Pentair Home
reviews and complaints

I've been using Pentair Home for nearly a month, and it is plagued with bugs. I converted over from Pentair Link2O since Pentair is discontinuing it. The swith itself caused the destruction of the Pentair Intelliconnect circuit board. Had to wait many days to get the new circuit board installed. The system keeps disconnecting from wifi. Only way to fix it is to reboot Pentair and, sometimes, the wifi router. Tools needed to address wifi issues are contained in Link2O, which is being discontinued!

This software has a poor interface with the Pentair equipment and is a bare-bones, poorly written package.

I use the color lights device. I added a schedule until 9:30pm. Later on When you edit the time, it does not save the changes. There is no save button There is just a back button.

Eventually it just says
“Something went wrong” in a message with no useful information.

Creating accounts does not let you paste passwords. This is annoying when you use password generators and must manually type long password.

Overall it is a little better than link2o but it feels like the developers used non-native iOS written to be overly cross platform. There are no standard iOS in buttons, uiswitches, etc.

I was promised by the Pentair rep weeks ago that the latest update would fix the problem with not being able to change the light colors. Still can’t change the light colors. What a waste having color changing lights in your pool if you can’t change them in the app. If I would have known this prior I would have gone with Hayward equipment. The only thing that makes this app seem remotely decent is comparing it to the absolute garbage joke of an app Pentair Link2O that was the predecessor to this one. Pentair needs to put more effort into this and also hire an app developer that actually knows what they are doing.

I really want to like this app, or i should say I really wish it would work. But unfortunately is not for me. I purchased a salt level detection device but have not been able to set it up, due to the fact that the app crashes every time I’m in process of setting up WiFi connection to the device. I’ve tried setting it up from several devices on different iOS versions from iOS 14, 13, and even iOS 12. The app crashes regardless. I’ve waited about a month hoping an update will fix the issue but no go. I feel that I’m left without an option but to try to get a reimbursement for the useless $160 device that’s sitting at home.

My “Booster Pump (No Freeze Protection)” runs when its cold and says “Your Pump Is Running Because Freeze Protection Has Been Activated.” You have to delete the booster pump and then add it back as “Other (Flow-Dependent)” to get it to work properly. (Measure the voltage on the incoming relay contacts to see if its 120v or 240v first as the app asks you what it is but doesnt display it anywhere in the app). Customer Support was of no help, I had to look through the manual and find the solution. Even when I told them the solution, they said booster pumps should run when its freezing even though it says “No Freeze Protection” in the drop-down menu on the app.

This app won’t let me change the schedule for my booster pump. It says it turns on at 3am and off at 3pm. I need it to run from 0800-6pm. But when I change the times and save and exit it still says 3am-3pm. This app is junk.

***UPDATE***

I’m not one to leave reviews on apps but I’m glad I did. Rodney from Pentair reached out to me at 8pm to discuss my concern. I’m in Texas and he is East coast so an hour later for him. He walked me through the entire process on how to fix the issue. Not many people can and will do that. I’m very pleased with the customer service and the advice given. Went from a 1 star to a 5 star based on that outreach. Thank you again!

Update: Recent update resolved my issue.

So, the response and presentation of this app is much better than Link2O, but my Intellichlor shows a constant temperature of 120F in the app. Here’s the response I received from Pentair...

Looking at the back-end for your device, the cell is reporting a water temp of 52 degrees and 1850 PPM at this time. The issue that you are seeing in your app has been reported as it seems that there is a disconnect between the back-end cell information and what is displayed in the IntelliChlor tile of the app. At this time that information is not accurate and should not be used.

...so Pentair knows this feature is broken, but they do not seem to be in any hurry to address it. This temp presented just fine in Link2O.

Unfortunately the idea of this is great, but execution is very poor. I have had for nearly a year and can’t really rely on it. I have repeatedly asked for them to fix an alert of old deleted notifications on my dashboard for some time. Last I heard it was being worked on but two updates later and it is still there. I also have issues with having to delete pumps and lights in the app to get them to work again. One would think it isn’t a big deal because it is somewhat fast but when you have to turn it off and go do something else it is a hassle playing tech fixer. I hate to knock anyone but it’s time for better developers to step in and clean up. I’m sure I’ll get a response about how this isn’t right and to send them an email but they mostly go unanswered or fixed.

