Philips WiZ Lights Not Connecting? Here’s How to Fix It

Last Updated: March 16, 2023 / By

Smart lights are, without a doubt, one of the best improvements you can add to your home, as the convenience they bring to the table in many scenarios, such as being able to control the light in your bedroom without leaving the bed, is practically unrivaled.

That being said, just as with any other smart device, smart lights aren’t exactly exempt from problems either, with issues related to connectivity sometimes plaguing what should otherwise be a smooth experience and making things harder than they should be.

In today’s article, our topic will be a particular problem you can come across when using the WiZ lights from Philips, where the lights refuse to connect to the wireless network, making it impossible to control them through the WiZ application until the problem is resolved.

So, how can you resolve this problem and get your WiZ lights to connect to your home wireless network as intended?

Below, you can find the solutions we recommend applying to resolve the issue of your Philips WiZ lights not connecting to the wireless network:

  • Ensure that your WiZ light is in the range of the Wi-Fi signal.
  • Connect your mobile device to a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network during setup.
  • Verify that the Wi-Fi password is correct.
  • Reset your WiZ lights and reactivate pairing mode.
  • Use the Manual Pairing feature of the WiZ application.
  • Reboot your wireless router.
  • Reinstall the WiZ application on your mobile device.

In the upcoming section, you can find a more thorough troubleshooting guide that covers all of the solutions we have summarized above in great detail, which we highly recommend following if you are unsure about the exact process of applying them.

Philips WiZ Lights Not Connecting – Troubleshooting Guide

Experiencing problems that prevent your Philips WiZ lights from connecting to your home wireless network, and hence, make them uncontrollable, is definitely far from optimal, especially considering that the primary point of using smart lights is the convenience they bring to the table.

Below, we have created sub-sections that correspond to all of the solutions we mentioned earlier, in which you can find the exact processes we recommend following to correctly apply the fixes and explanations regarding how they can be helpful to remedy the problem at hand.

Ensure That Your WiZ Light Is in the Range of the Wi-Fi Signal

The most common factor that can prevent your WiZ light from connecting to your wireless network is the Wi-Fi signal not reaching the light, especially in cases where the light is placed in a room far from your wireless router.

If your WiZ light is blinking red (or white if it’s not a WiZ Color), a Wi-Fi signal problem is a definite possibility, as the blinking light is your WiZ light’s way of telling you that a Wi-Fi-related problem is occurring.

To ensure that the connectivity problem does not stem from the Wi-Fi signal not reaching your WiZ light, our recommendation is to temporarily move your WiZ light next to your wireless router, or vice versa (whichever is easier), and go through the setup process in this state.

As the WiZ light does not feature an interface that can directly inform you of a Wi-Fi signal-related problem, making it technically impossible for the signal not to reach your WiZ light is the best way to write off the possibility of poor signal quality completely.

While bringing your mobile device next to your WiZ light and checking whether it receives the Wi-Fi signal can seem like a good idea that is much easier to apply, the assumption that your WiZ light receives the Wi-Fi signal just because your mobile device does is not a correct one to make due to possible differences in antenna range.

Connect Your Mobile Device to a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi Network During Setup

Another commonly-encountered factor that can prevent your WiZ light from correctly connecting to your home wireless network is using the 5 GHz band instead of 2.4 GHz.

While the difference can go unnoticed due to most routers being dual-band and most modern mobile devices featuring both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz antennas nowadays, the fact that your WiZ light only has a 2.4 GHz antenna means that it cannot connect to a 5 GHz network like your mobile device does.

If your WiZ light is blinking red (or white if it’s not a WiZ Color), a frequency band issue is a definite possibility, as this is also a Wi-Fi-related problem similar to the signal coverage problem we have mentioned in the previous section.

To apply this solution, all you will need to do is to connect your mobile device to the 2.4 GHz network instead of the 5 GHz one before moving forward with the setup of your WiZ light, which should be straightforward in most cases with dual-band routers usually broadcasting both signals by default.

On the other hand, if you are unsure about the frequency, if your router serves both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies on the same SSID or if it only broadcasts the Wi-Fi signal on the 5 GHz band, we highly recommend navigating to the interface of your router and separating the 2.4 GHz band to its own unique SSID.

While we can’t outline the exact steps for this process due to it being different for every router, you should be able to easily find the related setting in the Wi-Fi section of your router’s interface, which you can access by looking for the default credentials (often labeled router login or similar) on the bottom of the router.

Verify That the Wi-Fi Password Is Correct

A wrongly-entered Wi-Fi password is an easily-missed problem that can prevent your WiZ lights from connecting to the Wi-Fi network and make you think that a different issue is taking place, especially considering that a WiZ light has no way of informing you that the password is incorrect.

Similar to the two problems we have gone through earlier, the result of an incorrectly-entered Wi-Fi password will also be a blinking WiZ light, as it falls under the umbrella of Wi-Fi-related problems.

To ensure that you’re entering the Wi-Fi password correctly, we recommend pressing the eye button (on the right of the input) that allows you to see the password as you type it and verify the correctness of the password before submitting it.

It’s also worth mentioning that the WiZ lights do not support open networks (networks that don’t have passwords), meaning that you cannot simply put in an arbitrary password or leave the password input empty if you’re connected to an open network during setup.

