Review Insights · App Store
TP-Link Tapo
TP-Link Systems Inc. · 18,879 ratings · ★ 4.8
4.8
★★★★★
18,879 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 25 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
"notifications"
7 negative reviews mention this · 28% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Frequent intrusive ad banners. There is no option to schedule day/night IR modes by time, which would be useful because the auto mode does not effectively determine the proper mode. Frequent prominent ad banners appear in the interface, and always come back some time aft…" - bryan121
2
"camera"
4 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Frequent intrusive ad banners. There is no option to schedule day/night IR modes by time, which would be useful because the auto mode does not effectively determine the proper mode. Frequent prominent ad banners appear in the interface, and always come back some time aft…" - bryan121
3
"disabled"
4 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Frequent intrusive ad banners. There is no option to schedule day/night IR modes by time, which would be useful because the auto mode does not effectively determine the proper mode. Frequent prominent ad banners appear in the interface, and always come back some time aft…" - bryan121
4
"tapo"
4 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Recent update broke devices. Software version 1.4.0 on my Tapo P125M plugs is causing an issue with authentication in home assistant. Its a known issue and there is a new software version apparently available but the app doesnt show the option to update the firmware on…" - AustinJT13
5
"settings"
3 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Bulbs randomly losing color. Bulbs are randomly turning into green hue and sometimes pale white hue, and different brightness settings. Nothing fixes this." - Ashwin403
6
"nothing"
3 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Bulbs randomly losing color. Bulbs are randomly turning into green hue and sometimes pale white hue, and different brightness settings. Nothing fixes this." - Ashwin403
7
"option"
3 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Frequent intrusive ad banners. There is no option to schedule day/night IR modes by time, which would be useful because the auto mode does not effectively determine the proper mode. Frequent prominent ad banners appear in the interface, and always come back some time aft…" - bryan121
8
"does"
3 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Frequent intrusive ad banners. There is no option to schedule day/night IR modes by time, which would be useful because the auto mode does not effectively determine the proper mode. Frequent prominent ad banners appear in the interface, and always come back some time aft…" - bryan121
9
"spam"
3 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Garbage ad spam. Enabled notifications to allow camera alert, got amazon ad spam instead. Will be returning product immediately." - asdjflkakjsdjf390u40924
10
"allow"
3 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Garbage ad spam. Enabled notifications to allow camera alert, got amazon ad spam instead. Will be returning product immediately." - asdjflkakjsdjf390u40924
11
"through"
3 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Door lock does not have unlock shortcut function. You cannot program the door lock to unlock through shortcut. When asked why, they claimed people could be stupid enough to unlock their door accidentally. I said you should give people options but they ignored me." - drip01
12
"give"
3 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Door lock does not have unlock shortcut function. You cannot program the door lock to unlock through shortcut. When asked why, they claimed people could be stupid enough to unlock their door accidentally. I said you should give people options but they ignored me." - drip01
📋 All 25 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").
Bulbs randomly losing color
Bulbs are randomly turning into green hue and sometimes pale white hue, and different brightness settings. Nothing fixes this.
Frequent intrusive ad banners
There is no option to schedule day/night IR modes by time, which would be useful because the auto mode does not effectively determine the proper mode. Frequent prominent ad banners appear in the interface, and always come back some time after being dismissed, they are also recently being used more. They also take the area of functions you use frequently (for instance, viewing a camera) so they are designed so you will press and interact with them on accident. Also, use of notifications to send ads, these used to be disabled but recently started to disrespect any opt out
Garbage ad spam
Enabled notifications to allow camera alert, got amazon ad spam instead. Will be returning product immediately.
Kasa was better
Yes kasa might have been annoying most of the time but at least it worked and didn’t error out every single time I try to use any light or plug
Door lock does not have unlock shortcut function
You cannot program the door lock to unlock through shortcut. When asked why, they claimed people could be stupid enough to unlock their door accidentally. I said you should give people options but they ignored me.
Can't download videos unless at home
It's annoying that the app doesn't allow a video to be downloaded unless I'm at home on the same Wifi network. The app should allow users to download a video remotely without having to resort to using the phone's screen recording feature.
Garbage totally
In app advertising. Logs out often.
Garbage.
Garbage.
This app is basic trash
Slow response, always needs to do multiple clicks, need to refresh or open the whole app rather than just the widget. I hate to be forced to move from the prior tp link to this worthless app
Trash loading
The app loading our pet cam SUCKS. Won’t even load properly. Takes forever. Or it just sits on one screen.
If I could give it a zero I would
Doesn’t let me know when people are detected like it’s supposed to
Always corrupt
The record videos some how keep getting corrupted. Only watchable after reboot then happens again.
Why does this app need to be 1GB size?
This app is consuming almost 1GB on the phone and the only use is to check on the Tapo webcam activities. Why does this app need to be so huge for such a simple use case?
Camera Playback
Several issues:
1. Camera footage cannot be deleted from the app
2. Alarm settings reset to default periodically…
3. Footage playback interface isn’t very user friendly.
Fix your app…
1. Camera footage cannot be deleted from the app
2. Alarm settings reset to default periodically…
3. Footage playback interface isn’t very user friendly.
Fix your app…
Buggy, bloated App
Bloated at wastes close to 1 GB storage, too many advertisements and once again update corrupts widget.
Stopped working
Camera system just stopped working. Think that app update screwed up the system as I had to resign in. All cameras were then set with no detection then no live option as it just spins. Shows battery charge and a past image but also says our SD card has nothing on it. It worked great for years! What happened Tapo IT?
Mic issue
Hi devs please include a fix for the mic on ios version of the app
Because it’s not working you can test it your self it is enabled but the sound is not coming through you have to do a work around to mute it and unmute it then u can hear the sound for a split second and the sound is gone again
Because it’s not working you can test it your self it is enabled but the sound is not coming through you have to do a work around to mute it and unmute it then u can hear the sound for a split second and the sound is gone again
Trap
Impossible to cancel
App sends unsolicited notifications
This app sends unsolicited push promotional notifications even I had disabled the promotions notification setting in the app. I don’t appreciate the spam.
Sends notifications for spam
Tapo has started sending notifications for spam, with TP-Link trying to sell you new services and products. With notifications shut off, the cameras are much less useful. Am looking for new security cameras now that DON’T give false-alarm notifications.
Ad notifications
I have promotional notifications disabled and you’re ignoring that and sending notification ads. Unacceptable.
Ads sent through push notifications despite marketing settings disabled
For an integral smart home app, I can’t disable all notifications. If these unauthorized ads continue I’ll have to find a new smart home platform :/
Ads not matter what
My notifications are set to my door alerts only. I even double checked my notifications setting to remove any promotion notifications. However, in the recent releases, this app has taken advantage of the fact that it is one of the few apps I allow notifications and has sent me ads along with my door notifications. This is unacceptable.
Nothing but problems.
Battery dies fast even with WiFi and the app needs to be updated.
Insane size
Why the heck is this app nearly a gigabyte? We really need to curb bloat and feature creep ffs.
Recent update broke devices
Software version 1.4.0 on my Tapo P125M plugs is causing an issue with authentication in home assistant. Its a known issue and there is a new software version apparently available but the app doesnt show the option to update the firmware on the plug.
Sentiment summary
96%
Positive (4-5★)
1%
Neutral (3★)
3%
Negative (1-2★)