I added the Pentair Intelliconnect to my salt pool setup.
I had a pool service company install it and initially we had a problem syncing it because the manual mentioned the discontinued Link2O app. The Pentair website pointed me at this new version.

it controls everything i have (Hayward heater, Pentair pump, ichlor generator and the Pentair pool lights)

It took an hour but eventually all
Lights modes are working perfectly.

I love the comfort of automation and controlling remotely from my iPhone. Also can control ichlor production level and salt level good bad indication. Already saved money bc of better management. I had also a temp sensor installed.

I’ve been using 1 week now.

Although I give it 5 stars, I would love to see apple watch support in future versions.

Your latest update royally messed up the interface of this app. What I used to look at was 5 blue squares of each device I had and gave me a quick look at the status of each when when I click on the dashboard. Now I am looking at basically a list of each device and now what used to be the nick name I could see, it is Pentair's programmed name. For instance. What is listed in the list is booster pump and not water feature pump. What good is a nick name if you don’t use it. My pool guy added the intelliconnect to make my system smart. Nothing but problems since installing 2 months ago. Very laggy. When I look at the water temperature, it is not correct until I actually click on the water temperature, go back and then after up to 20 seconds it might update to the correct temperature. Not impressed at all with Pentair!

New post:
Update; all is good now and Pentair as usual rectified the issues and replaced the warranty item!
They still are the best though it was frustrating! All good!
Thank you all at Pentair!

Old post:
Houston we have a Pentair;
Pentair is having quite the issues with their technology and apps. They’ve had quite the growing pains in the mobile app department. Unfortunately awoke today and my whole dashboard was erased accept Auto-VSP. Lights gone and extra pump gone, no way of reconnecting. Hopefully they update and brings it back
***On a separate note it appears that Pentair isn’t making their parts in America and are using subpar processors from China for their LED lights, mine last just south of 2 years. This is atrocious as LEDS should last much longer! Cmon PENTAIR, you were the gold standard in pool equipment for years! What happened?

I just installed an IntelliConnect linked up a VSF pump. The pump is set to operate in gallons per minute (my preference) but the app only allows RPM. Whatsmore, the minimum RPM the app allows is 450 - which the pump interprets as 450 gallons per minute! What I nightmare. I'm already regretting installing any of this stuff... I may just go back to the pump alone and forget the IntelliConnect and this app.

EDIT: I called Pentair and eventually got to speak to one of their techs. Turned out he knew less about the product than I did (and I know very little). Started by confirming that the IntelliConnect can control flow, then decided it couldn't, then stated that he never said it could. Wanted my personal username and password to look into my account. Didn't know what the latest firmware version was. Did confirm that PENTAIR DOESN'T HAVE A USER MANUAL FOR INTELLICONNECT OR THE HOME APP.

The intelliconnect system came new with our brand new pool. Since the minute it was powered up, it did not work.

The pool installer made every effort to get it connected and it did not work. In that same evening we called tech support for Pentair and the extremely knowledgeable individual who was able to get us connected opened a casa for an authorized technician to come out and flash the faulty hardware with new software. Five weeks later we have never heard from Pentair.

After calling the pool builder for a follow up, they are again scheduled to come out for this software flash.

They admitted to having faulty units that needed software flashes. They should have recalled them and not exposed clients to their internal problems.

I realize that is not a perfect world and nothing ever goes as planned, but to have dropped the case completely and not communicate with their clients is not good business.

Not sure how this app is rated so high. It essentially turns lights on and off. The app lags when you ask it to do something and this is especially annoying when something goes wrong.

I own 2 Pentair IntelleBrite lights, 3 MagicStream Laminars and a Color Sync Controller. Simple, but really expensive where I live.

As part of the set up (we’ve owned it two weeks) the pool company came out to make minor adjustments, turned the power off for whatever reason, and now the lights are out of sync. Also the Solenoid Thumper stays on for every program - and it is LOUD.

Here’s the problem, the only way to fix these problems requires toggling the power off and on, in rapid succession, multiple times within 30 seconds. This is impossible to do because both the app and the controller lag when you try to turn the system off and on.

Why doesn’t the app or controller take what you have into consideration and just have a Solenoid Thumper Off/On button?

