Loosing connection in Kasa app, but Alexa still works

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Loosing connection in Kasa app, but Alexa still works

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Loosing connection in Kasa app, but Alexa still works
Loosing connection in Kasa app, but Alexa still works
2022-11-10 19:21:31 - last edited 2022-11-21 19:16:23
Model: HS200  
Hardware Version: V5
Firmware Version: 1.0.2

I have several Kasa smart switches (HS200 & HS220).  Periodically, one or more will show "offline" in the Kasa app.  The will show as unresponsive in the Alexa app, but when delet4ed in Alexa, will reappear and work just fine for Alexa.  Even if I reset the switches and reinstall, they will show offline periodically in the Kasa app.

And, yes, they have good signal strength at the switches.

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#1
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Re:Loosing connection in Kasa app, but Alexa still works-Solution
2022-11-21 19:16:20 - last edited 2022-11-21 19:16:23

  @DEcosse,

A solution was posted to the other threads that were reporting the behavior but this thread seemed to be missed, whenever something this widespread occurs please make sure to check across the rest of the forum for similar reports in case we miss a thread, or to see if other users are providing temporary solutions.

 

""

Hello everyone,  

  

We apologize for the unexpected cloud service outage on Nov 15, We are so sorry that you were affected.  

  

We have rectified the issue, and you should be able to manage your Kasa devices now. Please double-check if your Kasa devices are back online in your Kasa App and if the Alexa or Google integration starts to work. 

  

Please try to reboot your kasa device and see if devices are online or works with Alexa.  

  • Reboot plug (unplug and plug back in) 

  • Reboot kasa switch (Press RESTART button on the right bottom for 1 sec to reboot the Switch.)  

  

  

[Troubleshooting tips] 

If you still experience similar concerns, please try the following steps that may help to resolve them. 

  

Case 1: if your Kasa device suddenly became offline remotely. 

- reboot your plug (unplug and plug back in) or kasa switch (Press RESTART button on the right bottom for 1 sec to reboot the Switch.) 

 
- try a different network like LTE mobile data or a non-local Wi-Fi network to observe if devices are available in the Kasa APP. 

  

Case2: if Alexa/Google stopped working with the Kasa devices. 
- confirm your Kasa device is online remotely when the phone is on LTE mobile data. If not, try to reboot your kasa device. 
- relink your TP-Link account in the Alexa APP/ Google home app. 

  

  

If the issue persists with finishing all the above, please provide more detailed information as below and email support.forum@tp-link.com with the subject " [Forum ID 589080]  Model+ Case Description ", we'd love to look into that further: 

  

1. TP-Link ID / email account  ( please send via email) 
2. A photo of the error message  

3. Device Name of affected the devices  

4. Time : E.g. Nov 15, 9 AM (UTC+8) experienced the issue. 

5. Does a reboot on the kasa device help: 

  

Thank you very much 

""

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Re:Loosing connection in Kasa app, but Alexa still works
2022-11-11 01:24:09

  @rmhart,

What type of device are you using?

This sounds like your phone simply may be having trouble communicating with your device locally, while the cloud connections are fine. Does the behavior persist when you are not connected to the same network as the smart plugs?

 

If you have an iOS device, you can try removing the permission for the kasa app related to local device access. In your phone's settings, if you scroll all the way down to a section for the Kasa app, there should be a toggle for this permission.

 

This will force your phone to communicate with the devices via the Cloud, rather than from your phone. Let me know if this helped.

Otherwise, try uninstalling and reinstalling the app.

 

Lastly, does this same behavior exist when you are using the Kasa app on another device?

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Re:Loosing connection in Kasa app, but Alexa still works
2022-11-11 13:51:39

  @Riley_S I have several devices that do this.  They are HS200 switches.

 

And this is only when I am not on the same network.

 

I am using an iPhone.  I have reinstalled the app, and the same issue occurs.

 

When reinstalling/resetting a switch (HS200), it does sometime refer to "remote settings", however, I cannot find any setting for remote access.

 

When this occurs with the Kasa app, there can be a glitch with the Alexa app also.  When this happens, I delete the device from the Alexa app and it reappears and then works fine.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks

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Re:Loosing connection in Kasa app, but Alexa still works
2022-11-11 22:10:28

  @rmhart 

 

Not sure this helps, but I've seen similar things recently.  Personally I suspect something is up with the backend.  In my cases the switches work fine, and as you've pointed out respond to Alexa.  But status in particular, and sometimes response, via the Kasa app has become occasionally annoyingly delayed.  I too get "unresponsive"  and "offline" messages on the app, and several times of late registering new switches is deprecated too.  Yet only occasionally, and only in last week or so.

 

Hopefully somebody is telling the backend guys something is up and they're working on it.

