Owlet Reviews

by JMerschbacj1

We were given the camera as a gift to pair with our this app sock. We love our sock, as it gave us peace of mind for our daughter to sleep in her own room early on. The camera is a whole different story. In a week’s time, we have not had a single sleepless night because we make up to find out the camera just drops WiFi connection with zero notification and zero reconnection and our daughter goes unmonitored. In order to get it back on, we have to close Owlet and reopen it. When it is briefly working, the picture and sound quality are A+, until the connection gets lost.

I called customer support and they told me to log out of previous accounts on their older app, then delete the older app altogether, then make sure I have 2.4 GHz internet, and make sure nothing else is running on the 2.4 GHz internet except the this app devices. They said if that didn’t work then it is a problem with our internet. We did all of the above, and moved every other device in our home to a 5.0 GHz stream, and only kept the this app devices on the 2.4 GHz. Mind you, we have never had internet issues. Unfortunately, it did not fix the problem.

I am confident that when I call them back today, they will tell me it is an internet problem and to call my service provider, instead of saying “hey we are working out the kinks and Owlet and camera should work up to your standards very soon.” Until the major flaws in this product are fixed, I wouldn’t waste money on the camera.

by Mamasims371

I have a 4 month old, and I also have post partum anxiety that led to me getting no sleep even when he did because I was so concerned he would stop breathing. We do not have a spare 400$ to spend on a baby monitor but we figured out a way to afford the this app for my peace of mind. While the picture quality is great... and the sock itself seems to work fine, the actual monitor “un pairs” itself from our phones every single night and after trouble shooting have still ended up with a screaming baby in the middle of the night before we ever realized he was awake. I am extremely let down by this product and it’s ability to do its job, 1) keep our baby safe and 2) give us parents peace of mind. In addition to this, even if it did work properly my downsides would be that it cannot be used without WiFi, there’s no handheld video besides your phone to use with batteries etc and also you cannot control the location of the camera with your phone... and move the visuals to the left or right etc which would be useful once baby gets older and is mobile. We will be contacting this app soon, in hopes that our monitor is defective and this product can be fixed and if so I’ll update my review but if not I would absolutely not recommend this monitor at all.

by Shel1992

This product is a great idea, however, it has become very evident that the developers have not worked out all of the kinks to the point that it is not worth the money. I have had the smart sock for 3 months now and all of the functions have worked properly for only about half of that time. Owlet does not work half the time, ie not logging data one day then the next the live readings aren’t working, then the next it’s giving a notification that the baby is out of range from the base station when he’s sleeping 3 feet away from it. I am at my wits end with this “smart” sock. Not only this but the customer service is terrible, and slow. I can never get anyone on the phone and don’t get a response to my emails sometimes for a week and then they tell me to unplug the base and plug it back in (like I don’t know to try that) or to uninstall Owlet and reinstall it which is a pain and completely ridiculous to have to do multiple times. Also something I really do not understand is that they don’t have customer service representatives available to help over night which makes no sense to me considering this product is primarily designed to be used when the baby is sleeping at night.

by Disappointed Owlet Owner

You buy an this app for the added reassurance obviously. We had the sock for 3 weeks and it was mostly great with rare and solvable instances where it disconnected from the base or from our home Wi-Fi briefly. But then we bought the this app cam and downloaded the “new” this app app that combines both into one app. That was a huge mistake! This new app is terrible solely because it is insanely inconsistent. After day two of use, we have not had a single day where either the sock portion or the cam portion has been unable to connect, therefore making us unable to check our babies status and vital signs. For the price of this product, it is inexcusable for that to happen really ever, but daily?!?! With just the sock and the old app I would have recommended this product to anyone, but now that we bought the cam and merged the devices on this new app, I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone. Don’t get me wrong, when working properly we love this product but given that it so often isn’t working working properly, I consider it a breach of my trust and cannot warn people enough to ask around and make sure enough people have a different experience than us before buying. Way too pricey for not working so often.

by EMSEG2016

Update: 7 of the last 8 days I have not had audio at night. It cuts out after about 15 or 20 minutes every time I restart Owlet , and there has been no audio when I wake up and check it. All happening while my son has been very sick (I’ve been sick as well with a bad cough that disturbs him or I would have been in his room with him). Been sleeping on the couch where I can at least hear him through the wall because Owlet is garbage.