Why doesn’t the App have a Sync Lights button?

I find it hard to understand why a simple light switch that’s been around for decades or an old version of their own controller can solve these problems, but a brand new system - that was created by the same company, has no simple solution.

When you set up the app, it asks you questions about your pool and your location. I now see this is done just to see you things in the future, not serve your needs. Super disappointing.

Switched from the Link2O app and was initially encouraged. The look is definitely better and my configuration uploaded successfully. However, it’s been downhill since then. The app won’t control my heater despite troubleshooting, uninstalling/reinstalling, confirming heater works manually, confirming remote mode and even checking the heater connection terminals with a voltmeter in the intelliconnect. No app setting results in a signal. Further, the app randomly says my “pool is offline” when the link light is solid and my home network has the intelliconnect device listed. Wrote to the email I’ve seen here a week ago but no response. Update 5/12 - appreciate developer responding however, as noted in my review, I already emailed that information to them. Will send again.

Follow up 6/28. Finally after multiple attempts got through to an agent who listened and immediately recognized the issue and said he’d seen it several times and was surprised “they hadn’t posted a notice” for all the tech support. Apparently a bug in the process of converting from the old version requires the main single speed pump to be deleted and manually reinstalled, then it will trigger the heater. Until…that is…something knocks the intelliconnect off line (WiFi or internet outage) at which point all settings are erased, I have to power down the intelliconnect to get it to find the WiFi again and then uninstall/reinstall the single speed pump. Every. Single. Time.

Please fix this guys. Makes the product not recommendable.

Like the growing negative reviews, it appears the plan was to put out a completely faulty app before bugs were worked out. Who does this impact? The homeowners with this equipment unfortunately. Im a pretty loyal customer until, I feel Ive been cheated by shady customer service and performance. What Pentair sells you is, “piece of mind while staying smart, connected, and protected”.

What you really get is an app that is the absolute opposite in EVERY SINGLE WAY. I made the switch from the very basic yet functional Link2O a month or two ago.

1st - connecting to this app was not intuitive or easy considering you cant tell if it worked or not. The worst part is once you follow the directions you essentially cut yourself off Link2O the minute you start the transfer. Took me 2 days in the darkness trying to get a connection.
2nd - turning the lights on has become near impossible. One day it works fine then you get a week worth of turning lights on manually because, you know...the app isn't working.
3rd - saying its not connected, when your intelliconnect clearly show its connected to your wifi. Having to reset your wifi connection because the app is substandard.
4th - says your pool pumps are running schedule but when you go outside your pool looks like a undisturbed bathtub full of water.
5th - paying for smart connections only to realize that you have still have to do everything manually.

I really don’t want a bot telling me, this sounds frustrating, email us here...I would like results not redirection into a black box of waiting and empty results.

I have a major issue with this app which interfaces with the intellisync unit. I bought the intellisync to connect my intelliflo pump to control wirelessly and it does do that, but at the loss of significant programming functions. You essentially can only program 4 speeds for the pump and can switch between manual, timer and scheduled pump runs. The intelliflo pump (without the intellisync and Pentair home app) allows you to schedule up to 8 different scheduled pump flows throughout a 24 hour period so you can have more variety in pump flows throughout the day to fit your swimming needs better. When you use the Pentair home app, you also LOSE the ‘quick clean’ function which lets your pump run at a higher speed to skim out more surface debris or for allowing better more efficient dispersal of chemicals for the 15-30 minutes it runs. In the end, you lose a lot of programmable functionality of the intelliflo pump if you decide to make it wireless control through the Pentair home app. I don’t know who works on their software, but they need to talk to their hardware people so that they can make the iPhone app as functional as the manual functionality of the intelliflo pump. There should be no reason the Pentair home app can not be designed to allow for even more functional programming settings than the manual ‘dumb’ programming settings built into the intelliflo pump. If you don’t want to essentially lose 5 additional pump flow/rpm settings in your daily schedule, then you will not want to go with the Pentair home app controlling an intellisync unit that is connected to your intelliflo pump. You are better off using the included manual programming of the intelliflo pump and leaving it disconnected from the internet. Very disappointed in the Pentair home app and it’s lowered functionality with programming the intelliflo pump.

