Review Insights · App Store
Owlet Dream
Owlet Baby Care, Inc. · 36,207 ratings · ★ 4.6
4.6
★★★★★
36,207 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 66 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"camera"
23 negative reviews mention this · 35% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Buggy Mess. For something so expensive you would think they worked on the software development. I cannot connect my base station or my camera. When I connect my camera it pushes an update that freezes the whole app up and I have to force quit. When I o…" - RobRauff
2
"sock"
22 negative reviews mention this · 33% of all complaints
★★★★★ "More damage then help. Do you want an alarm to wake your baby when they are sleepy or a alarm for when your trying to sooth them? If so, owlet is for you! Conveniently has the alarm go off when you are bouncing or rocking and if the sock is lose then it wake up t…" - Snyguy1
3
"wifi"
20 negative reviews mention this · 30% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Set up is a pain. We have Xfinity and connecting the Dream Sock base to our WiFi has been the worst experience I’ve had with a device. I’ve spent hours of troubleshooting and it’s still not connected. I might just return it. No peace of mind in my opinion." - Brad5280
4
"owlet"
17 negative reviews mention this · 26% of all complaints
★★★★★ "More damage then help. Do you want an alarm to wake your baby when they are sleepy or a alarm for when your trying to sooth them? If so, owlet is for you! Conveniently has the alarm go off when you are bouncing or rocking and if the sock is lose then it wake up t…" - Snyguy1
5
"issues"
16 negative reviews mention this · 24% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Most Unreliable Baby Monitor. I’m honestly really frustrated with the Owlet Dream App. It doesn’t matter how good my Wi-Fi is, I have constant buffering issues. I’ll have the app open watching my baby, and then it just stops the live feed without me realizing. Next thi…" - TheAppStoreWontAcceptMyName
6
"been"
13 negative reviews mention this · 20% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Most Unreliable Baby Monitor. I’m honestly really frustrated with the Owlet Dream App. It doesn’t matter how good my Wi-Fi is, I have constant buffering issues. I’ll have the app open watching my baby, and then it just stops the live feed without me realizing. Next thi…" - TheAppStoreWontAcceptMyName
7
"baby"
12 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "More damage then help. Do you want an alarm to wake your baby when they are sleepy or a alarm for when your trying to sooth them? If so, owlet is for you! Conveniently has the alarm go off when you are bouncing or rocking and if the sock is lose then it wake up t…" - Snyguy1
8
"update"
12 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Buggy Mess. For something so expensive you would think they worked on the software development. I cannot connect my base station or my camera. When I connect my camera it pushes an update that freezes the whole app up and I have to force quit. When I o…" - RobRauff
9
"work"
12 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Buggy Mess. For something so expensive you would think they worked on the software development. I cannot connect my base station or my camera. When I connect my camera it pushes an update that freezes the whole app up and I have to force quit. When I o…" - RobRauff
10
"connect"
11 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Buggy Mess. For something so expensive you would think they worked on the software development. I cannot connect my base station or my camera. When I connect my camera it pushes an update that freezes the whole app up and I have to force quit. When I o…" - RobRauff
11
"constantly"
11 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "App-only rating. This latest update has caused SUCH a headache in our household! We’ve made it over a year with almost no issues at all with any part of our Owlet set up, and suddenly after my husband and I updated last week, the app is crashing constantly.…" - JessR0812
12
"base"
10 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Buggy Mess. For something so expensive you would think they worked on the software development. I cannot connect my base station or my camera. When I connect my camera it pushes an update that freezes the whole app up and I have to force quit. When I o…" - RobRauff
📋 All 66 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
More damage then help
Do you want an alarm to wake your baby when they are sleepy or a alarm for when your trying to sooth them? If so, owlet is for you! Conveniently has the alarm go off when you are bouncing or rocking and if the sock is lose then it wake up the whole house! Just what you want with a newborn!
Buggy Mess
For something so expensive you would think they worked on the software development. I cannot connect my base station or my camera. When I connect my camera it pushes an update that freezes the whole app up and I have to force quit. When I open the app back up i cannot view any live feed and it is acting like I haven’t paired anything. Crazy to prey on parents anxieties and then take NO time for the customer experience. Would recommend finding another brand.