The camera quality and general idea of the this app monitor are great, but we have been using the camera + app system for about 8 months now and Owlet is constantly having issues. We average about 2 nights a week where Owlet crashes and closes out or the sound dies, both of which render the system completely useless and leaves me unable to hear if my child is in distress. It is infuriating and outrageous. To release something this glitchy under an established reputation for top of the line infant safety and charge so much for it is not only dishonest, but also negligent. We have a new baby coming in January and I will be using a separate monitor in conjunction with this camera to ensure I hear my newborn during the night because I can’t trust this app.

by HexxxAD

We were so excited to buy the sock and camera- having Owlet on our phone was a convenient way to keep tabs on our baby, even if one of us was out of the house. However, Owlet is not as smooth as we would have liked. The camera continuously loads, and the sound cuts out even with the multiple updates to Owlet - i even kept my phone from getting the newest update per the suggestion of the this app rep. Our baby is a mover, and the sock does not stay in place enough for us to use it consistently without the program notifying us that the sock needs to be readjusted. When he is 100% still, it is amazing. Just wish it was better-fitting for his little feet.

Starting to get frustrated that we spent so much money for a program that only works about 40% of the time. We’ve had this program since February and every single day we have issues. I would have thought by now these issues would have been solved. If it’s an ‘internet’ issue, then this program should have been built to work with multiple types of internet. Not everyone can afford the top tier best, fastest, most amazing internet, and if that’s the only way this camera will work 100%, then I’ll go to a second hand store and pick up a camera for $30. Which maybe I should have done to begin with.

by AliRN2010

We have had problem after problem. With either the camera not connecting to the internet (no other internet problems in our home) the base disconnecting and not being able to reconnect, Owlet will shut off randomly during the night on whatever device you have it on so who knows if your baby woke up or not. Our son has several respiratory issues which is why we got the sick and set up.... you’re better off buying a hospital grade O2 monitoring system and setting an alarm. Then buying a separate camera for the room. When you call this app with any issue their recommendations are to delete Owlet for every device it’s all and start from square one.
The reason I gave them 2 stars and not 1 is that we had called them (for the 4th time) regarding the camera not connecting to Owlet . They had one overnighted to us the next which I was grateful for and hopeful the new one would work better... however now the base consistently has some sort of disconnection problem and starts to play a lullaby which then wakes your baby up 🤯😴
Best of luck- my advice is get something with solid ratings, this one isn’t it.

by EvitagG

Love the sock!! I have a preemie and to have been so accustomed to watching the monitors in the NICU and panic anytime she would have a Brady, I didnt know what I would do without having her still monitored at home. Then came across the this app and after reading the reviews, we just had to purchase. Her first night home I literally stayed up alllll night watching her tummy go up and down. Thankfully, the this app arrived after her 2nd day being home and I must say it definately gives me peace of mind and I can sleep at night knowing if anything goes wrong, and I pray it doesnt, the base and my phone will let me know.
What I do not like is the fact that the server is down quite often. Even as I type this review. I can still see my LO on the cam but while away at work I need to know exactly how shes doin. I know it still works off the base or so I have read and I would hope id still be notified through my phone (which I doubt cuz it didnt let me know the battery was low as it normally does) but nevertheless I still need to monitor her vitals especially while with the sitter God forbid something happens. Please FIX this issue asap to where it doesnt keep happening!

by Frosts0

After update to version 1.2.8, app never gets past start/splash screen if I connect to the this app WiFi network. Was working fine until now. I followed the instructions for what to do if WiFi light on sock base is off, choosing the this app network in WiFi settings, but auto redirect to this app app just hangs at startup of app and never resolved. Even if I disconnect or uninstall Owlet , I get the same behavior. “Remove device” won’t remove the sock either, so I can’t force a redo of the initial setup that involves pressing the button on the underside of the base. Cannot connect to camera either. Really not cool, not being able to know how baby is doing. I just have to trust that connection to sock is working OK, based on color of light on base. But why should I trust that? Why would I believe that part of Owlet is incorruptible when other parts are totally hosed? Do you guys know how to test software? Do you do it in a vacuum? Please fix ASAP! EDIT: Now the auto redirect after selecting this app network on WiFi actually goes through a successful sequence of steps to reconnect. Not sure what has changed. You get two stars back.

by TMess42217

I had the smart sock before the camera. Other than the occasional needing to unplug to reset, it worked perfect and gave me the piece of mind I needed. Have no issues with the sock and love it. When the camera came out I wanted it, but already had a monitor and figured I didn’t need it. I finally convinced my husband we needed the this app cam because it all tied in together to one app and we could see our daughter wherever we are from our phone. I also liked the idea of. Or having to keep track of a separate monitor screen. While this is true, Owlet is super glitchy and can not be counted on to work. I have been unable to move away from my traditional monitor due to the fact that Owlet sound in background mode will cut out in the middle of the night and needs to be reset. And now, last night getting Owlet to actually even connect to the camera was intermittent. Really hoping this app solves these issues soon so that we can feel the full benefits of these devices. I want to love it, but it cannot be trusted. I gave it 3 stars because I reviewed the sock as well and can’t ding it for issues the camera has.

