BT Smart Controls 4+

Poor Smart Baby Monitor Support App

I recently purchased the BT Smart Baby Monitor, as this was only a minor price increase from their non-smart version. Whilst the handheld unit works very well, sadly this is far from the case for the internet connectivity and via this app.

When the app finally connects to the servers, after numerous restarts of the camera, then the lag is truly appalling. I have tested this in several different settings, near to the router and at a normal distance, with zero improvement when close. This is not an internet or WiFi connectivity issue, as I am on a 1Gbit/s fibre connection and have many other high speed devices which connect with jo problem, including both Ring and Nest smart devices.

To have a lag of 20ish seconds is somewhat counterintuitive when trying to monitor the most precious person in your household. I rarely write reviews, and tend to stay away from negative ones, but I am extremely disappointed, to the point of purchasing a different brand’s product.

Very poor app

I bought the BT Smart Baby Monitor after reading numerous positive reviews about it. They must have been fake reviews because the camera isn’t very good at all. The app is even worse! The camera quality at night is particularly poor, the night light on the camera is also incredibly dim and small, to the point where it’s hardly worth having it on there. If the monitor loses WiFi the monitor doesn’t work at all and has a blank screen. You can’t even turn it off. It doesn’t work again until the battery dies which is quite a while, so there’s 1 positive! I don’t even know where to begin with the app...there is a huge delay of about 40 seconds with the app picking up sound compared to the monitor. Almost every time I try to open the app and/ or go to the live stream it says the camera isn’t ‘online’ when it is, meaning I have to open & close the app several times until it will connect. For how much this cost, it is most definitely not worth the money. Extremely disappointing.

Developer Response ,

Hi there, sorry you've been having issues with the app & hardware. I would recommend contacting our helpdesk on 0808 100 6554 or email smartcontrols@bt.com as they will be able to support troubleshooting the various issues you've been having.

Terrible for baby monitor

If I leave the app on in the background and try to open it up when I hear baby stir, the screen is always black and has loading dots on it for over a minute. It’s quicker to close the app entirely and reopen it. Even when I open the app initially, it takes >10 seconds to load the camera. It also shows a useless “quick view” when you first open which is a still shot of your baby sometime in the past- what use is that?!

Several times a week, the app just randomly tells me the camera is offline for no reason. Looking for tech support online just comes with “check your WiFi” even though there’s no WiFi issue and none of my other devices ever have WiFi problems. Turning the camera unit on and off doesn’t reset the issue on the app, you basically just have to wait until it decides to work again. Making it useless for monitoring a baby.