Most Unreliable Baby Monitor
I’m honestly really frustrated with the Owlet Dream App. It doesn’t matter how good my Wi-Fi is, I have constant buffering issues.
I’ll have the app open watching my baby, and then it just stops the live feed without me realizing. Next thing I know, she’s crying and I had no idea because the app froze or disconnected. That’s not just annoying, it’s a safety issue.
On top of that, half the time the camera won’t even load when I open the app. I have to close it out and restart it multiple times just to get it to work. This happens every single day.
What’s even more frustrating is that if you look at the most recent reviews on the Apple App Store, people are complaining about the exact same issues. This isn’t new either, I’ve been dealing with this for the entire 8 months I’ve been using the app. At this point, it’s clearly not just a temporary bug. It feels like a bigger problem with how the app is built and functions overall. This is not an isolated issue, it’s widespread.
For how expensive these cameras are, there’s no reason the only app used to access them should be this unreliable. It completely defeats the purpose of having a monitor.
At this point I want to return them. I already have one still sealed in the box that I plan to send back, and I’m considering returning the rest too if this can’t be fixed.
I’ll have the app open watching my baby, and then it just stops the live feed without me realizing. Next thing I know, she’s crying and I had no idea because the app froze or disconnected. That’s not just annoying, it’s a safety issue.
On top of that, half the time the camera won’t even load when I open the app. I have to close it out and restart it multiple times just to get it to work. This happens every single day.
What’s even more frustrating is that if you look at the most recent reviews on the Apple App Store, people are complaining about the exact same issues. This isn’t new either, I’ve been dealing with this for the entire 8 months I’ve been using the app. At this point, it’s clearly not just a temporary bug. It feels like a bigger problem with how the app is built and functions overall. This is not an isolated issue, it’s widespread.
For how expensive these cameras are, there’s no reason the only app used to access them should be this unreliable. It completely defeats the purpose of having a monitor.
At this point I want to return them. I already have one still sealed in the box that I plan to send back, and I’m considering returning the rest too if this can’t be fixed.
Bug: In-app Dream Sight audio extremely quiet
App has been great for the most part for the last 3.5 months, but in the last few days the in-app audio for my Dream Sight camera has gotten extremely quiet, which requires me to turn the volume up nearly all the way - therefore I can’t reasonably listen to any other audio while monitoring baby’s audio like usual. It’s been this way for a few days now, across devices, after resets, and other users are now reporting the same on online forums. I don’t understand how something so critical could have been missed in testing, or at minimum fixed quickly after the bug was introduced. Hopefully it’ll be fixed soon, otherwise I’d give 5 stars - we love Owlet products and this has been a bummer.
Terrible
This app is absolute garbage. The unit won’t connect, gets stuck on load screens for five minutes, won’t use faceid correctly for login. Literal trash.
Set up is a pain
We have Xfinity and connecting the Dream Sock base to our WiFi has been the worst experience I’ve had with a device. I’ve spent hours of troubleshooting and it’s still not connected. I might just return it. No peace of mind in my opinion.
Buggy app, poor developer planning
The app has been buggy for over a year, with constant video freezes (not bandwidth related as we have a 1GB network). Now the final last straw - the last update requires ios16 when all tablets are still in 15.8. The development team should be fired. Embarrassing
Glitch
It says that the app is not connected to the base, but it is. Unable to monitor. Unable to fix the issue. I feel like I just wasted $300.
Socks after 7 months
Socks drains so quick after 7months
Connection
I have been trying for days to connect our sock. It will not connect Bluetooth and when it connects via WiFi, it will not show up on the app.
Doesn’t Work
Looks like wifi is connected and ready to go!
And the sock never shows up.
And the sock never shows up.
Glitchy App
My wife and I are logged into the same account and in her app there are more feature than mine. I have tried deleting and reinstalling several times but I seem to get an older version of the app every time which it always wants me to update the sock.
Keeps losing connection
This is our second owlet dream sock system. The original one we’ve had for two years now works flawlessly. The new one we’ve just bought is terrible, utterly useless. Keeps losing connection, we’ve done all the trouble shooting and it still consistently loses connection, causing the alarms to go off.
