Pit Boss Grills
reviews and complaints

I've had my Pitboss Pro Series grill for about 3 and 1/2 years. Starting one month after the warranty expired. I had to replace the igniter, then a month later the controller and now the ignitor is out again. I clean my grill quite frequently by shop vacuuming the ash, drips, etc and cleaning off any grease. I don't feel that these grills are build to last.

Like the new app, but the update that came with it not some much. I used to be able to set the grill temp by 5 degree intervals. Now it’s set to 10 degree intervals with the only exception being 225 is preset. The push notification that popped up explained that they’ve been proving the grilling experience with this frame ware update . One would think that they would give more control not less. Being able to set the temp in 1 degree increments would’ve been an improvement. This is a step back ! And not to forget that there are no graphs anymore. Hopefully, like many things these days. This app and frame ware update is only a first or second step in a process of updating and now they are just waiting for the feedback before making any more changes.

i bought my grill a month ago. when i read the reviews on the app, i thought: these people must be doing something wrong. Boy was i ever wrong. First off, i have had 5g internet for 3 years. Why are they using 2.4 ghz? to show you how bad this is, the only way i can connect to bluetooth is to be within 6 feet of the grill. After setting up a 2.4 wifi, it loses the bluetooth trying to connect to it. i am in my kitchen, 10 feet from my modem and about 7 feet from the grill. this is a deal breaker. i have 2 more days to return the grill. Since nobody in customer support will ever call you back, i suggest everyone return them and maybe they will get the message. This is useless if you must go outside continually to check the temp. Worst app that i have seen.

So the purpose of the app is to set temperature. The app goes through setup where you pick the model smoker you have and then set the temperature you want. But the app doesn't actually have the correct temps for your model smoker. I have a vertical pro series smoker and the temp range is broader [protected] - etc) and the app jumps every 5 degrees. That's great... but those temps aren't options on my smoker. If you can set make and model, you should be able to have the correct temp range. Basic application stuff. Also the "alerts" are terrible. I was getting alerts for the correct temp being reached about an hour after the cook was done and meat was off the smoker and it was powering down... again... not a good app. Basic stuff and needs to be fixed.

Went to open my smokeit app and was notified to install this, so I did. Had to create a new account, no big deal. Went to add my smoker, it would connect Bluetooth but not wifi (yes using 2.4g). When I tried to connect to the smoker it would not. I Then loaded the app on my iPhone and it continually told me my account did not exist. Went back to my original device I installed the app on, logged out, tried logging back in and it told me it couldn’t find my account. Tried to reset my password and it told me too many attempts on the first try. Again, useless app now. Reverting to my inkbird so I can at least monitor temps.

I purchased my pit boss last year because of the ability to remotely monitor and control my device. Now it’s no better than most others out there.

The app doesn’t allow you to control the temp setting more accurately. The “smoke it” app was in 10° increments which was a minor frustration because 5° would have been more desirable but the Pit Boss app is awful. 180°-200°-225°-250°-300°-350°-400°-450°-475°-500°. 10 temp settings.
I set it at 250° so I can smoke a pork butt in around 8-9 hours. My trouble is that my pellet smoker is having a hard time getting up to 250°, it’s sitting around 225°. I don’t want to smoke for 14 hours so I set it 250° but it can’t get there so I set it at 300°(no other choices) then It gets up to 270-280. If I could set it at 275 that would probably be perfect. Also there is no controls for the augur so you can’t tap it for added smoke.
At least fix the temp controls otherwise it’s useless.

When the app is working it does exactly what it needs to do. The old SMOKE IT app have more detailed information as far as what the grill was doing.
This app has not worked for me at all! The app will not connect to the grill. The grill is connected to my Wi-Fi network, however the grill could not be connected to any device via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.
This is the same thing that happened to the old SMOKE IT app.
The grill is awesome, the app is terrible. I would probably have gone with a different grill if i would have known the app issues.
I highly recommend investing in a separate Wi-Fi temp probe to monitor your long cooking sessions. The only problem with that is it does not allow you to control the grill.
Of the app worked 50% of the time, i would give it 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️.
For now ⭐️!

It has been a rough go of it for Pit Boss apps. I had many emails and support calls regarding the SmokeIT app, and it was almost there when Pit Boss launched their own app. I was definitely skeptical, and the first release was a bit rough.

With that said, they quickly made necessary changes and the app is now doing everything I want it to do for me. I can easily see the temps of the grill and all the probes (it even let me add temp probes after start-up and then plotted the temps for these as soon as they were added, which the old app didn’t do).

