Rain Bird vs GaugeWatcher
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
GaugeWatcher
Access real-time river flow data without needing an account or encountering advertisements. Discover nearby gauges, monitor flow rates, and save your preferred locations for quick access.
- Real-time river flow data
- Discover nearby gauges
- Check flow rates
- Bookmark favorite gauges
- No signup required
- Ad-free experience
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Simple river flow data. No signup required. No ads. No fluff. Find nearby gauges, check flow rates, bookmark favorites. That's it.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: GaugeWatcher at 100% against Rain Bird's 31%. GaugeWatcher also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Rain Bird's advantage is ratings volume (70K vs 3) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
GaugeWatcher holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Rain Bird has 70K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 31% of Rain Bird's written reviews are positive against 100% of GaugeWatcher's.
Rain Bird ships an update every 2 months, GaugeWatcher weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Rain Bird | GaugeWatcher |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (70K ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 31.2% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 70K — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 48 MB | 37 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Rain Bird Corporation | Andrew Althage |
Customer experience
Rain Bird
GaugeWatcher
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
GaugeWatcher
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Rain Bird
No in-app purchases
GaugeWatcher
No in-app purchases
