NaviLink 4+

I've used this app for three years and while it does have useful functions, there are several ongoing bugs and performance issues that have never been resolved. In fact, I don't believe it's had an update in well over a year. Worse, Navien — a normally excellent company with excellent products — is clueless about the app whenever I contact technical support to report my issues:

The recirculation schedule gets whacked whenever there's a DST change. The Water Heaters receive DST time changes online directly from Navien (or the Developer), yet the App schedules are not updated to align with those changes, which forces you to have to manually — painfully, in fact — update the individual daily schedules with incorrect times in order to make the schedule work correctly. What's worse is that the DST updates sent directly to the heaters automatically by Navien are based on DST dates that have been changed many years ago!!

This app is the interface to my navilink wifi controller I purchased to control my 2019 Navien 240A water heater. Easy to install and works well. I was hesitant due to the numerous poor reviews, but my experience was very positive. The UI on this app isn’t the most intuitive, but it’s very usable and I like to scheduling interface to control the internal recirculating pump in this tankless water heater. I can control, using 10 minute increments, exactly when my pump activated and deactivated. I can also use the enable/disable button on schedule like the “hot button” feature. By default pump runs 24x7, so if I disable my schedule the pump immediately activates. When I enable my schedule, pump resumes execution per schedule. I am able to control my unit when I’m on my local WiFi, or from anywhere I have I internet connection. I’ve never had any connection issue in 1st month of use. I’ve monitored my unit and it responds exactly to the commands issued from this app, including schedule. The data points don’t seem very helpful as of yet, but the remote control via smart phone is super convenient. Using navilink or the hard wired remote are the only ways to schedule recirculation, unfortunately can’t be done from units control panel. For those having issues using navilink for scheduling, more than likely you don’t have a supported control panel, check Navien site for details.

The app data is wildly inaccurate and should not be used to measure the efficiency of the unit, either historical or real time. For example, the app indicates that my two new NPE-A’s have used 5,500 gallons of propane (730 ft3) and 48 gallons of water over the same period. That would seem to violate the laws of thermodynamics, and should not be believed. Further, the data labels in the graphs themselves are useless and correspond to incorrect units of measurement (water “count”? Do they mean gallons?) The only justification for using the app at all is the ability to turn off/on the recirculating pump, or to set an off/on schedule. However, once you set a schedule, you will be unable to delete it.

These are not difficult things to fix from an app-development point of view, and the fact that these showstopper problems persist indicates that Navien is not motivated to develop or maintain the remote management functionality. This is a problem, as it’s very costly to purchase the router and to have it installed. They seem to be misleading the customers into thinking that A) the remote management functionality is robust, professional, and actionable, and B) that they are developing, improving, and maintaining the technology.

It doesn’t look like they are to me.