The graph is really good and shows all the probe temps (the old one would only show two). My only request at this point is to add labels to the time axis along the bottom, in cook time hours with a minor tick mark at the 30 minute mark between labels.

I’ve been using the Smoke IT app for A long time, with no issues. Recently the app started directing me to downloads use this app. First impression was meh. After an update it got a little better, with the visual indicators on the auger, fan, igniter, etc. it seems to work “ok”, but one thing that has not been remedied, is notifications. I get a notification when the grill and smokers are up to temp, and when the meat probes reach their set points, BUT it’s only a visual notification. No sounds. I have my volume turned all of the way up, and sounds turned on in my notification settings. This is extremely aggravating, because it causes me to be constantly having to check my phone screen, to see the status. I’ll be continuing to use the SmokeIT app, until Pitboss figures out how to come up with a useful app on their own.

Pit Boss does it again and continues to put their customer care top priority while coming out with a new amazing app! I’ve never seen it, or have been apart of a company that consistently considers their customers when designing an app that makes it possible to control our grills straight from our finger tips! Let’s talk about convenience and incredible control straight from our phone ,being able to not just set our temperatures but also use outstanding recipes to have the best tasting meat coming off our grills straight from our backyards. I can’t begin to say how easy and efficient this app is, but it’s also so easy to use, even if your not tech savvy! So let’s all stand up and say, Thanks to Pit Boss for making it so easy to cook some of our favorite meats from whenever we are weather we are home or not! Thanks Pit Boss! We appreciate you!

Sorry to be a jerk, but this app really stinks compared to the original Smokey app. I detest comments berating the developers, but next time you should pay someone to write your app. All of your slide panels ask me to enter some data, but then completely blocks the field. I can’t see what I am typing. You force me to update the grill, but I can’t see half of the progress because half is below the bottom of the screen. The main grill screen is like absolute basic fields showing data crammed together. Not everyone has the iPhone Mega Max. I realize it’s much cheaper to throw some basic fields on a screen and let your customers test for you, but this is ridiculous. Silly me trying to grill a shoulder without pre-flight testing to make sure the app was still available and working. Sigh. I’m sure I would be ok with it, if I had never used the previous app. Epic fail for this one.

Went to smoke a Pork shoulder last night and downloaded/set up the new pit boss app. Wondering if they were making a new app to run from the atrocity of the SmokeIT app. It seems that they’ve made another terrible app. I set my pitboss to 230degrees. I last checked it at 1:30am, wake up at 7 am and at some point it decided to go back down to smoke mode in the night. Guess I’ll continue to have to get up every hour on the hour. Not to reload wood chips, but to make sure the garbage technology keeps performing correctly.

Update: App ended up dropping the smoker temp down to ‘smoke’ 4 different times throughout the cook process. Completely defeats the purpose of having a monitoring app. If I could send my grill back, I would. Very angry. Also, the Bluetooth cuts out your music every time you go to the app and app doesn’t have many of the previous features. Doesn’t seem like an improvement at all.

Changed to the Pitboss app because I had to. This app is terrible. I can stand right next to my smoker and cannot get the app to connect to the smoker via Bluetooth, however, the Home Screen indicates that I am connected. I have been able a few times to get it connected, but as soon as I move more than 10 feet away it drops the connection. This is unsatisfactory. What’s even worse is I can’t get the app to connect to wifi. It just won’t connect. When trying to set up wifi connection, I get a message saying it can’t connect to Bluetooth, not “can’t connect to wifi” but bluetooth. Now, I’m not a genius with this, but this app is supposed to be able to go between the two. Can’t do that if it can’t connect or stay connected to either. Basically, it’s a useless app, it provides no value other than me getting exercise going outside to check on the temp. I’d rather just have stayed with the SMOKEIT app.

To start off the smoke it app worked not perfect but it worked and was overall happy with it. Now The pit boss app is severely buggy. The wifi doesn’t work ever, the Bluetooth barely. so the walk away or being away from the grill rendering it useless. I notice overheat codes but no signs of overheating or fires. I’d set 200 degrees on the app. But on the grill monitor would climb over set mark then overheat code. So I was i trying to troubleshoot the grill, cleaning excessively, new temp probe, new computer monitor, high end brand pellets. Nothing the grill malfunctioning for weeks the grill is barely 1 old. By shear luck I set the grill temp manually noticed no flare codes. Then tried the setting through the app instant flare code. Back and forth troubleshooting it. I finally figured out it’s this worthless app creating problems. Got me so mad I tore my fairly new grill apart for nothing. Money spend on parts I didn’t need. Pit boss needs to get this app fixed or go back to smoke it at least it worked.

