Feature Idea: An app that allows the lights to connect.

I had a cool feature idea where when you buy $200 lights and then switch wifi, you're able to hit that "connect" button in the app and it actually connects them instead of you just sitting there for hours until it finally tells you "can't connect to the device." I have a follow up feature idea where nanoleaf support answers support questions and actually helps instead of just suggesting that you power cycle your nanoleaf for the 400th time.

Just a thought for the next update!

So did you do a soft reset on the controller?
If you switch WiFi networks you have to soft reset the controller so that the app can reconfigure it.

If you have and yet the app is unable to configure it something is wrong. Customer Support should not be just blatantly asking you to power cycle everytime. I will look into that?

So to debug this issue, are you in iOS or Android?

I'm on iOS and I've already done the routethis thing with customer support, if that's why you're asking.

(To clarify, I do not mean my customer support person suggested it that many times. I mean posted here and on the troubleshooting pages. One of the articles suggesting the reset has a "4 out of 56 people found it helpful" rating. Why not update it if no one found it helpful?)

I've gone through two days worth of emails with customer support. I did a soft reset, a hard reset, I'm on channel 1, I'm on 2.4g, I tried resetting everything, I unplugged it, re-downloaded the app, synced, didn't sync, tried to do it through homekit, etc. I'm able to connect to it through the nanoleaf's hotspot, however I do not want to have to switch between wifi and a hotspot every time I want to change my lights. That's ridiculous and is not what I or anyone else bought the lights for, but I was essentially told that Nanoleaf doesn't work in apartments and that the only option is the hotspot.

The last apartment I had it worked fine, and everyone I know that owns these have had the same issue when switching WiFi networks where the lights essentially just refuse to connect ever again and there is no information online that actually fixes the problem.

I understand your frustration. Rest assured, I am not going to ask you to do any more resets or any more power cycles. But I do want to give you some insight, just so that this makes a bit more sense.

Based on what you have written you are in an Apartment where the WiFi network is not administered directly by you. Now for the app to work with the Light Panels (or Canvas or Shapes) two things have to be satisfied:

1. The device is on the network, and
2. The device is discoverable on the network

Point 1, can be verified by observing a green flash during the setup procedure. If that happened your device is now on the network and ready to communicate.
Point 2, is where I believe the problem lies: Discovery. The controller is now on the network, but it needs to announce where, aka its address, to those who care about it, aka the app.

What I mean by discovery, is your phone discovering the device on the network, just as a network printer would be discovered by your computer. The Light Panels use something called mDNS which is used by Apple to discover HomeKit devices (called Bonjour, you can look this up as well).
All this is great, but why doesn't it still work. Because routers, such as the ones in your apartment, might block communication related to discovery, rendering the device invisible to the iPhone. The previous apartment might have allowed it, this one might not be allowing it. If this indeed is the issue, then the Customer Service agent should have been able to tell this to you. Maybe they didn't, maybe they didn't even know, I don't know right now. I can look into it, but its all in the past.

If this is the issue, you can

1. See if there is a way to open up discovery for some devices. If this is possible, we can explore this option.
2. If you have an Ethernet point, you can get your own router, set up your own WiFi and connect the controller to your own WiFi router, which can be hooked up to the internet via the ethernet point.
3. Use the hotspot as suggested.

Stupid question, do you or does anyone else on the same network own or use HomeKit devices successfully?

Hope this helps

I certainly understand your frustration, especially with all the steps you had to do to no avail. Sometimes it's the necessary steps to eradicate the obvious issues. Although in this case, there would have been much shorter ways to figure out the issue.

I work for Nanoleaf, and I more than anything want you to enjoy the lights the way we intended it. Unfortunately there are many factors in between that we have to account for and not all under our control. In this case, it probably is the router. Hence, we made the controller its own router, so that at least you are not completely devoid from the experience.

Regards

Hey everyone, I just wanted to share my thoughts on this feature idea for an app that connects lights. It's irritating when you spend cash on highly-priced lights and then hostilities to join them to your new Wi-Fi network. The idea of a "connect" button in the app that actually works sounds great to me. I've had my truthful share of sitting round for hours solely to be greeted with the dreaded "can't connect to the device" message.

I also appreciate the follow-up idea of having reliable support from Nanoleaf. It can be disheartening when customer support just suggests power cycling as the solution to every problem. It's important for them to actually address the issue and provide helpful guidance.

As a user myself, I hope that Nanoleaf takes these concerns seriously and considers implementing these feature ideas in their next update. It's vital to supply a seamless and simple journey for everyone. Let's keep our fingers crossed for a resolution to these connectivity issues :/