Char-Griller Reviews

I know a lot of people complained about v1.0, but I haven’t had too many issues with it other than the occasional connection drop. Version 2.0 is way worse. They actually took away features in the “updated” version. For example, in the original version you could set a buffer for temp alerts, but not in the new one. I had a five minute stretch where I got an alert every 10 seconds indicating my temp has dropped then I’ve reached temp again, then repeat. I even unchecked the push notification for reaching temperature and still continued to get repeat notifications. It really does blow my mind that this was released after testing and that it’s considered “upgraded”

It does what it needs to do. I can control the grill and check the temps perfectly. However there is little glitches. Like the confirm button is usually in the wrong spot covering another feature or the keyboard doesn’t easily disappear, then the notifications. It allows you to change the notifications settings. That way you only get alerts for certain things. But it doesn’t work. It doesn’t matter if I turn off grill temp reached notification, I still get that notification. Which wouldn’t be a problem except it lets you know everytime it hits the temp. Say I set at 225. Grill drops to 223 then goes back to 225. I get a notification that it reached the desired grill temp. It happens like every other minute. Everything else isn’t a big deal. Just annoying the notification deal is what gets me here. That needs to be fixed.

Prior to the update CharGriller worked great. 2.0 so far is awful. iPhone XS Pro Max - Gravity 980

1. I can connect to the grill but it always says both Bluetooth and WiFi are disconnected in the grill screen. It shows it’s green and connected on the main screen once I connect it.
2. I cannot disconnect from Bluetooth, which I would like to do and use only a wifi connection.
3. I can connect to wifi, but as soon as my phone idle locks it disconnects both wifi and Bluetooth. I then have to reconnect to Bluetooth and then wifi if I want to see it. This makes CharGriller 100% not usable.

Prior to the update I could connect to wifi, drive to the store and when I pulled back up at home and I got back on wifi it would pull the grill up automatically. I also only had to set up the wifi once and then it would remember this auto connect the next time I pulled the grill out of storage. Bring this back, at the minimum.

The original app worked as long as you were close enough to the grill. I mostly used it when I was outside working on something and didn’t want to have to walk over to the grill. The update makes it unusable. When it’s connected it works fine but the minute it’s not it will show settings and temps that don’t actually exist. Right now I’m smoking a pork shoulder and I had to delete CharGriller because it kept showing my probe temp was 2000 degrees and telling me the set temp had been reached constantly.

Well, I’ll just add to the list of one/zero star reviews here. I experienced the same issues as everyone else here. Connect to Bluetooth, then wifi, then get disconnected no matter what you do. Then you start the process all over again, so you get nowhere. So ridiculous. I did have the old app that sort of worked, but after connecting to the new app, now the alternative app the offer doesn’t work either.. It just plain refuses to see the grill at all. Fix this!

If I could give it zero stars I would. Version 1 wasn’t fancy but it worked. When I tried to use this version it wouldn’t hold the connection for very long and I was standing right in front of it. I noticed that when I set my temp my grill would not hold that temp at all. It wasn’t till after I completely deleted CharGriller did my grill go back to normal. Now I have no app for my grill and I have to physically go check on it from time to time to make sure it’s doing what it’s supposed to.

I thought the previous version of CharGriller was bad, but this redesign is the worst. It renders any mobile access absolutely useless, to the point that it has essentially removed app/wireless functionality as a feature of the grill.

The connectivity is both difficult to obtain, and nearly impossible to maintain. Probe temps report back at 100x the real numbers, notifications are useless, as the either falsely or incessantly.

App needs to be seriously overhauled, and users deserve better.

Most of the things wrong with CharGriller have now been fixed, except it still sends out multiple notifications of the grill temp reached (even with it unchecked) it just constantly goes off.

Edit: Back to 1 star ughhhh CharGriller is back to being odd, still just spamming notifications even if unselected. Now the kicker is it will randomly say my prob temp is 20k degrees and my target grill temp is around them same. Unfortunately I’m caving in and just buying a fireboard to watch and monitor the grill.

