Rain Bird vs Powder Watts
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Rain Bird
Control your sprinklers remotely from your mobile device. Automate watering schedules and adjust for weather conditions to conserve water and reduce costs. Compatible with various Rain Bird controller models.
- Remote sprinkler control
- Customizable watering schedules
- Automated weather adjustments
- Water and money saving
- Controller model compatibility
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Smart Watering Made Simple. Connect your Rain Bird controller to your mobile device to turn on sprinklers, set up customized watering schedules, and automate weather adjustments, saving you water and money. Compatible with the following Rain Bird controller models: ST8-WIFI ESP-TM2 ESP-RZXe ESP-Me ESP-ME3 RC2 ARC8 For more information: http://wifi.rainbird.com 1-800-RAINBIRD
Powder Watts
This app uses patented smart camera technology to monitor and control roof heat cables, preventing unnecessary energy use and potential damage. It leverages computer vision and thermal imagery to activate cables only when needed, saving money and reducing environmental impact.
- Patented smart camera monitoring
- Heat cable usage control
- Winter condition risk detection
- Energy cost savings
- Environmental impact reduction
- Computer vision technology
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Why Powder Watts Patented Technology? Taking proven smart camera computer vision technology to monitor and control heat cables on roofs during Winter. With vision, we know. Stop unnecessary and costly guesswork with Heat Cables. Patented smart camera monitoring of unnecessary heat cable usage. Why: Heat cables cost a lot to run – both in money and environmental impact. Heat cables draw so much power they typically double to quadruple the electric usage of the structure they protect! How it works: Utilizing the same smart camera technology we see in collision avoidance for cars, thermal imagery for first responders and smart software messaging, the Powder Watts system is able to accurately detect when you are most at risk of roof damage from winter conditions and efficiently turn on and off your heat cable systems at the optimal times.
Screenshots
Verdict
Rain Bird and Powder Watts both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 79% of Powder Watts's written reviews are positive against 31% of Rain Bird's. Rain Bird's advantage is ratings volume (79K vs 16) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.1). On price, rating, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Rain Bird holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Rain Bird has 79K ratings behind it against 16, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 31% of Rain Bird's written reviews are positive against 79% of Powder Watts's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Rain Bird ships an update every 2 months, Powder Watts every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Rain Bird | Powder Watts |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (79K ratings) — better | 4.5 (16 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 31.2% of reviews | 78.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 79K — better | 16 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 48 MB | 39 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Rain Bird Corporation | Powder Watts |
Customer experience
Rain Bird
Powder Watts
Bugs and requests
Rain Bird
Reported bugs
5 issues- Constant connection errors
- App crashes frequently
- Date/time not syncing correctly
- Seasonal adjustment not working as expected
- Manual controls not functioning properly
Requested features
6 requests- Add water usage history and analytics
- Allow pausing of individual zones
- Improve manual control options
- Add weather integration and smart scheduling
- Improve notification system
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- Add ability to turn off entire system remotely
Powder Watts
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Rain Bird
No in-app purchases
Powder Watts
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Rain Bird free?
Is Powder Watts free?
Which has better reviews, Rain Bird or Powder Watts?
Do Rain Bird or Powder Watts have ads?
Which is updated more often, Rain Bird or Powder Watts?
Other comparisons
