# Wi-Fi and connection troubleshooting

> Common issues with connecting your Yoto player to WiFi    If your player is unable to connect to WiFi or hasnt been set up yet you will see the white face 

Source: https://support.yotoplay.com/en_gb/wi-fi-and-connection-issues-S1YCuKjmGg

Last updated: 2026-10-02T09:55:46.432Z

## **Most connection hiccups are fixed by three quick things: restart your player, restart your router, and keep your phone, player and router close together during setup. If that hasn’t done it, find your exact message or symptom below.**

  

For 3rd Gen and older, a player that isn’t set up (or can’t connect) shows a **white face icon** on its display. For 4th Gen players, you’ll see the Yoto app flashing icon.  Minis and Players that have been set up correctly and are unable to connect to wifi, will see a **white clock**.

  

### **Router and network settings**

Before anything, worth checking: 

*   **Wi-Fi band:** For 3rd Gen or older, your player needs a **2.4GHz** band - standard on all routers; make sure yours isn’t set to 5GHz only.  For 4th Gen players, **you can** connect to 5GHz.
    
*   **Signal strength:** move the player closer to the router, especially during setup.
    
*   **Wi-Fi name and password:** For 3rd Gen and older, avoid special characters in your Wi-Fi network name (SSID) or password. 4th Gen players support special characters in both.
    
*   **Wi-Fi channel:** channels get congested - reboot the router first, and if problems persist, change the channel (see your router’s instructions).
    
*   **Connected to Wi-Fi, but not the internet:** For 3rd Gen and older, a player can join your router but still have no internet - it shows a green face icon when this happens. Check your internet connection is working on another device, and restart your router.  For 4th Gen, if the internet isn't able to connect during the setup flow, there will be a failure in the flow (wifi icon with red !)
    

  

**3rd Gen and older players only**

*   **Protected Management Frames (PMF):** open your router’s settings in a web browser (usually at 192.168.1.1 or similar), log in, find **PMF** under Wi-Fi settings, and set it to **Disabled** or **Optional**.
    
*   **Wi-Fi mode:** if available, set the router to **Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac)** or a legacy mode compatible with older devices, save, and reboot the router.
    

  

### **Messages you might see in the app during setup**

Find the message on your screen:

  

_**“We need Bluetooth access to find your player”**_

Your phone isn’t letting the Yoto App use Bluetooth to find the player.

1.  Make sure **Bluetooth is turned on** in your phone settings.
    
    1.  **iPhone:** check Bluetooth permissions are enabled for the Yoto App in your phone settings.
        
    2.  **Android 12 or above:** make sure **“Nearby Devices”** permission is enabled for the Yoto App.
        
    3.  **Android 11 or below:** make sure **“Location”** permission is enabled for the Yoto App.
        
2.  Then tap **Try again**.
    

  

_**“We had trouble connecting to Bluetooth”**_

1.  **Clear the connection:** open your phone’s Bluetooth settings, find your Yoto player and tap **“Forget”**.
    
2.  **Restart your player:** press the power button to turn it off, then back on. If the “Yoto app” animation doesn’t appear on the display, press and hold **both orange buttons** until it does.
    
3.  Tap **Try again**.
    

  

_**“We couldn’t connect to your player”**_

1.  Make sure Bluetooth is on, and keep your phone and player close together.
    
2.  Still stuck? Restart your player (power button, 3 seconds, off then on). If the “Yoto app” animation doesn’t appear after restarting, press and hold **both orange buttons** until it does.
    
3.  Tap **Try again**.
    

  

_**“Hmm, the pairing codes didn’t match”**_

1.  **Setting up more than one Yoto?** You can only pair one at a time - press and hold the power button to switch off any other players that might be in setup mode.
    
2.  Check Bluetooth is on, and that the player is close to your phone - closer than any other device.
    
3.  Restart the player (power button, 3 seconds), then tap **Try again**.
    
4.  Still no luck? Our support team will guide you through the next steps.
    

  

_**“We had trouble connecting to your Wi-Fi”**_

1.  Keep your phone, player and router close together.
    
2.  **Can’t see your Wi-Fi network in the list?** Check that **location permissions** are granted for the Yoto App - phones need this to find Wi-Fi networks.
    
3.  **Firewalls and parental controls** on some routers block new devices - check your router settings, or ask the network administrator if it’s a public network. See: Router and network settings, below.
    
4.  Tap **Try again** - and if it keeps failing, restart your player first.
    

  

_**“We couldn’t link your player to your account” - already linked**_

A player can only belong to one family at a time. If yours is pre-loved, ask the previous owner to either invite you to their family or remove the player from their account - then you can link it to yours. Can’t reach them? Contact our support team and we’ll guide you through the next steps.