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Re:Loosing connection in Kasa app, but Alexa still works
2022-11-12 02:49:09

  @dafish 

 

This seems to have started about a month ago.  So, that tells me something has changed.  Either at the server or app or both.

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Re:Loosing connection in Kasa app, but Alexa still works
2022-11-14 01:19:10

I'm now showing the same problem 

About half of my devices suddenly showed offline - If I refresh the App All Devices page some of them come back; however they either don't respond to the command or are incredibly delayed. This really seems like a Kasa Server problem. 

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Re:Loosing connection in Kasa app, but Alexa still works
2022-11-15 13:22:33

  @rmhart 

It now has spread to other devices.  Switches and smart plugs.HS103, HS200, HS220.

 

TP-Link, please respond!

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Re:Loosing connection in Kasa app, but Alexa still works
2022-11-15 19:19:52

  @rmhart @dafish @DEcosse,

To give an update to everyone, I have passed all this feedback to our team to see if they can reproduce the behavior; but I would like to gather a bit more information for them.

 

  • What type of devices are you using (android/ios) where the devices appear as unavailable? 

 

  • What Version of iOS or Android are you using?

 

  • What is the version of the Kasa installed on the device?

 

  • For the devices that are experiencing the behavior, can everyone also please provide the hardware and firmware versions of the affected models?

 

 

 

@dafish - What specific devices are appearing as offline?

 

@DEcosse - Are these all switches that are appearing offline? Or are lights included also?

 

@DEcosse and @dafish - Does this happen when you are connected to the same network as the devices are connected to? or only from another network?

 

 

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Re:Loosing connection in Kasa app, but Alexa still works
2022-11-15 21:00:19

  @Riley_S 

 

It is now occurring with multiple device types.

 

I cannot get all the info needed as several are offline and no info is avail.

 

I am using an iPhone with IOS 16.1.1

 

The Kasa app is version 3.1.2 build 1.0.1

 

Devices: 

- KP200 harware ver 3.0  firmware 1.0.1

- HS 200  hardware 5.0  firmware 1.0.2

 

Rick

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#9
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Re:Loosing connection in Kasa app, but Alexa still works
2022-11-15 21:23:29 - last edited 2022-11-15 21:29:50

Riley:

 

Today all Kasa devices were down as shown in the app , showed offline, and did not respond to Alexa who reported them offline.

 

All other wireless devices in the home were perfect, on all routers and all bands (Apple, Android, Ring camera's (quite a few), doorbell's, printers, Roku's, etc. Streaming TV services were uninterrupted, power had not gone out.

 

I have almost all models of smart switches you make presently, it's definitely not switch specific. I'll try to see if I can get a screen shot next time it happens.

 

BTW, I was walking somebody though a "SmokePing" service and ran one on my fiber serivice for a few days last week.  Service is stupid stable.

 

I respectfully suggest this is not app related. You don't need the app to be running on our devices for them to fall off-line. That so many of us are reporting it extends to Alexa as well, and the amount of threads on this is growing, seems a clear indicator you have either a comm or back-end issue not a device or app issue.

 

Who is doing your hosting? How is their traffic management being handled? Is it possible somebody has placed a DOS filter in and it's being too aggressive? Please get me an IP address at your end, or better a DNS name, that represents the systems our devices are attempting to talk to.

 

 

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Re:Loosing connection in Kasa app, but Alexa still works
2022-11-15 21:26:23

  @rmhart @dafish @DEcosse,

I found an update to our internal documents directly relating to this behavior, please try the below BETA versions of the application to see if the behavior has been resolved, otherwise the beta applications feature a way of sending your logs directly to our development team for analysis.

 

We actually had an update to our internal docs today with links to a beta version of the application for a few behaviors that users have reported.

There were two patch notes directly related to this thread, one that a kasa device may be displayed as offline or unavailable and one that states that the device list freezes when there are many devices loading at once.(looking at you dafish and decosse).

 

I do not believe that the same fixes are pushed for both android and apple versions, so if the iOS version does not fix the behavior, try the android APK if you can.

 

For Android

The latest version of Kasa is 3.1.1(1115)

Beta APP download link:

 https://static.tp-link.com/upload/beta/2022/202211/20221114/Kasa.3.1.1.apk.zip

 

For iOS

The latest version of Kasa is 3.1.2(1318)

Beta APP download link:

https://testflight.apple.com/join/PdPMSShC

 

Updates to the Kasa App normally occur on a monthly basis; if the beta app fixes this behavior, then fixes will be pushed to the official app in subsequent updates.

If anyone else comes across this thread, please make sure that the behavior exists on the latest official release of the Kasa App before using the above beta versions, as we cannot guarantee any functionality, support, or fixes when using the beta app instead of the official release.

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