The Best Pool Accessories to Upgrade Your Summer (2026)
Key takeaways
- We've now got robots that clean your pool, apps that monitor water quality from your phone, and even a slushie machine for proper pool-party margs.
- With gas and plane ticket prices soaring to astronomical levels, there's never been a better time for a staycation at your own pool.
- For more yard tech, check out our guides to the Best Pool Cleaning Robots, Best Smart Sprinklers and Irrigation Systems, Best Robot Lawn Mowers, and Best Smart Bird Feeders.
Why this matters: a development in AI with implications for how people work, create, and decide.
Courtesy of Beatbot; Funboy Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Pools are hard. This is not news to anyone who owns one, but an inordinate amount of daily labor and chores lie behind that clear, sparkling, perfectly chlorinated (or salted) water.
Luckily, pool tech has come a long way in the past decade—gone are the hours spent scooping leaves and dead bugs out of the water with a long-handled net, laboring over p H strips, and trying to relax on floaties too small for your adult-sized behind. We've now got robots that clean your pool, apps that monitor water quality from your phone, and even a slushie machine for proper pool-party margs.
With gas and plane ticket prices soaring to astronomical levels, there's never been a better time for a staycation at your own pool. (If you don't have a pool of your own, you can always rent one nearby on Swimply.) My colleague Chris Null has a 12-by-36-foot, L-shaped in-ground pool lined with PebbleTec, and I have a 20-by-12-foot above-ground pool lined with vinyl. Between the two of us, we have pretty much tried it all, so whether you've got a custom-built in-ground complex or an Intex pop-up from Walmart, these time- and life-tested favorites are sure to level up your backyard pool game.