Thrive Hearing Control Reviews

by Fresno CA

I have had VIA 2400’s for a couple years now. They still won’t switch back and forth reliably between iPhone and iPad. So bad I deleted them from the iPad & use AirPods instead for streaming from iPad. Another VERY irritating problem is that when I stream from my iPhone and stop, the hearing aids mic volume is always lower than the midpoint setting it was on before streaming. Sometimes substantially lower. I am current iOS, tried changing features, etc., no joy. I give up. They charged my insurance over $8k for these? My next set will be from COSTCO.

by Chilly Alaskan

The current app is consistently turning my tinnitus setting to stream boost and turning the volume off. This leaves my hearing devices unusable. If I turn off Bluetooth, my hearing devices are working. Then, my smart phone isn't smart. It used to work better. I have deleted and reloaded ThriveHearingControl with no difference. My only solution is to use the hearing devices WITHOUT ThriveHearingControl . Are you really satisfied with a 2.7 app rating? FIX ThriveHearingControl!

by The Brooklyn Fox

The Thrive app is slow to load, even slower to identify hearing aids, and completely forgetful about custom settings that users make. At the moment, the application is incompatible with iOS 15: ThriveHearingControl starts, but it is unable to find any device at all. Those devices show up perfectly well in Apple‘s Settings app, but they are completely MIA in Thrive. That does not make me feel at all positive about Starkey's technology or its commitment to its customers.

Follow-up: Starkey’s response implies, in essence, that maintaining compatibility is the customer’s responsibility. If every other app/device interface required disabling the device, removing it from memory, restarting the iPhone, and reconnecting the device, no one would have time to do anything else. Add in that software updates to the hearing aids require a visit to an audiologist and higher-than-usual fees, and the user can be said to be penalized for OS upgrades.

by WORST SPAM APP EVER

Horrible design ran by a HORRIBLE company. App keeps spamming for zoom invites with you the only attendee!! Have tried to block events multiple times. Asked app people to stop contacting. Emailed same info. I’ll be forwarding this to my attorney to sue for harassment! DO NOT DOWNLOAD!!!
PS ThriveHearingControl is ran by Walmart and they give 0 you know what’s about your health and well-being. Fraudulent company on the backend.

by Big-G1962

There really isn't much to like about ThriveHearingControl. Maybe that the company’s original idea to develop an app to allow the aid wearer to configure them to their advantage. An equalizer is a good start, but for my aids it is worthless.

ThriveHearingControl has too many added features that do not function to my advantage. In particular the edge mode and the sound space. What are these features meant for? You give us a crosshair and four quadrants that have zero meaning and expect us to move an icon around the screen and listen for changes? I hear zero change.

Why add features that make no sense whatsoever with no hint as to what its function is. Another is why add features that are already available on the iPhone such as through the health app?

by Dh.ss

Often can’t find devices even though iOS control panel does and settings shows devices connected. App can take up to a minute to say it found devices. Noise and wind control sliders do nothing. When devices switch to another program say because of receiving a text message they often don’t return to pgm they came from.

by TB110-111

Thrive and my Livio AI aids worked as expected with my iPhone 6s for about a year, then the bluetooth connection became intermittent and soon stopped working at all. My hearing doc said it was because Apple won’t support a Thrive connection to 6s phone or older models. I suspect that it’s actually because Starkey won’t update Thrive to adjust to newer iOS versions for older phones. My 6s phone still connects to everything else, including cars, tvs and Bluetooth speakers. I had Apple check the phone too and they said there was nothing wrong. A lot of money (almost $11,000) for a defective product. One star!

by Kitewood

If I were a program, and I am, I would be ashamed to have my name associated with ThriveHearingControl. The various functions are just what hard of hearing people need. Unfortunately the instructions are worthless and the controls might as well be Egyptian hieroglyphics. I’ve tried to learn what the various options actually do which means I have to reboot my iPhone just to get back to the opening screen.

by Bluemaverick777

The reason I bought this brand was my left ear is basically dead, so the left talks to the right, I guess by blue tooth. If I loose the right, the find my HA works. But if I loos the left, it does not. All I See on the screen with the map is an R with a bluetooth symbol. Was I mislead on functionality by my audiologist?

by JEPWITT

When I bring up ThriveHearingControl , my home page only shows 3 icons on the bottom: home, equalizer, and the “hamburger”. I cannot bring up a full page that shows the circle with information that should cover half of that home page. Very frustrating. The guide is no help.

