r/HomeKit • u/Dense-Clock5975 • 2d ago
Question/Help Starting my homekit journey
Hello guys i wanna start my homekit automations and i have to say i’m kinda lost on what brand i should buy and stuff
I bought my first smart plug and i did not realised i needed to check the 2.4 gz or 5gz
So now i have a question, my iphone is always connected on the 5gz but the device says it needs to be on the 2.4gz, does that mean my iphone also needs to stay on the 2.4gz ?
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u/Positive_Rub_6696 2d ago
Your phone’s connection matter less than the availability in your home for the device to connect to 2.4.
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u/scifitechguy 2d ago
In general, most consumer routers broadcast both bands, and the connecting devices chose which band to hop on. IoT devices like yours typically prefer 2.4, and will connect just fine, while your phone choses the 5 Ghz band, depending on line-of-sight obstructions (2.4 will penetrate walls better).
However, I have found that some IoT devices (Meross included) are quite finicky, and will fail to connect to the 2.4 band if there is also a 5 band on the same SSID. So, you may find that you need to separate the bands onto different SSIDs, but you should certainly just try the dual band connection first. It SHOULD be fine.
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u/Dense-Clock5975 2d ago
Okay so thanks for your comments, i had to put my phone on the 2.4gz when pairing as you said but after that i can switch to the 5gz without any problems. I am now stuck in the vortex and i wan to automate everything 😂
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u/marcusdiddle 2d ago
I’ve got at least a dozen or more Meross devices on my network. Have never had to touch my network settings (Google WiFi mesh). Everything just works, added directly to HomeKit without even bothering to install the Meross app. Everything is rock solid. Highly recommend the brand.
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u/ssaisusheel 2d ago
If your WiFi network is through a modern enough router you will not need a separate 2.4ghz and 5ghz networks on the router. I have a combined one. My iPhone naturally is by default always connected to 5ghz network but still is able to connect to all the smart home devices that mandate 2.4ghz network. They will resolve themselves and most of the cases. Try connecting it first and see yourself.
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u/simonyahn 2d ago
I use the same plugs and my 2.4 and 5g bands have separate SSIDs. I’m usually connected to the 5g for my personal devices and i use 2.4 for mostly smart home devices. For the Meross plus, just quickly connect to 2.4 before you add the smart plug to Apple home. If your network combines them into one SSID then you should be fine to just use that one.
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u/MooKdeMooK 2d ago
same here, separate SSID - it removes all the doubts and is rock solid. I even run the 2.4G only on a single AP as it covers all the house while I have 3 APs altogether running 5G
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u/smarthometrash 2d ago
Your iPhone needs to be connected to the 2.4 GHz band when you’re pairing the accessory, but can be on 5GHz after
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u/Menelatency 2d ago
Nope. I have that device and stick eero pro 6 and nothings special set for the Meross and it just works out of the box most of the time. Sometime (about 25%), only during initial setup, I have to flip the setting in my router’s app to disable 5ghz for 10min.
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u/shawnshine 2d ago
This has been my experience, as well. Nothing special needs to be done when pairing.
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u/smarthometrash 2d ago
Yes, because the times it didn’t work band steering didn’t have you on 2.4 GHz.
Both the product page on Meross’s site and the PDF of the manual linked at the bottom as well as their support documentation for troubleshooting setup problems for Matter and HomeKit state that the phone must be on a 2.4 GHz network when pairing. Another document explicitly says, when speaking about HomeKit accessories, “Meross HomeKit accessories are compatible only with 2.4GHz Wi-Fi.” Their documentation on system requirements for Matter devices says “Ensure your devices connect to a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi.”
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u/Menelatency 2d ago
Yep. And yet it works anyway 100% on my mixed 2.4/5 network using same SSID. And setup works 75% of the time.
Note: when you turn off the 5ghz radios at the routers, your phone (and everything else WiFi) HAS to go 2.4 too which most modern devices will do automatically, so you don’t have to do anything special there.
I know what the docs say. Read the forums. In a worst case scenario you have to follow their instructions, but a good percentage of the time you can just turn it on and pair it without thinking about it.
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u/smarthometrash 2d ago
Of course the device works on your mixed network. It only connects on the 2.4 GHz band. And yes, I know that turning off the 5 GHz forces the phone onto the 2.4 GHz band. None of that has anything to do with what I was saying. Jesus Fucking Christ.
1
u/shawnshine 2d ago edited 2d ago
I have paired all of my Meross smart plugs while my iPhone was connected to the 6GHz band of my eero Pro 6E. Never had to temporarily disable the 5GHz band or anything. HomeKit commissioning does not mean your iPhone needs to be on the 2.4GHz channel (which my iPhone never connects to).
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u/smarthometrash 2d ago
I’m just going by what their own documentation says. OP says he had to separate the bands to pair.
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u/shawnshine 2d ago
No worries. Their documentation is just to prevent people from trying to commission these devices on separate band networks. OP is brand new to this ;).
Ironically, I’ve found the best trick when adding finicky HomeKit devices is to disable cellular data during the pairing process. This prevents the iOS device from prematurely switching to cellular after sending the wifi credentials to the HomeKit device, when it should wait a little bit longer.
3
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u/Airborne_Acorn 2d ago
I have the Meross light switches and I have never had a separate 2.4 WiFi for any of my smart home things. The instructions may say to but i would try it without first. I work for an ISP and most routers are combined and have band steering.
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u/adent1066 2d ago
You’ve entered a slippery slope, you will find more and more things you want to automate and improve, welcome to the journey
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u/3rdbaseina3rdplace 1d ago
I can’t recommend the HomeKit four pack on Amazon enough. Different brand can’t remember off the top of my head
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u/drunken_augustine 2d ago
Hey I use Meross too. If you start getting light bulbs, I’d recommend looking at linkind as well. They tend to be less expensive.
Also, do yourself a favor and look up how many devices your router is supposed to support. I was a dummy when I started and was trying to run 30 devices on a 12 device router (with predictable results).
I had to reset and re-add them all one by one after I got a new router. It was not fun.
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u/Dense-Clock5975 18h ago
Oh fuck okay i didn’t know router had a limit of device, thanks i’ll check that for sure !
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u/drunken_augustine 16h ago
Yeah, though it’s approximate. Usually you can go a little over it without impairing function, but if you’re going to do a full outfit, you probably want to go ahead and get one that will handle that.
Though I should note that a few folks have claimed you could just make the new router’s UN/PW the same as the old one’s and have them shift over seamlessly. I didn’t find that in any of my googling on the subject, so I didn’t try that and have no idea if it would work, but wanted to share the info
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u/flogman12 2d ago
If your router is setup properly, it should communicate between both bands.