Comparison

Pool Time ClearPool Expert™ vs Pool Math by TroubleFreePool

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Pool Time ClearPool Expert™

This app provides expert water analysis for your swimming pool using test strips or kits. It offers personalized maintenance plans, reminders, and troubleshooting tips to keep your pool clean and swim-ready. You can also add recommended products to a shopping cart for purchase.

Highlights
  • Expert water analysis with test strips or kits
  • Personalized pool maintenance plans
  • Maintenance reminders
  • Water analysis history
  • Troubleshooting common pool problems
  • Add products to shopping cart
Features
Read full description

The Pool Time ClearPool Expert™ Water Testing app helps you keep your pool swim-ready all season long! Features include: • FREE Rapid expert water analysis when - Testing with ClearPool Expert™ 6-Way Test Strips - Testing with any reagent Liquid or DPD test kit - Troubleshooting common water problems • Add products to shopping cart and checkout at Homedepot.com • Easy to read Water Analysis History in graph form • Personalized Pool Plan that calculates seasonal, monthly and weekly product needs • Personalized Maintenance Reminders to help you keep your pool balanced & pristine • Reference information on general Pool Maintenance • Tips on how to treat or prevent Common Problems • Text, Email or Print Treatment Plan and Shopping List PLEASE NOTE: This Pool Time ClearPool™ Expert App is only compatible with the Pool Time™ ClearPool Expert™ Test Strips, which can be purchased at your local Home Depot®. To find your nearest Home Depot®, visit PoolTime.com If you have questions or problems with the app or your water analysis, contact us at 1-800-252-POOL for help.

About

Pool Math by TroubleFreePool

Easily manage your swimming pool's water chemistry by tracking key levels like chlorine and pH. This app calculates the precise amounts of chemicals needed to maintain clear, algae-free water, offering a cost-effective alternative to pool store advice.

Highlights
  • Chemical level calculators (pH, Chlorine, Alkalinity, etc.)
  • Track pool maintenance tasks
  • Log chemical additions
  • Weather condition tracking
  • Chemical addition effect calculations
  • Bleach price comparison
  • Data backup and export
Features
Read full description

PoolMath makes swimming pool care, maintenance and management easy by tracking chlorine, pH, alkalinity and other levels to help calculate how much salt, bleach and other chemicals to add. Keep swimming in your TroubleFreePool with Pool Math. Crystal clear algae free pool water is what Trouble Free Pool Math is committed to. Pool Math performs all the calculations you need to keep your chlorine, pH, calcium, alkalinity, and stabilizer levels balanced. Why choose Pool Math over the others? Other apps claim to make testing easy by using test strips and your phone's camera. Unfortunately, this is simply too good to be true. Test strips are notoriously inaccurate and end up costing you much more money in both chemicals and the tests themselves in the long run. Trouble Free Pool believes using a proper test kit is much easier, effective, and economical in the long run. By following these calculations the pool owner achieves and maintains crystal clear water without reliance on the often unproductive advice and unneeded expense from pool stores. Pool Math's great features include: • Calculators for pH, Free Chlorine, Calcium Hardness, Salt, Total Alkalinity, Calcium Hardness, Borates, CSI • Track Maintenance: Backwashing, Vacuuming, Filter Cleaning, Filter Pressure, SWG Cell %, Flow Rate • Track Chemical Additions • Track Weather conditions with your logs • Calculate the Effects of Adding chemicals to your pool • Bleach Price Calculator - Find the best deals on bleach easily • Summary page to see an overview of test results and chemical additions • Data backup / Export Premium Subscribers get access to these additional features: • Unlimited Test Log History Storage • Maintenance Reminders • Cloud Sync/Backup • Sync across multiple devices • Unlimited Pool / Spa Configurations • Test Log CSV Import / Export Pool Math Premium Subscription details: • Auto-renewable subscription • 1 year for $7.99 USD • Your subscription will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase and will automatically renew (at the duration of 1 year) unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. • Current subscription may not be cancelled during the active subscription period; however, you can manage your subscription and/or turn off auto-renewal by visiting your iTunes Account Settings after purchase. • Privacy Policy & Terms of Use: http://poolmathapp.com/privacy/