  

_**“We couldn’t link your player to your account” - connection issue**_

1.  Check your phone has a stable internet connection, then tap **Try again**.
    
2.  Still stuck? Check our **status page** to see if there’s an issue with any of our services. 
    

  

_**“We couldn’t finish setting up your player”**_

1.  Make sure your player is plugged in and turned on.
    
2.  Keep your phone, player and Wi-Fi router close together.
    
3.  Tap **Try again** - and if it keeps happening, contact our support team.
    

  

### **Setup error codes in the app (3rd Gen and older only)**

If setup fails with a 4-letter code, troubleshoot as follows. No code, or a different one? Get in touch.

  

_**AUTH**_

Five possible causes:

*   The Wi-Fi password entered during setup is incorrect.
    
*   The router doesn’t support 2.4GHz.
    
*   The router runs 2.4GHz and 5GHz with the **same network name (SSID)** - try disabling 5GHz until setup is complete.
    
*   The router needs a reboot.
    
*   On older routers: check and enable “Allow DHCP special characters”. And if the network is set to WPA2/WPA3, try changing it to WPA2 only.
    

_**FTES**_

Check these first:

*   No VPN running on your phone during setup.
    
*   The router supports 2.4GHz.
    
*   If 2.4GHz and 5GHz share the same SSID, disable 5GHz until setup is complete.
    
*   Reboot the router.
    

Then try setup again - but this time, when the app asks you to “Join Yoto hotspot to continue”, join the **Yoto\_xxx** network from your phone’s Wi-Fi settings instead. Wait for the letters to turn green on the player and your phone to confirm it’s connected, then return to the app and **don’t tap anything** - it will move on to choosing your network by itself.

  

_**DNON**_

Usually a connectivity blip at the very last step: the player has set up successfully but can’t reach our servers to register itself. Often it simply works on the next attempt. If not:

*   Check your internet connection is actually working.
    
*   Our URLs may be blocked by your ISP or by parental filters on your router (see the allowlist under School and public Wi-Fi below).
    
*   On older routers: check and enable “Allow DHCP special characters”.
    

  

### **If the app loses connection to the player during setup (3rd Gen and older only)**

If the app disconnects after joining the player’s **Yoto\_xxx** network - you might see an empty Wi-Fi list, or a red cross on the player - try setup again, connecting manually this time:

1.  When the app asks you to join the Yoto\_xxx network, **don’t tap anything**. Instead go to your phone settings → Wi-Fi and join it there.
    
2.  Wait 5–10 seconds until your phone confirms it’s connected and the letters turn **green** on the player.
    
3.  Return to the app and wait - it will move to the network-selection screen by itself. Choose your network and finish setup.
    

**Two phone settings that commonly interfere:**

*   **iPhone:** during setup you’ll be asked to let the app “find and connect to devices on your local network” - choose **Allow**. You’re only asked once; if you tapped Don’t Allow, go to phone settings → Yoto App and switch **Local Network** on.
    
*   **Android:** a setting usually worded like **“Switch to mobile data”** (use mobile data when Wi-Fi is slow or unstable) makes your phone abandon the player’s network mid-setup. Switch it **off** during setup.
    

  

### **Still stuck? Try your phone’s hotspot**

Setting up via your phone’s hotspot gets you listening - and tells you whether the problem is the player or your home network. See: [Using your phone as a hotspot](https://support.yotoplay.com/en-US/using-your-phone-as-a-hotspot-to-stream-content-33385).

  

### **School and public Wi-Fi**

Public networks that make you sign in through a browser won’t work with Yoto players. For schools and similar settings, whoever manages the network can allowlist the player instead:

*   They’ll need the player’s **MAC address** - found in the Yoto App → Player settings after setup (do the initial setup on a private network or phone hotspot first).
    
*   They’ll also need to allow these URLs: 
    
    *   _.yotoplay.com_  
        
    *   .yo.to  
        
    *   _.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com_ 
        
    *   .iot.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com 
        
    *   \*.yoto.io
        
*   Yoto Radio may need extra URLs, and these change over time - ask us for the current list.
    

  

### **Contacting us about a setup problem**

We’d love to help - and the more you can tell us, the faster we’ll get you sorted:

1.  Roughly what time you started setup
    
2.  The 6-letter code shown on your player
    
3.  Anything the player or app did that didn’t match the instructions
    
4.  Which step setup fails at
    
5.  Any error message you hear from the player, and what’s on its display
    
6.  Any error message or code in the app