Like many others, I recently migrated to this app from Link2O. It’s a much better looking layout and I feel it’s quite intuitive. I really like the upgrade. Some background on my system: I personally installed almost all new equipment (except for the filter) along with the Intelliconnect automation last summer (2020) due to my main pump going dead and wanting to get away from the old mechanical timers. I also converted my pool to a salt-water system at that time. I used Link2O to monitor and control the new equipment. Never had much of a problem with the Link2O app other than an issue caused by a broken manifold in my original (and very old) filter that was causing all kinds of other system problems. That wasn’t the fault of the app, just a user error (mine) in not being able to trouble-shoot the real problem. The app could also be slow to refresh when showing current equipment status. Initial migration to Pentair Home went fine but there were a few bugs that popped up in the app. The app initially showed correct water temp but, after a few days, the app reported that the Intellichlor showed water temp at 120° when the pump was on. It would also produce occasional freeze warnings at night. I also had an issue with the booster pump not running consistently which had also occurred with the Link2O app and I thought might be an app scheduling problem. I emailed Pentair tech support and received a response from Matthew Batman within a day or two. Matthew was great. An update seemed to mostly fix the temperature bugs and Matthew was able to fix my booster pump issue which was not an app scheduling issue but rather a loss of pressure issue. I have an Intelliflo SVRS pump and the suction alarm kept tripping when the booster pump would come on. He remotely adjusted the system for me and everything has been running mostly fine for the last month. The random freeze warning has popped up once or twice since working with Matthew but I’m not sure where that bug lives. The Intellichlor always has power but, when the pump is off and there is no water flow, the Intellichlor temp seems to report 0° to the app for some reason. I’m sure it’ll get addressed in a future update. I know pool parts can be extremely over-priced and, many times, have short life-spans, but this app has been great and can be had at a relatively low price point (including the Intelliconnect) for basic pool automation.

Ever since I had to switch to the new app my salt cell and pool light do not work. It took 4 calls before I got Justin who fixed everything but took us 2 hours of troubleshooting to get there. Now 2 weeks later I’m back to issues. It really should not be this hard guys. I don’t have the time for it. Please help or just put me back on the original app that worked for the first 3 years of my pools life.

My app now appears different. I previously had blue squares with each product listed, pump, light etc. Now my products are in a list form and my pump and light are missing. I called Pentair yesterday and the recording said 65 minute wait time. I selected the prompt to be called back and…no call. Currently, my app is useless. I now have to turn my pool on and off manually in Service Mode and no pool light.

Several parts of pool was set up through this app. Never got salt celt to work, heater is not working properly, color light is set to white only. Got a salt cell that does not need this app- works fine now. Set the heater to manual- works fine now. Light is unfortunately completely app controlled so not happy about that. Only thing that works is the schedule if the inteliconnect wants to connect to the internet!

I had the old link 2o but then was advised to download the new app. It looked like a nice app and I only changed because the old one will no longer be functioning soon. The old app I rarely ever had issues with. This one on the other hand is incredibly frustrating. Every day it tells me it’s offline! Never had that issue before with the old app. I have to power off the whole system every day so it can reconnect! So frustrating! Please fix!

This app is terrible and I have tried working with their tech support for about a year. They just can’t fix what appears to be a simple problem. The Schedule portion of the app works about 10% of the time.
I’ve done all kinds of tracking and testing for them and it doesn’t seem to matter.

I can’t even keep writing about how poor this is because I’m so frustrated with it.
I’ve written professional code for decades and this is just a joke.

This app is practically worthless. Temperature laws are more than off and response time is slow at best. If I paid a lot of money for this system I’d be angry! Oh, wait a minute I did pay a lot of money for the system. These folks know nothing about automation. My original plan was to move to an all Pentair system, and now I’m having more than second thoughts. Quirky isn’t the best way to describe this product or app.Worth less is more like it.

Still days later after starting the “process” of changing over to the crap, I mean app from Link2o we are still struggling to get the connection to happen (So much for 10 min set up). Now we can’t even get the old app to work. Following the written and video instructions we are still dead in the water. So are we just screwed and having to pay the price because the apps have such a poor transition leaving the whole intelliconnect virtually useless.

