How to connect to iPhone without Hotspot

[Yoon]

When I first installed F800, I was frustrated by the fact that it requires hotspot to connect with my iPhone, because if I park my car underground without reception, hotspot won't work.

However, it turns out I can still connect using wifi to view and download the videos.
I still have to connect via hotspot to update the settings or download/upgrade firmware, but it's good enough.

So normally, F800 shows blue light for Wifi. This indicates it's looking for or connected to hotspot. If you press and hold the wifi button for 5 seconds, it will be blinking in green.

Now you can connect to a wifi name starting with Thinkware_

Once connected, open Thinkware app and you will hear "connected to smartphone".

Now you can view and download the videos from F800.

I only tested with iPhone 6s running the latest iOS 10. Maybe someone can test it for Android

Hope this helps!

 

[dcastar]

Indeed. Incredibly short-sighted engineering at work here with the F800.

 

[TKSX]

If I am correct, the F800 Wifi is intended to be connected to the Wifi network of your house. Once connected, the F800 can upload the videos to the cloud server or local HD. This is just my speculation and I could be completely wrong. Of course, Wifi won't be available if one parks their car in the parking garage.

 

[dcastar]

Exactly -- So why is WiFi mode always on, if 99% of the time, the unit is going to be away from WiFi. *eyeroll*

 

[Yoon]

If I am correct, the F800 Wifi is intended to be connected to the Wifi network of your house. Once connected, the F800 can upload the videos to the cloud server or local HD. This is just my speculation and I could be completely wrong. Of course, Wifi won't be available if one parks their car in the parking garage.

Once you turn on the wifi on F800 and see the green led, it tells to connect to a wifi network name starting with Thinkware.
So, it's asking users to connect to its own wifi, not the other way around where F800 is connecting to home wifi network.

 

[Yoon]

Exactly -- So why is WiFi mode always on, if 99% of the time, the unit is going to be away from WiFi. *eyeroll*

Blue led = F800 is connecting to user's hotspot
Green led = User is connecting to F800's wifi (Traditional Wifi mode)

I guess it's for the future Air (Cloud) feature where F800 will stay connected to the internet via hotspot of your phone, your car, or mobile hotspot device.
Blackvue DR650S features similar cloud function where a dashcam needs to stay connected to the internet for its cloud feature.

With the Cloud features, F800 will send you notifications using the internet that it's connected to (hotspot). Also you should be able to remotely check the camera or the current GPS location.
In order to achieve all these, the dashcam needs to stay connected to the internet. I believe this is why the blue light is always on.

But indeed, it'd be nice to be able to have wifi completely turned off (and the led off too) for those not using the cloud feature at all. It'll consume less battery as well. Hopefully Thinkware will add the option with the software updates.

 

[TKSX]

It ask the user to connect to it's own and then it will start to search for hot spot from your phone. Oh well... I guess we will have to wait until a firmware update in order to have that issue addressed.

 

[Yoon]

It ask the user to connect to it's own and then it will start to search for hot spot from your phone. Oh well... I guess we will have to wait until a firmware update in order to have that issue addressed.

I agree this is such poor UX. Hopefully they will address the issues with app/firmware updates!

 

[djsteve]

Agreed. Absolutely no reason to require the hotspot mode to configure settings, and I should be able to turn its search for a hotspot off. Also, get the blinking LED out of my face!