Devices

Adding a device

Three ways to get a device into the app, and which one to choose when.

The app can find a new device in three ways. They solve different problems, and it pays to know which one you're using when something goes wrong.

All three start from Add device in the app.

Prerequisites

• The device is powered up and at factory settings. A device that's already been added to another account has to be reset first.
• The phone is on the 2.4 GHz network the device is going to use.
• Bluetooth is on in the phone if you're using the Bluetooth method.
• Have the Wi-Fi password to hand.

Turn off mobile data

This is one of the most common failures, and it doesn't look like a failure — it looks like the device isn't there.

With mobile data on, the phone can send the app's traffic out through the SIM instead of over your local network. The app then looks for the device on the internet, while the device is sitting two metres away on your own network. It never gets found.

Turn mobile data off while you add devices. Turn it back on when you're done.

This applies to both the Bluetooth and the Wi-Fi method, and it's especially noticeable on Android. Android also dislikes a Wi-Fi network with no internet — and an unpaired Shelly has no internet connection to offer — so the phone may quietly fall back to mobile data mid-installation.

If it won't work and everything else looks right: start here.

The network

Every Shelly Gen2+ is 2.4 GHz. None of them can see 5 GHz.

The fact that you have a 5 GHz network makes no difference to the installation. The device ignores it. If your router broadcasts both bands under the same name — which is the default these days — the device connects to the 2.4 GHz part, and it works. You don't need to turn 5 GHz off to get started.

What does cause trouble is something else, and it usually shows up much later.

Band steering

Band steering is the router feature that moves clients between 2.4 and 5 GHz to spread the load. It's built for phones and computers, which handle both.

A Shelly only handles 2.4 GHz. Shelly's own wording is that band steering causes reconnection loops: the router tries to move a device that can't be moved, the device loses contact, comes back, and the same thing happens again.

You won't see it during installation. You'll see it as a device that's online most of the time and offline when you need it — weeks later, without you having changed anything.

What Shelly recommends

Shelly recommends two SSIDs: one for phones and computers, and a separate one on 2.4 GHz only for your Shelly devices. A common setup is Home and Home-Shelly.

For the network the devices sit on:

If you run UniFi, Shelly has a guide of its own for that particular kit.

Do you have to?

No. Plenty of installations work perfectly well on a single merged network, and if you're having no problems there's no reason to rebuild anything.

But doing it from the start saves you moving the devices later — and changing network on a device that's walled in behind a switch is exactly as much fun as it sounds. If devices that used to work start playing up, this is the first place to look.

Add via Bluetooth

Newer Shelly devices (Plus, Pro, Mini, Gen3, Gen4) broadcast a Bluetooth signal when they're unpaired. The app finds them, you pick a network and send the password over.

It's the smoothest route: the phone never has to leave your normal Wi-Fi.

If the device doesn't show up:

• Check that Bluetooth and location permission are enabled for the app. Android requires nearby devices permission in order to scan.
• Get close to the device. Bluetooth range is short, especially through a back box or a metal enclosure.
• The device may already be connected somewhere. Factory reset it.

Add via Wi-Fi (AP scan)

Every unpaired Shelly broadcasts its own network, named something like shellyplus1-a8032ab.... The method works by having the phone connect to that network, tell the device which real network to use, and then let go.

It's the method that works when Bluetooth plays up, but it has a pitfall: the phone loses internet while it's happening, because the device's own network has no internet connection to offer. The phone then wants to jump back to something that works, mid-installation. See Turn off mobile data.

Add via Scan network

Here the app searches the network you're already on for Shelly devices. Use it when:

• the device is configured but vanished from the app
• you've reset the app or changed phone
• the device got onto the network via its own web interface

If it finds nothing: the device and the phone have to be on the same network segment. Guest networks, VLANs and client isolation in the router are the most common reason a device that's demonstrably online can't be found.

When nothing works

Work through these in order:

1. Is the network 2.4 GHz? By far the most common fault. The device can't see 5 GHz at all.
2. Is the password right? The device won't complain particularly clearly, it just never comes back.
3. Does the network name have odd characters? Accented letters, non-Latin scripts and emoji in the SSID cause trouble.
4. Is the device factory reset? When in doubt, reset. The method varies by model.
5. Does the router have client isolation? If so, the phone will never see the device.
6. Is the signal too weak? A Shelly behind a metal back box in a basement doesn't have the same range as your phone.

After the device has been added

Give the device a name you'll recognise in a year, and put it in a room right away. With ten devices you can keep track in your head. With a hundred you can't, and it's considerably more painful to tidy up after the fact. See Rooms.