Frequently Asked Questions

Your PlantSense probe and its USB-C cable, the free PlantSense Connect app, and a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network. That's everything — no hub, no wiring, no tools.

Slide the shell off, charge the sensor over USB-C, and slide the switch on the board to ON — the LED flashes white, then blinks blue. Open PlantSense Connect, create your account, and let the app pair with the sensor over Bluetooth. Give it your 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi details, put the probes fully in the soil, and identify your plant. Setup needs the phone app; the web dashboard is for viewing afterwards. The Quick Start Guide walks through each step.

PlantSense Connect — free, with no subscription, ever. It's on the App Store for iPhone and on Google Play for Android. There's also a web dashboard at app.myplantsense.com you can sign in to from any browser.

Yes. PlantSense Connect is free on Google Play and runs on Android 7.0 or newer. Sign up or sign in with your email or with Google. Sign in with Apple isn't available on Android, so if you created your account with Apple on an iPhone, set a password first: tap Forgot your password? on the app's sign-in screen, then sign in with your email and that password.

Yes — a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network. The sensor uses it to send readings to the app, so you can check in from anywhere. Bluetooth is used only once, during first-time setup.

Four things: soil moisture (a 0–100% scale from dry to fully soaked soil, via a corrosion-resistant capacitive probe), air temperature, air humidity, and light (reported as peak lux). The app also shows the sensor's battery level and Wi-Fi signal.

3 months or more on a charge, and longer with a strong Wi-Fi signal. The sensor sleeps between readings — one every 90 minutes to 5 hours — to stretch the battery. To charge it, slide the shell off and use the included USB-A to USB-C cable with a USB-A charger or computer port (current sensors don't charge from USB-C-to-USB-C chargers); the light by the port is red while charging and green when full. The app warns you when the battery drops below 25%, and again below 20% and 15%. A weak Wi-Fi signal, or a sensor that can't reach your Wi-Fi, drains it faster.

Yes. If your sensor's battery stops holding a charge, email [email protected] and we'll get you a replacement. The battery plugs into the board with a small connector, so swapping it takes no tools or soldering. A battery that fails within the 1-year warranty is replaced free.

Yes. The shell slides on over rubber O-rings, sealing the electronics against splashes and rain, so water the soil as usual with the sensor in place. It isn't waterproof, though: don't submerge the sensor or leave it sitting in standing water.

Yes, anywhere within Wi-Fi range: patios, balconies, greenhouses, garden beds. The sealed shell handles rain, including downpours. Just don't put it where it can end up under water, like a spot that floods or a puddle that covers the sensor.

Slide the shell off and press the RESTART button at the top of the board, or slide the power switch off and back on. The light flashes white and the sensor stays awake for 5 minutes, which is what calibration, Update Now and Reconnect Wi-Fi need. Restarting never erases your Wi-Fi, calibration or data. Unplugging and replugging USB-C doesn't wake it.

On its own. A new version installs at a regular check-in, usually within about 5 hours; the light turns solid cyan for 20 to 30 seconds while it installs. To update straight away, press RESTART, then tap Update Now under Firmware in the plant's settings. The same screen shows which version you have.

Push the probes straight down until they're fully in the soil, near the roots, so the base sits at the soil surface. Probes partly in the air read too dry. In a small pot, angle it slightly so the probes stay in the root zone.

See every plant's health at a glance, then open a plant for live dials (moisture, temperature, humidity, light, battery, and Wi-Fi), its species care info, and history charts for every metric. Tap any dial to jump straight to its chart.

Yes. Add as many sensors as you like. Each plant gets its own dials, history, care ranges, and alerts, and they all live together in one list — from a windowsill herb to a whole home full of greenery.

Yes, at app.myplantsense.com. Sign in with the same account and you'll see all your plants and their history on a larger screen.

Yes, using PlantNet. Take a photo and it names the species, then loads that plant's ideal care ranges automatically so your dials and alerts are set up correctly from the start.

On iPhone, yes. Pick a plant and its health and key readings appear right on your home screen, in light or dark mode.

Readings arrive every 90 minutes to 5 hours. The sensor sleeps in between to preserve battery — which is plenty for plants, whose conditions change gradually.

Push notifications when a plant needs water, when it's getting too cold, when the air is too dry, or when it needs more light; when a sensor's battery is low or its Wi-Fi signal is weak; and a “Check on your sensor” alert if no reading has arrived for 8 hours. You can turn each kind on or off per plant. To avoid nagging, a plant gets at most one alert a day.

