Before You Start
You'll need a few things lined up before the app can talk to your UPS:
- A Mac on macOS 13 or later, or an iPhone/iPad on iOS/iPadOS 16 or later.
- A UPS with an SNMP-capable network card (see Supported Hardware).
- SNMP turned on in the card's web interface, under Network → SNMP.
- Your phone/Mac and the UPS on the same local network.
No hardware yet? Tap Demo Device on the empty dashboard and you can poke around with a simulated UPS.
Supported Hardware
PollWatt speaks standard SNMP (RFC 1628) and falls back to vendor-specific OIDs when the standard ones come back empty. The hardware I've actually tested with:
- CyberPower RMCard 205, the network management card for CyberPower UPS systems.
- CyberPower SNEV001, the environmental sensor for temperature and humidity.
Other SNMP-capable network cards will probably work if they expose the standard UPS MIB OIDs, but I haven't verified them. Try one and see.
Adding Your First Device
Tap the + button to open the Add Device screen.
Step 1: Enter the device address
Type the IP address or hostname of your UPS network card. Leave the port at 161 unless you changed it on the card itself.
Step 2: Pick your SNMP version and credentials
Choose v1 or v3 from the dropdown. For v1 you just need the community string (usually public). For v3, enter your username and authentication details. The next section walks through when to pick which.
Step 3: Set the poll interval
How often the app should ask the UPS for an update. 10 seconds is the default and works fine for most cases. You can drop it to 5, but faster polling means more packets on your network for very little gain.
Step 4: Watch the connection test
Once you've filled in the host and credentials, PollWatt tests the connection on its own. A green checkmark with a wattage reading means it's working. A red X means something is off, usually the IP, the SNMP version, or the credentials. You can still save if the UPS happens to be offline at the moment.
Step 5: Save
Tap Save. Polling kicks off right away. If you left the name blank, the app fills it in from the UPS's own hostname after the first successful poll.
Choosing an SNMP Version
v1
The simple one. You just need a community string (the default on most cards is public). Pick this unless your network specifically requires v3.
v3 (authenticated)
Use v3 when your network card is set up to require a username and password. PollWatt supports MD5 and SHA-1 authentication. The username and password have to match what's configured on the card under SNMP → SNMPv3.
Your v3 passwords land in the Keychain, not in plain text. With iCloud Sync on, they travel between your devices through iCloud Keychain.
One caveat: PollWatt does authNoPriv only (authentication without privacy encryption). If your RMCard is set to require privacy (DES or AES), switch it to authNoPriv on the card's web UI first.
Reading the Dashboard
The Overview screen is where you get a look at everything at once.
The header
Total watts, total amps, and average load across every device you've added. Right-click (or long-press on iOS) to copy any of those numbers to the clipboard.
Status badges
Below the header you'll sometimes see colored badges:
- A red badge counts devices that aren't responding.
- An orange badge counts devices currently running on battery.
If everything's fine, the badges stay out of your way.
Device cards
Each card shows the name, location, IP, and the current watts / amps / load / battery. The dot on the left tells you the state at a glance: green is online, red is an error, gray means polling is paused.
Sorting
The sort controls at the bottom of the sidebar reorder devices by watts, amps, or load. You can also drag cards around manually, and swipe left to delete.
Viewing Device Details
Tap a device in the sidebar to open its full detail page. You'll find six cards:
What you'll see
- Output. Watts, amps, load %, voltage, frequency, apparent power, and whether the UPS is online or on battery.
- Battery. Charge %, estimated runtime, battery status, voltage, and health.
- Input. Incoming voltage, frequency, and power-quality status.
- Environment. Temperature, humidity, and their alarm thresholds. Only shows up when a sensor is plugged in.
- Info. Serial, location, uptime, model, ratings, and firmware. Right-click to copy the whole block.
- Notes. A one-line note field for rack locations, maintenance dates, or whatever helps future-you. Syncs over iCloud.
When a device is offline
If the app can't reach a device, you'll see a red banner saying "Unable to reach device" along with the time since the last successful poll. If it has never connected at all, a big "No Data" message shows up where the cards would be.
When a UPS is on battery
An orange banner appears at the top of the detail page with an estimate of how much runtime you have left.
Understanding the colors
Not sure what a particular color on a card means? The info button (ⓘ) in the toolbar opens a popover that explains every color on every card.
Using Charts
Each device has two charts that update as polls come in:
- Watts + Amps. A dual-axis chart with power draw on the left and current on the right.
- Battery Charge %. Just what it says, tracked over time.
Interacting with charts
Hover over the chart on macOS, or touch and drag on iOS. A tooltip follows your cursor showing the timestamp and the values at that point.
Showing and hiding series
The small Watts and Amps chips above the chart toggle each line on or off. Your choices sync across your devices.
