We’ve rolled out a lot over the past ~13 months, so we figured it was about time to do a little recap.
In the post below, you’ll find a list of all the new features and significant improvements that we made to the Skimmer mobile and web app throughout 2024 and the start of 2025. We’ve tried to include help center links and how-to videos whenever possible. If you haven’t had a chance to really dive into these features yet, take a moment and see how they could help your business!
This post is long (as we said, Skimmer released A LOT in the past year) so we’ve clustered features into the following categories:
- Billing & invoicing features and improvements
- Quotes improvements
- Work order improvements
- Customer communication & management improvements
- Mobile app improvements
- Non-product updates
Billing & invoicing features and improvements:
Better billing = healthier cash flow AND happier customers
QBO Integration + Payout Sync
The seamless integration with QuickBooks Online (QBO) automatically syncs all your invoices and payments to make accounting way more straightforward. Plus, with the QBO payout sync, you can automatically reconcile all your payments in QuickBooks.
Auto Invoicing
Auto invoicing in Skimmer Billing eliminates the repetitive work of invoicing for services and dosages, as well as the tedious task of collecting funds and reconciling payments in QuickBooks Online (QBO). It lets you generate invoices for pool service and dosages for your regular customers on a pre-set date.
These enhancements, combined with autopay, fully automate the Skimmer Billing process, empowering you to:
- Schedule automatic invoices for pool service and dosages on a pre-set date
- Run the payments for the invoices
- Automatically reconcile the payments in QBO
Pros who use these features spend less time on paperwork and reduce the risk of human error.
How to’s
- How to set up Auto Invoicing
- How to generate invoices in Skimmer
- How to reconcile payments in QuickBooks Online(QBO)
On top of these improvements we also introduced the ability to bill ahead and email reminders for outstanding invoices. For the former, the enhanced invoice generator recognizes and tracks monthly service instances, and lets you bill for monthly service at the beginning of the month, even before work is completed.
The latter lets you set up automated reminders for customers with outstanding invoices. These reminders can be sent before and after the invoice is due to help you reduce late payments and get paid faster, automate the reminder process, freeing staff to focus on other tasks, and easily manage a higher volume of invoices as your business grows.
Learn how here: How to set up automatic email reminders
Quotes improvements
Related quotes to work order
This lets you effortlessly create work orders from quotes and easily monitor the status of all work orders associated with a quote, giving you a clear overview of your project's progress.
This means a simplified workflow:
Send and approve quotes
- Schedule the work (with new work order enhancements below!)
- Track the progress of the work
- Bill accurately for the work done
Improvement to related quotes to invoices
Plus, when you create a related invoice for a quote with finished work orders, those work orders will automatically be marked as invoiced.
Here’s how it works:
- Automatic updates: Finished work orders linked to a newly created invoice are instantly updated to “invoiced.”
- Flexibility for manual adjustments: If an invoice is deleted, the work orders revert to a “needs invoice” status, and the manual "invoiced" checkbox remains available for any necessary updates
Work order improvements: Manage work more efficiently than ever
Based on your feedback, we made a number of significant improvements to how work orders are managed in Skimmer.
Finish work orders directly from the web app: Manage work orders more effectively regardless of your location and eliminate the need to switch between devices (which greatly reduces the risk of errors). This also speeds up work order completion to get you paid faster for extra projects.
Record readings and dosages in work orders: Record readings and dosages using the same settings as routine service stops, ensuring consistent and precise tracking for every job.
Repeat recurring work orders in days, weeks, months, and years: Need to schedule regular maintenance? No problem! Now, you can set Work Order reminders to repeat in days, weeks, months, or even years, giving you the ultimate flexibility to match your specific needs.
Add needed items to a work order type: Save time by pre-populating work order types with the necessary items to get the job done. After creating the work order, the items will automatically be added to your shopping list.
Send service notes from a work order: Techs can now send service notes, including optional alerts, directly from the mobile app.
Alert the office when a work order is finished: Improve team communication by enabling automatic notifications to your office whenever a work order is finished, ensuring everyone stays informed.
- Watch our tutorial videos on how to create a work order from a quote
- Learn about how to create work orders on web
- Learn more about how to create work orders via the mobile app
Customer communication & management improvements:
Happier customers = returning customers!
We know that customer communication and management can make or break a pool service business. That’s why we focus a lot on introducing and improving features that help you create a seamless experience for your customers.
Bulk customer edits
You asked, we delivered— in 2024, we introduced the ability to easily manage your customer base with bulk actions like making customers active/inactive and adding or removing tags.
How-to’s
Service texts
This was another highly anticipated feature that we rolled out in 2024. Service Texts allow you to send automated messages to keep your customers in the loop when it comes to their pool service. Plus, automated messages minimize manual communication, allowing technicians to focus on service delivery.
Pros that use this feature include strengthen trust, reduce misunderstandings, and foster positive customer relationships. And texts provide advance notice for residential or commercial pool owners and short-term rental property managers to take any necessary actions before your technician arrives, like putting dogs away, notifying tenants, or providing access.
If you haven’t already gotten started with Service Texts, check out our toolkit.
**And just a note that customers on our Scaling Up tier get unlimited free texting with their Skimmer package.
Customer Portal
In January 2025, we introduced the Customer Portal, a feature designed to enhance your customers’ experience and drive efficiencies across your business.
