We travel for a few days at a time and our dogsitters can't always come by at a convenient time. With that being said this automatic feeder works out great for us, it holds a ton of food and you can program a feeding schedule or just feed instantly. The only thing needed to use this is the app and of course wifi (I did the battery back-up as well for that "just in case" situation) along with food. I've been playing around with the different features and love the voice option to make my dogs go crazy, haha. Oh and it also has a sensor that tells you tons of stuff like when the dispenser is empty, when your dog is finished eating... And so much more.