Screenshots

Pool Time ClearPool Expert™4 screens
Pool Math by TroubleFreePool4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Pool Time ClearPool Expert™ at 4.7 against Pool Math by TroubleFreePool's 3.7. Pool Time ClearPool Expert™ also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ratings volume (5.3K vs 272). Pool Math by TroubleFreePool's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 8 months) and review sentiment (63% vs 42%). On price, ads and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Pool Math by TroubleFreePool sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $7.99 per year. Pool Time ClearPool Expert™ asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Pool Time ClearPool Expert™ holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pool Time ClearPool Expert™ has 5.3K ratings behind it against 272, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 42% of Pool Time ClearPool Expert™'s written reviews are positive against 63% of Pool Math by TroubleFreePool's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pool Time ClearPool Expert™ ships an update every 8 months, Pool Math by TroubleFreePool fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Pool Time ClearPool Expert™ versus Pool Math by TroubleFreePool: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPool Time ClearPool Expert™Pool Math by TroubleFreePool
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (5.3K ratings) — better3.7 (272 ratings)
Positive reviews42.4% of reviews63.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings5.3K — better272
Update frequencyEvery 8 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size27 MB314 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBioLab, Inc.TroubleFreePool

Customer experience

Pool Time ClearPool Expert™

All ratings5,257 ratings
Positive93.9%
Neutral3.4%
Negative2.6%
Written reviews85 reviews
Positive42.4%
Neutral5.9%
Negative51.8%

Pool Math by TroubleFreePool

All ratings262 ratings
Positive66.0%
Neutral7.3%
Negative26.7%
Written reviews123 reviews
Positive63.4%
Neutral11.4%
Negative25.2%

User reviews

Pool Time ClearPool Expert™

From 5.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Convenient and easy to use
  • 🚀 Accurate water testing and recommendations
  • 💡 Helpful for pool maintenance
  • 🔑 Customized pool profile
  • 🔍 Detailed water analysis

Room to improve

  • 🐛 App crashes and freezes frequently
  • 🔍 Inaccurate test results and recommendations
  • 🔒 Privacy concerns with required account creation
  • 🚫 Doesn't work well for smaller pools/spas
  • 💸 Expensive chemicals compared to other options

Pool Math by TroubleFreePool

From 272 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💎 Excellent for maintaining a clean, balanced pool
  • 🔍 Comprehensive tracking of test results and chemical additions
  • 🧠 Helpful recommendations for chemical adjustments
  • ⚙️ Useful features like SLAM mode and timeline
  • 🤖 Automatic weather data logging

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Issues with data syncing and backup
  • 🤔 Unintuitive interface and navigation
  • 💰 Subscription model and lack of one-time purchase
  • 🚫 Limited support for non-chlorine sanitizers and spa-specific options
  • 🔄 Bugs with chemical addition logging and target value retention

Bugs and requests

Pool Time ClearPool Expert™

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Login issues and inability to create an account
  • Troubleshooting feature not working
  • Inability to input pool volume on mobile
  • Incompatibility with certain devices and OS versions

Requested features

4 requests
  • Camera feature to automatically read test strips
  • Ability to manually enter test results
  • More customization options for pool size and type
  • Ability to view past test history and recommendations

Pool Math by TroubleFreePool

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Subscription issues and inability to restore purchases
  • App crashes and freezes on certain actions
  • Incorrect chemical recommendations and calculations
  • Disappearing historical data after updates

Requested features

5 requests
  • Custom target ranges and alerts
  • Ability to log non-standard chemical additions
  • Export options for data analysis
  • Apple Watch integration
  • Improved user guidance and on-boarding

In-app purchases

None

Pool Time ClearPool Expert™

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Pool Math by TroubleFreePool

Subscriptions1
  • Pool Math Premium Subscription$7.991 Year

Questions

Is Pool Time ClearPool Expert™ free?
Pool Time ClearPool Expert™ is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Pool Math by TroubleFreePool free?
Pool Math by TroubleFreePool is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pool Time ClearPool Expert™ or Pool Math by TroubleFreePool?
Pool Time ClearPool Expert™ is rated higher. Pool Time ClearPool Expert™ averages 4.7 out of 5 from 5.3K ratings, while Pool Math by TroubleFreePool averages 3.7 from 272 ratings.
Do Pool Time ClearPool Expert™ or Pool Math by TroubleFreePool have ads?
Neither Pool Time ClearPool Expert™ nor Pool Math by TroubleFreePool shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pool Time ClearPool Expert™ or Pool Math by TroubleFreePool?
Pool Time ClearPool Expert™ ships an update every 8 months, and Pool Math by TroubleFreePool fortnightly. Most recently, Pool Time ClearPool Expert™ was updated on September 23, 2026 and Pool Math by TroubleFreePool on September 22, 2026.

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