My pool service company installed the Pentair product 8 months ago and it still isn’t functioning. I’ve tried to contact Pentair directly on several occasions to resolve the matter and they have not been helpful at all. I’ve been transferred to several individuals and sent add-on products in the mail that are supposed to address the issue however I’m not expert. Why would you send me a product to install? It makes no sense. Horrible customer service

I revoked remote access to my water softener because this app is close to useless. The salt level is very inaccurate. I get low salt alerts when the salt is nearly full. Even worse, I get frequent text messages saying that the water softener is off-line when my Internet service and WiFi are rock solid. The only way to stop this irritation is to cancel remote monitoring. I am still getting erroneous email and text messages and have no way to stop them.

Since I had to “upgrade” from link2o there are so many issues. I’ve had to remove and reinstall the light several times because the schedule stops working and/or they lose the color function. The old app was stable and my controller now loses WiFi weekly and it never did before - I now have to reset the breaker often to get it to reconnect. My I-chlor would tell me my ppm of salt with the old app - new app doesn’t. Upgrade is more like a downgrade.

The new app works as well as the old app yet has more information on one screen than the old app.
But not all the information one needs so you still need to keep clicking further down the choice tree.
And it takes forever to load the nice blue splash welcome screen, which it loads twice for me.
In my case it just told me that my salt is too low.
In reality it was what the old app said it was, 3900!
Hopefully in the next few versions they’ll get it right.

I had this installed September. To date it has never worked. I have had people here to “fix” the problems, but it has never worked. I get passed on to person to person each one saying “it’s not their area”. They sent one person out and he said it looks fine and is working. It was NOT true, and I am left with a $5,000.00 system that will not operate. The lack of interest from everyone on this issue is deplorable. So save your money and don’t use Pentair.

This app is horrible. Took forever to connect, then won’t read my heater so can’t control that or even get it to start the heater. Then when I tried to reset everything and I’m logged I got the app it says invalid login or password. Wont reconnect to my router or let me reset the equipment. Since it’s Sunday I have to wait to call Pentair tomorrow. Let’s see if they can fix it to at least get it so I can reset the timer and manually control the heater so I don’t have to also manually control the pump.

I FINALLY got the app to work for my pool pump when the customer service rep sent the update. We were getting ready to address the light situation when we were disconnected. I thought “surely this guy is gonna call me back after being on hold forever” but he didn’t and I didn’t have time to be on hold again. He knew my phone number! I have this feeling that he is evaluated by the number of calls he takes so he blew me off and went to the next one. I am extremely disappointed if that is the case. As of now my light is stuck on one color.

I had the Link2.0 and was not having any issues. Now my pump runs at all hours. The new app had temperature sensor installed that I don’t have. I uninstalled that feature because it kept showing the temperature as zero degrees. The app still doesn’t work properly. It loses connection to my router. Today it was 9 pm and my schedule ends at 8 pm. It is 45 degrees outside I turned my pump off in the app and it turns back on almost immediately. I had to manually switch to service mode to turn the pump off. Very disappointed with this new app.

I’m annoyed that I even had to rate this app and their equipment as a one star. I’ve had nothing but problems with the pool pump constantly getting disconnected from the app and the heater deciding that it was not going to work as well. I would never ever by Pentair pool products, or recommend the Intelliflow system.

There has been six different tax from six different companies out to investigate the equipment and none have been able to resolve or even make the system work. It was an absolute waste of money, and I would never use any of their products or services again as a company.

Garbage. Support team will e-mail you 12-36 hours after you submit problem report with a question. Then 12-36 hours after you answer question they send a suggestion that does not work. 4-5 days later your pool equipment is still not running when you want it to.
Every time there is a power outage programmed run times cease to function correctly. Examples: Pentair App shows the VS Pump is not running, even though I can see and hear it running. Pentair App shows the scheduled pump run time is daily from 8am-10pm but the Pentair Intelliconnect runs the VS Pump from 6:45am until 8:30pm.

I never had an issue with the old app but after being forced to switch to this new app I’ve had nothing but issues. At least once a week it says the connection is offline. I have to reconnect and set up each time. My internet is fine and always has been. Never had this issue before with the old app and I’ve had the same system for over a year prior. I called customer service and the tech support told me my system is broken...what? It’s only a year and a half old. There are serious bugs with this app that need addressed ASAP. For the amount of money the equipment costs the app should run it smoothly.