Updated September 2026: the original version of this article said Robius used the DEWA and e& UAE apps for 60 days, timed logins and bill payments, scored each app, evaluated chatbot performance and used complaint-site reviews to declare DEWA the clear winner. We could not reconstruct a test diary, devices, app versions, screen recordings or scoring method that would make those findings reproducible, so the first-person test and unsupported ratings have been removed.
The old article also mixed two different things: the quality of an app and complaints about the broader telecom service. A Trustpilot review of e& billing or cancellation is not automatically evidence that a particular app screen, feature or release is bad.
| THE ROBIUS READ: DEWA and e& are not really competing apps. DEWA is the digital service layer for Dubai electricity and water; e& UAE manages telecom accounts and sells telecom-related services. Both have mature mobile apps with substantial self-service capability. The useful question is not which one “wins,” but which tasks can genuinely be completed digitally and which claims about speed, reliability or support need actual testing before Robius publishes them. |
DEWA’s Current App Has a Broad Verified Feature Set
DEWA’s current Smart App page, updated in July 2026, describes the app as a central place for bills, consumption tracking, service requests, sustainability tools, AI-powered support and EV charging services.
- Billing: customers can view and pay bills through DEWA digital channels.
- Login: DEWA’s service guide supports login using UAE Pass or a DEWA ID.
- Consumption: Smart Living tools let users monitor water and electricity use, compare consumption with similar homes, receive high-water-usage alerts and use Away Mode.
- Service requests: DEWA’s digital service catalogue includes activation, deactivation and transfer of electricity and water services.
- EV charging: the app supports EV Green Charger functions, including account access, charging and station-related services.
- Rammas: DEWA continues to position Rammas as its AI-powered virtual employee for support and digital-service access.
Those are defensible product facts. They do not require Robius to invent a three-second login time or a three-tap payment score.
DEWA Payment Options Were Also Oversimplified
The old article said Android users were effectively limited to card payments because Google Pay was not supported and implied automatic payment was unavailable unless a customer arranged a bank standing order.
DEWA’s current payment-channel documentation is broader. It lists credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, net banking and other payment routes through its digital channels. DEWA also documents automatic bill-payment routes through participating banks and DubaiNow.
Google Pay is not listed among the DEWA payment methods we checked. That is different from saying every Android user can only pay manually by card. Samsung Pay, banks and other channels exist, and the exact available method depends on the device and payment route.
What the e& UAE App Currently Advertises
The current e& UAE App Store and Google Play listings describe the app as a one-stop account-management tool rather than just a bill-payment app.
- Accounts and bills: manage multiple accounts, recharge and pay bills.
- Add-ons: subscribe to data, voice, roaming and other packages.
- eSIM: the current app listing advertises eSIM activation with UAE Pass, and 2026 release notes describe a streamlined eSIM replacement process using facial recognition.
- Plan changes: the app advertises postpaid, prepaid and add-on purchases plus migration from prepaid to postpaid.
- Home services: e& advertises online Home Move for relocating an existing home internet connection.
- Support: the current store listing advertises 24/7 live online chat support.
Again, those are company-described capabilities. Robius should not convert them into a claim that every support chat resolves every problem, or the opposite claim that chat “rarely resolves anything substantive,” without a documented support test.
The Old Trustpilot Comparison Mixed Service Reviews With App Quality
The previous article cited a low e& Trustpilot score and complaint-site posts about billing, third-party charges and cancellation, then used them to assign the e& app an overall score of 2.5 out of 5.
That is not a clean methodology. A telecom customer can dislike a contract, bill, sales interaction or cancellation process even if the app itself loads quickly and displays account data correctly. Likewise, a highly rated app does not prove the underlying telecom service is perfect.
For context, the e& UAE app currently shows a 4.7 rating on both the UAE Apple App Store and Google Play, with hundreds of thousands of ratings. Those store scores are still not a complete product audit, but they are at least ratings of the app itself rather than of the company’s entire service relationship.
