Airthings View Plus Review | PCMag

If you suffer from asthma and allergies or live in an area with dangerously high air pollution levels, it’s important to ensure that the air in your home is free of harmful contaminants. The Airthings View Plus ($299), a wireless air quality monitor, uses multiple sensors to measure levels of carbon dioxide, particulate matter, radon, and more. You can view measurements in colorful charts and receive alerts when they reach certain thresholds, although you can't customize those thresholds yourself. We experienced some usability issues in testing, too: The display on the View Plus is difficult to see in the dark, and we were unable to link the device to our Google account. The Aura Air, a smart air purifier, provides many of the same readings and actually scrubs the air of pollutants, so even though it's more expensive at $499, it's also a better buy.

A Small Screen With Limitations

The View Plus is an oval monitor with a matte white finish that measures 3.5 by 6.6 by 1.2 inches (HWD) and weighs 12.7 ounces (with batteries). You can hang it on a wall or place it on a desktop. Six AA batteries (included) power the device and Airthings estimates that they will last for up to two years. You can also power it with the included USB-C cable, but you have to supply the adapter. If you use the USB option for power, the View Plus can serve as a hub for other Airthings devices. 

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The front of the device sports a small, 2.9-inch black-and-white LCD that has room to display only two readings at a time; you can configure which ones it shows in the app. This limitation is surprising, because the device looks like it could accommodate a larger display. Moreover, the display lacks backlighting, making it virtually impossible to read in a dark room.

Above the display panel are two sensors and a LED indicator, while additional sensors and grilles flank both sides of the enclosure. To quickly view overall air quality, simply wave your hand in front of the monitor. The LED glows green when the air quality is good, yellow when it is fair, and red when it is poor. The screen also displays a good, fair, or poor status. Behind the removable back panel are the battery compartment, a USB port, and a Reset button. 

The sensors on the View Plus measure levels of carbon dioxide, particulate matter (PM2.5), radon gas, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The monitor also takes air pressure, humidity, and temperature readings in your home and connects to the internet (via a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi radio) to report current outdoor conditions in your area.

The View Plus technically supports Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands, but neither worked well in my testing (more on this later). It also works with IFTTT applets; this integration lets you, for example, configure a connected device such as a smart fan or air conditioner to turn on when a specific reading reaches a threshold. 

Airthings App Settings

You can access real-time and historical measurements, plus configure the View Plus, via the Airthings mobile app (available for Android and iOS) or a web-based dashboard. The device appears in a dedicated panel on the mobile app’s home screen. The panel lists the name of the device, its battery level, and a circle that is green, yellow, or red depending on the current air quality. 

Tap the panel to see a much larger color-coded circle and readings for all seven of the aforementioned measurements. Select any of the readings to view the current status (again with a color-coded circle) and a brief explanation of how the measured element can affect you. Below the circle is a graph that shows the measurements for the last 48 hours, week, month, and year. When the reading eclipses an acceptable threshold, the graph line goes from green to orange and then back to green when the reading is within the threshold again. You can toggle through each reading by swiping left or by tapping the relevant icon at the top of the screen.

Tap the gear icon in the upper right corner to access the View Plus settings; here, you can enable notifications for when any reading exceeds a preset threshold. You can view a list of thresholds for each sensor reading, but you can’t change them to suit your specific needs. While it’s probably not a good idea to change thresholds for radon or PM2.5 levels, I would like the option to edit temperature and humidity thresholds. Other settings allow you to configure Wi-Fi preferences, change the location of the device, and choose which two readings appear on the monitor's display.

Accurate Readings, Inconsistent Voice Controls

Installing the View Plus is simple. I downloaded the app, created an account, and tapped Add Device. The app immediately recognized the View Plus once I removed the battery tab from the monitor. I confirmed my country and tapped enable Code; the device's screen generated a passcode and I entered it in the app. Then, after a prompt, I selected my Wi-Fi SSID and entered my Wi-Fi password. I tapped Next to give it a name and a location, and finally, Add Device, to complete the pairing process. For testing, I enabled notifications for all seven readings.

The View Plus delivered accurate readings in our tests. Its indoor temperature and humidity readings were in line with those from a Nest Thermostat in the same room, while outdoor reports were spot-on. I placed the monitor in the same room as a Prosenic A9 air purifier and a Smartmi Air Purifier P1 and lit a stick of incense. Within five minutes, the A9 and P1 purifiers showed a PM2.5 level of 135, as did the View Plus. I extinguished the incense and let the purifiers work for 10 minutes. At that point, both purifiers displayed a PM2.5 reading of 31. A minute later, the View Plus also showed a reading of 30.

I had a lot of trouble trying to control the View Plus with my voice. I successfully linked the View Plus to my Alexa account, but the monitor only relayed the current radon readings regardless of what I requested. Airthings doesn't appear in Google’s long list of supported devices either, so I couldn't use Google Assistant voice commands at all. A lengthy chat session with tech support didn't resolve either issue.

Some Quirks Limit Utility

The Airthings View Plus can help you monitor your home for harmful pollutants. The device is easy to set up and manage, and works with IFTTT applets. We had trouble getting the View Plus to accept Alexa and Google Assistant commands, however, and wish it had a larger screen capable of displaying more data. For a device that will both monitor and clean the air, consider the $499 Aura Air. And if you can stretch your budget even further, the $549 Dyson Purifier Cool TP07 is our Editors’ Choice winner for smart air purifiers. It not only monitors and scrubs the air of contaminants, but also works as a smart fan.