eSphere FAQ

During sensor setup, we'll ask for your home Wi-Fi password. If you don't have it handy, there are a few easy ways to find it.

Check your phone

If your phone is already connected to the network you want to use, you can usually find the password in your Wi-Fi settings. The exact steps depend on your device.

iPhone

1. Open Settings → Wi-Fi.
2. Tap the ⓘ icon next to your network.
3. Tap the hidden password field and enter your phone passcode.
4. The password becomes visible — you can copy it to your clipboard.

Android 14 and later

1. Open Settings → Connections → Wi-Fi.
2. Tap the ⚙️ icon next to your network.
3. Tap the eye icon next to the password field and enter your phone passcode.

Android (earlier than 14)

1. Open Settings → Connections → Wi-Fi.
2. Tap the ⚙️ icon next to your network.
3. Tap QR code → Save as image.
4. Open Google Lens, select the saved QR image, and your network name and password will be displayed.

Motorola & Google Pixel

1. Open Settings → Network & internet → Internet.
2. Tap the ⚙️ icon next to your network → Share.
3. Enter your phone passcode. The password will appear below the QR code.

Check your computer

Mac

1. Open the Passwords app (press Command + Space, type 'Passwords', press Return).
2. Enter your Mac password.
3. Select Wi-Fi, then your network. Hover over the password field to reveal it.

Windows

1. Open Control Panel → Network and Internet → Network and Sharing Center.
2. Click your Wi-Fi connection name → Wireless Properties → Security tab.
3. Check 'Show characters' to reveal your password.

Check your router

If the network name and password were never changed, they're usually printed on a sticker on the router itself — often on the bottom.

eSphere monitors activity on a single Wi-Fi network. Use the table below to choose the right one for your sensor.

During setup, your eSphere sensor automatically joins the same Wi-Fi network your phone is on. Have your password ready.

LED indicators at a glance

Phone on the wrong network

Your sensor connects to whichever Wi-Fi network your phone is on when setup begins. Before you start, confirm your phone is on your primary home network.

Incorrect Wi-Fi password

If the password you entered during setup is wrong, the sensor won't be able to connect. Retry with the correct password.

Home network issues

Your home network itself may be interfering with setup. If you have a dual-band or tri-band router (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, or 6 GHz), make sure every band uses the same network name (SSID).

If the lights still aren't right

1. Hold the side button on the sensor for about 10 seconds to reset it.
2. Unplug the sensor, wait a moment, and plug it back in.
3. If it still won't come up, contact support.

Damaged sensor

If your sensor arrives damaged or stops working physically, contact support. We'll ship a replacement and include a return label for the old unit.

Sensors can't switch networks directly. To move a sensor to a new Wi-Fi network, factory-reset it and onboard it again on the new network. Repeat for each sensor you want to move.

1. In the app, go to More → My Sensors.
2. Select the sensor and tap More Details.
3. Tap Factory Reset.
4. Confirm: the sensor's blue light is on, Bluetooth is enabled on your phone, and you've forgotten 'eSphere' in your phone's Bluetooth settings.
5. Tap Next. Manually reset the sensor by holding the side button until a green light starts blinking.
6. Confirm the sensor shows a solid blue light with a blinking green light — that means the reset is complete.
7. Re-onboard the sensor in the app, selecting your new Wi-Fi network.

1. Log in to the eSphere app.
2. Go to the More tab.
3. Tap My Sensor.
4. Tap Sensor Details.
5. Scroll to the bottom — the Wi-Fi Network field shows the network your sensor is currently on.

A Media Access Control (MAC) address is a unique identifier assigned to every networked device. No two devices share the same MAC address.

When several devices are talking on the same network, each one has to present its unique MAC address so the network knows who's who.

What does a MAC address look like?

It's a 12-character hexadecimal value (digits 0–9 plus letters A–F), most commonly displayed with a colon every two characters, like this:

Can one device have more than one MAC address?

Yes. A device gets a separate MAC address for each type of network connection it supports — for example, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. A laptop with both a wired port and built-in Wi-Fi has a different MAC for each, both visible in the device's system settings.

What is a Wi-Fi MAC address?

The MAC address a device uses when it's connected to Wi-Fi. Also called the Wi-Fi Address — it's the identifier your device presents to a wireless network.

Because a MAC address is unique and usually stays the same, it can be used to recognize or track a device across networks. To improve privacy, most modern phones and tablets now use a feature called Private Address — they hide the real MAC address and present a randomized one instead. This is called a Private Wi-Fi Address.

Can a device have more than one Private Wi-Fi Address?

Yes — devices generate a different one for each network they connect to. The Private Wi-Fi Address your phone uses at home is different from the one it uses at a coffee shop or airport. Some devices also rotate to a new Private Address periodically, depending on their privacy settings.

What is MAC address rotation?

Some devices periodically change the randomized address they use on a given network.

On iOS 18 and later, Rotating MAC Address generates a fresh randomized address roughly every two weeks.

On Android 12 and later, the MAC address may rotate in certain cases — for example, reconnecting to a network after being disconnected for more than 24 hours.

