NEEWER Studio

I want to give this app a higher review but it continues to struggle with finding my devices. I have a pair of RGB660 lights I use for photography and sometimes video calls. I use the iPhone app on my iPhone and I have installed it on my Mac as well. The device scanning takes a long time, and almost always fails. When I tap on one of the devices (which appear “Device offline”) it shows a “connecting…” and then Could not connect to the device.” Each of these takes idk 5-10 seconds. Sometimes, it works. For example, if I turn the light off and then back on, it may be recognized automatically or one if I tap on it. Sometimes, if I turn it on, and the bluetooth is showing on the display panel on the light the app just refuses to see the light. The impact of this is that I often must just go and switch the light off manually, which breaks any kind of hoped for continuity between sessions with the lights. Please take a deep look at the overall user experience of the light connection workflow and information you provide to the user on why a particular device is not seemingly available for connection. Please consider surfacing information like when a device was last scanned for etc.

It works great and the functionality is near perfect for my uses. Key to being happy with the app when it doesn’t work is to simply close the app completely (swipe up when checking open apps) and then reopening. It will then refresh Bluetooth and work perfectly. Problem is that people move in and out of Bluetooth range and it doesn’t always reconnect properly. Easily fixed though. They keep the app up to date and have continued to add features. Sooner or later they will figure out how to group things a little better…and perhaps allow us to synchronize lights in a controlled fashion. But all around good little app. I use it virtually every day.

Perhaps this app has been improved. I have had a good recent test operating my neewer lights with this app. In the past, it frustratingly loses the connection with the lights and needs to be restarted. I was hoping that this app was available for use on iPad in a slightly different format. I use my lights during a live show recording and they’re not always available to turn on and off because of the connection problem. Plus, the interface is annoying because the buttons are SO SMALL. I was hoping that there was an iPad version with a bigger interface, but unfortunately not. Eventually, I may be looking at another brand of lights. I can always use these for a different application because they don’t function quite reliably enough in certain live situations. Bummer they don’t work as intended. The problem is not user error.