When I try to add a Wyze plug, on attempting to connect to its local wifi (wyze-smartplug-apcf43), it fails to connect.
Wyze app Connect Plug screen reverts to “Choose WiFi” and eventually iOS 18 says “The Wi-Fi network ‘xxx’ does not appear to be connected to the Internet. Do you want to temporarily use cellular data? ❏ Use Cellular Data ❏ Keep Trying Wi-Fi,” but neither option connects the plug (nor makes sense!). Same problem with 3 different plugs.
BTW, my iPhone was set to use the guest network, which I long ago set to use 2.4GHz only, specifically to avoid the problem with tri-band auto selection.
Your post reminds me of the hoops I had to jump through last year to get one of these things back online:
One thing I failed to mention there was that I took the Plug to the same room as my Wi-Fi gateway as an attempt to improve its chances of connecting once I got past the step where the phone does the hand-off from the Plug’s own local Wi-Fi. I also turned off my phone’s mobile data so that it would be forced to use the gateway’s 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi for its Internet connection.
Additionally, I may have tried using a phone with an older Android version when a newer one wasn’t getting me connected. If you have an older iPhone, then that might be worth trying if other things fail. I have limited experience with iOS and haven’t used that for >10 years, so I won’t be able to answer questions specific to that platform.
I did the same…no joy. I’m limited to an iPhone 15 with updated software, which should be good…but yeah, sometimes “improvements” break stuff. I guess I’ll try calling support (I’ve never had good results from opening a ticket).
I’ve never actually tried calling Support, and it’s been a while since I’ve used live chat with them. Mostly I do e-mail tickets, and those can be hit or miss in terms of useful guidance and successful resolution. I think most of my most recent issues have involved things they’ve broken on the back end while making other changes, so I keep trying to get logs to the engineers and asking the Support agents to convey my observations to them.
I don’t recall exactly why I tried the older Android phone when trying to set up my original Plug again months ago, but that seemed to be part of the mix that brought me success, and the Plug has been working as expected since then. I just know that there was a lot of frustration and swearing with multiple failures until I did the things in the post that I linked to above.
Good luck! If anything else occurs to me, I’ll try to drop another note.
I believe there are some settings in iOS for privacy, etc. If you can’t connect to the plug’s wifi, I’d guess it to be one of those. Can’t remember which ones specifically, but will try to do some research.
Found this with a quick search:
Controlling Local Network Access:
iOS allows users to manage which apps can access the local network.
Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network to review and adjust app permissions.
More:
Direct Connection to IoT Device:
Problem: Some older or simpler IoT devices require you to connect your iOS device directly to their Wi-Fi network for initial setup. iOS might prioritize cellular data over this network if it doesn’t detect an internet connection, cutting off communication with the IoT device.
Solution: When prompted with the message “The Wi-Fi network does not appear to be connected to the internet. Do you want to temporarily use cellular data?”, choose to keep trying Wi-Fi or ensure that cellular data is temporarily disabled for the duration of the setup process.
3. iOS Version Issues:
Problem: Specific iOS versions (like iOS 13.6, as reported) might have introduced security changes that affect direct connections to certain IoT devices.
Solution: Check if updating to a newer iOS version or rolling back to an older one (if possible and safe) resolves the issue.
I like your suggestions. But after a fresh reboot and turning off cellular, I tried again without success. I did get a different dialog (something about a classic plug vs. a plug with some symbol which mine does not have). After 20 minutes, I couldn’t even get the system dialog “does not appear to be connected to the internet.” The blue LED just keeps blinking…
WiFi Explorer shows that the guest network is in fact 2.4GHz only, and is 91% strong in the room where I’m trying to connect, while the plug’s internal Wi-Fi shows as 81%.
I don’t have those, either. I have only the original Plug “v1” models, which I’ve been using since 2019 (plus some Plug Outdoors that I acquired later).
I’m glad someone else with iOS experience is commenting, because I’m not sure what else to suggest at this point. I got it done using an Android phone last year, like I said, but it was an exercise in frustration.
Thank you! I borrowed a family iPhone that has my Wyze account installed. It worked! Did you have something else in mind?
Now, I’m having a problem with the Soundcore app recognizing my headphones. They pair just fine, but the app doesn’t recognize them. So any clue what’s wrong with my iPhone???
Thanks again, I did get it working…but clearly there’s something wrong with my phone! Whatever it might be, I think it’s also the cause of the Soundcore app failing to recognize my headphones. It clearly isn’t a Bluetooth problem, because the headphones pair fine; the app just doesn’t recognize that they’re paired.
I don’t have any experience with those products, and a Bluetooth issue with the phone shouldn’t have any effect on the Plug, because the Plug doesn’t have Bluetooth, as far as I’m aware.
I know at times with the Wyze Buds I’ve had to reset them and put them into pairing mode in order to get them to reconnect with my tablet (and go through that pairing process again), but I haven’t used the soundcore stuff. Since I’m not an iOS user, I’d have to fall back to basic troubleshooting like asking when was the last time you rebooted your phone and/or if you’ve tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app for the headphones. Because of my experience with Windows software, I tend to reboot after uninstalling and reboot again after installing or updating software, even on my Android devices. I did the same thing when I had to carry an iPhone.
Rebooted several times during the ordeal. But there’s something odd about my phone that affected both the Wyze plug and the Soundcore/Anker headphones that won’t be resolved here, I’m sure. Thanks for all the help, and at least I got the plug working!