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With the increasing popularity of infrared controllers, it’s clear the public has spoken when it comes to convenience and market needs. You can now use your smartphone to control your TV, Air Conditioner, and lighting at home without having to search for a separate remote (yay!).
 
Feeling hot and flustered? There’s no need to search for remotes, nor do you have to rush to the convenience store to buy batteries when that busted old remote that you haven’t used since last summer is back in your hands once again.
 
But… and there is a “but”. All of this depends on your Infrared Controller being connected to a stable network. If your internet connection is unstable, the router malfunctions, or your server goes down, this all becomes non-functional, and most likely when you need it the most. A lack of internet connection can suddenly make the situation more inconvenient than having no remote at all.
 
This problem is widely recognized as the biggest weakness of the smart home remote control industry. So, how did Hub 2 overcome this? Let’s find out!

Infrared Controllers at the mercy of network connectivity? Bah! Kinda sucks.

Random pop quiz, do you know how infrared controllers work to control infrared appliances?
 
When you tap the relevant button in an app on your smartphone to operate an appliance, the operation command is uploaded to the cloud (a server) via your router as an infrared signal. The cloud processes the signal and sends the corresponding infrared code to your smart remote via your router. This smart remote then sends the corresponding infrared code to the appliance, which then starts doing whatever it is you wanted it to do upon receiving the infrared signal, and this is typically how it works.
 
Because infrared signals pass through routers and servers, various problems can occur. The server may malfunction, your router may fail, or your network may become unstable or disconnected… And then you’re probably left wishing you never tried.

Hub 2 allows you to control your home appliances freely without relying on the internet.

After reading the above, many of you may still think
“Yeah ok great, but my remote control is still the best option“.
 
So, how can we fix this?
 
The answer is simple: operation through Bluetooth!
 
By directly connecting your smart remote control to your smartphone via Bluetooth, instead of relying on unstable servers and routers, you can minimize the route that the infrared signal passes through when operating.
 
With Hub 2, the process of processing signals and transmitting infrared codes through the cloud is moved to your SwitchBot Hub 2 itself. When you first start up Hub 2, after learning the remote control of the corresponding infrared appliance, you can select Offline Control from the settings screen. This will store the infrared codes that were originally saved in the cloud on your Hub 2. And as a result, it is now possible to call up infrared codes without going through the router or server. Your smartphone can directly connect to Hub 2 via Bluetooth, allowing it to emit infrared signals to control your appliances.
 
As a result, even without an internet connection, you can control your infrared appliances. Moreover, since the steps required to connect are minimized, the response speed is faster than before too.

Steps to turn on Offline Control.

Step 1: Go to the remote control settings screen.
Step 2: Turn on Offline Control for your remote control.
Notes:
  • Requires SwitchBot app version 6.26.1 or above.
  • Requires SwitchBot Hub 2 firmware version 0.8-0.6.
  • An Internet connection is required to enable Offline Control.
  • It may take 2-4 minutes to download the infrared codes for compatible Air Conditioners.

Originally, Offline Control was planned to support only Air Conditioners, but we received many requests from customers to make TVs and lighting Bluetooth-compatible too. As a result, we are now supporting all infrared household appliances. Wowza!