Chime 2 not able to connect? Solution (use older phone)

[GuyIncognito2]

Problem:

I could not get the Chime 2 to connect to my Video Doorbell.  It was frustrating.  Tried hundreds of times over a few days. Gave up on it for a few months, and finally solved it.

Every time I go through the Arlo App to Add Device it will fail. The app will recognize the QR code on the Chime 2, but then after it is plugged in and the LED is flashing slowly my phone will not connect with the temporary wifi network that pops up on the phone (it’ll ask to Join a network and the name will be  “Arlo_xxxxx”; for example mine was “Arlo_ei5Q” which is for the Chime 2 device). 

I think the problem is the firmware that ships with the Chime 2 won’t allow newer phones (iPhone 15 Pro in my case) connect.  I don’t know why, I’m not an engineer.  However, an older phone will work - I used an iPhone 13.  Someone in a different thread used an ipad 

Seems like this should have been an easier fix, or the work-around be easier to find on the support forums. 

Basically, you need to add the Chime to your Arlo system using an older phone (or ipad as one user did).  

My Equipment (yours will vary):

Main phone: iPhone 15 Pro

Second phone: iPhone 13

Router: TP-Link AC1750. 

Arlo Video Doorbell 2nd gen

Arlo Chime 2

Arlo Ultra 2 system with base station. 

Cliff notes:

• Shut off 5 ghz wifi network on your router (temporarily while you setup chime) - use the app for your router.
• Ensure your home wifi network name and password doesn’t have special characters, only letters and numbers. I deleted the hyphen as well since I didn't know if that's considered a special character by Arlo.
• Get an older phone (not sure what the cut off is for “old phone”), install Arlo app, grant access permission to your Arlo cams as “administrator” from the main phone’s Arlo app.  Someone else used an ipad, so try that, too (link).
• Add device from the second (older) phone, you should be able to connect to the Chime’s wifi network (named "Arlo_xxxx) and then it'll update the firmware and to connect to your home wifi 2.4 ghz network. 
• After setup of Chime, turn on your 5 ghz network on your router / mesh network again and your Chime 2 should work. 

Solution:

First, shut off 5 ghz wifi on your router. The Chime 2 only connects w/ 2.4 ghz wifi.   My router is a TP-Link so I used the TP-Link “Tether” app to shut off the 5g hz network leaving only the 2.4 ghz network working.

If your wifi name and password has special characters, change the name so it’s only letters and numbers.  I wasn’t sure if the hyphen ( - ) was considered a special character so I changed the name of my wifi network to omit it.   e.g. changed “TP-Link12345”  to “TPLink12345”

Then get a second phone that is older. I used an iPhone 13 and it worked. I’m not sure what the cutoff is for old vs too new (someone else in the forum used an ipad). 

Install the Arlo app in the second phone.   

On the Main phone, go into the Arlo app and share access to the cameras.  Go to Settings, then People, and “+”  to share to whomever’s email of the Second (older) phone. Ensure the access granted to the second phone is "Administrator."

Once the Second (older) Phone has access to the cameras, test it.  See if you can see the camera feeds via the Arlo app on the second phone.  

Once access is established, go to Devices and Add (+) a device within the Arlo app on the Second (older) phone.  Follow the instructions in the app (Add device,  Doorbells and Chimes, select your Chime, and scan the QR code, plug it in and wait for flashing light...).

This time you should be able to successfully connect to the temporary wifi network that pops up (named Arlo_xxxx) for the Chime 2. This will then allow it to update the firmware and connect to the doorbell (in my case connect to the base-station), and also be accessible by a newer phone.   

Connect the Chime 2 to the 2.4 ghz wifi network that the rest of your Arlo system (doorbell or cameras) is on.  

After it’s installed on the 2.4 ghz, I was able to turn on my 5 ghz networks on my mesh system (use your router’s app to turn things back on), and the Chime will remain functional and accessible via the newer phone. 

Hope this helps. 

It was frustrating as hell to set up this damn Chime 2. I was on the verge of returning the entire system and get a Ring or Eufy system.  It was certainly not like an Apple product where you just turn it on and “it just works.”  

Amazing that the solution posted in many threads was “please reach out to the support team from your region”   why not just post the potential solution for people to try - use an older phone (or ipad). 

[jguerdat]

A possible issue with newer phone OSes is that there can be a setting in the network settings to (dis)allow connection to unknown WiFi.

[alex_loo]

@GuyIncognito2 , not a chime 2 owner here yet, but curious about your point re 2.4GHz vs 5GHz.

My understanding from my ultra 2 cameras here is that on first set up, app on mobile connects to that temporary wifi ARLO_ xxxx (2.4GHz?) from camera, before the camera connects to the ARLO HUB.  The home router wifi is NOT in context.  So why disabling the 5GHz wifi from the home wifi router?

I trust chime 2 is following the same connection logic as cameras.

Alex

[StephenB]

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@alex_loo wrote:

My understanding from my ultra 2 cameras here is that on first set up, app on mobile connects to that temporary wifi ARLO_ xxxx (2.4GHz?) from camera, before the camera connects to the ARLO HUB.  The home router wifi is NOT in context.  So why disabling the 5GHz wifi from the home wifi router?

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FWIW, Ultra cameras do NOT set up that way.  The app never connects directly to the camera (or to the smarthub wifi).  But the Chime 2 does create a temporary wifi network.

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@alex_loo wrote:

I trust chime 2 is following the same connection logic as cameras.

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It would be ideal if all cameras were onboarded the same way.  But unfortunately that is not the case, and the various camera models need quite different workflows for onboarding.  One recent change is that the Essential Gen 2 cameras use Bluetooth.

[GuyIncognito2]

I'm not sure. I'm simply documenting what worked for me in hopes that it helps others with similar problem. 