The previous app, Smoke It, was fairly utilitarian but it was reliable and easy to use. The Pit Boss app that replaced it is neither of those. Connection via wifi and/or Bluetooth is extremely bad and inconsistent. I loaded the app today and was connected via wifi and Bluetooth. Everything seemed to be working ok. I do some things around the house and check the app again, it shows that I’m connected and it shows the temperature… but it’s about 10 degrees off. I try to reload the app and it sits there and never loads up.

The old Smoke It app wasn’t the best looking, but it always was reliable. This thing doesn’t even seem like it connects half the time, it says my grill is off when it’s on, etc etc. There’s really no point to the app if you can’t keep track of your grill’s temp or the temp of the meat. I’ll probably try it one more time but will call it a bust if I can’t get it to work. The worst part is that I can’t even go back to the old app. I hope the developers fix this, but I might have to go a different route.

I had high hopes to the “newest” Pit Boss app, but it let me down, too. The app is very unstable. Half the time, I cannot connect to my grill and when I do connect the app does not save my temp settings. As I am typing this, the app deleted my Probe 1 set temperature. I watched it before my very eyes. How can this app be trusted? This was one of the reasons I bought this grill, and so far, Pit Boss cannot keep their promise from the advertised Specs of the grill. Before I began typing this review, The display changed from displaying the grill temp and Probe temps, to displaying a bunch of nonsense. And I am within 15 feet of my grill. The last app would not connect through Wi-Fi. I know practically everyone had that problem, and when I called support, they had no fix. I sure hope something can be done about the problems with this app. As it stands, I cannot trust the app to provide me up to date info if the app keeps wigging out. I Amy have to move to another grill, which is a shame. I really like the grill, but I hate the apps Pit Boss puts out.

For years I’ve been dealing with an abysmal App for my pit boss grill. From the original “Pit Boss Grilling”, to the “SmokeIT”, and now finally on this newest version. The app had tons of issues from connectivity problems, slow loading, lacking basic features (that were available on other smoker apps for years). The app(s) was basically useless for years. I had to have a separate (20 dollar)temp probe to send me a push notification that actually made a sound or vibration when food was done. This was most frustrating thing. We now finally have that feature, but they still need to update it to set off an Alarm notification that has to be turned off to avoid accidentally mistaking it for a text. Improvements above that would be lower temperature intervals (5-10 degrees instead of 25), programmable temp adjustments for long smokes (like once a probe or time reaches a certain interval it adjusts the temp). If these features get remedied we would be at a 5 star app. These are all features I had on my GMG smoker app in 2017-18, so we are by no means talking ground breaking new stuff here.

I was excited to see an app update today from the SmokeIT to PitBoss App. Grill did a firmware update, I like the new app. Other than it forced me to make a new password (this is important later). Now Alexa tells me the grill is at 180 when it is smoking at 230, I do not believe it was connected at all. It had a very bad setup of telling me the last temp when it was powered off. So I think this is still reading the last value it read before the app and firmware were updated. I have disabled the skill and removed the grill and probes from the Alexa app. Then Enabled the app... and the only password that will work to enable it is the original password.

This tells me that their old app used a different authentication method than what the new app is using. That is fine, but not if the Alexa skill is still pointing to the old user repository. 5 min of testing should have proven this and so I am left to think this was known and they pushed it out early knowing this was broken.

This was a MAIN reason I bought this grill, I wanted an app and the Alexa integration. I have 20 days to return the grill and will if this is not working by then. Not meant as a threat, just to point out it is important to me.

Happy to update this when the Alexa integration is back.

On 3/25 the graph is back and much easier to digest and access(3/27 !upon further inspection the graph is back but doesn’t allow you to tap points on the graph to give you time and temp. Scaling on the graph makes it difficult to determine temp with out exiting the graph and going to the grill page!) This is a great update but I still want to be able to key in 205 on the app and not go out to my grill to change it. Give me the temp intervals in increments of 5 degrees! And start making the app more about my grill and not about buying more product form you! The recipes are fine but I don’t need a section on the app to buy. I have been using a smart controller for a bit and the SMOKEIT app wasn’t great but it wasn’t like an app built for children. This app doesn’t have some features that I did like from the SMKIT(SMOKEIT) app like; See a graph of your cook with probes and grill temps, indicators at the bottom of the screen telling you what component in the grill is active,have notifications come when the grill/probe reach temp, manually key in a value for the probes, and a view of grill temp and probe temp with out having to select the grill! This pitboss app does like nice, does look pretty similar to the SMKIT app, but that isn’t a bad thing. I would like to say that my grill was pushed an update after connecting to the new app. Here are a list of features you can add to make this app hotter and heavier -Add the features that I outlined in my differences between the apps. -Notifications are check on in the app but I didn’t get anything when I up the temp -Add a widget to Home Screen for quick views at the temp of the grill and probe! -Add a countdown or estimated time of when the cook will come to temp (my ThermoPro wireless station does it) -bring back the graph! It’s extremely helpful to up and coming pit masters.

