Netro vs Gemstone Lights HUB
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Netro
This app manages your home irrigation system remotely. It creates intelligent watering schedules based on local weather to conserve water and maintain a healthy garden. Monitor your garden's status and adjust settings from anywhere.
- Dynamic weather-based watering schedules
- Remote sprinkler monitoring and control
- Garden health status indicators
- Adjustable watering preferences
- Schedule manager
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Netro is a cloud based watering system that is designed for effortless use in residential irrigation. It helps to reduce unnecessary water usage and keeps your garden healthy. Netro creates dynamic watering schedules by analyzing your local weather and estimating the rain amount. The Netro app shows the key factors for a healthy garden so you know exactly how your garden is doing. It also provides a convenient schedule manager through which you can adjust your watering preferences and Netro will optimally adjust the schedule for you. With the Netro app, you can monitor and control your sprinklers from anywhere. You can purchase the smart watering controller (Netro Sprite), the smart hose faucet timer(Netro Pixie) and the smart plant sensor (Netro Whisperer) at Netrohome.com or Amazon.com
Gemstone Lights HUB
Control your smart outdoor lighting system from anywhere. Create custom color scenes for any occasion, set schedules, and choose from a library of animations. Enjoy warm white LEDs and dimmable brightness for versatile ambiance.
- Cloud-enabled remote control
- Customizable color scenes
- Warm white LED option
- Dimmable lighting
- Downloadable patterns and animations
- Multiple timer scheduling
- Architectural lighting control
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The Gemstone Lights™ app is designed to be used with our newest cloud-based "HUB" controller. Customers can now control and program the Gemstone Lights™ Track system and Deck system. Cloud-based secure sign in. Control your lights from anywhere there is a network or cellular connection. FULLY CUSTOMIZABLE COLORS Create Multiple Colors to showcase your favorite Sports Teams, National Holidays, Charity Events, Birthdays and More! (Including Christmas) WARM WHITE LED Our Lights include a 4th Warm White LED. Mix and match RGB with W to get a full array of colors. Use the warm white for soft ambient lighting, all year round. DIMMABLE LIGHTS Gemstone Lights are BRIGHT and you can easily dim them to a light glow with the slide of a button. DOWNLOADABLE PATTERNS & ANIMATIONS Enjoy hundreds of pre-built colors, patterns, themes, and animations. MESMERIZING ANIMATIONS With our preset animations, you can create flowing patterns, fades, jumps, shifts and other fun or elegant movements. SET MULTIPLE TIMERS No need to buy external timers, Gemstone Lights App allows the user to program multiple timers. Repeat yearly for birthdays or change every hour of the day, you are in control of what colors and patterns turn on. ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING Enjoy complete control and versatility. Turn on a couple of lights for beautiful architectural lighting, light up a sidewalk or the entrance to your home. Options are endless!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Gemstone Lights HUB at 4.9 against Netro's 2.7. Gemstone Lights HUB also leads on ratings volume (4.4K vs 18) and review sentiment (60% vs 38%). 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.
Gemstone Lights HUB holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 2.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Gemstone Lights HUB has 4.4K ratings behind it against 18, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 38% of Netro's written reviews are positive against 60% of Gemstone Lights HUB's.
Netro ships an update every 4 months, Gemstone Lights HUB monthly. Both last shipped on October 26, 2026.
| Parameter | Netro | Gemstone Lights HUB |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.7 (18 ratings) | 4.9 (4.4K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 37.9% of reviews | 59.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 18 | 4.4K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 69 MB | 109 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Netro Inc | 1995282 Alberta Ltd |
Customer experience
Netro
Gemstone Lights HUB
User reviews
Netro
From 18 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy setup and installation
- 👍 Good overall functionality
- 👍 Flexible programming options
- 👍 Supports remote access
- 👍 Good for dry climates
Room to improve
- 🐛 App crashes frequently
- 🐛 Unreliable weather data
- 🐛 Login required every time
- 🐛 Limited historical data storage
- 🐛 Difficulty with manual control
Gemstone Lights HUB
From 4.4K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 User-friendly app
- 🎨 Variety of lighting options
- 💡 Customizable light patterns
- 🎉 Great for holidays and events
- 🔌 Easy to use and control lights
Room to improve
- 🐛 Glitchy app with connectivity issues
- 📋 Limited timer and scheduling options
- 🤔 Confusing app navigation
- 🔍 Lack of real-time status indicators
- 🗓️ Difficulty managing multiple light sets
Bugs and requests
Netro
Reported bugs
36 issues- App crashes on opening
- App crashes when renaming zones
- App crashes when moving between screens
- App crashes when attempting to open
- App crashes when logging in
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- App crashes when creating an account
- App crashes immediately after opening
- App crashes after entering login info
- App crashes every time on opening
- App crashes every single time on opening
- App crashes every time I attempt to open it
- App crashes every single time I attempt to open it
- App crashes every single time I attempt to open it and log in
- Json serialization error
- App freezes on spinning green dots when making setting changes
- Hourly data split between AM/PM and separate screens
- Scrolling on data plot pages crashes the app
- System randomly will not water zones
- Manual watering not working
- App doesn't send notifications when a program has run
- Weather data is inaccurate
- Controller does not reconnect to Wi-Fi after power outage
- Delay function is confusing
- Scheduling section is pointless
- App doesn't show main page update when zone is run from programs page
- Manual control changed to separate screen
- No way to shut off manual control
- Whisperer dying
- Pixies all died
- Cannot rearrange programs
- Device was dead during watering cycle
- Sync is too long
- Manual stop button doesn't work
- Saving custom programs only saves for about 2 weeks
- Scheduling function is not working
- Created scheduling program does not reflect in the calendar
Requested features
23 requests- Allow 1.5 minute watering intervals
- Allow simultaneous watering of multiple zones
- Alter order of watering zones with drag and drop
- Add more weather providers (e.g., Apple's API)
- Improve user interface for iOS users
Show 18 moreShow fewer
- Incorporate scheduling under preferences into programs
- Increase maximum run time beyond 60 minutes
- Add push notifications for watering start/stop
- Allow users to choose Italian weather sources
- Allow users to select watering during night hours only
- Add a manual hard 'Stop' button for all zones
- Make manual control easier and more accessible
- Allow users to rearrange programs
- Improve historical data storage duration
- Remember login credentials
- Improve analytics depth and flexibility
- Allow users to customize default settings
- Make manual watering selection more accessible
- Allow users to configure custom zone names in Alexa app
- Improve the way wires make contact in slots
- Provide a more reliable weather forecast for Italy
- Allow users to disable weather-based watering if desired
- Improve the delay function to be more intuitive
Gemstone Lights HUB
Reported bugs
5 issues- Timers not working as expected
- App crashes after recent updates
- Difficulty connecting to Bluetooth
- Inconsistent light behavior across devices
- Inability to change passwords in the app
Requested features
5 requests- Add Apple HomeKit integration
- Improve timer and scheduling functionality
- Implement a 'now playing' feature
- Allow more than 10 custom light configurations
- Provide a preview mode for testing light patterns
In-app purchases
Netro
No in-app purchases
Gemstone Lights HUB
No in-app purchases