From what I read in these forums, two things stuck out:  

1) Chime 2 only connects to 2.4ghz; and,

2) worked on older phone, and one person used iPad. 

So I just documented the steps that worked for me.

Also, I'm not active on this forum and just turned off email notifications of replies, I was only on here to find a solution to a problem and subsequently posted something that worked for me.   I wish people best of luck in resolving their similar connection problem with the Chime 2. 

[alex_loo]

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@StephenB wrote:

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@alex_loo wrote:

My understanding from my ultra 2 cameras here is that on first set up, app on mobile connects to that temporary wifi ARLO_ xxxx (2.4GHz?) from camera, before the camera connects to the ARLO HUB.  The home router wifi is NOT in context.  So why disabling the 5GHz wifi from the home wifi router?

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FWIW, Ultra cameras do NOT set up that way.  The app never connects directly to the camera (or to the smarthub wifi).  But the Chime 2 does create a temporary wifi network.

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 yes, you are correct.  Bad memories here 😅 Thanks for the correction.

Am I correct that user tells the Smart Hub to look for ultra 2/ Chime 2, via the app?  The smart hub then look for the ARLO_XXXX temporary wifi from camera/chime to establish future connection.  And again, home WIFI NOT in context.

Alex

[StephenB]

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@alex_loo wrote:

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Am I correct that user tells the Smart Hub to look for ultra 2/ Chime 2, via the app?  The smart hub then look for the ARLO_XXXX temporary wifi from camera/chime to establish future connection.  And again, home WIFI NOT in context.

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The chime 2 doesn't connect to the smarthub wifi at all, it connects to your home wifi.  The smarthub reaches it through its ethernet connection.  The phone connects to the temporary wifi network, and the phone and cloud take it from there.

Exactly what happens with the Ultra/Ultra 2 isn't documented by Arlo.  I didn't look for temporary wifi networks the last time I installed an Ultra (which was a couple years ago).  It is possible that either the smarthub or the camera is creating a temporary network.  But my guess is that the system is using WPS (perhaps somewhat modified).

[alex_loo]

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@StephenB wrote:

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@alex_loo wrote:

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Am I correct that user tells the Smart Hub to look for ultra 2/ Chime 2, via the app?  The smart hub then look for the ARLO_XXXX temporary wifi from camera/chime to establish future connection.  And again, home WIFI NOT in context.

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The chime 2 doesn't connect to the smarthub wifi at all, it connects to your home wifi.  The smarthub reaches it through its ethernet connection.  The phone connects to the temporary wifi network, and the phone and cloud take it from there.

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Good to know --- thanks @StephenB .  Must the Chime 2 be (wifi) connected to the same home network as the smart hub, if I have the latter?

Alex

[StephenB]

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@alex_loo wrote:
Must the Chime 2 be (wifi) connected to the same home network as the smart hub, if I have the latter?

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I don't have a chime 2, so I am not sure. But I think it has to be connected to the same network.  

I can envision some scenarios where it'd be useful to connect it to a remote network, so I think if that were possible Arlo would advertise it as a feature.

[alex_loo]

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@StephenB wrote:

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@alex_loo wrote:
Must the Chime 2 be (wifi) connected to the same home network as the smart hub, if I have the latter?

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I don't have a chime 2, so I am not sure. But I think it has to be connected to the same network.  

I can envision some scenarios where it'd be useful to connect it to a remote network,

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hehe, my consideration here is actually not for "remote network", but a guest network under the same home router, but separate from my main home network.  Since I personally always prefer to put vendor network components to guest network, separate from my core components like NAS, laptop, etc.

Alex

[StephenB]

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@alex_loo wrote:
my consideration here is actually not for "remote network", but a guest network under the same home router, but separate from my main home network.  

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There are two potential barriers, both related to guest network isolation.  You do need to be able to reach the base from the guest network, so try pinging it from a device connected to that network.  If that fails, then you won't be able to use a guest network for the chime.

It's possible that the phone will also need to reach the chime 2 when both are connected to the guest wifi.  I'm not certain if that is required, since the phone does connect briefly to the chime 2 using a temporary network. If your router has an iOT network feature, then that would likely work, as those don't isolate clients on that network from each other.

[alex_loo]

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@StephenB wrote:

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There are two potential barriers, both related to guest network isolation.  You do need to be able to reach the base from the guest network, so try pinging it from a device connected to that network.  If that fails, then you won't be able to use a guest network for the chime.

It's possible that the phone will also need to reach the chime 2 when both are connected to the guest wifi.  I'm not certain if that is required, since the phone does connect briefly to the chime 2 using a temporary network. If your router has an iOT network feature, then that would likely work, as those don't isolate clients on that network from each other.

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This is interesting/confusing design to me.  Given chime 2 does not mandate a smart hub, I'd expect that it always route its communications via cloud, ie connectivity from guest network to outside internet is what's required.   No need to talk to any component on the same (home guest) network.

If, for some reasons, chime 2 DOES need to talk to smart hub directly when latter is available ---- then I agree guest network (which for my case, has segregation between guest nodes too) should NOT be used.

I wonder what those "reasons" are.

Alex

[StephenB]

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@alex_loo wrote:

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This is interesting/confusing design to me.  Given chime 2 does not mandate a smart hub, I'd expect that it always route its communications via cloud, ie connectivity from guest network to outside internet is what's required.   No need to talk to any component on the same (home guest) network.

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The path could be doorbell press -> cloud -> chime.  If that is the case, then the chime should work on a remote network. 

You could attempt to test that by disconnecting the router WAN port and pressing the doorbell, and see if the chime rings.  Or move the chime to a remote network with the same wifi credentials, and see if it still works.

Since I don't have a chime 2, these are not tests I can make.