Pit boss weaseled me out of my warranty. I chose pit boss because they had a great warranty! 5 year warranty on all pit boss manufactured by dansons inc. Unfortunately that could not be farther from the truth. The bottom of my pit boss broke. I called pit boss to get a warranty claim started. however I was informed that as I did not buy my product at a Lowe’s, it is not under warranty. They put 5year warranty claims on the box, glass of the display and in the adds. But don’t tell you that the fine print found only at pit boss website buried in the bottom says only certified dealers. Great news to know before buying! To me this is not only extremely disingenuous! But also dishonest! Another way corporate greed uses adds to lie to the customers who support them.

two issues:

Brand New Unit purchased from Tractor Supply.

1. I was told this model had WI-Fi Connectivity. when I got home and could connect, I called customer service and was told that required a $150 upgraded control panel.

2. First time cooking, grease began leaking from the drum seam opposite the grease catch pan. called customer service, sent pictures, sent more pictures... I was told best they could do was send parts and I would need to replace them, I asked for the upgraded controller as compensation and was told no. Customer service management refused to talk to me.

Why did they remove features and temp settings? Temperature settings missing on app 190° 210° 220° 230° 240° 260° 270° 280° 290° only temps available smoke, 200° 225° (temperature doesn’t exist on my grill jumps to 230°) 250° 300°. They remove the grill analytic graph. Devs need to add back the 10° increments between Smoke (180°) up to 300°. I also noticed a bug when I’m not in Bluetooth range, it will rest the temp to 180° pretty frustrating because I can’t control the in between temp in the 190°-300° range.

I first used this app 3 years ago when I got my first pit boss. It was good for recipes but would freeze a lot of the time. Then I got a new Pit Boss Pro Series and used the Smoke It app and that worked great, but now there’s a message that says to use the “new” pit boss grills app which is exactly the same…. The opening screen still freezes just like it did years ago. This needs to be fixed and ASAP. What’s the $1000 price point for if the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth don’t work? Please fix this or make an app that actually works!

The new app will not work. I used Smoke it for two years with no problems. They made us move over to the new Pit Boss app. The first day I called in because it would not connect. I did what they told me and it worked for one day. They asked to give them some time due to new and new update. It has not worked since. Today Super Bowl Sunday. Again will not work. I have tried for two hours to get it to connect so I can watch tv inside. Nope got to keep coming out to check on it. Please fix it. This is a pain in the donkey. !

Sadly I was forced into downloading the new app since the old SmokeIT app stopped working. Since then I have been on the phone three times with the Pit Boss team and no one has been able to resolve the issue of the app not updating. It begins the download and always stops when it gets to 42%. It then gives an error message starting to shut off the grill an restart after 10 seconds. You guessed it…still won’t download and Wi-Fi signal is strong. Now I have a smoker that can only be used manually and have to monitor constantly.

Just got the previous app to finally start working on iOS, was a bit excited to see a new app come out only to find out it’s also garbage! Will not connect to the grill, tried all the tricks and tips they give you online, powered the grill off, deleted and re-installed the app, did 3 backflips and 12 Hail Marys. Still will not connect to Bluetooth. Extremely disappointing after you spend $1000 on a grill but it only works like a basic $500 grill because they couldn’t create a simple app that actually works! 0 stars if I could.

They made me download this app and disabled the SmokeIT app…. It won’t connect by Bluetooth to my LG1200BL. Apparently you cannot bypass bluetooth and connect directly to wifi either- why would you need Bluetooth when most grills are at home?

Went to the trouble shooting section, after selecting my grill, I only get a blank page. What a joke. If you are going to disable support for the old app, you should be certain the new one works. If I could give zero stars, I would. There is not one thing I am happy with about this app.

It started out bad, but every update it’s gotten worse. Not sure how that is even possible. Since the last update I can no longer connect via bluetooth or wifi making the app completely useless. (I’m wishing I gone with the big named competitor.) The bluetooth connection cycles in and out, wifi says it connects but the open the control you grill and its gone. Very disappointed considering I bought this only 4 months ago. I did the uninstall/ reinstall thing it was no help. I even deleted my account and setup a new one, no help at all.

