There are a variety of reasons why your Canary Flex may not be able to communicate with our servers. If you see a message on your Canary apps home screen that states "Canary is offline" your device could be powered off, your ISP could be down, the camera may not be connected to the internet or the Canary cloud may have a temporary service outage.
When operating on Wire-free mode, Canary Flex uses a low-power standby state. If the device loses its connection to our servers while wire-free, the device will attempt to re-establish the server connection less often than it does when wired in - this is in order to preserve battery life.
In most cases, you can troubleshoot these issues right in your own home.
Note: To see information for Canary Pro, check out Why is my Canary offline?
Unable to connect message
If you see a red banner at the top of the Canary app that says "Unable to connect at this time," your phone is having trouble connecting to the internet. Using your preferred browser, navigate to a webpage to verify that your phone is connected to the internet.
If you are connected to the internet, but still seeing the same error message, check the Canary system status page to see if there are any temporary service interruptions affecting Canary devices. If the status is "Operational" that means all things are normal with the Canary Cloud.
Update router firmware
To ensure compatibility with Canary Flex, please install the latest firmware updates for your router. The latest updates and instructions can be found on your router manufacturer’s website.
Troubleshooting
Canary Flex can communicate the reasons for an offline error by changing the color and behavior of the LED light ring located on the front of the device.
The first step in troubleshooting Canary should always be resetting your device. To turn off Canary Flex, hold down the back button for five seconds until you hear the shutdown sound and the LED ring turns off. To turn on Canary Flex, hold down the back button for one second until the the LED ring is white and spinning, then release.
|
Spinning White
|
A spinning white light indicates that Flex is in the boot up stage. This typically occurs shortly after connecting your Canary to power. If your Canary remains in this state longer than 15 minutes please reset your device. To reset the device, unplug device and hold the back power button down for 12 seconds until the light in the front turns off (if it was on). Continue to hold until Canary Flex reboots (you’ll see a white spinning light). Release the power button. If your device remains offline, please plug in the device and attempt to change your devices Wi-Fi connection. For more information on changing your Canary Flex's Wi-Fi connection, visit this article. In the event the constant spinning white light remains, please open a ticket with Canary support. |
|
|
Spinning Yellow |
A spinning yellow light indicates that Flex's battery is very low and may have entered low-battery standby state. Please charge your device. The device lights will turn on and spin white when the battery is charged enough. Only then will Flex exit this low-battery state. If your Flex fails to charge, please unplug the device and hold the power button down for 12 seconds until the light in the front turns off (if it was on). Continue to hold until Canary Flex reboots (you’ll see a white spinning light). Release the power button and plug back in the device. After several hours, please confirm that your device is charging. Tap the button on the back of your device three times to check your battery level. When the device is fully charged it will display a green ring. Note: If you continue to experience issues with charging your device, visit Why does it take so long to charge the battery on my Flex? If you are unable to charge your device, please open a ticket with Canary support. |
|
|
Flashing Yellow (slow) |
A slow flashing yellow light indicates that Flex is in the process of trying to connect to a Wi-Fi network. Check the Canary system status page to see if there are any temporary service interruptions affecting Canary devices. If your Canary remains in this state longer than a few minutes, we recommend moving your Canary device as close to the router as possible to eliminate signal interference and reset the device. To turn off Canary Flex, hold down the back button for five seconds until you hear the shutdown sound and the LED ring turns off. To turn on Canary Flex, hold down the back button for one second until the the LED ring is white and spinning, then release. If the flashing yellow light persists, confirm that you are able to connect your phone to your home Wi-Fi and attempt to change your devices Wi-Fi connection or or re-attempt setup the device if it was removed. For more information on changing your Flex's Wi-Fi connection, visit this article. If you are unable to change the Wi-Fi connection, please open a ticket with Canary support. Note: If you connect your Flex to a range extender or a second router, visit this article for recommended settings. |
|
|
Solid Yellow
|
A solid yellow light indicates that Flex has connection to Wi-Fi but not the internet. If your Canary remains in this state longer than a few minutes, we recommend moving your Canary device as close to the router as possible to eliminate signal interference and reset your router by removing it from power for at least 15 seconds before plugging it back in. After several minutes, please confirm that your network has completely booted up and you are able to connect your phone to your home Wi-Fi. Once restored reset the Canary device to restore connectivity. To turn off Canary Flex, hold down the back button for five seconds until you hear the shutdown sound and the LED ring turns off. To turn on Canary Flex, hold down the back button for one second until the the LED ring is white and spinning, then release. If the solid yellow light persists, confirm that you are able to connect your phone to your home Wi-Fi and attempt to change your devices Wi-Fi connection or re-attempt setup the device if it was removed. For more information on changing your Flex's Wi-Fi connection, visit this article. Note: If you recently removed your Canary Flex from your location, please re-attempt setup.
|
|
|
Solid Red Pattern |
A solid red light pattern indicates that your Canary Flex's software or firmware update has failed. Please unplug the device and hold the power button down for 12 seconds until the light in the front turns off (if it was on). Continue to hold until Canary Flex reboots (you’ll see a white spinning light). Release the power button. If your device continues to remain offline, do not deactivate the device from your account. If the solid red light remains, please open a ticket with Canary support. Our support team may be able to send the firmware update to your device, while in this state if the device has not been removed the account. |
|
|
No Color
|
No color if your device is offline indicates the device is powered off or having a power issue. No color if your Flex is online and wired in, typically indicates that your Canary is in privacy mode. When operating wire-free, it can indicate your device is connected and recording motion, asleep and not recording motion, set to private, or off. The LED ring on the front of the device is disabled when Flex is operating unplugged and recording motion in order to preserve battery life. In the event that your device will not turn on, please unplug device and hold the back power button down for 12 seconds until the light in the front turns off (if it was on). Continue to hold until Canary Flex reboots (you’ll see a white spinning light). Release the power button and plug back in the device After several hours, please confirm that your device is charging. Tap the button on the back of your device three times to check your battery level. When the device is fully charged it will display a green ring. Note: If you continue to experience issues with charging your device, visit Why does it take so long to charge the battery on my Flex? If you are unable to charge your device, please open a ticket with Canary support. |
|
|
Solid White Pattern
|
A solid white pattern light, not to be confused with the normal solid white light when Flex is recording motion indicates that the device is currently updating its firmware. Please do not restart the device during this time. If your Canary remains offline and in this state longer than a 15 minutes, only then reset your device. To reset the device, unplug device and hold the back power button down for 12 seconds until the light in the front turns off (if it was on). Continue to hold until Canary Flex reboots (you’ll see a white spinning light). Release the power button. Your device will fall back to the previous firmware version if the update failed. |
|
|
Solid Blue |
A solid blue light indicates that your Canary Flex is powered on and awaiting setup from its minimal state. If setup failed for any reason and your device returned to this solid blue state, we recommend moving your Canary device as close to the router as possible to eliminate signal interference and reset the device. To turn off Canary Flex, hold down the back button for five seconds until you hear the shutdown sound and the LED ring turns off. To turn on Canary Flex, hold down the back button for one second until the the LED ring is white and spinning, then release. After resetting the device, please re-attempt setup. |