The original app left some to be desired but it worked well enough. Once you were able to connect to Wi-Fi CharGriller could be used throughout my home. The new app wouldn’t connect after the update I had to uninstall and reinstall CharGriller . Then I could only connect via Bluetooth and it is rather unusable, if my phone goes to sleep or if I switch to another app, CharGriller disconnects. Char-Griller’s programmers need to figure out their app and fix it.

Although the previous version was far from perfect I could still use it to help monitor cook temps and change controller functions. With the new update CharGriller has become unusable. It drops Wi-Fi and sends temp 1 and temp 2 errors without even using the temp probes. Bluetooth has a short range too. All in all I suggest rolling back to the previous version until the bugs of the new version are fixed.

It works if the phone is on (not locked) and CharGriller is up. Otherwise it won’t work. The best advice I have is stay in Bluetooth range and turn off all notifications, otherwise the phone will blow up with notifications.

CharGriller does have some nice features and ideas, the main issue is the connectivity and notifications.

Sad to see a new version be SIGNIFICANTLY worse than the original version, which was ridiculously bad. At least in the first version I would get temperature updates - even if the updates were like 5 times a second… now it doesn’t even connect at all. Is there seriously no one on Traeger’s app dev team that Char Griller can’t hire for like 6 months of UX/UI help?

I feel cheated. I bought a grill with connectivity so that I could enjoy more freedom around the house while cooking. We’ll that didn’t happen.

Forget about CharGriller it’s useless. On V2.0 I can connect to Bluetooth standing next to the grill and sometimes WiFi but as soon as I leave it disconnects and I have to force restart CharGriller and reconnect all over again.

Terrible effort.

The first version was basic and had some issues, but it worked. Now with the new version, the Wi-Fi connection drops when you switch apps or lock your phone. It does not keep track of the temperature history either as it just shows a blank graph. CharGriller is now un-useable. Please fix it!

Char-Griller 980 user. I now need to set up Wi-Fi each time I connect to the grill?? Appears to work on Bluetooth only. Chart doesn’t work at all, and I’m getting non-stop grill temperature alerts whenever connected.

The previous version wasn’t great, but this one is unusable.

I’m not sure what happened when you guys did the update but now CharGriller keeps crashing disconnecting and then throwing random readings of 4000°C on my probes the old app worked great not sure why you changed it.

Fix CharGriller ! More disconnects. Doesn’t switch between Bluetooth and WiFi like it did. Can’t find WiFi networks any longer. I’ll be returning this grill if CharGriller is y fixed ASAP. The nonfunction of CharGriller negates the whole benefit of this grill!! Fix it ASAP!

This new version is COMPLETELY unusable. CharGriller randomly disconnects when using WiFi. If I can’t walk more than 3 ft away from grill what’s the point. It also randomly turns on timers and probe temps for probes that aren’t even connected. I cannot believe I’m asking for v1 to come back?!?

Good grief. This is 2022. What a worthless app. Nothing syncs up. Alerts go off with them turned off. Can’t adjust settings. Drops Wi-Fi and Bluetooth all the time sitting right next to the unit. The older version at least worked 50% of the time.

The last version was bad but at least it worked some of the time. This new version is garbage! Don’t waste your time with this until there is a serious update.

App needs to alert when malfunctions happen other than that completely happy with it. Smoking ribs takes a while and I’m not sure how long the ERF code was on until I came outside to look and find it being on. All codes should be sounded through CharGriller .

The Bluetooth works but only about 20ft. That may not be CharGriller ’s fault. If you can get the the WiFi connection to work it will work for a minute then disconnect. You might get a WiFi connection once out of every 10 tries then it quits. This is not my network’s problem. I have friends that say the same thing. Yes, I am only using 2.5. 5ghz is turned off.

CharGriller works great with my new gravity smoker. Already used it to smoke a whole brisket. I can check on the grill anywhere. Highly recommend!

Simple design and works great. Highly recommend!

Terrible in all aspects. Doesn’t connect to WiFi. Have a dedicated 2.4ghz channel. I’ve connected 7-8 grills to with no problem. This one is unusable. Get a update out ASAP.

Doesn’t stay connected. I lose connectivity every other minute. It never connects to wifi.

Brand new char griller 980 and can’t connect to wifi