will always refuse an app to have my location. This app gets kudos that it doesn’t refuse to work if disabled so points for them in that. If you are concerned about privacy immediately turn that off after installing.

Individual devices almost always turn on and off if switched individually. Scenes regularly fail, with many of the devices not switching. It’s definitely not a connectivity issue, since those devices can be switched manually. Room for improvement: automation could use additional features. Lights on at sunset are useful, but the ability to add a random (+/-15 minutes) time shift to an automated action, and a fixed time shift (+/- any amount of time) to automation would be huge. Adding a random time shift to automation is a security feature, making it seem as if someone might actually be home to turn the lights on. The fixed time shift would allow for lights to come on a set amount of time before sunset, since by the time the sun sets, it’s already too dark inside.

I own two of the same air purifiers. Mostly I’m happy with it. They are silent and can pick up on air quality. However, I took one star off because cannot change the temperature from Celsius to Fahrenheit in the app portion where you control the power and other settings like timer and schedule. It still shows as Celsius. I can change it on other parts in the main menu and profile section to Fahrenheit. I don’t like that I can’t change it everywhere since I always go to that page to easily access the machine to activate it on or add a timer. Not a big deal but really wish that could be changed. Other than that, I’m satisfied. I’ve had both for close to a year.

I got a smart power strip so I can manage my server and the external hard drive. I installed the app and I couldn’t even get my account created. Somehow, I managed to get it linked with my google account. Then it took some more messing around with the app and it’s inaccessible buttons and then I figured out how to get it added, which I did get going. But I can’t manage the thing at all. If I tap on the title of the device it does not do anything, like it does in virtually all other smart apps. The buttons have weird things such as “ty” before the thing. The way that VoiceOver reads it is something like “Ty open device add.” Also, half the time I press a button in the app it doesn’t press the button. That is why I gave this app one star, because it has no accessibility. If it was a game, then this review would be different, but this is a smart home app, and it should be accessible.

I had a different bulb brand before buying this brand. The lights are so much more bright and vivid, but the app isnt as useful as the other brand. I want to be able to “favorite” certain colors to go back on. I want to be able to type in the color numbers if that makes sense. I also dont know if this is possible but the other app had an option to change with the sound. Also i could strobe light, have gradient changing lights, and solid changing lights, and i could pick what colors to choose from. I really like the quality of this bulb better but i miss the old app if that makes sense. Hope this helps!! All in all, if anything, please let me favorite colors so i dont have to meticulously try and find it again. Thanks !

I bought a smart switch about 2 months ago, easy install and WiFi setup. I set it up for my outside garage lights and setup the timer function. Everything worked great until they made an update to the app. After the update the timer function stopped working I had to delete the app and perform a complete setup like new. This worked for 2 days then the timer stopped working again. WiFi works great and I can turn on the light through the app so communications are there. I set 2 emails on the feedback page and no response or acknowledgement of this issue. As someone else stated the temp is c and not f. Why as for location if it’s going to default and stay on c? I would easily give this product 5* if they can fix the bugs. Please don’t push an update until you’ve tested it several time.

BEWARE if you plan to update, it seems each release breaks key features entirely. The Devive Widget was one of my most used features and I loved the ability to swipe over and quickly toggle any home device from the widget screen. That was recently made much less reliable and now removed entirely in favor of a useless "voice assistant". I will update this if anything changes but the current state of this app is incredibly poor for what its supposed to do. Edit: restarting phone has brought back device widget mysteriously. The app has still been missing the functionality to long press and toggle devices in recent releases and the device widget does not show outlet status very reliably. Hopefully more bug fixes to come

The app for the camera actually functions ok. Trying to review triggered events is painful. The cameras are great wireless is easy to setup. Battery life in a high traffic area is not fantastic but you can recharge the batteries in a few hours. I do have a solar charger but unless you have perfect direct sunlight you won’t get much of a charge. The viewing of events is like trying to view a you tube filmstrip and it’s a main. I have other inside cameras that use a much better file structure. They should fix this method of viewing recorded clips. Also when you look at the trigger messages it would be great if you could go directly to the actual stored event not a silly filmstrip. I have 4 cameras using this app and I like it. The software just needs to be a bit more mature.