New Free App Shows Chicagoans Every Open Public Pool and Splash Pad — Right When the Heat Hits

Chicago Public Pools+ puts live schedules for 270+ city pools, spray features, and water playgrounds in one place — no more showing up to a locked gate

CHICAGO, IL — Just in time for the hottest stretch of the summer, a new free app makes it simple for Chicago families to answer one urgent question: “Where can we cool off right now?”

Chicago Public Pools+ (chicagopublicpools.com) brings together the schedules, locations, photos, and rules for more than 270 public swimming spots across the city — 80 outdoor and indoor pools plus nearly 200 splash pads, spray features, and water playgrounds. An “Open Now” filter shows exactly which pools have a swim session in progress at this moment, and a Today view lays out the full day's schedule at every pool nearby.

The “+” in the name is the point: spray features and water playgrounds far outnumber the pools — and for most families during a heat wave, they're the fastest way to cool off. Most pool apps and city websites bury them; Chicago Public Pools+ puts them front and center.

Built by a Chicago dad, for Chicago families

The app was created by Jeffrey Cannon, a Beverly resident who got tired of piecing together pool hours from PDFs, park websites, and phone calls — sometimes arriving at his neighborhood pool, Kennedy Park, with kids in tow only to find it closed.

“During a heat wave, you don't have 20 minutes to dig through park district PDFs while your kids are melting. You need to know what's open, right now, near you. That's the whole app,” said Cannon.

Key features

• Open Now — see every pool and splash pad with a session running at this moment
• Nearby — this adds an additional proximity filter that makes searching one tap away
• Live daily schedules — lap swim, open swim, and family swim times for every facility, sourced only from official park district data
• Splash pads and spray features included — nearly 200 of them, alongside the city's pools
• Mapped and searchable — easy-to-spot map pins and one-tap driving, walking, or biking directions in the maps app on your device
• Weather alerts — a heads-up when thunderstorms nearby may interrupt swimming
• Closure notices — community-powered reports plus official alerts when a pool shuts unexpectedly or is closed for repairs and when it will reopen
• Holiday hours — the app automatically applies Chicago's holiday schedules, so users aren't caught off guard
• Pro features, free this month — Favorites, Add to Calendar (any session, day, week, or the whole season), and one-tap sharing of any pool or schedule via text or email are all unlocked for everyone through the end of the month

The app is free and works instantly in any web browser at chicagopublicpools.com — no download required. It has also expanded beyond Chicago as Public Pools+ (publicpoolsplus.com), now covering public pools in dozens of U.S. cities including New York and Los Angeles.

About Chicago Public Pools+

Chicago Public Pools+ is an independent, family-built guide to Chicago's public swimming resources. All schedule data comes from official public sources; the app never guesses or fabricates hours. It is not affiliated with the Chicago Park District.