Cancellation: The Old Article Claimed More Than the Evidence Showed
The old article said contract cancellation “cannot be done in the app,” required a store visit or phone call and was a “deliberate design choice, not a technical limitation.”
We are removing that conclusion. e&’s current consumer terms clearly provide a route for customers to terminate services, subject to notice, outstanding amounts and any applicable early-termination charge. Product-specific cancellation processes can differ by service.
The official material we reviewed does not establish that every e& service can be cancelled from inside the mobile app. It also does not establish Robius’s old accusation that any absence of an in-app cancellation button was intentionally designed to obstruct customers. Unless we verify the current workflow for a specific service, the article should not make either claim.
We Are Removing the Stopwatch Metrics Too
The previous article said DEWA login took about three seconds, bill payment took three taps and e& involved more steps. It also said DEWA’s Rammas escalation “works” and placed the chatbot ahead of most utility bots globally.
Those are testable claims, but only if Robius documents the device, app version, starting screen, account state, network conditions, task definition and repeated observations. We did not have that evidence in the published article.
DEWA’s official documentation confirms UAE Pass login, bill payment and Rammas functionality. That is enough to describe the features without manufacturing performance measurements.
The Same Problem Applied to the Bug List
The old review promoted individual Play Store and Trustpilot complaints into statements such as “documented bug,” “reported since early 2026 with no visible fix” and “account balance sometimes shows a different figure from the actual bill.”
User reports can be useful signals for investigation. They are not enough on their own to prove that a bug affects the current version, how widespread it is or whether the provider has fixed it. The e& app has received multiple releases through 2026, including a current version update in September, and DEWA also refreshed its app experience during the year.
If Robius wants to publish an app-bug tracker, it should record the app version, device, OS, reproduction steps, date and whether the issue can still be reproduced. We did not do that here, so the old bug verdicts are gone.
What Residents Can Usefully Check Today
- DEWA: open Smart Living and look for unusual electricity or water consumption, high-water-usage alerts and comparison tools.
- DEWA: check the current digital service route before assuming a move-in, move-out, bill or EV task requires a branch visit.
- e&: review active plans and add-ons in the app and compare them with the bill you are actually being charged.
- e&: use the current product-specific support or termination instructions for the service you want to change rather than relying on a generic article.
- Both: if a digital workflow fails, record the app version, error message and screenshot before contacting support. That creates evidence instead of an anecdote.
The Bottom Line
DEWA and e& both offer substantial self-service through their current apps, but they solve different problems and should not have been forced into a fake head-to-head scorecard.
DEWA’s app has a particularly broad verified utility-service layer around billing, consumption, moving premises, sustainability, Rammas and EV charging. The e& UAE app currently supports telecom account management, bills, add-ons, eSIM functions, roaming, plan purchases, Home Move and online chat.
What Robius can no longer justify is the old theatre around three-second logins, fixed star ratings, “DEWA clearly wins,” deliberate cancellation friction and bugs promoted from scattered review comments. Features can be verified. Performance claims require an actual test.
Sources
• DEWA Smart App, updated July 2026: current billing, consumption, Rammas, sustainability and EV features — dewa.gov.ae
• DEWA Smart Living: consumption monitoring, high-water-usage alerts, comparison tools and Away Mode — dewa.gov.ae
• DEWA Bill Payment: UAE Pass / DEWA ID login and current payment methods including cards, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay — dewa.gov.ae
• DEWA Payment Channels: automatic-payment routes and wider payment options — dewa.gov.ae
• e& UAE App Store listing: current app capabilities and September 2026 version history — Apple App Store
• e& UAE Google Play listing: current account, billing, add-on, roaming, eSIM and chat functions — Google Play
• e& Consumer General Terms, 30 April 2025: customer termination rights and applicable early-termination conditions — eand.ae
App features and workflows change. Check the current app version and provider instructions for the exact service you need.
Robius.news — Dubai, UAE — 2026 | Built to be first. Built to be trusted.
