Elgato's Wi-Fi products such as Key Light, Light Strip, and Ring Light use a networking protocol to communicate with the Control Center app on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android devices.
The aim is to make pairing accessories to a network easy and seamless.
- What Network Protocol(s) Do Elgato Wi-Fi Product Use?
- Which Elgato Products Use Bonjour/Multicast
- Computer Configuration
- Router Configuration
- Firewall configuration
What Network Protocol(s) do Elgato Wi-Fi products use?
Bonjour - Bonjour is the discovery protocol created by Apple that is widely used today across many product ranges which makes adding smart devices to a network easy.
Learn more about Bonjour - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonjour_(software)
Multicast - The underlying foundation of Bonjour, Control Center, and the accessory find each other during the pairing process.
Learn more about Multicast - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multicast
HTTP Requests - Once the Elgato device is paired, Control Center stores the IP address, and communication with the device is done via HTTP requests.
Learn more about HTTP Requests - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertext_Transfer_Protocol
Which Elgato Products use Bonjour/HTTP?
These products use either or both of the network protocols:
- Key Light
- Key Light Air
- Key Light Mini
- Ring Light
- Light Strip
- EpocCam
- Stream Deck Mobile
Computer Configuration
Windows and Mac computers do not need any additional software installed for Bonjour discovery.
Windows: Bonjour is installed with Control Center.
macOS: Bonjour is natively supported and does not require installation.
Router Configuration
Bonjour uses Multicast packets to find devices such as Elgato's Wi-Fi networks on the network.
To ensure that devices can find Elgato Wi-Fi products, these services should be enabled on the Wi-Fi router and/or access point.
Some routers may give this configuration and protocol different names. Below are some common setting names:
- Multicast
- mDNS
- Bonjour
- IGMP Snooping
- Routing Information Protocol (RIP)
- Broadcast
- Broadcast Filtering (Ensure this is disabled)
Firewall Configuration
Firewall configurations can prevent Control Center from finding and/or controlling lighting accessories.
Learn more about mDNS strings to allow through your firewall.
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