A Review of the Pool Calculator App 

ThePool Calculator provides a swimming pool owner with necessary tools along with pool maintenance information needed to keep their water clear and balanced. The popularity of the Pool Calculator is the ease in which it can estimate how much of a chemical needs to be added to a pool. The Pool Calculator was designed with easy to learn basic computing commands that help to adjust pool chemicals efficiently. The functions of the Pool Calculator are easy to remember, and it works flawlessly—unless a user inputs the wrong information or incorrectly measures their pool chemicals.

The Pool Calculator design has a simple user interface (UI) and a friendly user experience (UX); both Android and iOS can use the app. At first glance, the app shows the multiple categories which it can calculate: pool volume, chlorine, salt, the potential of hydrogen (PH), alkalinity, stabilizer, borate, heat time, turnover rate, filter size, flow rate, dynamic head, calcium hardness, and saturation index. The simplicity and easy readability of the Pool Calculator is the key to the app's popularity and easy functionality.  For example, the app's wireframes help users understand, navigate, and use standard buttons and icons. The tabbed menu is located in the upper right-hand corner. Each category is tabbed, delivering a streamlined focus and meeting the users' needs with its design and functionality. 

After I take a water sample of my swimming pool, I use a standard test kit for testing my pool water chemistry. By testing my pool water, I can input the current chlorine, PH, or alkalinity readings into the app and be provided with the number of needed chemicals to achieve the desired range with the press of a tab.  The Pool Calculator helps me maintain proper chlorine, PH, and alkalinity, the main chemicals I monitor year-round in my swimming pool. I personalize the app by pre-setting the 17,500 gallons my pool holds. The ability to store and pre-set the gallons my pool has helps tailor the content when I visit the app. The Pool Calculator was developed to provide fast load times. Filtering and sorting make the process of browsing appear seamless. As a user, I appreciate the Pool Calculators' speed and simplicity. The Pool Calculator has helped give me the confidence to maintain my pool without hiring a local pool company. The average charge for pool maintenance in my area is $125 per month. The Pool Calculator is a free app that can be downloaded to help any pool owner who wants to maintain their pool.

A few recommendations for improving the Pool Calculator are the addition of an appropriate chemical level guideline, calculation based on outdoor temperatures, and the tracking of previous pool test logs. By providing a chemical levels guideline, app users will not have to search the internet for the desired range of chemicals needed. Adding a calculator that considers the outdoor temperatures can help individuals who live in climates that vary year-round.  Pool owners can estimate the cost of chemicals throughout the year if the Pool Calculator could record or log all previous pool tests. The feature could help the Pool Calculator users by providing an average amount of chemical usage. The user can then know how many chemicals to purchase when going to the pool supply store.