If presence detection for your phone feels inaccurate, disabling Private Address on your home Wi-Fi network can help. This setting only affects your home network — your privacy on other networks is unchanged.

Find a device by IP or MAC address in the eSphere app

1. Locate your device's IP address or Wi-Fi MAC address in the device's system settings.
2. Open the eSphere app and go to the device list.
3. Type the IP address or MAC address into the search bar — the list filters as you type.
4. Select your device from the filtered results.

How to disable Private Address

iPhone

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Wi-Fi.
3. Tap the ⓘ icon next to your connected network.
4. Tap Private Wi-Fi Address (on iOS versions before 18, this is a toggle switch).
5. Set it to Off.

Your iPhone will reconnect using its real hardware MAC on your home network.

iPad

1. Open Settings → Wi-Fi.
2. Tap the ⓘ icon next to your connected network.
3. Toggle Private Address off.
4. Tap Rejoin when prompted.

Apple Watch

1. Open Settings → Wi-Fi.
2. Select your home Wi-Fi network.
3. Toggle Private Address off.
4. Tap Disconnect when prompted — it'll reconnect automatically.

Samsung Galaxy

1. Open Settings → Connections → Wi-Fi.
2. Tap the ⚙️ icon next to your network.
3. Tap View More.
4. Tap MAC address type → Phone MAC.

Your phone will drop and rejoin the network automatically if Auto-Reconnect is on.

Motorola & Google Pixel

1. Open Settings → Network & internet → Internet.
2. Tap the ⚙️ icon next to your network.
3. Select Privacy → Use device MAC.

Wrong Wi-Fi network

Your device has to be on the same Wi-Fi network as your sensor. Double-check what network your phone is on before you start setup.

Network bands have different names

eSphere doesn't support separate SSIDs for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands on a single sensor. For example, 'HomeWiFi 2.4 GHz' and 'HomeWiFi 5 GHz' as two separate names will cause setup issues. Both bands need to share the same network name (SSID). If you can't change the names, contact your ISP — multi-band support is on our roadmap.

Sensor is still learning

Your sensor may have detected your device but is still gathering information (like the device name). Try searching the device list by MAC or IP address. You can also toggle your device's Wi-Fi off and on — watching it leave and rejoin helps the sensor finalize what it knows.

Location permissions not enabled

eSphere needs Precise location permission (not Approximate) to function correctly. Check your phone's settings — we recommend 'While Using the App'.

Device has Private Address enabled

If Private Address is rotating your device's MAC, eSphere may see the same phone as a new device each time. Disabling Private Address on your home network fixes this — see Section 2.

When you create a new account, the app will prompt you to create a profile and then pair via Bluetooth. After following the steps, your phone will automatically show a system prompt to pair with eSphere.

If your sensor detected devices during setup but didn't auto-assign them, here's how to label them yourself.

1. Open the eSphere app and go to the Household tab.
2. Tap Devices at the top of the page.
3. Scroll the list. From here you can assign each device to an existing profile or create a new profile for it.

SmartChats is eSphere's in-app messaging feature. It's designed for quick, in-the-moment conversations with your household — a package just arrived, someone unexpected just showed up, or you're away and want to check in.

How it works

• You'll see a SmartChat prompt when a key event happens (an alert from your sensor, or someone arriving home).
• You can also start a SmartChat anytime from the Household tab.
• Messages go to household members currently marked as 'home' based on their presence device.
• Pick a pre-written message or type your own.

To use SmartChats

1. Make sure each household member has a profile in the app.
2. Assign a presence device to each profile.
3. Add a phone number to the profile.
4. Only profiles marked 'Family' with a phone number will appear in the SmartChats contact list.

1. Have each household member download the eSphere app.
2. Share your invite code so they join the same home account.
3. They create their own account directly in the app.
4. Each person customizes notifications based on what matters to them.

There are a few ways to create a profile:

• Tap the blue '+' button in the bottom-right of the eSphere homepage.
• Go to the Household tab and tap the profile icon in the top-right.
• From the Device List, select an unassigned device and choose 'Create profile for this device'.

Once you start, you can type the profile details in by hand or import a contact — eSphere will auto-fill the rest.

Why profiles matter

• Precise presence detection — fewer false alerts.
• Smarter notifications — alerts based on who's coming and going.
• Better security — clearly separates trusted household members from unknown devices.

iOS

1. Open your device's Settings app.
2. Scroll to Notifications.
3. Find and select eSphere.
4. Toggle Allow Notifications on, then customize as desired.

Android

1. Open your device's Settings app.
2. Tap Notifications → App Notifications.
3. Find eSphere and toggle notifications on.
4. Tap eSphere to fine-tune which notifications you want to receive.

Tap on a specific profile, then open its Settings. From there you can choose whether to receive enter-and-exit notifications for that person.

You can also mark a profile as Untrusted — eSphere will send special alerts whenever that person enters or leaves your home.

Yes. You can receive alerts for multiple people at once — each profile has its own notification settings.

