# Emerald — user reviews > 106 indexed App Store user reviews of Emerald by EMERALD PLANET ENVIRONMENTAL PTY LTD, rated 1.00/5 from 2 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/emerald/id1561759351/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/emerald/id1561759351.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 0 · 4★ 0 · 3★ 0 · 2★ 0 · 1★ 2 ## What do users think of Emerald? Overall sentiment: negative **Pros** - 👍 Real-time electricity consumption monitoring - 💰 Helps identify cost-saving opportunities - 📊 Basic functionality works for tracking usage - 🆓 Free or subsidized installation - ➕ Add household members feature available **Cons** - 🐛 Frequent app crashes and freezes - 📡 Bluetooth connectivity issues and limited range - 🔌 High battery drain on mobile devices - ⏱️ Slow data syncing and connection times - 🔐 Persistent login and authentication problems - ❌ Smart Actions unreliable or non-functional - ⚙️ Limited tariff structure options (only peak/off-peak) - 🚫 No WiFi connectivity option - 📉 Data not updating or syncing properly - 😤 Poor customer support and unresponsive help - 🔧 Inability to manually adjust settings - 🎨 Poor UI/UX design and tiny text - 📱 Incompatible with iPad and multi-device usage - 💥 App crashes when accessing specific features **Commonly reported bugs** - App crashes on startup or when opening specific features - Smart Actions stop working after updates - Bluetooth connection drops frequently - Data not syncing or updating after certain dates - Login failures and forced logouts - OTP (One-Time Password) delivery delays - Energy consumption data showing incorrect values - Heat pump controls showing disconnected when device is connected - Livelink setup stuck on 'configuring' screen - App crashes when selecting Electricity Adviser - Temperature adjustment feature removed after update - Smart Actions button unclickable - Electricity Advisor won't open or display data - App hangs and becomes unresponsive - Bluetooth not visible to device despite being paired - Data fetching stopped after July 31, 2025 - Reverse cycle AC controller library missing - App loses product data after reinstall - iOS 17 compatibility issues **Most requested features** - Support for 3-tier and multi-tier tariff structures - WiFi connectivity instead of Bluetooth only - Advanced smart actions with conditional triggers - Ability to set mode (boost/silent) in smart actions - Scheduled automation based on water temperature/capacity - API access for third-party integrations - Temperature adjustment controls for heat pump - Solar panel production monitoring - Larger, more readable text and improved UI - Per-second or 10-minute granularity reporting - Server-side smart action processing - Support for free electricity periods (solar sponge plans) - Ability to change peak/off-peak times manually - Battery replacement notifications - Dark mode and improved visual design - Monthly power usage tracking in kWh - Grid export monitoring for solar users - Thermostat temperature scheduling - Better graph visualization with clear day delineation ## Newest reviews (15 of 106) ### 3/5 — Great app, but needs better support for 3/4-tier EV Tariff structures *2026-06-29* I really love using this app to track my home energy costs! However, I encountered an issue when trying to update my electricity rates. My current electricity provider (OVO Energy in Victoria) uses a dedicated EV plan which splits the day into 4 intervals (Super Off-Peak, Off-Peak daytime, Peak, Peak and Off-Peak evening). When I select "Peak/Off Peak" or "Custom" in the app, it only provides 2 text fields (Peak and Off-Peak), which makes it impossible for me to accurately enter my 3 or 4 different tier rates (such as the $0.05 Super Off-Peak and $0.28 Shoulder rates). It would be amazing if the development team could add a "Shoulder" rate field or allow users to add custom time slots manually. This would make the cost calculations much more accurate for EV owners. Thank you for the great work and looking forward to future updates! ### 2/5 — Use the app as last option *2026-02-03, version 2.7.0* Months of feedback and nothing really solved or improved. Update, not gonna send feedbacks anymore considering you even closed the ticket as resolved while…. ### 3/5 — Smart Actions stopped working *2026-01-09, version 2.7.0* I had smart action setup to utilise my free electricity time from 11am to 2pm. It was fine until probably new update. I don’t check the app regularly and today suddenly I realise that the heat pump was turned off since last 3 days. I tried to re setup smart action but still no luck. Did