WiFi Issues on iOS12

[ntc3freak]

Hello everyone,

Just got my A129 today. I've been trying to use it in conjunction with the official Viofo App on the Apple App Store, but am having a lot of WiFi and connectivity problems on my iPhone X (running iOS12). Now I am aware that me being on an OS version that's still in development is most likely the reason for my troubles, but hey maybe such problems exist on iOS11 also?

So I'm asking here, has anybody else had problems with the connectivity through the app on their Apple devices? If you are running iOS12 like I am, please let me know.

Thanks everyone.

 

[krole]

I have iPhone 7 Plus with iOS 11 and I have no issues.

Is the actual WiFi disconnecting? Or is the app crashing or not being able to communicate? Try switching between 5ghz and 2.4ghz?

 

[CaptureYourAction]

Try disabling your phones data, then connect.

 

[ntc3freak]

I have iPhone 7 Plus with iOS 11 and I have no issues.

Is the actual WiFi disconnecting? Or is the app crashing or not being able to communicate? Try switching between 5ghz and 2.4ghz?

The WiFi for the most part stays consistently connected, it's just the app has flaky connection with the cam. Often times I try to connect and the app just gives me the set of instructions to enable WiFi on the Viofo and how to connect to said WiFi. In almost 15 separate efforts, I have had one single instance where everything worked perfectly, and I was able to view all the recordings. Every other time I wasn't even able to view the saved recordings.

I'm hoping (and probably betting) that it's just an iOS12 issue and will be fixed soon.

 

[ntc3freak]

Try disabling your phones data, then connect.

Tried that, still intermittent connection issues

 

[krole]

Did you ever test it on iOS 11? I'd say see if you can find someone with iOS 11 (or as a last resort downgrade) or at least an Android phone to test and verify the problem isn't the dashcam.

 

[ntc3freak]

Did you ever test it on iOS 11? I'd say see if you can find someone with iOS 11 (or as a last resort downgrade) or at least an Android phone to test and verify the problem isn't the dashcam.

Both my iPhone and iPad are running iOS12, and I'd rather not downgrade if possible. I did try with a Samsung Galaxy S8 running Oreo and it's fine. So thankfully, the dashcam is perfectly fine

 

[krole]

Did you try the iPad? I was debating installing the iOS 12 beta, but maybe I'll hold off.

 

[DashOto]

Just chiming in here, no wi-fi issues with my BlackVue, using iPhone (7) on iOS12.

It could be the app itself not being fully ready for iOS12, so keep an eye out for updates for the app as well.

 

[jokiin]

using a beta OS could be the problem, find a friend with an iOS11 device and confirm your camera is good, if it's all good then you'll just have to wait I guess if you want to continue using the beta

 

[Rhody401]

I had to disable mobile data to use it on my Android devices, because it was connecting, not seeing a full uplink, and then switching to use mobile data. Disabling the mobile data forced it to stay connected to the A129 and it works well in this way, for me.

I don't have any IOS devices to try it with and hope you figure it out.

 

[Agie]

as others have said here, you update to a beta major version of iOS and this is what happens. iOS 12 is in no way ready yet, so expect bugs like this to happen until the final gold master build is released (which is pretty much a few days before the public release roll-out, and is the same build).

 

[ntc3freak]

Thanks for your help everyone. I have now tested two other phones with the cam, namely a Nexus 6 running Android 7.x.x and an iPhone 6 Plus running iOS11.4 . Here's a couple of findings after some testing :
1. The Nexus has no problems whatsoever with the connectivity and app usage. It does everything correctly, including playing back files straight from the camera with a Google Maps overview window at the bottom. Also downloads files fine, if a bit slow sometimes.
2. The iPhone (iOS11) has had a mixed bag of luck. In my initial testing it connected fine, but later on struggled. At any point, it failed to bring up the list of recordings on the cam. Changing settings on the cam also proved challenging, and again a mixed bag. In this case, the 6 Plus running iOS11.4 (latest public iOS release) fared equally or sometimes even worse than my iPhone X on iOS12 (Developer Beta 2).

Sometime yesterday also I opened a ticket on Viofo's website, hoping to get some official answers. A guy named Bill Zhou replied, saying "Yes, we have work on this part. Thank you for your suggestion. And may I know what wifi do you use, 2.4G or 5G? ". That confused me, because as far as I can see, there is no way to tell if the camera is creating a 2.4 or 5GHz network. At any time, I only see one SSID being broadcasted, which I assume is 2.4GHz. Anybody has any idea on this?

So onto more testing, I guess. The bright side of all this is that I know the camera works fine, it has been automatically recording everything and has worked perfectly, at least with the Android phones (S8 on Android Oreo, and Nexus 6 on Android 7.x.x).

 

[jokiin]

Sometime yesterday also I opened a ticket on Viofo's website, hoping to get some official answers. A guy named Bill Zhou replied, saying "Yes, we have work on this part. Thank you for your suggestion. And may I know what wifi do you use, 2.4G or 5G? ". That confused me, because as far as I can see, there is no way to tell if the camera is creating a 2.4 or 5GHz network. At any time, I only see one SSID being broadcasted, which I assume is 2.4GHz. Anybody has any idea on this?

there's a menu option where you select 2.4 or 5, check what you have it set to

 

[JB-007]

should it be set to 2.4 or 5 ? whats the difference? why was it designed for two choices? why would some want to use 2.4 and why would someone else want to use 5? just curious the exact differences and why people would want one above the other. thanks

 

[Agie]

should it be set to 2.4 or 5 ? whats the difference? why was it designed for two choices? why would some want to use 2.4 and why would someone else want to use 5? just curious the exact differences and why people would want one above the other. thanks

5ghz bands for Wifi provides faster speeds at shorter distances, while 2.4ghz bands provide slower speeds at further distances from the router / access point.

a lot of devices like phones and PC's can auto-switch between the WiFi bands so they can fall-back to 2.4ghz if 5ghz cuts out or is slow, but other electronic devices can't do the switching.

 

[JB-007]

5ghz bands for Wifi provides faster speeds at shorter distances, while 2.4ghz bands provide slower speeds at further distances from the router / access point.

a lot of devices like phones and PC's can auto-switch between the WiFi bands so they can fall-back to 2.4ghz if 5ghz cuts out or is slow, but other electronic devices can't do the switching.

Thanks for the information, I didn't know that. When I install my A129 ill check out how my iPhone connects with both to see the differences.

 

[OCD Tronic]

Some people are having trouble with 2.4Ghz
5Ghz is better so far so I'd go with that.

 

[viofo]

Both my iPhone and iPad are running iOS12, and I'd rather not downgrade if possible. I did try with a Samsung Galaxy S8 running Oreo and it's fine. So thankfully, the dashcam is perfectly fine

Please choose the 5G Wi-Fi to see if any difference.

 

[viofo]

I had to disable mobile data to use it on my Android devices, because it was connecting, not seeing a full uplink, and then switching to use mobile data. Disabling the mobile data forced it to stay connected to the A129 and it works well in this way, for me.

I don't have any IOS devices to try it with and hope you figure it out.

This is a common issue for Android platform, we are working on a solution to solve this.