topic Re: Arlo Pro 2 HomeKit setup failing to find base station in Arlo Ultra 2

HomeKit won’t get past “Discovering Your Device”

Loyed — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 11:10:59 GMT

I’d like to add the HomeKit support but the app (both iPhone and iPad) just sit on the Discovering your device. Please wait. Firmware is updated. I’ve restarted the base station.

Does this even actually work?

Re: HomeKit won’t get past “Discovering Your Device”

ShayneS — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 19:39:11 GMT

I have reset your HomeKit token, Please reboot your Base Station or Smart Hub and try again.

Thank you

Re: HomeKit won’t get past “Discovering Your Device”

Loyed — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 03:51:51 GMT

Nope. I just rebooted it and it’s saying the same thing. “Discovering your device. Please wait.” Not even a status bar or anything to tell me it’s ACTUALLY doing anything. What else? So frustrating when it’s supposed to support something but yet it doesn’t work!

Re: HomeKit won’t get past “Discovering Your Device”

ShayneS — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 16:50:46 GMT

Hi @Loyed

I have a few things we can try:

Which version of the Arlo app are you on?
Can you make sure your device is updated to the latest version of iOS
You can also try reinstalling the Arlo app
Do you have any other iOS devices you can test this on?

Re: HomeKit won’t get past “Discovering Your Device”

Loyed — Sun, 06 Mar 2022 14:39:46 GMT

I'm on the latest version of the Arlo app - 3.5.13 (3397) released Feb 24, 2022
I'm on the latest update to iOS - 15.3.1
I've deleted and reinstalled the Arlo app on two devices
I've tried this on my phone and an iPad.

- HomeKit does have Privacy permissions from Arlo set to on in the iOS settings

- I tried a fresh restart of the Arlo base station from the app

- Base station firmware is current as "no updates available"

- At least now when I go to the HomeKit setup I get a little spinning DEVICES FOUND thingy so I guess that's progress 🤷‍♂️

Yet another Arlo disappointment.

Re: HomeKit won’t get past “Discovering Your Device”

Loyed — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 20:05:18 GMT

so I have done as suggested, deleted apps, reset base station, had to manually re-pair the cameras. I'm scared to try to add HomeKit again until the "token" is reset so.... waiting on that.

Re: HomeKit won’t get past “Discovering Your Device”

Loyed — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 21:23:21 GMT

I tried to set it up again and it just still spins and spins with nothing. I guess we do need the "token" reset.

Re: HomeKit won’t get past “Discovering Your Device”

ShayneS — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 22:11:55 GMT

I reset it again for you. You can try rebooting the base station though the Arlo app settings if you like, under Settings > My Devices > Select Devices > Restart at the bottom. You can also try and reboot manually again.

Re: HomeKit won’t get past “Discovering Your Device”

Loyed — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 22:23:49 GMT

So I did that but still the same thing... on the discovering your device page I just get the spinning ring on DEVICES FOUND.

It says "make sure your Arlo Camera is powered on and nearby" ... what does it say CAMERA?

What should happen?

Re: HomeKit won’t get past “Discovering Your Device”

Loyed — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 22:26:01 GMT

The base station is flashing amber but the cameras are working fine so it all seems to be working.

Re: HomeKit won’t get past “Discovering Your Device”

ShayneS — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 22:34:17 GMT

If it flashing amber it means: "The camera connection can’t be found, is out of range, or some other connection error has occurred."

It should be a solid blue once everything is up and running successfully.

Re: HomeKit won’t get past “Discovering Your Device”

Loyed — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 23:00:05 GMT

Well I've restarted the base station twice and it's still blinking. But yet both cameras are connected and working fine. 🤷‍♂️

Any other ideas?

Re: HomeKit won’t get past “Discovering Your Device”

Loyed — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 23:00:30 GMT

How do you troubleshoot it when everything is working fine?

Re: HomeKit won’t get past “Discovering Your Device”

ShayneS — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 16:08:57 GMT

HI Loyed,

The Arlo development team is currently investigating this issue. We will provide an update as soon as we have more information to share with the community.HI Lyon

Re: HomeKit won’t get past “Discovering Your Device”

ShayneS — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 19:17:19 GMT

Is your phone or device you are trying to connect from connected to the same network as your base station?

Re: HomeKit won’t get past “Discovering Your Device”

Loyed — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 21:14:07 GMT

Not exactly. The base station is plugged into our Comcast router. Our wifi is a Eero mesh network that is also plugged into the router. But probably on the same network created by the Eero.

Re: HomeKit won’t get past “Discovering Your Device”

StephenB — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 23:00:33 GMT

@Loyed wrote:
Not exactly. The base station is plugged into our Comcast router. Our wifi is a Eero mesh network that is also plugged into the router. But probably on the same network created by the Eero.

Homekit only works on the local network, and if the Eero is also working as a router (which I think it's default behavior), then it's NAT firewall would prevent homekit setup.

Re: HomeKit won’t get past “Discovering Your Device”

ShayneS — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 23:23:24 GMT

Can you verify that your Phone/device is connected to the same network as your Comcast router. It looks like the mesh network may be interfering.

Re: HomeKit won’t get past “Discovering Your Device”

Loyed — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 02:10:13 GMT

I’m away but will try when I get home. But a couple of things:

The Comcast router creates the network so technically they can be connected to the same network.

Also, mesh networking tools are very very common. So this doesn’t work with any of them? HomeKit CAN work with mesh networks.

Re: HomeKit won’t get past “Discovering Your Device”

StephenB — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 10:22:53 GMT

@Loyed wrote:

Also, mesh networking tools are very very common. So this doesn’t work with any of them? HomeKit CAN work with mesh networks.

The problem isn't that you have a mesh.

If your Eero is acting as a router (which as I said is it's normal behavior), then you won't be able to add the base to homekit, and you won't be able to access homekit unless you are connected to the comcast wifi. The Eero firewall will block you.

You can put the eero into bridge mode as described here: https://support.eero.com/hc/en-us/articles/208276903-How-do-I-bridge-my-eeros-

Or connect the base station to the eero router, and not the comcast router. If you are already using the Eero LAN port, you can get an inexpensive ethernet switch to add more ports.