Dwelo

I have been using dwelo for almost a year at an apartment complex that won’t allow me to opt out of the technology fee. For the first 6 months, I was hugely disappointed to find that dwelo doesn’t offer any kind of automations with their service. I mean, it’s kind of nice to control things from your phone, but if I still have to manually bump the temp on the thermostat from my phone whenever I want it to change, I might as well be just pressing an actual thermostat. I just think the whole point of an app controlled system should be to automate your devices so you don’t have to think about them. Or else it’s not worth the money. After 6 months, I realized I could try integrating dwelo with third party apps. I spent a month and a half with Alexa and now have been trying Google Home. Both say they are compatible and work seamlessly for about a week - then become dormant. My automations stop working and say that my dwelo devices are ‘unresponsive.’ I am forced to disconnect, reconnect, and start the week-long process again. It’s exhausting. I’ve reached out to dwelo support multiple times and have gotten unhelpful responses and now haven’t heard from them at all. I wish I could use a different system altogether.

My apartment community installed dwelo a couple of years ago and it’s been a huge disappointment. Initially I connected everything to Alexa and for months I just relied on Alexa to adjust the thermostat each day based on my settings or if I wanted it to be cooler or warmer than usual when I got home, I could use the dwelo app to make adjustments remotely. Then one day dwelo no longer worked with Alexa. I tried connecting it again but wasn’t able to. I figured at least I still had the option of using the dwelo app so I could make adjustments remotely if needed. I keep my apartment pretty cool at night but I set the temp higher when I’m at work and I often forget to adjust the temp in the morning, so being able to do so remotely is very helpful. A short time after dwelo stopped communicating with Alexa it also became picky about working remotely. It no longer recognizes Wi-Fi and now the only reliable way to change the temperature is to use the thermostat on the wall. I used to unlock the door from the parking lot if I went shopping and had a lot of bags, that only works occasionally now. I’ve tried troubleshooting using dwelo’s instructions, I’ve contacted dwelo, and I’ve contacted the maintenance team at my apartment community. All useless for how to fix this. Who is responsible for this is complicated it seems. Dwelo says it’s my apartment community but they kept instructing me to contact dwelo. I gave up and have just accepted this is how it works now. You have no control over whether or not your landlord installs dwelo, but don’t let them use it as a justification for charging more rent because it’s definitely not worth it.

I live in Dallas, TX. The apartment complex stated smart thermostat and lights on the description. I originally thought that meant a programmable thermostat and LED lights. The Dwelo app and hardware works flawlessly. I have the front entry smart lock as well. The lights, thermostat, and entry lock give me the ability to control my apartment from anywhere I have phone signal. With the crazy snowstorm in Texas February 2021 I was stuck in central Texas away from my apartment. I was able to turn up the heat and make sure I hadn’t lost power throughout the entire storm. This gave me serious piece of mind. If there was anything wrong I would have been able to let someone in with the smart lock as well. Highly recommend Dwelo and the app is a good tool as well!