Wish I bought a different camera
I bought the outlet sock and camera2 and I wish I’d never have if you lose power the camera refuses to connect to the Wi-Fi after. Problem of the problem with this camera and for what a $25 camera can work better. Very disappointing.
Very bad design issues.
I purchased the camera first and after spending several minutes trying to connect it for the first time I put it back in the box and returned it. There’s absolutely no excuse in 2026 for something as simple as connecting a device over WiFi or Bluetooth to be so problematic. I mean Nest is not great, but usually takes me 5 minutes to have a camera online. Anyway, two months later I got the Dream sock as a present and the same thing happened, impossible to get the thing setup because it won’t connect to my home network or Bluetooth. A quick look at Reddit tells me this is a well known issue with Owlet products. I’m a technical person and even for me troubleshooting this is a nightmare. I know if I invest the time I will eventually get it to work. But why? This is core, basic feature that should be pretty straightforward. Owlet should issue a recall. Something obviously went very wrong in the development of these products. Customer should not be blindsided like this into buying defective products.
Completely Unreliable
The camera and the app constantly disconnect, even with reliable WiFi. Additionally, camera misses movements and cries all the time. Choose something else for peace of mind.
Pairing
The Owlet cam 2 is horrible. The pairing on it NEVER works. 10/10 would not recommended
Latest update created issues
Update 3.32.0 created connectivity issues multiple times a night where there was never previous issues. Please resolve this so I can continue using the device.
Refuses to connect to WiFi and support is not helpful
Owlet sleep sock refuses to connect to my 2.4Ghz WiFi. Their website recommends a different 3rd party app to troubleshoot. Once that app was downloaded, it did not allow me to enter that I am trying to connect an Owlet device - even though the Owlet support page said it would. I used this 3rd party app to scan my WiFi for issues, and it found none. Clearly this is an owlet issue and not a WiFi issue.
Inconsistent device
Recently had to buy a new owlet after the one we got broke before our son was even 4 months old. Now we can’t add his existing profile to the new sock. It only allows a whole new profile.
The app started requiring a subscription
After a year of use, this app started requiring a subscription to access past video recordings. When I purchased this camera, there was absolutely no information regarding a subscription-neither at the time of purchase nor now-neither in the store nor on the box. I consider this to be fraud and a deception of customers.
Bad Update
Another update, another disappointment. Camera sound is not working. I have tried everything.
Terrible app
I wasn’t able to get past a week before throwing it out. The app is designed terrible. You most likely will have more problems than benefits…
Peace of mind but a lot of limitations
I like that it provides me with a more peaceful sleep knowing that I’ll hear an alarm if my baby reaches critical levels. I would prefer if I could set the alert levels myself. It seems at one time you were able to adjust it but then the app changed because I found instructions on how to change the alert settings but it wasn’t possible when I tried. I also believe there should be a way to mute other warnings like when the sock isn’t reading properly. That alarm goes off often and it’s very loud and annoying. Ends up waking up my baby. It’s the main reason I’m giving this app a one star. I also think paying the 10 extra a month is absurd.
Terrible app
This app is terrible. Always buffering and it will literally sit there and buffer for 5 minutes if you don’t go out of the app delete it and then go back in. Even if you were just in the app less than 10 seconds ago. I HATE it.
Great in theory
In 2026 why I have to restart the app 5 times to clear the loss of signal warning is asinine. Ten feet from bad station and loses connection every time he lays on me which would be fine if it didn’t take 5 minutes of frustrated app restarts to get the stupid lost connection alarm to stop. Great product. Terrible app.
Pairing is a hussle
WiFi pairing is very hard. Couldn’t connect after multiple tries
Dysfunctional app
Crazy you pay a subscription to an app that cannot stay connected to its own equipment. I have my WiFi and router set to the 2.4ghz like it says and still disconnects from WiFi in the middle of the night. Very concerning.
