Is there anyway to use the Photon without the use of the Internet? Can I run a program I’ve already flashed onto it? I’m working on a project for school and WiFi access is only available through a captive portal that needs to be signed into, not allowing the Photon to connect to the Internet.
@hsingh, Unfortunately, those captive portals are a big hindrance when dealing with the photon. While there are some changes out there to use your device on WiFi with out the cloud, the captive portal still wrecks havoc on those as well. however there are a few things you can do to work around it such as:
-setting your phone as a WiFi hot spot while you work and connect your photon to that
or
-forwarding your connection though a computer and sharing that connection via a second WiFi card and connect your photon to that.
I know this is probably not the most ideal solution but its the least intrusive methods or does not require much in the way of hardware. I personally used the second option with my apple mini for the last IoT workshop I hosted.
Let me know if you have additional questions
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Hi @hsingh,
Great question! Yes, there are a few ways you can do this:
- Use the photon on a wifi network, but without internet. You could use “MANUAL” mode. Manual will let you turn on the Wi-Fi (or not), and connect to the internet (or not). But it might require some small changes in your app.
https://docs.particle.io/support/troubleshooting/mode-switching/photon/#manual-mode
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Talk to your school’s IT department about whether they’d help by whitelisting your photons MAC address past the portal. School IT Departments are filled with awesome people who like gadgets just as much as you do. (You can find your MAC address here https://docs.particle.io/support/troubleshooting/troubleshooting-tools/photon/#display-mac-address )
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A portable hotspot is a good idea as well! (And probably the easiest if your school doesn’t want to help facilitate your project )
Thanks,
David
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