Pool Care by Swim University User Reviews

Customer Experience

Positive experience52.6% of reviews
Neutral10.5% of reviews
Negative experience36.8% of reviews

~ Based on 19 written reviews from the US App Store.

Is Pool Care by Swim University Safe?

Pool Care by Swim University appears safe based on user ratings. AppsHunter Safety Score for Pool Care by Swim University is 90/100.

This assessment is based on 169 user ratings, with an App Store average of 4.6/5.

Safety Analysis

89.3% of ratings point to a safe experience
4.7% of ratings suggest some concerns
5.9% of ratings point to a risky experience

~ Based on 169 App Store ratings for Pool Care by Swim University.

Is Pool Care by Swim University Legit?

Pool Care by Swim University appears to be a legitimate app. AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for Pool Care by Swim University is 85/100.

Based on 85 of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data.

Top reviews

Overpriced

Don’t waste your money. 7 day trial and then $50 a year is overpriced. Pool Math app does the same thing for $7.99 a year. SU videos are great, but they are free on YouTube. If they were more reasonably priced I would use it but where it stands now it’s just a rip off.

Response from developer

I appreciate the feedback here. I think PoolMath is a good alternative. However, they force you to follow their strict rules for what TroubleFreePool thinks about pool care. It's not very flexible. For example, the only sanitizer settings you can pick are liquid chlorine and salt water. There are many other options and should be made available to all pool owners. I think I have a lot to learn from this feedback to improve our app to make it worth well over $50/year. Currently our app provides all the same features as Pool Math, plus live chat support, and exclusive library of video/article content (and growing), flexible and customizable pool care treatments and plans. All with the goal of helping pool owners stay on track and save money. As you pointed out, our teams creates FREE videos on YouTube and all social media platforms every week. Plus, we write and update all the free guides on our website. This is all possible because of the products we sell and maintain. As the owner of Swim University, I'm singularly focused on providing the best products and content about taking care of a pool. That's my only job and I'm very proud of that. I hope one day you consider trying our app as it continues to get better every week. And if you every have a question, feel free to reach out via email or the app and I'll be there to help you personally. Thank you for the feedback. I will do my best to make sure we continue pumping out free videos and articles.

Best App out there!

This app is so easy to use. My water is so clear and blue because of this app that my friends believe I just dye my water blue 😆. Their chat as well as the customer service is top notch! They will answer every question and take into consideration any app suggestions you make. Ask me how I know? They’re actually creating one of my suggestions as we speak and I have asked many questions and have received replies and they follow up also. I would suggest this app for all pool owners. Matt is very knowledgeable and I read his book from cover to cover. Do yourself a favor and download this app and subscribe. His videos are also top notch and easy to follow and understand!
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Great App - Highly recommend

I highly recommend this app to help with pool care for the following reasons.

1. Simple, easy, and intuitive to use.
2. Unlike other pool care apps they are not trying to sell you any chemicals. They are just trying to help you properly maintain your pool.
3. They do not track or sell any of your data. That alone is worth the price for this app.
4. If you still have questions they readily respond to all inquiries.

Like a lot of things, pool care has evolved over the years. These folks have a great book that explains everything from the most basic components to the more subtle aspects of maintaining a pool.

We have a new pool with UV/ozone device that in theory will require us to use fewer chemicals. This app allows us to adjust the settings to accommodate for that device and they were very helpful explaining the settings that I need to use, which are not standard.

In a world of big business, and data collection, it feels good to support a small family owned business. Yes, there are other pool care apps out there, and many are free. But if choose to support this business I don’t think you will regret it. You will get a personalized response to any and all questions and they just genuinely seem like nice folks. Give them a chance.
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Peace of mind

So far I’m still on my seven day trial and I must say, balancing the water and understanding pool chemistry using this app is fantastic. All the instructions whether they are written or in the videos are all easy to understand and the steps are easy to follow with confidence. Love,love, love this app!
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So good!

I thought the app would just help me after I typed in my numbers … but they responded when I needed help! I love the app and I have the book and I love his channel and our pool, if I may say , is clear for first time in long time! (We got rid of bad pool guy) . But these people are awesome and couldn’t be happier
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So easy to use

I love how easy it is to enter my tests and know what chemicals to add without being sold a bunch of stuff I probably don’t need.

Help When Needed!

I really like having someone available to clarify any questions I may have pertaining to my pool needs. Last year when we used the app, we found it extremely helpful in keeping our pool chemicals balanced, and not having to rely on what a pool company told us. We love your advice on how to cut cost of using alternative chemicals as opposed to having to buy what the pool store offers such as using baking soda, instead of alkalinity plus.

I appreciate the easy accessibility of the videos that you have linked under how we can help. This is the first year in 18 years that we have scrubbed the sides of our pool prior to adding our chemicals. It has not even been 24 hours and our pool looks amazing!

Millie Steed
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Response from developer

Wow! I love hearing this! Thank you so much for the positive feedback. Let us know in the app if there's anything we can do to make caring for your pool even EASIER! - Matt

Wanted to like it but

I really wanted to like this app but my current app does more. I can track when I vacuum and when I scrub the walls and clean the salt cell and it’s much less expensive. Overall it’s pretty good but price and functionality win out.