Overview chart
The main dashboard has a rollup chart that sums watts and amps across every device over the last 30 minutes. Good for spotting whether something's drifting.
Environment Sensor
If your UPS card has a compatible environment sensor plugged in, PollWatt picks it up automatically and adds an Environment card to the device's detail page. Nothing to configure.
What's displayed
- Temperature in Fahrenheit, with the card's high and low alarm thresholds.
- Humidity as a percentage, with its own high and low thresholds.
- Alarm status: green when everything's normal, colored when a threshold is crossed.
Alarms
Every poll, the readings get checked against your thresholds. If temperature or humidity crosses a line, the card header changes color (blue for low, red for high), the value turns red, and an alert badge shows up. The transition also lands in the Connection Log, so there's a timestamped record like "Humidity alarm: 30% (threshold 35–80%)".
How to tell which devices have a sensor
Look for a small teal thermometer next to the device name in the sidebar. No thermometer means no sensor was detected. If you expected one, check that it's physically connected to the network card.
Syncing with iCloud
iCloud Sync keeps your devices, notes, and preferences in step across every Mac, iPhone, and iPad you sign into with the same Apple ID.
How to enable
Open Settings → Sync and flip iCloud Sync on. You'll also be asked about it on first launch.
What syncs across devices
- Your device list (host, port, SNMP version, credentials, poll interval).
- Device notes.
- Sort order and chart preferences.
- Privacy settings (Hide Serial Number, Hide Location).
- SNMPv3 passwords, through iCloud Keychain.
What stays local
- Poll history and connection logs. Both live in memory only, and reset when you quit the app.
- Menu bar and dock icon settings. Those are macOS-only and deliberately per-Mac.
Resolving conflicts
If the device list on this Mac doesn't match what's in iCloud (for example, you added a device on one machine while another was asleep), PollWatt pauses and asks what you want to do: Keep Local, Use iCloud, or Merge. Merge combines both sides, and when the same device exists in both places, the iCloud copy wins.
Removing synced data
To wipe the iCloud side clean, use Settings → Sync → Remove All iCloud Data. That only clears the copy in iCloud; your local devices stay put.
Managing Devices
Editing a device
On macOS, right-click a device in the sidebar and pick Edit Device, or hit Edit in the detail toolbar. On iOS, just tap Edit in the toolbar. You can change the name, host, credentials, poll interval, or pause polling entirely.
Deleting a device
On macOS: right-click, choose Delete Device, or use the trash icon in the toolbar. On iOS: swipe left on the row, or use the ellipsis menu (…) in the detail toolbar. Deletion is permanent and takes the stored credentials with it.
Reordering devices
Set the sort to Manual, then drag the cards in the sidebar to whatever order you like. That order syncs to your other devices too.
Adding a note
Every device detail page has a pencil icon next to a one-line note field. Use it for rack location, last maintenance date, or anything you want Future You to remember. Press Return (or tap away) to save. Notes sync over iCloud.
Customizing Settings
macOS
Open Settings from the app menu (PollWatt → Settings) or press ⌘,. You'll see five tabs:
| Tab | What you can do |
|---|---|
| Menu Bar | Turn the menu bar item on or off, hide the Dock icon, pick how the popover sorts devices. |
| Sync | Toggle iCloud Sync, check when it last synced, wipe the iCloud copy. |
| Privacy | Hide serial numbers and locations (handy when you're taking screenshots). |
| System | Start PollWatt automatically at login. |
| About | App version, and links to the Privacy Policy and EULA. |
iOS / iPadOS
Tap the gear icon. Settings opens as a scrollable sheet with the same Sync, Privacy, and About sections. There's no Menu Bar or System tab on iOS because those options don't apply.
Your Privacy
PollWatt collects zero data. No telemetry, no analytics, no crash reports, no accounts.
- SNMP traffic stays on your local network. Nothing leaves.
- iCloud Sync is opt-in and only carries your device config through Apple's iCloud Key-Value Store.
- SNMPv3 passwords go in the Keychain, never in plain text.
Where your data lives
| Data | Stored where | Survives restart? |
|---|---|---|
| Device list & settings | On your device (+ iCloud if enabled) | Yes |
| SNMP v3 passwords | Keychain (+ iCloud Keychain if enabled) | Yes |
| Poll history (up to 500 readings) | Memory only | No |
| Connection log (up to 300 entries) | Memory only | No |
Hiding sensitive info
Doing a screen share or posting a screenshot? Flip on Hide Serial Number and Hide Location under Settings → Privacy. The toggles sync over iCloud, so they apply everywhere at once.
The full Privacy Policy and EULA cover the legal side.