by Newfit44

I wish ThriveHearingControl just focused on the basics and did those really well. ThriveHearingControl continually drops connectivity to one hearing aid or the other through the day. The battery meter is very imprecise. With the car setting on, hearing aids ping indiscriminately from one mode to another.
App is twitchy and unpredictable.

by Chicago Coop

I experience app crashing on a regular basis. The hearing aids have to be repaired frequently. My iPhone can still control the different modes and volume when ThriveHearingControl does not recognize my hearing aids. This is very frustrating as one of the major reasons I purchased starkey was the technology. Developers please fix this. ThriveHearingControl is hit and miss at best.

by SuzannaETC

I want to love this, because it’s essential to my ability to be fully engaged with the world. But I’m finding that every day there are problems. ThriveHearingControl will stop mid-conversation (in person or on the phone).

Then I’ll be advised to delete and restart. Now “Normal” is the only option I have, gone are all the personalized settings my wonderful provider set up so assiduously.

What’s the point of spending all the time to drive to his office and having him add them again if this is just going to happen days later? (And system should allow for that tune-up to happen remotely).

Depressing — these very expensive hearing aids are supposed to offer so much more. Sometimes they do and it’s wonderful. But because I just can’t count on them to consistently deliver, it’s limiting my social confidence.

by Worlds Of Words

I can’t take a walk listening to book without the stream boosting failing on a regular basis. It does not work well when I don’t have WI-FI access. The data on the walking and things disappears at midnight. It does not accurately reflect what is going on with my exercise. I trust my FitBit more. I would be happy if the basics worked. My audiologist has worked on static issues and other minor aggravations to minimize them. I have no idea they aren’t synced with my phone until I try to make a phone call or listen to a book or podcast.

by Mannyfern46

At first, ThriveHearingControl functions were very good and helpful. Then suddenly, my hearing aids don’t connect to it when I put them on first thing. They connect just fine to my iPhone and control most functions like volume and environment. I love the diagnostic feature BUT you have to be connected to ThriveHearingControl . What’s up Starkey?

by RFM1624

With the latest iOS update the Thrive app will not be able to find the hearing aids if you restart your iPhone. You will have to go through the process of pairing the hearing aids again.

by J Gzotz

I like my Starkey AI 2400 RIC hearing aids; but If I turn my iPhone 11 off, like overnight, when I turn it back on, I have to pair them all over again in order to use the thrive app. Please fix this. Thanks; Bobkat Received the following response from Starkey Laboratories to this earlier review: "We have seen issues with the Thrive Hearing Control and Native Controls after iOS 15.4. You may need to repeat the unpair and pairing anew when you turn your phone off. " Never had to do that before iOS 15.4. So are you going to fix the problem? Or should I buy someone else’s hearing aids?

You fixed it!!! Thank you.

by Evereddie60

One of the many reasons I went with Starkey hearing aids was ThriveHearingControl . You can only go so far with physical buttons and taps to make adjustments, change modes and access features. ThriveHearingControl does it all and I use it daily. Many options, many features all in your phone for easy access. Everything related to control of the hearing aid works great. The only flaw is one I don’t use much as the numbers recorded are never correct and that is the Wellness score. I have an Apple Watch and the Wellness numbers for Activity are a quarter of my watch. The Engagement numbers are also a quarter of my normal day is. There is no way to adjust or calibrate this and it’s a shortcoming of ThriveHearingControl . Would be a nice feature to have if accurate. But as for the rest it’s great. I love it and use it many times throughout the day.

by Sanbir

I use the Thrive app for my Starkey Livio’s. I use my Apple iPhone for them. After updating ThriveHearingControl , the hearing aids do connect to the iPhone, but not ThriveHearingControl . They connect to ThriveHearingControl on my iPads just fine…but who wants to haul an iPad around when an iPhone is what we need? I paid $8000 for my aids. The selling point was the accompanying app. The best thing you could do is post the former app version so we can reapply it to our devices, or further update the lousy updated 3.3 version. It’s very inconvenient to drive more than half an hour to my audiologist to have them try to fix the problem, by the way. Please, just fix ThriveHearingControl ! UPDATE: Thank you for your reply. I called the number for support and got an EXCELLENT tech who helped me get my hearing aids connected to ThriveHearingControl . Interestingly, I went through all the steps you recommend in your reply but it didn’t work…the tech walked me through the same steps, and voila! It worked. Like magic! Lesson learned: call Starkey’s customer support line, they will be invaluable help :)

by RonJonPgh

This is an update to my prior review where I had deemed ThriveHearingControl worthless. The Starkey Evolv AI 2400 hearing aids enter Edge mode by tapping on your ear! This creates issues when chewing, crunching, wearing a mask, etc. as the hearing aids think you are entering Edge mode. My audiologist disabled this functionality and almost everything works well now. Now more constant ‘Normal’ being spoken, or trilling rings over and over.