not trigger at all. Pretty frustrated with this new update ### 3/5 — Useless device *2025-11-09, version 2.6.8* The app seems fine to me but using Bluetooth to connect to the device seems silly especially it is outside the house. The app can’t maintain the connection for an obvious reason with Bluetooth limited range. This device does not allow me to view the power consumption from anywhere anytime. Update — I feel unfair to give 1 star for the app review when the issue is actually with the device Bluetooth connectivity so I changed the review to 3 star. Update Nov 2025 Couple of annoying things - inability to change peak/off peaks times period in the app. It was hard coded. Inability to change battery. ( which are regular AA ) ### 3/5 — Smart actions, could be smarter *2025-09-12, version 2.6.5* I use this with my emerald heat pump hot water system. One of the issues i have with it is that I can’t do any kind of scheduled action on it. Ideally i’d like to have an automation that does something like this. When hot water capacity is below 40% put the system in boost mode, and turn off the boost mode when it’s at 80%. This is to be an active automation for whole day during weekdays and during weekends it should only be active during mornings. If this kind of functionality gets added and works perfect, this app would be a lot more useful! ### 3/5 — Please provide an API *2025-08-13* Hi Emerald. Your app is useful for tracking how things are going while out of home. However, there is a number of problems that makes it frustrating as a cold shower at times. Looks like the “smart actions” rely on my handheld device status, this is, that if my phone is off or in low power mode the system will not trigger an action such as turning on the water heat-pump at the time of the day I wanted it to do it. Please consider taking steps to perform these task within your servers remotely or **even better**, publish an API for your appliances so they can be directly controlled within the local network. Really, if I end up having to get a cheap programmer to control your smart device to be able to have hot showers every day it would be bad. ### 3/5 — Smart action options limited *2025-08-12, version 2.6.3* While the app allows smart actions to schedule on and off for our heat pump, it doesn’t give me the option to specify either “silent” or “boost” modes. You can only change the mode after the heat pump has started. I schedule our heat pump to start at midnight to take advantage of the ofc peak rates, but want it to come on in silent mode overnight. There needs to be a way of specifying the mode in the smart actions setting. ### 2/5 — App issue after July 31 2025 *2025-08-04, version 2.6.3* I can still see the heat pump capacity and water temperature. Also able turn pump on/off from app. However since 31/07 all the data for energy consumption and water temperature stopped updating in app. I’ve tried updating to latest version as well as reinstall but still these data are not flowing through. ### 2/5 — Can’t connect on iPad *2025-07-04, version 2.6.2* There’s an error with connecting safelink to app on iPad. Doesn’t work. Had to connect with iPhone which worked. Annoying for my customers who use iPad only. ### 2/5 — Reverse cycle AC controller library *2025-06-26, version 2.6.2* The reverse ducted AC controller library has not been added to the application to connect the wall controller to the AC link. As a result, i can not use solar soaker automation and can not turn the AC through the application and can not do any automation at all with the ducted reverse heater/cooling. ### 3/5 — Pls gap needed between 11:59pm and 12am this morning *2025-06-17* Lots of things I don’t like. Chief atm is no obvious delineation for the days 11:59 pm directly connects to 12 am… Even though they are exactly 24 hours apart from each other… Not one minute No need to copy exactly what PayPal does (even though PayPal is much better in this regard.) .. make it like a spiral or something where 1159 is higher and 12 am is slightly lower so you get the idea at 12 am is getting further away… as it is the oldest point in the day Writing is still too tiny Clicking on the graph and only being able to see information for a whole hour is super annoying. Would love to be able to see how much kilowatts are used in every individual bar shown. (10min) Only one colour in the app makes it quite boring ### 3/5 — It’s not working again *2025-06-02, version 2.6.2* Crashes as soon as you try to access data. ### 3/5 — Good app, but more smart actions needed! *2025-03-21* Good app, but can developers please introduce more “make