Please help, can't get Inkbird ibt-6xs to connect to BBQ Go app.

[reformedvegan]

hello,

I am having problems with my new Inkbirdbbq ibt-6xs thermometer. I can't make a connection to it using the BBQ Go app. I downloaded the app, set permissions to allow location, turned on phone's Bluetooth, turned on the ibt-6xs, open the BBQ Go app, hit the start button, but the app is unable to detect the ibt-6xs. I have tried this now, multiple times, with two different phones running different versions of Android. Do I have a defective unit?

 

[Steve H]

You have bluetooth on. But is it actively searching for signals? On my phone. I need to request a search.

 

[TNJAKE]

There is a button on front of the unit you have to short press the first time you connect to Bluetooth

 

[Steve H]

I thought he said he did that. Ok, That could be a problem!

 

[TNJAKE]

Couldn't tell if he was talking about the start button on the app or the one one the unit. Worth a shot

 

[reformedvegan]

Okay, I tried pressing the start button on the app AND the button on the front of the thermometer unit, but it made no difference - the attempt to connect still timed out after 60 seconds. I tried a few times

 

[TNJAKE]

My phone's Bluetooth has an option in settings that says "make my device visible to others" give that a try

 

[reformedvegan]

My phone is running android 10. On Android 10, the phone is automatically "discoverable" as soon as the Bluetooth settings screen is opened - there is no manual toggle to make it discoverable.

Also, my phone detects the BBQ thermometer, but of course it asks for a PIN if I try to connect from my phone's Bluetooth settings. I can toggle straight from my bluetooth settings screen (where the thermometer shows as an available device) to the BBQ Go app, tap "Start", and hit the little button on the thermometer, and it still won't find my phone and connect.

 

[reformedvegan]

Another thing, if I go into my Bluetooth settings and select "iBBQ" from there, a radio signal icon flashes on the ibt-6xs that looks kinda' like {(.)} , but of course, the phone also asks for a PIN. If I toggle back to the BBQ Go app from here, the icon on the ibt-6xs goes away and I cannot connect through the BBQ Go app.

 

[smokerjim]

Dont know if it makes a difference but do you have more devices with bluetooth turned on. You can PM inkbird through this site they are good at getting back to us.

 

[reformedvegan]

Well, smokerjim , I do have wireless speakers throughout the house that have bluetooth active all the time. I could unplug them all, but even if I do that, my phone (at least) can still detect active Bluetooth devices from my neighbors. If I step outside, then my phone detects active bluetooth devices from my other neighbors. So, I don't think there is a way to clear the environment of all other Bluetooth signals. If Inkbirdbbq doesn't reply to this thread in the next day or so, then I will send them a PM.

 

[Steve H]

Have you tried to uninstall. And then reload the app?

 

[reformedvegan]

Okay, I got it to work!

Here is how I did it:

I downloaded a different app for my phone, called EasyBBQ. This app appears to have the same interface as BBQ Go. In fact, there are a ton of BBQ thermometer apps on the Google Play Store that appear to basically be clones of one another, but they are all "published" by different companies. What is the origin of this?

Anyway, the EasyBBQ app connected to my Inkbird IBT-6XS right away - no problems whatsoever. I then deleted the Easy BBQ app from my phone, and opened the BBQ Go app, and BBQ Go connected right away!

Now everything is working, but it required use of another app for the initial connection to my phone. This appears to be a bug in in BBQ Go app. I hope Inkbirdbbq can fix this bug. I would also like to know why all these thermometer control apps seem to be identical. I hope Inkbird is working on their own, custom app, and not going to rely on a re-branded generic app going forward. I would love to be able to give the probes custom names like "Lisa's Steak" or "Left Rear Grill Temp". I would also love to have the ability to log tempertures and export data as a CSV file or PDF or something. I would also love for the graph scale to be customized and to save data and reconnect to contiune the previous graph seemlessly in the event of an app crash or signal interruption. Inkbirdbbq are you working on any of this?

 

[TNJAKE]

Glad you got it figured out. You can name each probe. Go to app. Open. Click on probe 1

Then scroll to bottom of preset page and find the plus. Click that

Then type in the name and desired temp

 

[reformedvegan]

TNJAKE Ah, thank you! I didn't see that plus sign. Now, I just need to meet someone named Lisa so that I can cook her a steak.

This will make the unit much more useful. I got this unit to try and "decode" my pellet cooker. I want to know where the hot and cold spots are, and what the temp swings are like. I need a graph readout and multiple probes to do this.

 

[TNJAKE]

It also has graph data. But it resets sometimes when you close the app. I leave mine running in background and it usually works uninterrupted. It doesn't save cook data though. You can screenshot it though

 

[TNJAKE]

Click button top right corner

Then graph comes up. There is a separate one for each probe

 

[reformedvegan]

Wow, I just noticed that the BBQ go app was last updated November 11, 2018. I sure hope they are planning to maintain it, or replace it with something better!

 

[Inkbirdbbq]

Hi there,thank you for supporting Inkbird.
Please turn on the GPS before connecting.Android system need to open it.
Thanks for the suggestion. We are working hard to develop our own app.
We will try our best to perfect what you said.
Any confusion please feel free to contact me.
Miya

 

[dr k]

I have five or six bbq BT therm apps down loaded for my Sorken 6 probe BT therm so I get notified which one's get updated. None yet. Lots of the last updates were because no connection to Samsung 10. They all crash periodically on my Samsung Gs7 when using my phone while monitoring and when you go to different apps then back to monitoring. Then when leaving the bbq app to go to FB or SMF etc a message says app has stopped running do you want to restart it. You need to restart the app to start monitoring again but it saves your presets for each probe and loses the graph. And all bbq app graphs periodically restart for no reason several times throughout a long smoke. Dropping graphs is one thing I can live with it's the crashing and having to restart from using the phone's other apps that finally crash the bbq app running in the background. The bbq apps don't crash when it's running and you set it down to sleep and check just the bbq app. I have been using the Chugod app because it has four alarm tones to choose from instead of the one out of hand sound on the others. I use the split screen view to have the chugod app on top always in view and the others I go in and out of below it. With the recent apps button on the lower left I swap out apps I surf and don't move the chugod app on top because the bottom split view app is the one that changes with the recent button. With the bbq app alway on the top third of the screen and any other app on the bottom two thirds or 50/50 split,the app doesn't crash but the graphs will always restart periodically. So far two long smokes and no crashes. So here's a screen shot of me posting this post with the bbq app on the top third of the screen and SMF on the the botton two thirds. I can view and scroll the bbq app and normally use it as I post just keep it split screen. Once you go to full screen it's a matter of time when you get the notification the app has stopped running.