WiiM Ultra Cannot Find Wi-Fi

[Driz]

Yesterday, I opened the WiiM Ultra, downloaded the Android app (Samsung Note S23+), installed the WiiM on my home wi-fi network, connected the app to Qobuz, and was streaming music in 5 minutes. Wow! Elegant interface, intuitive, fast. Everything just worked, no issues.

Today, I brought the WiiM to my office, plugged it in, then opened the Android app and got this message:

Your phone (SM-S961U) doesn't allow a Wi-Fi connection.
Please enable Wi-Fi connection then search again.

I double-checked that the phone's wi-fi was enabled (it was, it always is), that I was using phone wi-fi for email, text, and phone. Yes.

I rebooted everything 2-3 times. No luck.

Unless I'm missing something, it appears that the WiiM app has a bug when previously linked to a router that is no longer available. Or ??

edit ... I tried erasing the app's saved data and cache. Tried completely removing it as well. Nothing helped.

 

[Mr Ee]

Welcome.
Yes, the wiim is looking for your home network.
You'd need to connect it to a new network, which I think you can now do by pressing the volume knob for 3+ seconds.
Note that 10+ seconds will fully reset the wiim - this will also allow you to connect to a new network but will lose other settings.

I assume the phone was on mobile data?
You could enable the phone's hotspot and connect the wiim to that hotspot, but many (most?) phones disable wifi when you enable the hotspot.
You therefore usually need a 2nd device (phone / tablet) connected to the first phone's hotspot, and use that 2nd device to set up the wiim.

There have been numerous requests for some time asking for wiim to provide a simple way to change networks.
I think the reasonably recent 3 sec 'reset' is the best we have for now.

 

[Driz]

Welcome.
Yes, the wiim is looking for your home network.
You'd need to connect it to a new network, which I think you can now do by pressing the volume knob for 3+ seconds.
Note that 10+ seconds will fully reset the wiim - this will also allow you to connect to a new network but will lose other settings.

I assume the phone was on mobile data?
You could enable the phone's hotspot and connect the wiim to that hotspot, but many (most?) phones disable wifi when you enable the hotspot.
You tnerefore usually need a 2nd device (phone / tablet) connected to the first phone's hotspot, and use that 2nd device to set up the wiim.

There have been numerous requests for some time asking for wiim to provide a simple way to change networks.
I think the reasonably recent 3 sec 'reset' is the best we have for now.

I completely erased the WiiM device and restarted it, also completely erased the app from my phone and rebooted it. Then reinstalled the phone app, but got the same error mssg. WiiM app is not able to use my phones wi-fi. I guess will have to return the WiiM to Amazon. Pity. It showed so much promise.

 

[harkpabst]

I completely erased the WiiM device ...

How?

WiiM app is not able to use my phones wi-fi.

That's not exactly what the message says and it's absolutely not what it means. The WiiM device and your phone running the WiiM Home app must be connected to the same network.

The phone and the Ultra do not communicate directly through a peer-to-peer network. You need an existing WiFi (or Ethernet as far as the Ultra is concerned) where clients are not isolated from each other.

 

[Driz]

How?

As was suggested, I pushed the button for 10 seconds. Then the WiiM Ultra did a clean auto-reboot.

Then I deleted all the WiiM Andriod app and its data and reinstalled it.

The I rebooted both units. When I started up the WiiM app, I got the same message:

Your phone (SM-S961U) doesn't allow a Wi-Fi connection.
Please enable Wi-Fi connection then search again.

But I triple-checked my phone's wi-fi setting and it's working fine on everything else (text, mail, phone).

Tomorrow I'll bring the WiiM back to my house and try to connect. The first time I did this at home (right out of the box), everything worked perfectly. Very impressive actually.

 

[Mr Ee]

As mentioned, you need a 2nd device.
At home your router provides the network (1st device) and your phone is the 2nd device.
You are trying to use your phone as both a network point and that 2nd device.

I agree that the error message is somewhat confusing,

 

[Driz]

As mentioned, you need a 2nd device.
At home your router provides the network (1st device) and your phone is the 2nd device.
You are trying to use your phone as both a network point and that 2nd device.

I agree that the error message is somewhat confusing,

Our office has a wi-fi router. That's what I'm trying to use for the WiiM, along with my cell phone. It's the same setup as the home system. I'm not clear on why one would work, and the other wouldn't, especially after a clean wipe of both the WiiM and the Android app.

 

[Mr Ee]

Our office has a wi-fi router. That's what I'm trying to use for the WiiM, along with my cell phone. It's the same setup as the home system. I'm not clear on why one would work, and the other wouldn't, especially after a clean wipe of both the WiiM and the Android app.

Ok, thanks for the clarification.
Security on the office network?

 

[Driz]

Ok, thanks for the clarification.
Security on the office network?

Just the normal security. We have around 20 devices in the office connected via wi-fi via that router, all on the same common security. Really just a password, nothing more. But the WiiM app can't get beyond my cell phone, saying it can't access the cell phone's wireless utility. I'll try it again at home and see it works here (again).

 

[vinylselect]

Try having your work IT support officer patch a network port in your office for internet only access, then connect the Ultra via network cable as an alternative connection method. If successfully connected by that method, then the connection issue maybe the WIFI Security settings on the office wifi router - the router logs may show refused connection messages.

 

[Driz]

Try having your work IT support officer patch a network port in your office for internet only access, then connect the Ultra via network cable as an alternative connection method. If successfully connected by that method, then the connection issue maybe the WIFI Security settings on the office wifi router - the router logs may show refused connection messages.

Ok, thanks for the clarification.
Security on the office network?

So it turns out that, in order to use the Wiim Ultra in two different environments (2 different wi-fi modems, etc), the entire structure needs to be wiped (erased) and started from scratch (WiiM box and Android app). Since I need to use this in both locations, it's not a good fit. Also, the WiiM Android app causes my Amazon Audible book reader app to fail. Every time I reinstall the WiiM app, I have to re-install the Audible app. Since I use Audible every day, it's just not a good fit.

Grade: C-

It works, but needs more detailing.

 

[Mr Ee]

That is strange.
I have a mini that occasionally floats between two different networks and I 'merely' have to reset the mini each time, never mess around with the (android) app.