Awful
Sensor and connection is awful, can’t be more than 6 feet away at any point, and to get the alarm to stop going off you need to open the app, which makes sense, except you need to own the app several times to even get it to load the pop up that the alarm is going off for connectivity issues. The connection is junk and the sock has zero range. App works half the time, camera almost never loads anymore and this is all less than a month old. Updates never fix anything. Don’t waste time or money
app does not work anymore
I have an older iPhone and the software is up to date. the app keeps asking for an app update but everything is up to date. I spent so much ($300 or so) on this system and now I can’t even use it! And the response from owlet was to update software on my phone, but my phone is up to the latest OS it can handle, why can’t older phones work with your system?
Constant camera issues
Bottom line, there are constant camera issues that will never go away. Either the camera wont load or the camera will get disconnected… the issues with the camera never end and unfortunately make this an unreliable platform. And, before you think it’s just me, I got 2 gig fiber optic wifi in my house. I have contacted support, they say reset your system… no long term solution. From looking at other reviews, it looks like this is pretty widespread
Great product but the app is not so great
I love the sock and the camera! But the app is just horrible, i really can’t recommend buying the subscription because it’s really not worth it. There’s always an issue. The customer service team says they’re working on fixing the app but somehow all of the issues persist. Uh
Connectivity issues recently
The past week it seems like I am having to reconnect to my WiFi daily or even multiple times a day. It’s the same WiFi every other decide is on and the only thing having issues is the Owlet. When I set it to find the WiFi it finds it and reconnects right away. Not sure why it keeps disconnecting but this issue only started recently.
Alerts Cant be Turned Off
I could not use this for a single night as the alerts are not customizable or able to be received in phone only… very disappointing!! Kept getting frequent alerts through the base of the device every time baby was moving! Instead of de-stressing us, it was a new stress waking us and baby up all the time. They really need to fix how the alerts work…
Cannot get the device to connect
Purchase the dream sock last week and have not been able to get it connected to WiFi. My WiFi is not hidden and we are using 2.4gz.
Returned to a new device and stil having the same issues
Returned to a new device and stil having the same issues
App crashes constantly overnight!
The app crashes constantly! It will be playing audio from the nursery and it will eventually just stop broadcasting! It just ends itself. This has happened across multiple “updates”. It’s not my phone and it’s not my wifi.
It is this app.
The developers need to stop cheaping out and outsourcing their coding/software dev to somewhere offshore because it shows. Hire someone here to make it work right!
It is this app.
The developers need to stop cheaping out and outsourcing their coding/software dev to somewhere offshore because it shows. Hire someone here to make it work right!
Fix your app.
Unfortunately, this is truly such a horrible app in function. The product is $300, and I have twins, so I have 2 owlets. Why do I have to manually close the app and restart it every time I want to look at the camera feed of one of my children? Do better, or don’t charge people such an egregious amount of money for a product you won’t put the work in for. The app is essential to the functionality of the sock, and yet every single time I open the app, I am met with the same issue.
Bug fix caused a NEW bug
The latest update 4 days ago has caused a new bug, when you have the camera in full screen mode the viral signs flash on and off the screen every few seconds and only appear for a split second, not even long enough to read them. It’s extremely frustrating. They need to fix it. I tried to report it on the website but got some AI bot that said it couldn’t help me.
It really is that bad
I had heard several times about Owlet having regular issues with connectivity but I did not think it was constant! I can’t believe Owlet is allowed to sell such a faulty product and I’m shocked people actually rely on it.
greedy company subpar product
they charge $120 a year to see the position of a magnet in a sock. if the sock wasnt so expensive id literally burn it out of spite towards this greedy company. sock alarms cant be changed or modified or silenced or customized. cant merge consecutive sleep periods when, say, you temporarily turned the sock off so it didnt beep during a diaper change.... because you cant modify the alarm. also, did i mention this greedy company wants $120/year to view the POSITION OF A MAGNET thats already built into the sock.
App is trash
I’ve been using my owlet for years, and it baffles me how an app can be just as bad- if not worse, than when it started. I need to restart the app every time I open it because the readings always stop. At one point I thought I forgot to put it on my son, but it was just the app not working. Take some money and invest it in the development of the app. The entire brand is worthless if the app is this bad. I used to recommend this to people but I am done. We shouldn’t have had to install another camera in my son’s room since this one doesn’t work. I truly hope there is a class action lawsuit and Owlet has to take accountability of their careless mistakes.
