Password length

Getting Started
1

Hello,

This question might be related to this
I’m just starting to play around with the sparkcore. My wifi password is only 5 characters, but the android app’s connect button does not enable unless we type in atleast 8 characters. Any advice on how to deal with this would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Arun

2

Is it easy enough to change your password? 5 chars is pretty weak security anyway… think of it as a security motivator :guardsman:

3

Unfortunately not. I will need to disrupt other devices/people to do so. And really an app shouldn’t impose/constraint network details when the phone itself has no issue connecting to that network.

4

@ArunYoganandan, thanks for communicating this bug to us. I don’t think that there’s any limitation that would prevent the Core from connecting to a network with < 8 character passwords, so this sounds like an arbitrary limitation by the app and, thus, a bug. I’ll add it to our bug tracker now.

In the meantime, if you can’t connect it to your current network or change the password length, I can recommend that you try [configuring the Core using serial] (http://docs.spark.io/#/connect/connecting-your-core-connect-over-usb) over USB. This should allow you to overcome the character limitation presented by the mobile app.

6

@will Thanks! Yes, I was able to connect fine over USB using Putty (which is why I was sure it was an app bug), but then I couldn’t turn On/Off leds and stuff or program it (my pc is on a different network. tellmeaboutit).

7

@ArunYoganandan - I think the reason you can’t control the Core right now is that it hasn’t yet been claimed. The claiming process is how you associate a specific Core with your account, and not anyone else’s. This process happens automatically if you configure the Core with your mobile application, but has to be done manually if you configure over serial.

In order to do this, follow the directions at the end of the “[Connect Over USB] (http://docs.spark.io/#/connect/connecting-your-core-connect-over-usb)” section of the documentation, and then continue following the instructions through the “[Claiming Your Core] (http://docs.spark.io/#/connect/claiming-your-core)” section.

If your Core then shows up in your web IDE, your Core has been claimed successfully, and you should be able to control it through Tinker and flash new code to it. Note that you may have to log out and log back into your Spark mobile app in order for it to recognize the new Core on your account.

Let me know if that works for you.