Network Connections
PollWatt does almost everything on your LAN. Here's every network connection the app will ever make:
Local network (SNMP polling)
The main one. The app sends SNMP GET requests over UDP port 161 to the IPs you configured, and that's it. Nothing leaves your local network.
Apple iCloud (optional)
Turn on iCloud Sync and the app starts writing your device list, notes, and preferences to Apple's iCloud Key-Value Store via the standard framework. SNMPv3 passwords ride along in iCloud Keychain. Nothing gets sent anywhere else. Flip the toggle off any time and the sync stops.
Apple App Store (automatic)
After you've used the app for a while, Apple's built-in StoreKit review prompt might pop up asking for a rating. That's an Apple-managed system dialog. PollWatt doesn't call a server for it, and Apple decides whether and when to show it.
Connections PollWatt does NOT make
- No analytics or telemetry servers.
- No crash reporting services.
- No advertising networks.
- No third-party APIs or cloud services.
- No update-check servers. Updates come through the App Store like any other app.
FAQ
Does PollWatt keep data between sessions?
Partly. Device config (host, credentials, notes) is saved to disk and optionally synced to iCloud. Poll history and the connection log live in memory only and reset every time you quit the app.
Can this replace a monitoring system like Zabbix?
No, and it doesn't try to. PollWatt only polls while it's running, so it's not a long-term monitor. Think of it as a quick way to see what each UPS is doing right now: current draw, battery health, environment numbers, and so on.
How do I verify SNMP is enabled?
The quickest way is snmpget from Terminal. On macOS, install it with brew install net-snmp. Substitute your IP and community string:
snmpget -v1 -c public 192.168.1.100 1.3.6.1.2.1.1.5.0
If SNMP is working, you'll get back something like SNMPv2-MIB::sysName.0 = STRING: UPS_RackA. A Timeout: No Response usually means SNMP is off on the card, or the community string is wrong. Turn it on under Network → SNMP in the card's web UI.
What hardware has been tested?
See the Supported Hardware section above.
Demo Device
The demo device is a simulated UPS baked into the app. It's there so you can try every feature without needing real hardware, and it's also what App Store reviewers use to evaluate the app.
How to add it
With no real devices configured, the dashboard shows a Try Demo Device button. Tap it and a fake UPS appears with live-looking metrics.
What it simulates
- Power output around 340 W that drifts gently over time.
- Load, current, and apparent power that track with the watts.
- Battery at 100% with 42 minutes of runtime.
- An environment sensor hovering around 72°F and 45% humidity.
- Fake device identity: model, serial, firmware, location, uptime.
- Connection log entries, so the log isn't empty.
How to identify it
It has a Demo badge next to the name in the sidebar, and uses the reserved hostname demo.local.
iCloud sync
The demo device stays on this machine only. It never goes up to iCloud, so it won't appear on your other devices.
Removing it
Delete it like any other device: swipe left in the sidebar, or hit the trash icon in the detail toolbar.
Troubleshooting
A device shows "No response"
Work through these in order:
- Confirm the device is actually reachable:
ping 192.168.1.100. - Make sure SNMP is enabled on the card (Network → SNMP in its web UI).
- Double-check the community string, or the v3 username and password.
- On SNMPv3, the RMCard has to be in authNoPriv mode. PollWatt doesn't do privacy encryption (DES/AES).
- Make sure nothing's blocking UDP port 161 between your device and the UPS.
I don't see environment sensor data
- Verify the sensor is physically plugged into the network card.
- Make sure the sensor shows readings on the card's own web UI. If it doesn't show there, it won't show here.
- Poke at it directly:
snmpget -v1 -c public <IP> 1.3.6.1.4.1.3808.1.1.4.2.1.0
Some metrics show 0 or are missing
Some UPS firmware reports 0 for standard SNMP OIDs even when a value is available. When PollWatt sees that, it automatically tries vendor-specific OIDs as a fallback. If a number is still missing after that, the card probably doesn't expose that reading at all.
I see a conflict dialog when opening the app
Your local device list doesn't match what's in iCloud. Pick Keep Local, Use iCloud, or Merge (Merge keeps both sides and, for any device that's in both, prefers the iCloud version). This usually happens when you add or remove a device on one Mac while another was closed.
The menu bar isn't showing anything
The label stays blank until the first poll returns real data, so give it a cycle after you enable it. If it's still blank after that, make sure at least one device is online.
What hardware is supported?
See Supported Hardware.
How do I factory reset the app?
Run this in Terminal, then relaunch PollWatt:
defaults write app.pollwatt-pollwatt factoryResetOnNextLaunch -bool true
On next launch the app wipes local config, iCloud data, Keychain credentials, and onboarding state, and comes up completely fresh.
Noticed something in this guide that doesn't match what the app actually does? Please open an issue on the project's GitHub repository and I'll get it fixed.