EOS Rebel SL2 Camera Connect App not working with bluetooth

[Chevinr18]

the first time I tried to connect my camera (Rebel SL2) with bluetooth to the camera connect app via bluetooth to my phone (android) worked perfectly, so it is so absolutely frustrating that after turning the camera off a few times, the connection seemed to not work anymore and when trying to set it up again, it wont connect at all.

The camera shows up in my bluetooth settings on my phone but I physically cant press the connect button to activate the connection, I click it, and it does absolutely nothing.

when trying to pair from the app, the error message that appears says "pairing failed: delete the camera from the bluetooth settings screen on your smartphone, and then perform the pairing again." I have tried this about 7 times now, including deleting the app, uninstalling the app, resetting all of the settings on both my phone and the camera and still nothing works.

I am beyond frustrated that this isnt working when I need it to, especially after already having it work once.

[Nick2020]

Hi Chevinr18,

Thanks for checking in with us.

The camera's Bluetooth capabilities make the initial setup easier, but the main wireless communication is done through Wi-Fi.

When reconnecting to your phone, make sure that you are selecting the camera as the active Wi-Fi network on your phone.

[Chevinr18]

I can connect with the wifi but I want to connect with bluetooth, which isnt working at all.

[Mark35mmF2]

Hi there,

The Bluetooth is used to make the initial connection, however once the devices are paired they communicate with each other over WiFi, so the function of the two is the same. To troubleshoot the Bluetooth in this case however the first thing I would check is if the camera can connect over Bluetooth to any other devices. Any Android or iOS device should do, we just want to see if the issue is the camera's Bluetooth connectivity specifically.

[Qnaster]

I'm having the exact same problem (Android, bluetooth, Eos 250d) and have been using bluetooth connection to take photos outside with my phone as the remote. And you're saying I can only use a wifi? I tried turning on my phone's hotspot wifi but didn't manage to connect the camera to that either. How are you supposed to use camera connect when not on a wifi??

[Qnaster · Accepted solution]

Okay so I actually solved this almost by accident. For me the problem began after an Android system update, don't know if it's related. But somehow my phone had revoked the app's access to bluetooth. I could see the camera on the list of bluetooth access points on the phone, but the app did not have permission to access, nor did it ASK for it, which is obviously a flaw in the app. After giving the app permission to use bluetooth, I could establish a new connection and it works flawlessly.

Yes, a wifi connection is established between the phone and the camera after bluetooth has linked them. But that connection is made by linking through bluetooth, not wifi. So it's incorrect to say "use wifi instead" - that's a completely different way to connect them. Bluetooth HAS to work, and canon needs to fix their app so it lets the user know when permissions are missing. 

[ilona_vdm]

Thank you so much!! I had the same problem with the Android update.