by Tsb20

We have been using the camera for about a week now (had the sock a few weeks prior to getting the camera) and I am pretty happy with Owlet so far. I was concerned when I read the reviews, but from what I can tell, this app support actually reads the comments and works on making improvements. We’ve only had a couple issues with the monitor flashing in and out, and Owlet has crashed a couple times. A couple small improvements I wouldn’t mind seeing, are making the volume/microphone/landscape buttons a little bigger. They are hard to tap and if I am talking to my husband through the monitor, it’s hard to press the microphone button to be able to hear him. Also, I don’t like how the pulse ox numbers roladex up when you go to landscape mode. There have been a couple times where my screen freezes on low numbers and scares the crap out of me. These suggestions are just minor and really don’t affect the operation of the monitor. Overall, I am happy with it so far and it’s a huge peace of mind!

by Mommy2bA4x

So far I love the this app! No issues as of yet other than having to try 3-4 times to connect to internet during set up. It’s wonderful and relays the information to me fast. Camera has less an a second delay I would say. Great picture and zooming capabilities. Easy to set up. I can sleep better knowing I’ll be alarmed if my son stops breathing within minutes. The only thing that makes me nervous is if baby is choking for example and kicking legs (which they start flailing around when they can’t breathe) the this app has to wait for baby to be still to get a reading so pretty much it will read his oxygen level once he stops moving (or passes out) then alert me. Hopefully the pulse would go high enough to set off the alarm, which bring another issue. I wish I could change the parameters myself so I wasn’t waiting until my son heart rate was over 220 to be alarmed or oxygen lower than 80%. This definitely should be a smaller parameter in my opinion. That’s an easy app change...cmon this app were waiting for that one. Even so still worth the money to me cuz minutes is a lot better outcome than hours if my baby stops breathing.

by AngeDeLaMort13

The products are great. When reading the negative reviews, I understand the complaints. However, it was the application that was causing problems, not the devices. I have both the sock and the camera, and there was about a month that my apps didn’t work correctly. However, that being said, the sock and base station always worked, even when Owlet didn’t. So it was still reliable in the fact that it would alert me should something go wrong. Anytime my son would cause a sock displacement issue, the base station would sound. Owlet wasn’t tracking my sock but knowing the base station would alert me anyway gave me some peace of mind. Everything is working much smoother now, and I would still give it five stars. I’m a first time mom and super concerned with the well-being of my son. After having a miscarriage with my first child, I’m obsessed with protecting my second. The this app sock is the best purchase I have ever made and I HIGHLY recommend it. The customer service department worked with me every step of the way when there were issues with Owlet . Nothing is perfect, but these devices are as close as perfect gets.

by Mbeebe00

As you will read this is not a medical device no more than your smart watch is. The this app gives your trends allowing you to monitor your baby’s health and well being. You can rest easy at night knowing that this app will notify you if your child’s heart rate is to low or their oxygen level is to low. Your able to see your child’s sleeping patterns giving a good overhead view of how they are resting.

The ONLY negatives I really have is 1 I really wish the minimum thresholds or o2 and heart rate we’re adjustable. 80% o2 and 60 heart rate is just to low for a new born. Do some research on what a baby’s vitals should be. 2 is when the company has issues with their server. When there is a problem with the server Owlet no longer works. The base station WILL continue to work however if your using your phone as a monitor and the server goes down you will never know. Keep the base station close to where you will sleep.

There is nothing else like this on the market and that is why I gave it 5stars. this app is a fantastic product. My wife and I love it and I’m sure many more will.

by No1scubachick

We had some connection issues with the sock and the initial setup with 2 phones, but customer service is very helpful. Since then it has been great. I have loved the piece of mind it offers. I’d buy it again.
The camera is a different story. The phone app crashed leaving you without video or audio monitoring. This happened twice so far. Customer care is very nice, they had unplug the camera for 5min, Delete Owlet then re-install Owlet . It was also suggested to just have the audio on in the “background” so I can hear my baby when the phone is asleep. It defeats the purpose of having a video and audio monitor. Although, if it stops Owlet from crashing at night it might be worth trying. Currently I’m left feeling worried at night that I can’t rely on the monitor, but hopefully it won’t be a problem.
The iPad new update works great so far. I love being able to have it on the iPad more than the phone. I use my phone for other things. I’m also able to set my iPad to not fall asleep so there is less chance the this app app will crash.