App and Wi-Fi
Robot Vacuum App Says Offline or Won’t Connect? Fixes
On this page3 sections
What is going wrong
- The dropped legOffline in the app means the robot has stopped reaching the network, not that it has stopped working: it will still run from its own button.
- Signal at the dockA dock parked at the edge of coverage pairs once and then drops repeatedly, which reads as an unreliable robot.
Why the app loses the robot
- A weak Wi-Fi signal at the dock. If the dock sits far from the router or behind walls, the robot drops off when the signal fades.
- A router or password change. A new router, a renamed network, or a changed Wi-Fi password breaks the saved connection until the robot is set up again.
- A 5 GHz only network. Most robot vacuums join 2.4 GHz networks. Some recent flagships also support 5 GHz. If yours is 2.4 GHz only, a combined-band router name can hide the right band.
- The robot is off the dock or powered down. A robot with a drained battery, a flipped power switch, or a resting spot far from the dock will show as offline.
- A server or app outage. The status also depends on the manufacturer’s servers. When those are down, the robot can work while the app still reads offline.
Fix it in order
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On the dock
Confirm the robot has power.
Return it to the dock, check that it is charging, and make sure any physical power switch is on.
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App restarted
Restart the app and your phone.
Fully close the app and reopen it, or restart the phone, to clear a stale connection.
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Router unplugged
Restart your router.
Power the router off for about thirty seconds and back on, then give it a minute to come up before checking the app.
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Wait for service
Check for an outage.
If nothing on your network changed, wait and try later, since a server outage clears on its own.
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Phone on 2.4
Confirm the band.
Check the manual for the bands your model supports. If it is 2.4 GHz only, put your phone on the 2.4 GHz network before any re-setup so the robot is not handed a band it cannot use.
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Removed, re-added
Remove and re-add the robot.
Delete the robot from the app and run setup again. Check the manual for the exact button or hold needed to put your model into pairing mode.
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Dock moved closer
Move the dock closer if signal is weak.
If the robot keeps dropping, relocate the dock nearer the router or add coverage to that area.
Note
When it is the robot, not the network
If other devices hold Wi-Fi in the same spot and the robot alone keeps dropping, the fault may sit with the robot. Signs of an internal cause include a robot that will not enter pairing mode, a connection that fails only after a firmware update, or repeated disconnects that began without any change to your network. A firmware regression usually shows up across many units of the same model at the same time, which separates it from a local Wi-Fi problem. You can check whether others are reporting the same connection issue on the Tracker, and for how remote control and app dependence fit into a robot’s independence, see our assessment of robot vacuum autonomy.
Every guide is general to the robot type, not a brand manual. For model-specific error codes, check the manufacturer’s support.