The Customer Portal is a dedicated space for your customers– you can create your own custom URL and add your own logo to the portal. Your customers can use it to set up AutoPay, update their payment information, and view, download, and pay their invoices, reducing payment failures and late fees.
We created this because we know pool pros spend loads of time answering billing and service questions and chasing down payments. We hope this portal makes customer communication and getting paid on time so much easier!
If you haven’t yet, check out our getting started guide to help you launch your own portal.
Integrated Skimmer with Orenda’s LSI & Dosing Calculator
to provide real-time LSI calculations and dosing recommendations
directly within the Skimmer app.
Partnering with Orenda to integrate their industry-leading LSI & Dosing Calculator into Skimmer was a highlight of 2024. This integration equips you with an LSI & Dosing Calculator within Skimmer’s user-friendly platform to help you achieve optimal water balance and offer your customers guaranteed sparkling pools, minimal repairs, and the peace of mind that comes with scientifically backed pool care.
This is an awesome tool to set your business apart from the competition by providing tech-enabled, superior service. If you haven’t gotten started with the LSI calculator yet, we highly recommend checking out the resources below.
Admin/Owner tools
- Watch our tutorial videos on how to set up and use the LSI & Dosing Calculator via web.
- Download our step-by-step guide to set up via web.
- Contact our dedicated support team at support@getskimmer.com for any further assistance.
Technician tools
- Share this link with your techs to watch tutorial videos on how to use the LSI & Dosing Calculator via the Skimmer app.
- Download our technician guide to get started.
Mobile app improvements
In addition to the LSI calculator, we made a number of smaller updates to our mobile app focused on making your technicians’ jobs easier and improving service delivery and communication with the office.
Increased photo upload limit
You can now upload more photos of route stops, work orders, and service locations for enhanced accountability, detailed records, and improved communication.
- Route Stops: Upload up to 10 photos per stop (previously 5)
- Work Orders: Upload up to 10 photos per work order (previously 5)
- Service Locations: Upload up to 30 photos per location (previously 20)
Required checklist + photo evidence
This upgrade to our checklist capabilities means admins can now enforce checklist completion to ensure no steps are missed and require photo evidence* for undeniable proof of completed tasks—keeping every job precise and professional.
Bonus: photos associated with checklist items do NOT count towards your general photo limit per stop.
Default Google Maps for iOS users
We also pushed a big update for iOS users– when techs are on a route, you can now set up Skimmer to automatically launch directions in Google Maps instead of Apple Maps.
Non-product updates
On top of constantly working to improve and expand our product to ensure we can support all pool pros, we also made a number of non-product improvements to make the overall experience for Skimmer customers the best in the biz.
New product and pricing tiers
In April 2024, Skimmer introduced product & pricing tiers to help us streamline product delivery. With the introduction of our Getting Started, Scaling Up, and Owning the Market Tiers*, we’re able to cater to pool service businesses of all sizes while ensuring our customers are only paying for features that really benefit their businesses.
*A note on tiers: If you joined Skimmer before April 2024, we automatically grandfathered you into our Classic Tier. This gives you access to nearly all the same features as Scaling Up but at a discounted price.
Introduced The Pool Deck community
In May 2024, we launched our community, The Pool Deck. It’s a one-stop hub to quickly find answers, industry knowledge, and professional training. You can also connect with contributing business experts to get ideas to help you run your company and achieve your goals. There are now over 1000 pool pros taking advantage of this growing community– join them here!
Released the 2024 & 2025 State of Pool Service report
In January 2024 we launched our first ever State of Pool Service report. This report was an industry first– a totally free deep dive into trends, challenges and opportunities in the pool service market based on survey responses from thousands of pool pros. The report was a huge success, so we took the hint and followed it up in January 2025 with an even BIGGER industry report. The 2025 edition contains year-over-year comparisons on growth tactics that pool pros are using, how the industry is tackling marketing, how pros are strategically using pricing and so much more.
Check out the 2025 State of Pool Service report here.
Coming up in 2025
We’ve got a number of exciting releases planned for this year. Keep an eye out for these new Skimmer features and enhancements.
Schedule
Skimmer’s new schedule feature gives pool pros everything they need to manage their team’s schedules, routes, and workloads in one simple, powerful tool. With a clear weekly view of technician workloads, drag-and-drop scheduling, and optimized route planning, it empowers pool service businesses to stay organized, maximize their team’s time, and keep customers happy.
We’re rolling out an early version of the schedule feature in March, with some initial improvements following shortly after, including:
- Schedule repeating work orders
- Assign multiple techs to work orders
- Schedule multi-day work orders
- Daily and monthly calendar views
LaMotte integration
This feature allows field technicians to connect to a LaMotte Spin Touch via BlueTooth, and transfer the readings from the Spin Touch to Skimmer automatically.
Customer Portal improvements
This update allows pool owners to pay the total of their outstanding invoice amounts directly through the Customer Portal.
AutoPay for work orders
AutoPay for work orders is designed to improve payment collection in Skimmer. This will allow automatic payment of invoices generated from work orders, expanding the existing AutoPay functionality.
Failed payment notifications
This Skimmer Billing enhancement automatically emails pool owners and admins when AutoPay fails. The system also provides a report for pros to easily identify failed payments, improving collection rates and preventing service disruptions due to missed payments.
The bottom line
We love providing this entire network of resources to the industry– whether it’s product, community, education, or the expertise of our support and success teams. Our sincere hope is that Skimmer continues to be your go-to partner as you continue to run and grow your businesses over the coming year.