ecobee 4+

Easy To Use, Mostly Intuitive, Back End / API Rock Solid

App has been easy to use over the past 2 years. My only complaint is the rate at which the various sensors are updated. I have about 8 temp sensors around the house, and their reported values do seem to take a while to update after the app is opened. Other than that, the iOS app and web portal have been great. MUCH more granular than crappy Nest. Much more data available on the web portal. Glad to have switched, and will continue to use for the foreseeable future. Before buying, I read many reviews and negative feedback about backend/API downtime and reliability. I bought it anyway, and honestly in >2 years the platform has been inaccessible to me MAYBE three times? And for very short periods of time. That's not to say there hasn't been ANY downtime, or that it has impacted others more than me. But I open the application several times per day, and have had really minimal issues. Like I said, glad to have switched. A great product and app combination. Thanks 😁.

Great until it wasn’t

Update from original. They apparently fixed whatever problems and app is working fine again although I haven’t tried to reinstall the sensor. Still, I have a lot of smart home devices and apps. This product is the must troublesome. Biggest heartburn is that whenever there is a hiccup with my wifi, the ecobee products don’t reconnect automatically like all the others. I have to manually reconnect using device. Other than that happy with product.
My app starting popping up a screen that says one of my sensors is low on battery. I click ok and it says reconnected them comes right back and says low battery again. Changed the battery twice with no luck. The worst part is that I can’t get past that screen to do anything else. Can’t remove the sensor, change temp or anything, just see a screen with low battery warning. I went to desk top version and I can change temps and all, I removed that sensor from any thermostat setting on the desktop version but app still keeps popping up that screen. Freakin annoying as hell. Finally figured out how to unpair the sensor but that didn’t fix the problem. App still says low battery. The apps are totally worthless at this point as all I can do is see a screen that says sensor battery low. Infuriating to say the least. I wonder if the Nest product had these kind of issues

Developer Response ,

Sorry to hear this alert issue impacted you! We have fixed this bug and put measures in place to prevent it from happening in the future.

Good Thermostat, Okay App, Bad Filter Service

Overall I give the product and services four stars. The thermostat itself functions well. I have no complaints about the device. The app leaves some things to be desired. You can get lost easily in menus and have difficulty remembering where they place each function. The app has been built up over time and could use some spring cleaning and reorganizing. I will also admit that the most recent app update removed all the iconic bee interfaces and replaced them with boring ‘e’ symbols. It definitely shows the device is going mainstream and is killing its unique brand history in the process. That aside beware of the in-app subscription service. They now offer filters direct however, and this is a big however, the filters contain no labeling and I can tell you from first hand experience they do not appear to met the MERV ratings you are paying for. I ordered MERV 13 and based on appearance alone, it’s a MERV 7 fabric at best. I advised Ecobee of this and they didn’t even apologize or offer to fix it. There is clearly no satisfaction guarantee or customer resolution practice. All I was told is that they would pass my concerns along. So buyer beware. The devices are good, the app is functional but leaves some to be desired, and the in-app filter service is suspicious and likely fraudulent at this time.