Yes. Each plant has its own min/max thresholds for moisture, temperature, humidity, and light. Identifying the plant sets sensible defaults; adjust them in the plant's settings to make alerts stricter or more relaxed.

It works that out on its own from the moisture readings — no logging required — and does the same for charging. From the pattern it estimates what's next, like "Water in ~3 days."

It's a 0–100% scale between two reference points: 0% is dry soil, 100% is fully soaked soil. It isn't the percentage of water in the soil, so there's no single right number; a succulent is happy low on the scale and a fern wants to stay high. Identifying your plant loads its healthy range, and the dial colours and alerts use that.

Yes. In the plant's settings, the Moisture scale card fits the reading to your soil: tap "I just watered: set this as 100%" right after a thorough watering, or drag the slider. For a deeper calibration, Advanced: Sensor calibration saves dry and wet points on the sensor over Bluetooth (calibrate wet in the plant's soil right after watering, never in a glass of water).

2.4 GHz Wi-Fi. The sensor doesn't use 5 GHz, so if your router broadcasts both bands, choose the 2.4 GHz network during setup.

First-time setup only. The app uses Bluetooth to find the sensor and hand it your Wi-Fi details. After that, the sensor reports over Wi-Fi on its own.

No light is normal: the sensor sleeps between readings. Blinking blue means it's ready to pair (no Wi-Fi saved); blinking white means it's connecting to Wi-Fi; solid green for about 5 seconds means a reading just went through; solid cyan means it's installing an update; yellow means it's connected to your phone; blinking purple is calibration mode. Blinking red means it can't reach your Wi-Fi, and a brief solid red means it reached your Wi-Fi but not the internet. The small red/green light by the USB-C port is the charger. The full guide, with what to do for each, is on the Your Sensor page and in the app under a plant's settings.

Press RESTART to wake the sensor, then open the plant's settings in the app and tap Reconnect Wi-Fi. Enter the new network and password. Don't delete and re-add the device; that erases its history, and Reconnect Wi-Fi keeps everything.

No reading has arrived for 6 hours. Usually the Wi-Fi or internet was down or the battery is flat. Through an outage the sensor keeps your network and retries on its own, every 90 minutes and then every 3 hours, so readings come back once the internet does. The Troubleshooting page walks through it.

Yes. Install the free PlantSense integration through HACS and every reading shows up in Home Assistant as its own entity, ready for dashboards and automations. It reads from your PlantSense account, so values stay current while the sensor sleeps.

PlantSense is designed in Chicago. The circuit boards are made by a specialist electronics manufacturer; everything else happens here: we print and finish each enclosure, assemble and seal every sensor, load its firmware, and test each one end to end before it ships.

Yes. If you're not happy, return your sensor within 30 days of delivery for a full refund, even if you've used it. Send the whole sensor back with its cable. Email [email protected] first and we'll send you the return address. Return shipping is on you unless the sensor is faulty. Refunds go back to your original payment method once it arrives.

We'll replace it free. Within the first 30 days we also cover shipping both ways: we send a prepaid label and a replacement, which ships within 5 business days because every sensor is built to order. Email us before sending anything, since many problems turn out to be Wi-Fi or a sleeping sensor and the Troubleshooting page can fix them in minutes.

One year from the date of purchase against defects in materials and workmanship; we'll replace a faulty sensor free. It doesn't cover a submerged sensor, physical damage, hardware modification, or normal wear and tear. Running your own firmware through ESPHome or Home Assistant doesn't void it, though we can't support custom firmware.

Yes. Return one and we refund half of what you paid for the 2-pack, or return both for the full amount.

Free shipping anywhere in the US. Each sensor is built to order and ships within 3–5 business days.

In PlantSense Connect, sign up with your email, or continue with Google. On iPhone, you can also continue with Apple.

No. PlantSense Connect is free, with no subscription, ever. The app, the web dashboard, and updates are all included.

You do. PlantSense is built on open standards, and your data is yours — both locally and in the cloud.

In PlantSense Connect, go to Settings and tap Delete Account. It permanently deletes your account and all of its data, including every sensor's history.

Start with the Troubleshooting page, which covers the common problems step by step. Otherwise email [email protected] or use the contact form on the Documentation page. It helps to tell us the light colour you see and when the last reading arrived.