This app is complete trash. First it uses wifi so good forbid your wifi goes out at least with Bluetooth that wouldn’t matter so any power outage you’re screwed. Ok so let’s dig into the bigger stuff. Setting a temperature is impossible it just won’t let you and if you try it will constantly text you saying temp archived meaning whatever temperature it’s at it will text you which happens about every five seconds. Roughly 30 texts per minute . Deleted after two mins. Please for the love of god fix this till then this app is a must pass.

Yes it’s functional. Easy to switch temps, programming.

Why would you get rid of the “graphalytics”? That was one of my favorite features for tracking the cook. Also, with the data collected and possible graphed, why not creat projections of finishing the cook (time) incorporate a rest timer, and other normal smoking procedures. A spray reminder? You could do so much more than what’s in the app.
The home page is a joke- a giant ad to try to get you to buy more stuff. Heaven forbid you put the grill summary on the home page. (Status, etc).

Edit: I knocked another star off… 12.5 hrs into the cook, the graph lost all its data too. The feature would be great if it worked.

I really like the addition of the cook graph in the latest update and was excited to see I could take notes on the cook. I’m at hour 9 of my brisket smoke and all of the notes I took have vanished. This was going to be the first time I took notes on a cook in order to get more consistent, but now they are gone along with my short term memory where those notes were in my head… Fix that bug and it’s 5 stars for sure.

Disappointed in the app. I used the previous app for many years. While it was not the best in the world, it still gave me the ability to do many other things that this app doesn’t. This biggest downfall is the connectivity with the grill itself. No matter if it’s wifi or Bluetooth, I have to be standing at least 10 ft around the grill for it to connect. It completely defeats the purpose of being able to leave my house and continue to monitor the temps. While it looks a bit sleeker, the app seems to have taken a few steps back in feature usability.

I will start by saying the Pit Boss grill is fantastic. I love cooking with it but my recent experience with the app is frustrating.

Since the advent of the new app to control the pit boss, I've had nothing but trouble. It’s ruined two cooks so far.

Major issues:

Very poor connection compared to SmokeIt app. Especially when over wifi.

When you turn on the app, it automatically sets the temp to 180 deg F.

Push notifications don't work for alarms.

Minor Issues:

UI interface runs slower than smoke it.

Home page should be the grill, not the news.

The new version of this app has big communication and connectivity problems. I have both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled. What I found is if you open the app and you’re out of range of Bluetooth the Wi-Fi doesn’t work till you come back and connect to Bluetooth then you can walk out of Bluetooth range. The app disconnected many times on its own. The app also takes long to bring up data, and very often is out of sync with the grill. The app also kept forgetting my settings for meat probe number two. I had to keep saving it because every once in a while it would disappear..

To sell me the grill with one app and switch it to another is classic Bait and switch! They look the same but smokeIT had more features. The one I need the most is temperature notifications. Pit boss currently has no notifications when temperatures are reached. Isn’t this the whole reason and purpose behind the app. So you can go about your day preparing and doing other tasks and then be alerted when settings are met! This isn’t the only issue but is the biggest. This app needs smoke control as well! Why hurry up to push a new less superior app when it clearly is not ready.- Disappointed customer!

Developer - If you read this.

The app is clunky to say the most positive thing I can. The two primary things I need this app to perform well:

1. Check chamber Temperature
2. Check food temperature

If the app was reliable enough preform AT LEAST these two basic functions, I’d probably be mostly happy with the product. As it stands, the app crashes frequently and losses connectivity (I’m not sure if that’s a grill/hardware issue, but I know for a fact it is NOT my wi-fi), It also does not save my cook history.

It’s a shame since I love the grill itself, and the customer service is outstanding. The app? Absolutely terrible…

This app started with promise and basically nose dived into the garbage soon afterward. I’ve had to uninstall the app multiple times for giving me dozens of false notifications in the middle of the night randomly when my smoker isn’t even on. Every time I reinstall it I have to struggle to set up the smoker again because the stupid online only design is slow and poorly maintained. If I could give less than one star I would. I’m a senior software engineer - I have built hundreds of apps better than this. If my team released this to my customers and didn’t fix it after MONTHS like this app I’d fire my lead immediately.

Show some pride in your craft and FIX YOUR APP.

I’ve been using my grill for 2 years now and have loved it. Was the old smoke it app outdated? Yes, but you know what? It got the job done. Why fix something that isn’t broken. Now there’s a new app that we’re forced to update to and in order to use this app you need to update your grill software as well. DONT DO IT! I’ve had no issues with my grill until now. Once I updated everything like they told me to my grill would no longer get up to temp and eventually just filled my burn pot to the point that it snuffed out the flame and told me my hopper was empty when it wasn’t. I’m my opinion Pit Boss not only owes me $100 for the steaks they ruined, but I want a new grill!