Phin Service Is Discontinued: How to Get a Refund and What Are Your Options and Alternatives?

December 16, 2022

It's official, pHin is discontinuing its service. Acquired by Hayward in 2018, pHin offers a smart solution for swimming pools and hot tubs. Active for a few years, the pHin app is now completely shut down. They posted a very clear (though brutal) message about their service stopping on their official website phin.co.

How can you get a (partial) pHin refund?

As indicated on their website, if you are a subscriber of the service, you can get a partial refund, proportional to the remaining portion of your current subscription. Unfortunately, there is no information about free users, so we (unfortunately) could assume the company hasn't planned any compensation for them.

The link to the step-by-step process to get your partial refund isn't available anymore. (edit note 14 feb. - remove hyperlink cause the website is equally shutdown).

pHin alternatives you should consider

When you have used a smart connected water analyzer, it's really hard to get back to manual test strips. Hopefully, pHin is not alone in this market and other solutions exist. We have listed and compared them in a specific article: The 6 best-connected probes for swimming pools and spas in 2021. Be careful, if you are in the US, all the alternatives aren't available in your country. Good to know: iopool ships the EcO floating monitor from its US Headquarters in Auroral IL. 👼

Also, it's possible to link your pHin device to the iopool app, thanks to our ~~wizard~~ engineer. You can find more information right here.

Special Action for ex pHin users only!

25$ USD DISCOUNT ON YOUR PACK

If you were a pHin customer and you want to buy EcO from iopool right now, you can benefit from an exceptional discount of 25 USD. To get the discount, you can simply email the iopool team at hello@iopool.com.

pHin vs EcO by iopool

pHin and EcO by iopool have nearly the same features and benefits. Both measure water pH, disinfection potential (chlorine, bromine), and water temperature 24/7. Complimentary test strips measure Total Alkalinity, Total Hardness, and Stabilizer (CyA). They are connected to a mobile app available on Play Store (Android) and Apple Store (IOS). Both apps provide recommendations for adjusting water chemistry and give dosing instructions

Here is where they differ:

EcO is:

much smaller and discrete than pHin (and other pool smart sensors);
compatible with active oxygen;
using Bluetooth Low Energy while pHin is using WiFi.

Eco isn't:

compatible with salt treatments.

What makes the difference?

Well, first, THERE IS NO SUBSCRIPTION with iopool! NEVER, NADA!

You're free as fishes in the ocean. 🐟

iopool has been working tirelessly on their state-of-the-art, free mobile app providing a performant, ergonomic, and simple interface that is understandable by everyone.

Also, we offer in-app retail services that allow customers to order their chemicals and accessories from the iopool webshop, delivered at your door.