sense” smart actions, such as scheduled triggers for activation and deactivation of Boost / Silent modes for the heat hot water pump. The only trigger available is on/off of the heat pump. Problem is, for 270L heat pump Residential use if you don’t run Boost mode or forget to run it in the evening, hot water in the cylinder runs out very very quickly. But if there were smart actions activating scheduled Boost mode for 4-5hrs and then switching it back to Silent mode, and creating cadence for certain days of the week- that would greatly help. ### 2/5 — Keeps logging me out *2025-03-17, version 2.5.9* Last few weeks it keeps logging me out even tho I don’t close it off and have it set to always on. It then won’t let me log back in. The last time it took 24hrs before I could open it. That was last week and it just done it to me again. What’s the use of having it if I can’t access it whenever I want to. ### 2/5 — Same problem happened again and again *2025-03-17, version 2.5.9* Very disappointed with the same problem repeated. The log in failed again and again . They fixed and worked for two days then it happened again. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — No custom rate options… *2026-08-03* This app is amazing if your on a standard plan, but if you have NO OPTIONS to update the plan type and times if your retailer offers something different. This makes this product and app inaccurate for the very thing your trying to measure. If your serious about giving people insights into electrical usage you would update this feature. I first raised this issue with customer care 1-2 years ago, moved to power shop who provided daily usage data so I didn’t worry about it, changed to AGL which has a very different setup and nothings changed in Emerald the 12 months I was away. Poor form guys…. **Developer response:** Hi, Thanks for reaching out. Our tariff times are updated based off the latest available tariff structures in your area. If this is not accurate for you, you may be on a recessed structure which is not available in our app. Please Contact us here if you would like to find out more information: https://emeraldhome.com.au/contact-us/ ### 1/5 — The app doesn’t work for solar panels *2026-01-26, version 2.7.0* The app doesn’t show the production of electricity by solar panels, Bluetooth doesn’t connect well, even close to the device. ### 1/5 — Smart actions don’t work *2026-01-14, version 2.7.0* The smart actions to turn on and off the heat pump are unreliable. Ive set the unit to heat during the day and shut off when off peak power ends. I’ve just noticed the heat pump has ignored all smart actions for the past couple of weeks and its been heating at night. Useless. The support is some useless AI that send you to equally useless support articles. Dont buy if you want something smart. It does heat the water though. This is not a tech company. Do not expect good tech. ### 1/5 — Buggy and outdated all *2025-07-12, version 2.6.3* This have the potential to become a great app but need work. it has bug and the app js laggy. But the graphical presentation is not user friendly, using a 12 hours clock to display 24 hours data is dumb idea, also a lot of electricity retailer have more than two off peak rate, this does not give the option to update the pack off peak time, also need be able to additional off peak rate as retailer like Ovo provides. ### 1/5 — Not so smart *2025-06-08, version 2.6.2* Very disappointed with the lack of support from the team, the app is just taking up space in the phone,it doesn’t have any use whatsoever, doesn’t even show the Heatpump capacity or control. ### 1/5 — Not Working *2025-05-22, version 2.6.1* Worked for several years then just could not connect. Deleted and reinstalled with new account. Now cannot even find information about how to get the App to work. Not at all clear anywhere. So deleted account and App. Life is too short. ### 1/5 — Emerald connectivity *2025-03-31, version 2.5.9* Bad connection. Has not been able to connect for several months. Nothing seems to work. Very poor. ### 1/5 — Worst App Ever *2025-03-21* Decent enough heat pump, but you can only control the heat pump via the app, and the app is next to useless. ‘Smart Actions’ allow user to set times for heating and times to not (ie peak power cost periods) don’t work. I regularly find my heat pump on during the most expensive times despite not one but two ‘Smart Actions’ to turn heat pump off during these periods (I tried a second Smart Action to turn off heat pump when the first stopped working). Restarted phone and made sure app was up to date as per instructions (it was up to date), but app is still useless. Emerald have no interest. I tried to contact them via their webpage, and their contact us link doesn’t work. They just want to sell another unit to the next sucker. Stay away from this company, or become the next sucker ### 1/5 — App crashing *2025-03-17, version 2.5.9* The app is crashing all the time. The smart actions set for my heat pump is now deleted automatically. Customer support is saying they are working on it for the last week or more. Dont bother using. I regret buying their heat pump also and wouldn’t recommend anyone to buy it too. ### 1/5 — Rubbish *2025-03-11, version 2.5.9* App always has problems. