Philips Sonicare 4+

The app often does not recognize where in the mouth you are brushing. For example, in touch up, where the zone inside is yellow, I am brushing on the inside, yet the app is highlighting the outside area that is already a clean white. I can appreciate if the device does not think that I have brushed adequately, but when it does not register that any brushing has taken place, it is quite frustrating. Called technical support and went through a series of resets with no improvement. They then sent a new handle (under warranty), but still having same issues. It is a great concept and very good incentive to good oral care, I just wish that the bugs could get sorted out! Firmware and app are both up to date...
This is an update to previous review. The solution to my problem was found in another review—-the toothbrush must be level for the feedback to the app to be accurate. The only way to achieve this is to have the phone mounted in front of you on the mirror. My husband’s Oral B toothbrush came with this mount, which he does not use. It works like a charm and should be part of the package when buying the brush along with instructions to mount the phone and keep the toothbrush level! I would give this 5 stars, if the mount were included.

Ultimately, this app does exactly what it’s supposed to - provide paced brushing routine to help achieve a better clean and market other Sonicare products to the consumer. My gripe is that this app seems like an afterthought rather than a priority to the brand. Firstly, it has been almost 6 months since the release of the iPhone X and yet, there has been no update to the user interface to complement this device.

Next, from my experience with my DiamondClean 9700, it seems that there is only communication in one direction (brush -> app), not the other way around. When everything goes according to plan, the usage of the app is clean and polished. The issue is when completing a touch up - the app will day “All Done” but the brush will continue a regular cleaning without a care in the world what the app thinks. Also, why doesn’t the whitening cycle allow for extra cleaning? Once it’s done, it’ll complain about missed spots but provide no way to retouch these areas. This could be fixed if the app could control the brush.

Finally, I wish there was a way for the brush to log cleanings when the app isn’t open and then transfer that information on the next app connect. I’m not sure if it’s a memory constraint within the brush, but having offline logging would be great for those times when it is inconvenient to go grab the phone.

This app is good but it has the potential to be so much better. The biggest issue I have with it is that the “tips” really have absolutely nothing to do with the user’s behavior. I got this brush in September and started using it in the middle of a week. The first week I started using it I started on a wednesday. That means that since then, the only “tip” I ever get is it says I only brush my teeth once a day and it shows my average at 1.4 times a day….because on week one I didnt use it the first three days. In other words, IT NEVER UPDATES based on user feedback. That part is a big fake….it is trying to make you think it is updating based on the user’s use…but I have brushed my teeth two even three and four times a day since that first week and yet the “tip” shows me that I should brush my teeth more than once a day and the average has never updated past 1.4 times (based on that first week). I even attempted to reset the data and that proved impossible. The tips seems
to only be there to make you think its monitoring your individual behavior but it isn’t…its just there to capture data and sell brush heads. I wouldnt have an issue with that if it was accurate but the fact that it’s inaccurate makes it pretty lame. The app should definitely be improved.