Why GoPro Won’t Connect to App and How To Fix?

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GoPro is the most popular action camera used by travelers, bloggers, and some cases educational purposes. The brand has millions of loyal fans that like the camera and suggest them to others. 

Despite its widespread use and reliability, technology does not always play well together. Consumers often complain about the problem regarding connecting to the mobile app (Quik).

This problem arises if you miss some software updates on your camera and the app. Also if the Wi-Fi connection gets corrupted, it could be a problem. Fixing this issue is some easy steps to follow. 

Here, I will briefly discuss why won’t GoPro connect to app and how to fix it.    

How To Fix The Gopro Connectivity Issue? 

As the main reason behind the problem is the missing system and firmware updates, “update the camera” will be the first step.

If it still can’t connect to the app resetting the connections will get the fix done.     

Step 01: Update the system. (Camera and the Quik App on the phone)

Update your GoPro to the latest firmware and update the phone’s GoPro App.

To update you have to download and install the GoPro App on your mobile device. Keep your camera battery fully charged and pair the camera with GoPro App. Once both devices are paired, follow the on-screen instructions to update them automatically.

The software download screen will look like this:

During the update, your camera will turn on and off automatically and the screen will flicker. And after the update is completed the camera will return to normal.

In Desktop, you have to update the camera firmware manually. Check the procedures below:

• To update you will need a fully charged battery, Micro SD card, SD card adapter, and a computer. 
• Get the serial number from the battery compartment or you can have the number from the camera’s “Preference” > “About” > “Camera info”. 
• If you use a Hero session get the serial number from the battery compartment. 

For Gopro Hero Session:

• Go to gopro.com/update and register your camera with the serial number. 
• Download the update. And whenever you check it will be the latest firmware update for the camera.
• Connect the micro SD card to your computer and extract the download file and transfer it to the SD card. 
• Insert the SD card and fully charged battery into the camera.
• Turn on the camera and run the update. 

To update your GoPro manually click on this link to have thorough instructions. Or watch this video. 

Note: Make sure the SD card you use to update the camera is fully compatible with the GoPro. Otherwise, you might have trouble updating. 

After updating the camera, make sure you have the latest GoPro Quik app from the app store. 

Step 2: Reset Wifi settings

GoPro has many cameras. And by software, they all are different from others. So I will show you how to reset some of the latest models of GoPro cameras. 

Through this procedure, you can reset GoPro Hero 9 and Hero 10:

• Swipe right and swipe down to access the dashboard
• Swipe right to left to access Preference
• Now “Preference” > “Connections” > “Reset Connections”

Simply by just doing this the Wi-Fi connection of Hero 9 and 10 will be restored. 

To reset Hero 8 Black:  

• Swipe Down 
• Tap “Preference” > “Connections” > “Reset Connections”

To reset Hero 7 Black, White, and Silver: 

• Swipe down 
• Tap “Preference” > “Connections” > “Reset Connections”

To reset Hero Sessions, you will have to reset the connections manually as it doesn’t have any functioning screen. The procedure is given below. 

• Remove your SD card from the camera. Export all the footage from it first. 
• Format your SD card. Format it as FAT32 (Default)

• Open notepad and type “_tapp factory_reset” and save as “cal”.

Make sure you save it as a text document. 

• Open Notepad again and type “2_mode=0” and save as “no_shutdown”

• Copy these two files to the SD card
• Now put the SD card back into the camera. 
• And turn it ON. 
• It will reset all of your camera data. And it will show you this screen

• Now Format the SD card again by the same procedure.
• And put it back to the camera. 

This should work just fine. After this, your camera will connect to your phone via the app. The different Gopro has different methods of resetting the camera. I briefly showed every step with pictures.

Final Words

All the steps I have discussed are based on forums and YouTube videos. If they fail again you need to contact GoPro support.

Having trouble with connections is very frustrating. The camera should be fully operated with the GoPro Quik app. And if the camera can connect to the app, it loses its potential. 

So I have shown you the reason why won’t GoPro connect to app and how to fix it.