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Device shows offline

A device counts as offline when it has not reported to Obacht for a while. Your apps may still run fine for people in the same house. Below are the causes we see most, from most to least common.

It goes offline after being idle, then comes back​

Cause: A Raspberry Pi on Wi-Fi may put its Wi-Fi chip to sleep when nothing happens. The connection to Obacht drops and only comes back when something wakes it.

What to do: Plug in a network cable if you can. It is the most reliable fix. If the Pi must stay on Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi power saving has to be turned off on the Pi.

The Obacht network never connects​

Cause: The device talks to Obacht over an encrypted connection (WireGuard, the Obacht network) on UDP port 51820, plus normal HTTPS to api.eu.obacht.dev. Some routers, hotel networks and guest Wi-Fi networks block UDP, or answer every DNS question themselves. Then the install may run through, but the Obacht network line on the Overview tab never shows a handshake, and web addresses do not work.

What to do:

  1. In the advanced view, open the Overview tab and look at Obacht network: status, IP and last handshake.
  2. Check your router for a firewall or "DNS protection" feature and allow outgoing UDP 51820, or turn the feature off.
  3. Test with another network, for example a phone hotspot. If the handshake appears there, the router is the problem.

The full list of outgoing connections a device needs is on How Obacht connects your device.

A reused Pi or PC shows up as the wrong device, or never connects​

Cause: You added a new device in Obacht and ran its command on hardware that had Obacht before. The old installation left its database at /var/lib/obacht/agent-v2.db, and the agent prefers the old identity in that file over the new install token.

What to do: Either reuse the old device entry with Reset Setup & Generate New Token in its Settings tab, or remove the old database before running the new command:

sudo systemctl stop obacht-agent
sudo rm /var/lib/obacht/agent-v2.db /var/lib/obacht/agent-v2.db-wal /var/lib/obacht/agent-v2.db-shm

Then run the install command again. Details on Reuse a device or start over.

A Mac shows offline​

Cause: Either the Mac is asleep, or the Mac app lost its session and shows "Your session ran out. Hosting stays down until you sign in."

What to do:

  • Open the Obacht app from the menu bar. If it asks you to sign in, sign in. Hosting resumes afterwards.
  • In the app's Settings, turn on Keep this Mac awake while hosting so sleep does not take your apps down.
  • If the Mac woke up but apps are still unreachable, click Restart hosting engine. More on Mac app problems.

It is a brand-new device​

Cause: The first boot of a Pi from the SD card takes 2 to 6 minutes before it reports in. A command install takes about 5 minutes.

What to do: Wait, and watch the checklist on the setup page. It moves from Install code ready to Agent connected to First data in on its own. If it has not moved for 15 minutes, see Install problems.

info

Apps keep running while the device is offline. Only the web addresses and the management from Obacht stop until the device reports back.