However Stream Boost is an issue. Even when not attempting to listen to music or video- just surfing the web in my phone or playing games turns on Stream Boost, even if I have the sound for a gamer set to off! This is annoying!

by HawaiianStevo

I’m a life long hearing aid wearer and with the new Livio Edge AI, I absolutely hate it. I returned it for a full refund. The “bells and whistles” on Starkey’s AI Livio is over rated. The automatic turning up and down the volume makes no sense. How can one consistently measure how for away the sound is when the volume is always adjusting. It cause severe audio fatigue in my case. Also, the devices are considered “Medical Devices” regulated by the corrupt FDA so they can charge a ridiculous price of $6,000 a pair. If Air Pods Pro can simply add an equalizer and turn up the volume, it would work well, at a price of $250 a pair. There’s nothing sophisticated about these electronics. It’s simply an amplifier with anti-feedback, and an equalizer (to adjust various tones to fit with one’s type of hearing loss) It’s time to put an end to the monopoly and allow competition provide better products at a fair price. $500 for a pair should be the limit, not $6,000. Starkey is ripping you off big time, and they don’t care.

by *TINK*

App worked fine for about a month. After iOS 15 came out ThriveHearingControl hasn’t been updated and all of my memory settings don’t show up. Mask mode is toggled on but I can’t use it because it’s not showing in the memories. I really like my HAs but if they can’t keep ThriveHearingControl updated what good are they? Never had this problem with either of the brands I wore previously. Very dissatisfied with Starkey right now.

by Etterville Boo

The first 2 years they work well . The last several months I have sent them in 4 times for going dead with fresh batteries. Going dead with no warning, weakening and having to constantly change settings. Now they have started having static at any time. I feel they keep sending them back waiting for they warranty to go out. I’m done with Starkey!

by CliffB66

Bluetooth is on and your devices cannot be found, thus can not be connected to. Also, the static when using them is horrendous.

by Inspect228

ThriveHearingControl is so poor that it does not record activity accurately.

by Static90

After the most recent update Voiceover doesn’t interact with ThriveHearingControl . There are buttons that are not clearly labeled meaning when I navigate to those buttons with voiceover all voiceover will say is button, so I have no idea what the button is. On the main screen the volume for each hearing aid can be adjusted, but after adjusting it The hearing aids revert back to the original volume level a few seconds after adjustment. The slider bars for various settings won’t adjust for example when I navigate to the machine sound setting there is a slider present and when I navigate to it with voiceover, voiceover will announce the percentage of the slider and to swipe up or down to adjust the value, but when I swipe up and down the only thing that happens is a beeping noise and the setting will not adjust. The sound space feature is unable to use because after opening that feature I’m presented with a page and voiceover says to tap on the icon and drag it around the screen, but I can’t see the icon to do that.

by Ice'd Icelandics

I have had my Starkey hearing aids and the Thrive App now for almost a year. In the beginning, everything worked so well and I was so pleased. But for the past several months I have nothing but troubles, mostly with ThriveHearingControl itself.
Now I should state that I’m a farmer and that I spend a bit of time outdoors. I love to listen to Audible and hear tons of books and news while doing the morning feedings and evening time chores. But after the first couple of months, I could only hear out of one hearing aid or the other. Sometimes neither! I would uninstall Thrive and reinstall.
Sometimes that worked, usually not.
I finally had to send one of the hearing AIDS in because it refused to work at all. It came back and now it works, but the Thrive app only recognizes one of the other Hearing aid. I take the other one that’s not working, put it on the charger for 5-10 minutes and then they both work.
I’m seriously considering using my Soundcore earbuds when I’m outside working and only putting in my hearing aids when I’m in the house or we go somewhere.

by Social Overload

ThriveHearingControl has terrible connection issues with devices. Left or right disconnects anytime it switches between audio sources. Using the Bluetooth options on the iPhone does nothing. The only way to reconnect is to put the devices back on the charger for a reset…which is great as long as you are close to the charger.

