I spent a huge chunk of my weekend trying to get a new camera set up through Smartlife (Tuya) app on my network. You know how it is, everything seems right, the lights on the device are blinking, the password is correct, the app found the camera, but the app just refuses to connect, it would keep connecting for it, eventually gave the ‘Unable to connect’ error.

I went through the standard troubleshooting loops, and if you’re stuck in this same spot, maybe this will save you a few hours of hair pulling. Here’s the 3 steps saga of how I actually got it working.

Step 1: The “Basic” Troubleshooting

The first hour was just checking the obvious stuff. I reset the router. I power cycled the camera 10 times. I triple checked the Wi-Fi password (delete and created again), also making sure it’s set up as 2.4 GHz only network. I even moved the camera right next to the router to make sure it wasn’t a signal strength issue. I also made sure the app bluetooth, location, etc. were turned on.  The app would start the setup wizard, found the camera, but sat there with a spinning wheel once I hit ‘Connect’, and eventually time out with a “Unable to connect” error. Standard, infuriating tech issues.

Step 2: Going Down the Rabbit Hole

Once the basics failed, I started assuming it was something “advanced.” I started messing with AP isolation settings. I looked into creating a separate IoT network/VLAN. I was convinced my router’s firewall was being too aggressive and dropping the discovery packets the camera was trying to send. I spent a long time configuring settings that, in hindsight, didn’t need to be touched. I was basically trying to fight a ghost.

Step 3: The “Wait, Really?” Moment

After messing with firewalls and network segmentation for way too long, I finally looked at my wireless settings again. My SSID was hidden. For security reasons, I keep my network name hidden so it doesn’t show up in lists for neighbours.

On a hunch, I went into the router settings and toggled “Broadcast SSID” to ON.

Literally three seconds later, I opened the Smartlife app again, hit scan, it found the camera instantly. Then I hit next, boom, i heard 2 beeps, seconds later, I see the connected green sign. The whole setup process which had failed a dozen times, finished in about 30 seconds.

Why This Happens (And Why I Feel Stupid)

Here is the deal: A lot of these IoT devices (cameras, smart plugs, etc.) have really cheap, simplistic Wi-Fi chips. They aren’t “smart” like a phone or a laptop.

When you go through the setup app on your phone, the app relies on the router broadcasting the SSID to “handshake” with the device. If the network name is hidden, the camera’s setup logic and often the app’s discovery process, just breaks. It can’t “see” the network to attach to it, so it just sits there in limbo. Even if you manually type the SSID name in, the handshake often fails because the router isn’t shouting “I’m here!” to the airwaves.

The Fix: Just broadcast the SSID. Yes, it’s slightly less “stealthy,” but honestly? It’s not a real security measure anyway. If you want to keep your network safe, use a strong password and WPA3 encryption, not “hiding” the name.

If you’re banging your head against the wall trying to connect a smart device, check if your SSID is hidden. It might just be the one thing stopping your tech from actually working.