Wi-Fi provisioning

A controller with no Wi-Fi credentials advertises the standard Improv Wi-Fi Bluetooth service. This page is a hosted copy of the Improv web provisioner: it runs entirely in your browser and talks to the controller over Web Bluetooth. Your network password goes to the controller and nowhere else.

Connect to a controller over Bluetooth

This browser can't use Web Bluetooth. Open this page in Chrome or Edge on a desktop or Android device, or provision from the Home Assistant app on iOS.

Browser support

Web Bluetooth is available in Chrome and Edge on desktop and Android. It is not available in Safari or Firefox, and not on iPhones or iPads at all. On iOS, use the Home Assistant companion app instead: Settings → Devices & services → Add integration → Improv via BLE. The app also raises a notification on its own when it spots an unprovisioned controller nearby.

What happens

1. Power the controller. While it has no credentials it advertises automatically, so nothing else needs to be plugged in.

2. Connect. Press the button above. The browser shows a chooser listing nearby Improv devices. Pick the controller.

3. Identify (optional). Flashes the chassis status LEDs so you know which box you are talking to.

4. Enter the SSID and password. The controller joins the network. A join that is rejected, or that gets no address within 30 seconds, reports unable to connect and the previous credentials come back.

5. Finish in the web UI. On success the dialog says Provisioned! and offers a Next button that opens the controller’s web page. It does not open on its own. Press it from the same device: the link carries a one-shot setup secret that unlocks the Settings panel for ten minutes, so you can set the MQTT broker, the device name, and an API token. Choosing a token locks the API and retires the secret. Reboot in the same panel applies the name and broker.

When the controller is listening

Bluetooth only carries the Wi-Fi credentials, and only while a provisioning window is open. A window opens automatically while the controller has no credentials or has been off the network for five minutes. To re-provision a working controller, open a ten-minute window on demand with improv on on the USB console, or with the Open BLE provisioning button in Home Assistant. improv off closes it and holds the automatic windows until the next improv on or reboot. Outside a window the Bluetooth radio is powered down.

The traffic is plaintext, the same trust posture as the rest of the management plane: a trusted LAN, and now radio range of a box you can press buttons on.

For the USB console route, wired-only controllers, and the rest of the management surfaces, see First-time setup in the firmware guide.