As reported on many threads (eg. https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-App/Orbi-app-not-showing-all-connected-devices/m-p/2083827#M31...) there is an issue with the Orbi Netgear app for IOS to manage the RBR850/RBS850 when it comes to the display of attached devices. After a kind of timeout there is just an error message and no single device is shown. The only option is to go to the web interface of the router from the WAN: there all connected devices show! So the problem is really about the IOS app way to get the info.
I managed to somehow resolve the issue by doing the following:
1/ going through the web interface to the list of connected device and renaming them one by one for the field "Brand and model" and "Name" to ensure they were neither empty, nor too long not with specialk characters
2/ activating "access control" - still from the web app - and then going below that screen to see the looooonnnng list of "not connected device" (there were 129 I believe) and suppressing all the deprecated ones. Many were probably from guest having their IOS devices changing randomly the MAC address, but it was not just that. The desactivating again the "access control".
3/ rebooting the router after having done that.
Remark: I have a Netgear Armo subscription which may explain partially the glitch on the historical list of not-connected devices despite the fact that Access Control was not active?
For the time being the list of devices reappeared in the IOS app.
The only option is to go to the web interface of the router from the WAN: there all connected devices show!
Might this be a typo? Typically WAN indicates the "Wide Area Network" (i.e. the internet or whatever is "upstream" of the router and LAN indicates the "Local Area Network" (i.e. all the devices connected to the Orbi system, either 'wired' or over WiFi.)
yes I am on the very last version of the firmware released super recently (see my other posts on the firmware annoucement thread) and I am aligned on the router and satellite. I have one RBR and three RBSs (one wired, two over 5Ghz with good connectivity)
I tried from different devices (last IOS/iPAD OS): same result. I also uninstalled/reinstalled the app deleting its data no improvement.
While I disabled the IP randomizers when at home for my personal devices, I cannot guarantee it is the case for any other member of the family / visitor. I looked at the list of unavailable devices under "Advanced / Access Control" and there were not so many.
In any case, for me the fact that the web-based admin pages of the router work as expected ...but that the IOS/iPADOS OrbiNetgear app is repeatedly failing demonstrates a bug.
I suspect: - either a mistake in the Orbi app API calls to the RBR850 to get the information; - either a wrongly configured timeout to get it.
In the past this used to work well. It eventually degraded and was random. Nowadays, it is not possible anymore to get the list of devices in the app. While this is an absolutely essential function of the router.
PS I am a seasoned IT engineer - don't hesitate to go technical if needed although the problematic feature is meant to work "off the shelf".
PS2 I am not willing to go to the "reinstall the router from scratch": too many devices and settings and no assurance backup/restore will be smooth. Mroeover, reports of similar issues indicates that this is usually not resolving the issue.
Have you factory reset the system and setup from scratch since you updated FW using a web browser. Then once it's set back up, check the Orbi app Device Manager to see what is listed here?
No I didn't factory rest - as explained in PS2 above I am not willing to go that heavy way which might cause significant disruptions without any evidence that it would be fixed (several persons report in similar threads that it doesn't help).
I have many settings which I want to keep intact.
I prefer to keep the workaround "go to the router console, if necessary in VPN mode" but it makes the IOS/iPadOS app close to useless and I am surprised Netgear is not fixing the issue.
I see many other reports of such issue. It is astonishing that Netgear has not nailed it down. In my case, at least the router web interface lists properly all devices ...but the IOS app doesn't: so it is clearly a bug in the IOS app implementation.
Here are a few other articles referring to a similar issue:
I managed to somehow resolve the issue by doing the following:
1/ going through the web interface to the list of connected device and renaming them one by one for the field "Brand and model" and "Name" to ensure they were neither empty, nor too long not with specialk characters
2/ activating "access control" - still from the web app - and then going below that screen to see the looooonnnng list of "not connected device" (there were 129 I believe) and suppressing all the deprecated ones. Many were probably from guest having their IOS devices changing randomly the MAC address, but it was not just that. The desactivating again the "access control".
3/ rebooting the router after having done that.
Remark: I have a Netgear Armo subscription which may explain partially the glitch on the historical list of not-connected devices despite the fact that Access Control was not active?
For the time being the list of devices reappeared in the IOS app.