Response from developer

Hey, this is Matt, and I really appreciate this feedback. Right now, we are focused on making the water testing feature the best it can possibly be. Then we will be adding maintenance tracking as well. It is definitely on our list, and we'll be getting to it early in 2026.

I finally know what the pool needs now

I understand pool care now!! This app makes everything SO easy. The fact that I can type in test results and it tells me EXACTLY what to add to the water is incredible. I was getting tired of guessing. Or messing up. Also I feel like it’s worth buying an app instead of using the free options out there because the other apps constantly sell you things. Looks like Swim University made a lot of updates to fix bugs in the last year, so I have no problems. The app keeps getting better and better. And if you reach out with a question, Matt or someone will ACTUALLY RESPOND. That’s really comforting customer service.
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Response from developer

I'm so glad to hear this! Thank you so much for leaving a review. This is Matt, and we worked really hard on making this app extremely user-friendly, and it turns out that it was worth all the extra effort. If there is anything else we can do to make this better, please let us know. We'll chat with you inside the app.

Useless without a PAID subscription!

Do not waste your time downloading it. There are NO FREE features available without a PAID subscription. Once you download this app, your only option is to sign up for their services!

Response from developer

Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback. You're right that our app requires a small annual subscription. We're upfront about this because everything inside represents years of work and expertise that we continue to update and improve with a tiny team (2 people). The subscription helps us keep real humans working on the app, adding new content and features, rather than filling it with ads or selling your data. That said, I totally understand it's not what you were looking for, and I appreciate you giving it a shot. If you ever decide pool care education is worth the investment, we'd love to have you back!

Makes the learning curve easy

This app has been great for me, being brand new to owning a pool. The information is easy to absorb and it gives you everything you need while staying out of the weeds. Treatment plans are super easy to understand and follow. The only thing I can think of to make it better is offering product suggestions. I already kind of does this with the treatment plans, but different brands might call it something different. Overall, great app. Absolutely would recommend.
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Awesome help

I was struggling with the app. After several emails back and forth with SU I was still struggling. The owner then put together and very detailed video addressing my issues. This completely helped me understand and I am 100% happy with the app. The app was fine all along, it was me that struggled. I highly recommend this app!
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In accurate, must use sliders, not worth the money

Sliders on the app will not give you an accurate amount, so you even either have to adjust up or down. Also I have 401 for calcium hardness and this said that I need to drain my pool halfway! Calcium hardness according to some of the test strips that I have can be up as high as 450 or 500. I agreed to a seven day test., I don’t want this app and this is day one.
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Response from developer

The sliders are just ONE way to enter your results quickly. To be more accurate, click the sliders to enter the EXACT reading number. You can go as high as you want. Also, our app suggests partially draining and refilling the pool with fresh water because that's the only way to lower calcium hardness in a pool. This is good feedback. It tells me that I need to do a better job at adding more educational videos on how to use the app. - Matt

Not good

This is just a money grab from a YouTuber. Take your water to your local pool supply store, they will test it for FREE.

It’s a good start, but not there yet

I love Swim University and watch all of their videos. It’s where I learned 90% of how to care for our saltwater pool. I had high hopes for this app. While it’s a good start, it’s no where near the other app that I already subscribe to. I’ll definitely revisit when they build it out more but for now I’m canceling my free trial and sticking with my current app. I will keep learning from their newsletters and videos though. Swim University is the best training out there!
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Response from developer

Thank you for trying the app. I would love to know where the app fell short and what features we could add to get it there. But I'm glad you've found our content helpful. And I promise to continue improving the app every single week. We'd love to have you back. - Matt

Simple

App keeps it very easy. Make sure to enter your pool's volume when you start.

Response from developer

Love this! And your review highlighted something I think we can improve (entering pool volume). So, thank you for leaving this ;-) - Matt

Just downloaded and tried … history?

So, I tested my chemicals and added per recommendations. I waited awhile after adding, tested again but I can’t find the history of the measurements themselves from earlier in the day. Just the recommendations. Are the actual numbers that I inputted in there? Kind of thinking I should’ve waited before pulling the trigger $. Will update as needed.
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Response from developer

Great feedback! We've added this feature. You can now see the history of all your tests and their readings on the main dashboard.

Not great

While the appears good initially, I quickly found out it limits your options on how to treat your water.

Response from developer

Thanks for the feedback! We're currently working on this feature and it should be shipped this month. The app will allow you to choose which chemicals you'd like to use to adjust your water chemistry. If there are any other limitations you found, please let me know so I can get them added our feature set in the future.

Lots of math

App seemed good when I previewed it. I subscribed and used it. It suggested to raise my pH that I use 23 pounds of a powder material— which is not available in my area. I have always used liquid muriatic acid to adjust pH. That is not an option in this app. I even checked settings to see if you could change it. The conversion of their recommended product to muriatic acid was unwieldy.
I took a sample of my water to a pool store and several of the app’s recommendations were in the ball park- two of the recommendations were way out in left field.
I have cancelled my subscription already.
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Response from developer

This is honestly great feedback! In fact, we've started developing a feature that allows you to choose your chemical preferences when you test your pool. We're still in the early stages of develop. So feedback like yours is important. We're also tweaking the calculations to make it more accurate every week. I hope in a few months when we launch all these new updates, you'll give our app a second chance. Again, appreciate you taking the time to leave a written review. Happy Swimming! -Matt from Swim University