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Works for finding my bill info *2022-10-26, version 2.1.2* It was free so wasn’t sure, but was able to give me valuable info on my spending before my bill came ### 5/5 — Helped me lower my bills *2022-06-24, version 1.2.2* This is a great tool to see your energy consumption in real time. I’ve managed to cut down on my bill just by running my appliances in off peak times as opposed to peak. Very happy. ### 5/5 — A dream come true *2022-02-28, version 1.1.8* Emerald EMS has allowed me and my partner to drop our electricity rates by 85%. I couldn’t be more grateful to the production team behind this service, it has shown us how to put our 6 year old through school. It has saved us so much money. We could never imagine the help it could give us. THANK YOU EMERALD EMS! ### 4/5 — Great products backed with a basic app. *2025-10-02, version 2.6.7* Started with the heat pump and jumped in with the electricity adviser and livelink, the app is basic but has everything you need and generally works well. My one big Wishlist is third party control to create automations. Good job team excited to see what more you can do ### 4/5 — No support for 3 tiered tariffs *2025-07-23, version 2.6.3* Handy app for monitoring real time electricity usage in an easy to digest format. However, one limitation is there’s no support for tariff schemes more complex than a simple peak/off peak. Our electricity retailer has a 3 tier tariff scheme, with peak, off peak and a “super off peak” (ie free) period in the middle of the day. Without this support, it is impossible to get actual electricity costs from the Emerald app. ### 4/5 — Need real smart actions *2025-06-24, version 2.6.2* The app works well for what it does now. However it needs better smart actions that are more than turning on or off. I would like to be able to set the thermostat temperature depending on time of day. ### 4/5 — Good app but please add this feature. *2025-05-21, version 2.6.1* Hi Emerald, for the Smart action feature. It would be great if you can add new trigger for the Heat Pump, such as when water temperature or hot water capacity is below a certain point, action to run booster mode (not just turning on or off). This will be super useful and is the only use case for me which is currently and sadly not available. ### 4/5 — Almost there *2025-05-13* Compared to the PowerPal I used to have, this one's almost as good, though I'd love to「precisely 」see the amount of wattage used at a specific time instead of the total amount within this one hour. The graph in the first tab of the Electricity Advisor; it brings up two cross line reference but no info on the exact wattage and time, you'd have to eyeball it from the X and Y axis and estimate. The app focuses a lot on displaying the costs but if I (and all of us) could have access to seeing the precise information, it will be perfect and would live up to being a real energy monitor. ### 4/5 — Needs update for solar sponge *2023-12-31, version 2.5.3* The app isn't bad, but it needs an update to support plans where the energy is free for a certain part of the day, which various energy companies sell in Victoria now. Without this, my cost data is wrong every day. ### 4/5 — surpassed expectations. *2023-09-10* Hey it’s free and it has surpassed expectations. My husband and I are now oddly obsessed with looking at our electricity use. We can finally settle our debate about which heater uses the most electricity. Only issue is that we were told by the installer that for a second person to use it they could just scan the box and enter the first person’s ID/password. This worked but my husband often had issues when trying to see usage while it works perfectly for me. Me turning off Bluetooth resolved it so it seems two devices and one account is the issue. If they could fix this or look to use wifi in the future, that would be ace. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-01.*