Kidde WiFi Water Leak Detector & Freeze Alarm, Alexa Device, Smart Leak Detector for Homes with App Alerts,White

Easy-ish set up with a few quirks
If you read too many reviews of leak detectors, you’l start to think that they are all a nightmare to set up. Fortunately, these were not. The app walked me through setup, and the detectors easily located the 2.4 band on my WiFi without me having to mess with the router settings or otherwise flail around. I like that they don’t require a base station. While I would have preferred a sealed unit with a long battery life, like most modern smoke detectors, the fact that these use standard AA batteries rather than weird sized button batteries is a definite plus. I ordered these in two batches, and so I have two slightly different models. One model has a battery compartment that is relatively easy to open, but the other one is quite a hassle to open. I had to unscrew the screws, turn it right side up so that gravity helped with the compartment door, then stick a flat head screwdriver under one of the screws to pry off the top. No idea why they made it so hard. Also for this model, my phone could not read the QR code, but fortunately it’s easy to set up without going through that step — you just select the item you are adding based on a picture of it (which is actually easier).One more idiosyncracy to be aware of. When I finished adding each alarm, the app asked me if I wanted to update the software, which I did. That process took over 12 hours for most of the units. I am assuming this is why I awoke in the middle of the night to an attenuated chorus of chirps from all over the house.

Just No
Ironically, the driver had to walk past the covered and dry car port to place the package in the rain on the doorstep 5 feet away. No stars off for that, but ugh.I downloaded the app to get started. When I launched it, it says it won’t run on rooted devices, though the only requirements on the app store page say Android 5+. No mention of rooted devices on the amazon page either. I switched to a non-rooted, freshly wiped and updated android phone, gave it all the (overly broad) permissions it wanted, and proceeded to get an account setup. It would not proceed without a zip code, which seems odd since thye already have the precise location permission. It did detect the water sensor. I entered my 2.4Ghz IoT WiFi password, but it would not proceed until I let the app save the password for future use. It then just sat on ‘connecting to WiFi’ until the detector’s red flashing light stopped, and the process timed out. I moved the device so it was within a few feet and had line of site to my access point. I repeated over and over with no luck. I was unable to test the value for money, design, or durability, because it would never connect to WiFi, and thus could not interact with our smart speakers to alert us of water.

Six devices, tested
Now have six devices installed across two properties. Alerts work well – I tested one tonight by exposing to water. Loud sound and good phone alert. The battery install…,loosen screws as much as possible then I yanked on one screw with pliers to get the battery cover off.

You won’t have it set up in 15 minutes even if you know what you are doing.
One of the worst engineered devices I have ever seen. Must unscrew the back to reset the device. Must use needlenose to pull off the back after you get it unscrewed. Then you need to search for the reset button hidden in small tunnel inside. Then when you install the software you need to verify your email which is located at the bottom of the screen after two hyperlinks which give you the impression the verification is completed by pressing the hyperlink. Once you get through that you need to update. The update does not work correctly. I am still waiting for it to complete after 1.5 hrs.

I am very upset as it has not been mentined that the all is not working in Australia.Very disappointed and am gonna return in tomorrow!