My next devices will likely have nothing to do with ThriveHearingControl. It is ridiculous…

by KAOSFLTR

I really like that ThriveHearingControl lets you adjust and customize your experience with your hearing aids. I just wish that some of the adjustment features were explained more thoroughly. For example, the background noise adjustments for speech, noise, and wind. The icons at each ends of the slider are not intuitive. Is it the noise you hear from minimum to maximum, or is it the amount of correction for noise, from minimum to maximum. I’ve experimented with the wind setting, and I can’t really tell much difference. A little explanation would really help guide that experimentation to see if I notice a more pronounced difference over time.

In addition, the user guide appears to be missing some of the features available in ThriveHearingControl , and other features listed in the user guide cannot be found in ThriveHearingControl . For instance, the Translate tool is mentioned in the guide, but I can’t find it anywhere in ThriveHearingControl itself. Also, there is a button on the volume control that isn’t explained anywhere in the user guide. It’s like ThriveHearingControl was updated, but the user guide wasn’t. App version 3.1.0

Better documentation of features and updating the guide would turn ThriveHearingControl from 3 stars to 5.

by PMikeH

I recently tried a set of Starkey hearing sids and the Starkey app that controls them. I found some issues with ThriveHearingControl .
1. The process of creating a custom memory is straightforward but there doesn’t seem to be any way to modify a custom memory.
2. The method to delete a custom memory is not intuitive. You have to go to “edit” to delete. A more intuitive method would be to swipe left. I’d also like the ability to reorder custom memories by dragging them.
3. On the “Customize” function (from the left button) there is access to an equalizer and some filters. But when I tried to use any of them it re-set the custom memory I was trying to use as a base.
4. The equalizer mentioned in 3 should default to flat. It shows up with the upper two bands almost at the top of the adjustment.
5. The equalizer should operate on a per-ear basis so that the two aids can be adjusted individually.
6. ThriveHearingControl is very slow.
I gave up on the aids and ThriveHearingControl and am trying another brand. ThriveHearingControl needs more development, testing and especially feedback from real users.
++++++
The aids, themselves, were only okay. Performance in noise was about the same as other brands of aids.
The reason I focus on ThriveHearingControl functions is because we need the filters and the ability to make adjustments to the aids while we’re in a difficult hearing situation. ThriveHearingControl fails to provide that functionality.

by Smileyy40

I give only four stars I’ve been using ThriveHearingControl for a couple of months with iPhone I don’t know what happened but the thrive app sound notifications for texts doesn’t work anymore but it makes a sound for Facebook I have turned it off removed ThriveHearingControl and put it back and I still can’t get thrive app to notify me for text message alerts and all of the settings are correct

by Kodalika

Thrive needs to have a Apple Watch app. Previous TruLink app had the watch app. So easy to make volume adjustments on Watch. Please update app to work with Watch.

by Vistap

Recently mask mode has vanished. Can you tell me what happened and how to get it back.

by Hairbrain2020

Read some of the review and not sure people understand Bluetooth is only able to connect to one device at a time. I see a lot who are not happy they have to turn of Bluetooth on phone to connect to iPad. This is a bluetooth issue and not an app issue. This will always be the case until Bluetooth is advanced and updated. Also remember the Bluetooth connection comes from the phone/iPad not the hearing aid. If you have issues with dropping connections make sure you don’t have it set up on both. I only keep app on my phone and the connection has been strong. I do connect to my Ipad when I have the need but have never put ThriveHearingControl on there. At first it would try to switch between them and I would get streaming in one ear. I changed the apple hand off feature to off and have had good results. I was advised to toggle Bluetooth on/off if there is ever an issue to renew the connection. I have several Bluetooth speakers and have done the same if the connection is lost. Bluetooth is not the strongest signal. Hence the reason you can use it on an airplane. It will and can be broken by other frequency interference. I believe in the last 30 days I have cycled my Bluetooth connection twice. I also turn my phone off weekly as Apple recommends. Overall I feel this is the best Hearing aid I have owned out of five previous sets in my 30 years of hearing loss.

by Deep Fat Gang

I love the way ThriveHearingControl controls my hearing aids. I’ve had it for 6 months now and it works perfectly! The car feature kicks in automatically when driving and cuts out a lot of the background noise. The mask feature makes it much easier to understand people when they wear a mask. I have programmed several settings for different situations, for example cutting out crowd noise when watching football on TV, so that I can hear the commentators better.
The translation setting for a foreign language is amazing. It gives a literal translation so not conversational, but it would give you a good idea of what was being said.
It’s infinity adjustable for any situation and, although the instructions for setting up custom modes could be clearer, playing with the settings is the best way to learn.
I don’t have any problem with it connecting to my aids and am extremely happy with its functions.