I don’t always have a laptop (and thus the CLI) with me when I want to connect a Photon to a new Wi-Fi network. However, the iOS app is very unclear about how to do so. I’ve figured out that, unintuitively, you have to go through the wizard to set up the device as if it were a “new” device.
That confusion aside, I’ve found that the process works maybe 50% of the time. I’ve had it work for some Photons, while not working for others, both on the same network, where both have been previously claimed and with saved credentials to 1 or 2 other networks.
When it doesn’t work, I get as far as selecting the “Photon-XXXX” network, seeing the local notification instructing me to return to the app, clicking the notification to return, then just waiting on the page while it periodically shows the spinner next to the example “Photon-XXXX”.
I only use the Photon for recreational development (at least so far), but it seems Particle is pushing for it to be used in consumer products. I have to say, I can’t imagine putting it in the hands of a customer when adding it to subsequent Wi-Fi networks is such an unclear and finicky process. Maybe I’m missing something. I can’t imagine including instructions for a consumer device that include “Pop open Terminal.app, install node.js, then use npm to install particle-cli, then…”.