Why the phone needs Wi-fi when using BT only?

Why the phone needs Wi-fi when using BT?

Used the stick the first time last night. All smooth. But why the app gave me a ‘no wi-fi’ warning? I have the BT only stick (no Wi-fi) and I was connected to BT. So why the app ask for Wifi?

Because each new version of the app is a new train wreck.

Actually, it’s because the app needs to be able to communicate with Anova’s back-end server, not just the APC.

Hmmm… So let me get this straight. The app connects via Bluetooth to the Anova. And then complains that the Anova has no wifi connection. Unless I am grossly misunderstanding something, either the app doesn’t realise that it’s already talking via Bluetooth to a Bluetooth unit, or there is no way for the app to tell the difference between a Bluetooth unit and a wifi unit.

Design fail either way, as far as I can see.

You are. The mobile app isn’t complaining that the APC has no Wi-Fi connection. The mobile app is complaining that IT has no Wi-Fi connection because, as I said…“the app needs to be able to communicate with Anova’s back-end server” (and possibly also attempting to register with the O/S vendor’s push notification service, depending on when this is occurring). Both are very, very common requirements for mobile apps (in fact they’re probably the rule rather than the exception these days).

This has nothing to do with the APC itself.

OK, I hear you. So, the phone didn’t have a wifi connection? Presumably, it didn’t have a cellular connection either? If so, the app should be warning about not having internet connectivity instead. Because the data link layer is irrelevant in this case. What matters is the transport layer (IP in this case), which has nothing to do with either wifi or cellular.

Maybe @eat could confirm whether, at the time of the message, the phone had one of either wifi or cellular connectivity?

It may well be that the app is simply reporting the error that it’s receiving from the mobile API, which might be an indication of a lack of a Wi-Fi connection specifically, which could be due to his having mobile data (via cellular) disabled. Then again, the error might be saying something else about it’s inability to communicate with the outside world and eat is simply assuming that it means there’s no Wi-Fi connection. But either way, there’s no real indication of any design flaw in the app in this case. It wants/needs internet connectivity for one or more bits of functionality and can’t obtain it, and it’s letting the user know about it.

This is probably related to the fact that the app doesn’t work in offline mode. I doubt that it has to reach back to the “mother ship” when it’s communicating locally with the Anova unit. It’s only issuing a few simple instructions.

At a minimum, it communicates with the back-end server(s) to retrieve recipe information. There might also be other dynamic content, as well as current status information that gets uploaded. And, as I said, when the app launches it registers itself with the OS vendor’s push notification service.

I get that. But it should also be smart enough to know that if there isn’t a network connection, then it should revert to a lesser functionality level. It’s absurd that I can’t use the basic features (of which there are a paltry few) because my router failed.

To be clear, I’m talking about the Bluetooth version.

What things are you saying it can’t do without internet connectivity that it ought to be able to do? I’m running it right now with my phone in “airplane mode” (no cellular or Wi-Fi signaling) and am able to peruse the Guide and the Recipes, though some are missing the photographs that can’t be dynamically downloaded. I’m not at home though, so I can’t test out the connection with my BT APC.

I just tested this with my Bluetooth unit and the latest version of the iPhone app.

With the phone in flight mode, the app tries to connect to the cooker “Looking for Anova…” It sits on that indefinitely, without any error or timeout.

With Bluetooth turned off, the same thing happens. The app waits indefinitely without any error to indicate that this cannot possibly work.

If both cellular data and wifi are turned off (but Bluetooth is on), the app correctly connects to the unit.

With both cellular data and wifi turned off, or with the phone in flight mode, tapping on “Recipes” brings up an error:

“Those darn wireless connections! We had trouble connecting, so make sure you have a strong signal and try again.”

It would be better to display an error to say that wifi and/or cellular data need to be turned on.

With wifi connected, but no Internet connectivity (“Lie-fi”), the app says “Internal error”. Room for improvement here, too.

But at least, with only Bluetooth working and no IP connectivity (data link layer or transport layer), it’s possible to talk to the cooker.

I see some grave privacy issues here.

Also, the phone I use has no data (it’s my travel phone that I use only out of country) , and my kitchen is not the Wifi reach.

IMHO, a Bluetooth device should work with Bluetooth. And with Bluetooth only.

Can you elaborate? I don’t see any privacy problem, off-hand.

[quote=“michihenning, post:14, topic:14023, full:true”]
Can you elaborate? I don’t see any privacy problem, off-hand.[/quote]

I don’t know what data gets collected. What they need i.e. the location for if that gets transmitted?

I can see that the app should update when Wifi is available, but no other functions.

You seem to be a bit confused. What exactly is it that you’re calling a “Bluetooth device” that you think is working with some other communication protocol?

Then you’d better ditch your smart phone. As I said, nearly all apps use data connections to the cloud for one legitinate reason or another, as does your phone’s operating system itself.

That’s a rather odd statement. At a minimum, as I already pointed out, anything that receives push notifications has to register with a cloud-based service whenever the app is launched. And any sort of dynamic content requires access to one or more cloud-based services. And the app does not update itself. The O/S does that (in conjunction with the Apple/Play Store).

I don’t mean to be rude, but your grave concerns are based on a fundamental lack of understanding of how Android/iOS devices and apps work, as well as cloud-based services and data communications in general.

[quote=“DParker, post:16, topic:14023, full:true”]
You seem to be a bit confused. What exactly is it that you’re calling a “Bluetooth device” that you think is working with some other communication protocol?[/quote]

You may be not aware of all models. The one I bought comes in two options, BT only, and BT + Wifi. I have the BT only model.

So in a BT model the app is asking for Wifi.

But anyway, since the timer has totally no function other than making a beep sound and the temp can be set without the app it would work totally without phone. Is that correct?

I am still new to the SV stick. Can only say, for yogurt it’s perfect.

I’m aware of the different APC models…and you’re still confused. Your APC is a Bluetooth-only device, but the app does not run on the APC. It runs on your Android/iOS phone, which is NOT a Bluetooth-only device. And the app’s need to use your phone’s Wi-Fi/cellular data communication capabilities has nothing at all to do with your Bluetooth APC.

You can control whether the app gets access to location data or not. I would be surprised if the app even tried to get that data though. Using the app is really no more or less secure than running any other app on your phone. As far as security/privacy is concerned, I wouldn’t worry.

Besides, you don’t have to log on to use the app with a bluetooth Anova. The internet connectivity is used only to show you recipes. You can look at those by using a web browser, too.

In general, I find that the app adds essentially no value, but lots of problems. I find it easier to just set the temperature with the scroll wheel on the device, and to use a kitchen timer or alarm on my phone to tell when cooking is done. There really is no need to use the app at all.

I tested it myself and now it works. I reported the issue a couple of weeks ago (I couldn’t launch the app when I was on a flight because it kept trying to connect to a network). Since then there have been at least two app updates so I wonder if there had been fixes implemented. Hence I withdraw my theory for why the OP’s problem is happening!