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Setting Up Your Controller

Every method, step by step  ·  Most setups take about two minutes

1. Before You Start

You will need three things:

  • Your controller powered on. Give it about 20 seconds after switching on before you begin.
  • Your WiFi password. The controller joins your home network, so you will be asked for it once.
  • To know which of your networks is 2.4GHz. AFTERGLO controllers connect to 2.4GHz only, which is normal for smart home devices. If your router uses one name for both bands, there is nothing to think about. If it uses two names, you will need to pick the 2.4GHz one when the app asks which network the lights should join.

You do not need to join the controller's network yourself. The app does that part for you. Section 5 covers the manual route for the rare cases where it cannot.

It does not matter which band your own phone is on. Your phone can stay on 5GHz throughout. During setup it joins the controller's own network for a moment, and afterwards a phone on 5GHz and a controller on 2.4GHz are on the same router and can see each other normally. The 2.4GHz requirement applies only to the network you choose for the lights.

2. Which Method Do I Need?

Almost everyone wants section 3. The others exist for specific situations:

  • A controller you just bought or just reset: section 3.
  • A controller installed before 2026: section 4. The app usually detects this on its own.
  • The app cannot join the setup network: section 5.
  • The controller is already on your WiFi but the app cannot see it: section 6.
  • Showing your lights off somewhere else, away from their usual WiFi: section 7.

3. Setting Up a New Controller

This is the normal path, and the one the app will guide you through.

  1. Power the controller on and wait about 20 seconds.
  2. Open the AFTERGLO app.
  3. Tap SET UP NEW CONTROLLER. You will find it on the home screen, and also under FIND CONTROLLERS.
  4. Your phone will ask permission to join a WiFi network called AFTERGLO-Setup. Tap Connect or Allow.
  5. Choose your home WiFi network from the list, and enter its password.
  6. Wait while the controller restarts and joins your network. This takes up to a minute.
  7. Your lights appear on the home screen. Give the controller a name if you would like one.

About the permission request. Android asks for location permission before it will let an app join a network. This is an Android rule, not ours: the name of the WiFi network you are near counts as location information. AFTERGLO uses it only to make the connection. Your location is never stored and never sent anywhere.

If you have two controllers powered on at once, they both broadcast the same setup network, and the app connects to whichever is closest. Set them up one at a time: power on the first, set it up, then power on the second.

4. Setting Up a Legacy Controller

Controllers installed before 2026 broadcast a network called AG-Setup rather than AFTERGLO-Setup. The steps are otherwise identical to section 3, and the app tries both automatically, so you do not normally need to know which one you have.

If you are setting one up by hand, use AG-Setup with the password afterglo, and open http://4.3.2.1 in your browser.

Once a legacy controller is on your WiFi, the app can update it to current AFTERGLO firmware. Open the controller in Setup and look for the update option. Your WiFi details carry across on their own, so you will not have to set it up again afterwards.

5. Joining the Setup Network Yourself

Use this if the app cannot join the network for you, or if your phone does not support letting apps join networks directly.

  1. Power the controller on and wait about 20 seconds.
  2. Open your phone's Settings, then WiFi.
  3. Join the network called AFTERGLO-Setup. The password is afterglo. Older controllers use AG-Setup with the same password.
  4. Your phone will warn you that this network has no internet. That is expected. Choose to stay connected.
  5. A setup page usually opens on its own. If it does not, open your browser and go to http://192.168.4.1, or http://4.3.2.1 for a legacy controller.
  6. Pick your home WiFi, enter the password, and save.
  7. The controller restarts and joins your network. Reconnect your phone to your home WiFi, open the app, and tap SEARCH NETWORK.

6. Adding a Controller by IP Address

Use this when a controller is already on your WiFi but the app cannot find it. Some routers block the automatic discovery that the app relies on, particularly on guest networks or networks with client isolation switched on.

  1. Find the controller's IP address in your router's list of connected devices. It will be named something like ag-bb3754.
  2. In the app, tap FIND CONTROLLERS, then ADD BY IP.
  3. Type the address, for example 192.168.1.42, and confirm.

If this works but automatic searching does not, the cause is almost always router settings rather than the controller. Client isolation, AP isolation, and strict guest network modes all prevent devices on the same WiFi from seeing each other.

7. Using Your Lights Away From Home

When a controller cannot reach the WiFi it was set up on, it broadcasts its own network instead. That means you can still drive it with no router involved, which is useful for showing lights off at somebody else's house.

  1. Power the controller on, away from its usual WiFi, and wait about 20 seconds.
  2. Open the app and tap CONNECT DIRECTLY TO LIGHTS. It is on the home screen when no controllers are found, and inside FIND CONTROLLERS.
  3. Approve the WiFi request when your phone asks.
  4. Your lights appear and you can control them normally.

Your phone will have no internet while it is connected this way, because the controller is not a router. Rejoin your usual WiFi when you are finished.

This only works when the controller genuinely cannot see its saved network. A controller sitting happily on your home WiFi does not broadcast its own network, and does not need to, because the app can already reach it.

8. Adding More Controllers

Repeat section 3 for each controller, one at a time. Every controller you add appears on the home screen, and you switch between them by tapping the one you want.

Presets, patterns and timers belong to the controller they were set on, not to the app, so each controller keeps its own. That is also why your timers keep running when your phone is switched off or away from home: the controller runs them itself.

9. When It Will Not Connect

Nothing happens when I tap connect

Your phone cannot see the controller's setup network. Check the controller has power, and that you are within range of it. A controller only broadcasts a setup network when it is new, has been reset, or cannot reach the WiFi it was set up on. One that is already connected to your WiFi will not appear this way.

It says it connected, but no lights appear

Your phone joined the controller's network, but nothing answered on it. The controller may still be starting up. Wait a few seconds and pull down on the home screen to search again.

It cannot find my WiFi network in the list

The list comes from what your phone can see, which includes 5GHz networks the controller cannot use. If your router uses separate names for its two bands, choose the 2.4GHz one; picking a 5GHz name will look like it worked and then fail to connect. Networks that hide their name do not appear at all and have to be typed in by hand.

It joins, then drops off a few minutes later

This is usually signal strength. Controllers are often installed at the edge of WiFi range, under an eave or in a garage. A mesh point or extender nearer the controller normally solves it.

The lights flicker

Flickering is nearly always wiring rather than WiFi. The most common causes are a data wire run alongside a power line over a long distance, and a ground return path that goes through the controller instead of back to the power supply. Contact us and we will work through it with you.

My timers stopped running

Timers run on the controller and need it to know the time, which it gets from the internet. A controller that has lost internet access keeps its timers but cannot run them accurately. Check it is still connected to your WiFi.

I want to start over

Setting a controller up again from scratch is safe. Follow section 3; the new WiFi details replace the old ones.

10. Still Stuck

Send us a message and we will help. It speeds things up if you can tell us:

  • What the app shows on screen, including any error message word for word.
  • Roughly when the controller was installed.
  • Whether the lights come on at all.

See also our support page.