You can read our full Privacy Policy and Terms of Use at esphere.io. The short version: eSphere is designed to help you know who comes and goes from your home without intruding on private moments. Our goal is to protect your privacy while giving you peace of mind.

Customer-controlled

You decide when to use eSphere and how much information to share about the people in your home. Adjust your settings to match the level of awareness you want.

Transparent

We're committed to being clear about what information is collected and how it's used.

Privacy by design

Privacy isn't an afterthought — it's built into every step of how we design our product and shape the user experience.

What we collect

• Information from profiles you create.
• Anonymous device attributes and identifiers.
• Anonymous network attributes.

What we don't collect

• Private moments or conversations.
• Content or media — no images or video of your home or public spaces.
• Associated content such as your location outside the house, or your messages.
• Sensitive information like financial or residency records.

Encrypted in transit and at rest

Whether your data is being detected for the first time or sitting in cloud storage, it's encrypted to protect against security threats.

Sensors are encrypted

If someone physically tampered with your sensor and tried to extract data from it, what they'd find would be scrambled and unusable.

Your data is stored separately

Every customer gets their own isolated cloud space — an added layer of security.

Secure infrastructure

Our data ecosystem is designed for both efficiency and security, making it highly resistant to cyberattacks.

We don't sell user data

Full stop. Your information is never sold to third parties. It's only used to improve your eSphere experience.

Vendors are strictly limited

Any vendor we work with is contractually prohibited from using your data for anything other than the specific work we hired them to do.

Metadata is data that describes other data — for example, the quantity of something, where it came from, how it was collected, or when.

eSphere uses metadata from the signals your devices send, without reading the content of those signals. Analyzing metadata lets us identify distinct devices in your home while keeping the contents of your messages and traffic private.

The data we collect is pseudonymous — it doesn't directly reveal who someone is, but it is linked to a profile in a secure way.

Pseudonymous data can't identify a specific person without access to secure records — something only law enforcement could obtain, and only through a legal warrant.

It lets eSphere detect presence while keeping your private moments at home private and secure.

No. eSphere doesn't use cameras or microphones. Our system relies on presence detection — reading Bluetooth and Wi-Fi signals from personal devices to tell who's home, without watching or listening.

In the future, we may explore optional video and presence solutions. If we do, they'll always be fully optional and designed to complement — never replace — our core privacy-focused presence detection.

1. Open the eSphere app and tap 'Forgot password' on the login screen.
2. Enter the email address associated with your eSphere account.
3. Tap Send Reset Email.
4. Open the password reset email from eSphere and click the link. (If you don't see the email, check your spam folder.)
5. Enter your new password and tap Save.
6. Log in with your new password.

Pairing via Bluetooth helps your eSphere sensor detect presence accurately. You only need to pair once — you don't need to stay connected to use eSphere.

If pairing isn't working, try these steps in order:

• Pair one device at a time.
• Move closer to the sensor.
• Fully close and reopen the app.
• Turn Bluetooth off and back on on your phone.
• In your phone's Bluetooth settings, find eSphere and tap to pair manually.
• If your phone was previously connected to a different eSphere sensor, forget that device in Bluetooth settings before pairing a new one.

If none of the above works, skip pairing for now and try again later. Contact support so we can investigate.

If you hit an error while scanning a QR code to assign a presence device, try these steps in order:

• Use a different mobile browser — Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. Samsung Internet isn't supported for QR scanning.
• Wait a minute and try again. If the device just joined the network, your sensor may still be discovering it.
• Fully close and reopen the app before scanning again.
• Skip the QR code — choose Search for Device and pick from the list instead.

Occasionally your sensor may think someone has left or arrived when they haven't. This almost always means the sensor temporarily lost connection with their phone. Here are the most common reasons.

1. Rotating MAC address

Phones using a private or random MAC address can look like a new device when the address rotates, which triggers false alerts.

Fix: disable Private Address on your home Wi-Fi network (see Section 2).

2. Bluetooth not paired

Pairing your phone via Bluetooth noticeably improves presence detection.

3. Network interference

Unstable Wi-Fi or a phone constantly switching between networks can cause brief disconnects, even if the person hasn't moved.

4. Low battery or Low Power mode

Phones in Low Power Mode or with low battery may drop connections to save energy.

5. Wi-Fi Assist / Wi-Fi+ on iPhone

iPhones may switch to cellular data when Wi-Fi signal is weak — that brief switch can register as a disconnect.

6. Aggressive Android Wi-Fi management

Some Android apps manage Wi-Fi aggressively, especially overnight or when the phone is idle.

7. ISP network updates

Modem or router updates pushed by your ISP can briefly interrupt your connection — usually at night.

8. Phone needs a restart or update

If a phone is behaving oddly, a simple restart or software update can clear up temporary issues.

Submit a request through our support portal at esphere.zendesk.com, or reach out to our support team directly from the app.

This returns the sensor to its original out-of-the-box state.

1. In the app, go to the More tab.
2. Tap My Sensor.
3. Tap Factory Reset.
4. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the reset.
5. When the reset finishes, you'll land back on the Home screen with a Get Connected button — tap it to run setup again.