Update, months later and this app still doesn’t work. It’s bull that they can get away with this. I can’t even connect to the app when restart it now. No sound, no video, base station always disconnects. Shame on you, owlet. I’m done believe you care about the wellness of babies and you are only money hungry. Do better.
Update, months later and this app still doesn’t work. It’s bull that they can get away with this. I can’t even connect to the app when restart it now. No sound, no video, base station always disconnects. Shame on you, owlet. I’m done believe you care about the wellness of babies and you are only money hungry. Do better.
awful UI/UX & camera hardware
Great on phone. Clearly no effort on the iPad version though… super small video which is very disappointing for such an expensive device. Guess the budget for the software engineers got too high for the margins the shareholders wanted.
Edit: updated from three stars to one. phone version is terrible too. Distorted audio that cuts in and out constantly. It’s obvious that they picked up a white label security camera and rebranded it as a baby camera. Kills phone battery and they actually just removed one of the only useful features… audio even if the app is in the background. Try a real baby monitor and you’ll see and hear the difference.
Edit: updated from three stars to one. phone version is terrible too. Distorted audio that cuts in and out constantly. It’s obvious that they picked up a white label security camera and rebranded it as a baby camera. Kills phone battery and they actually just removed one of the only useful features… audio even if the app is in the background. Try a real baby monitor and you’ll see and hear the difference.
Not reliable, takes forever to connect every time.
Would not recommend. Got it because of the deal it came with the dream sock and the monitor is horrible. Takes forever to connect, disconnects a lot, lags and overall not reliable.
So annoying…
Walking to the next room to change a diaper. Alarm goes off every time even though it is the room right next to ours. Press OK via app to silence alarm, wait 5 seconds, alarm goes off again, and again until it is brought back.
And if you turn it off briefly via app to not wake your partner for a middle of the night diaper change, it needs to play a chime to let you know you turned it off.
And if you turn it off briefly via app to not wake your partner for a middle of the night diaper change, it needs to play a chime to let you know you turned it off.
My camera app has not been working
It just sits and acts like it’s loading it impressed at all. No piece of mind here :(
Update Erased Data
I loved this app, but following the most recent update, a great deal of my child’s previous sleep data has either been erased entirely or mostly erased so only the state of wakefulness is viewable. The app promises to save up to 30 days of sleep data, but it seems they may be attempting to repeal that feature without any notification. I’m deeply displeased.
too many bugs
i love the owlet but the app bugs are really really getting annoying. i have twins so i have to deal with 2 socks. one of the bases keeps disconnecting from wifi/the app. the actual base will be glowing but the app says the base isn’t on wifi and isn’t working. and it wants me to re pair it. the pairing also needs you to take the sock off. it’s 1:30 am and it keeps happening and i really don’t want to wake up two babies. sucks tha such a useful tool has an app that has so many issues.
Camera footage inconsistent
I keep having to force close and reopen the app to get streaming footage. After a few minutes of live view the footage freezes and I have to close and repone the app.
App-only rating
This latest update has caused SUCH a headache in our household! We’ve made it over a year with almost no issues at all with any part of our Owlet set up, and suddenly after my husband and I updated last week, the app is crashing constantly. All day and night there are problems like no video feed, constant alarms for nonsense from a fully-charged, properly-placed sock on a healthy baby, video feed lagging and playing catch-up when we open the app, and the camera feed going dead in the middle of the night (with no alert about that!). For a system that has a beep for everything, you would think it would notify you if there is no longer video or audio feed. I’m blaming the app update because nothing is wrong with our devices, and we are doing nothing differently than we have been for the last year. It’s super buggy all of the sudden, and now we hate it! Please fix it!!!
Thought it was really great, but bugs galore
First off, add a widget! 2nd, the base station constantly disconnects from WiFi, and it’s very inconsistent to get it to reconnect. We’ve woken up our baby multiple times due to the beeping. It just needs to be better.
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Sentiment summary
90%
Positive (4-5★)
2%
Neutral (3★)
9%
Negative (1-2★)