Finally, while it’s unlikely to be an issue in most cases due to WPA2 being the default, another factor that can create a problem regarding the Wi-Fi password is the usage of a security protocol that is not WPA2, as the WiZ lights do not support wireless networks that use protocols such as WEP or WPA-enterprise.

Reset Your WiZ Lights and Reactivate Pairing Mode

Resetting your WiZ light is a simple process you can utilize to potentially resolve minor technical problems that can prevent the connection from going through if nothing else seems to be working, as this process will erase any pre-existing pairing data on your WiZ light and bring it back to the factory default state.

To fully reset your WiZ light and reactivate pairing mode once more, all you will need to do is to switch it off and on five times in quick succession by using the light switch that it is currently connected to.

If the process has been successful, you should observe that the WiZ light is pulsing blue (or white if it’s a WiZ White), which indicates that it’s in Smart Pairing mode, and ready to be paired through the WiZ application.

Use the Manual Pairing Feature of the WiZ Application

While the Smart Pairing mode is the most convenient way of connecting your WiZ lights, the Manual Pairing feature can be the savior if your WiZ light doesn’t get automatically picked up due to technical issues or if you don’t have access to a 2.4 GHz network.

If the WiZ application does not find your lights during the Smart Pairing process despite your mobile device being connected to a 2.4 GHz network, or if you don’t have access to a 2.4 GHz that you can connect your mobile device, follow the steps below to connect your light with Manual Pairing:

  1. Press the Plus button on the top-right corner.
  2. Choose the Light option.
  3. Enter the Wi-Fi password when prompted.
  4. Choose the Manual Pairing option.
  5. Power off your WiZ light.
  6. Power your WiZ light on and off three times in quick succession, leaving it on at the end.
  7. Confirm that your WiZ light is pulsing blue (or white if it’s a WiZ White), and press the Next button.
  8. Wait until your WiZ light starts (~1 minute) double-pulsing (purple if you have a WiZ Color), and press Start.
  9. Navigate to the Wi-Fi settings of your mobile device, and connect to the Wi-Fi network shown on the on-screen instructions (WiZConfig_XXXX, where the X will be random letters and numbers).
  10. Navigate to the WiZ app, and wait for the pairing process to conclude.
  11. Confirm that you’re allowing the WiZ light to join your Wi-Fi network if prompted.

If you cannot get your WiZ light to pulse blue (step 7) after following the instructions outlined in step 6, power your WiZ light on and off five times (instead of three) to completely reset it.

Reboot Your Wireless Router

As the wireless router is just as much of a part of the equation as the WiZ light itself, it’s entirely possible for wireless connectivity issues to stem from the router as well, even when other devices are able to connect to the network without any problems.

More often than not, a simple rebooting of the router is the only step you need to take here, which is a process known to automatically resolve minor technical problems by re-initializing the modem firmware and the Wi-Fi signal.

To correctly reboot your wireless router, you can follow the steps we have mentioned below:

  1. Turn your wireless router off by pressing the power button or switch.
  2. Unplug your wireless router from power.
  3. Wait for a minute.
  4. Plug your wireless router back into power.
  5. Turn your wireless router on by pressing the power button or switch once more.

Once your router’s lights come back on and Internet connectivity is restored on your mobile device, you can try to connect your WiZ light again.

Reinstall the WiZ Application on Your Mobile Device

As the WiZ application is directly responsible for establishing the link between your wireless network and your WiZ lights, an issue regarding the application can easily be why you can’t connect your lights to the network.

To reinstall the WiZ application on your mobile device, you can simply remove it as you would any other application and then install it back from Google Play or App Store, depending on whether you’re on Android or iOS.

For best results, we recommend ensuring that the data related to the application is also completely removed from your mobile device, with some versions of Android asking you whether you would like to remove the data alongside the application once you start the uninstallation process.

Please note that this process will cause your login information to be removed from the WiZ application, meaning that you will have to login into your account again once you have reinstalled it.

Conclusion

While not being able to connect your WiZ lights to the network can be an unpleasant experience, especially considering that it should be a straightforward process that takes less than a minute, it’s usually possible to solve the problem with basic troubleshooting.

To recap, here is a quick summary of the solutions we have talked about to fix the issue of WiZ lights not connecting to the wireless network as intended:

  • Bring your WiZ light close to your wireless router to rule out the possibility of a weak Wi-Fi signal creating the problem.
  • Connect your mobile device to a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network during the setup process to allow Smart Pairing to work as intended.
  • Verify that the Wi-Fi password is correct to allow the WiZ light to connect to the network.
  • Reset your WiZ light to bring it back to the factory default state.
  • Use the Manual Pairing feature on the WiZ application to connect your WiZ light in cases where Smart Pairing doesn’t work.
  • Reboot your wireless router to resolve minor technical problems preventing the connection from being established.
  • Reinstall the WiZ application on your mobile device to resolve minor issues related to the application preventing the connection from being established.

On the other hand, if the fixes mentioned above haven’t helped solve the problem you’re facing, we highly recommend directly contacting WiZ support through the WiZ application (Settings -> Chat with us) and explaining the solution steps you have taken so far in detail.