FAQ & Troubleshooting

Thank you for visiting our Troubleshooting & FAQ section. Here you can find initial guidance on some of the most common issues and questions regarding Bird Buddy.

Charging and LED Lights

• You can use a standard USB-C cable, readily available online or at most mobile phone stores. If your current cable seems like it doesn't fit the female port on the camera anymore, make sure the port is clean.

• General guidance on LED light signals can be found here. Please keep in mind that on the initial charge, the LED might not illuminate right away due to low factory settings. However, as you follow the in-app pairing instructions, you'll be prompted when and how to turn on the camera. With a brief one-second button press, you should then soon notice a faint blue blinking LED, especially if you cup the area above the button with your hands. Sometimes the blue light will turn on automatically after a few hours of charging, which also means you can proceed with the pairing process.
  
  If your camera doesn’t seem to be charging in the app, but you can still see LED light activity, this means that your camera is offline and can’t communicate with the app. In this case, please reconnect the camera with the help of the instructions linked here. If your camera is not displaying any LED light activity like it usually does during charging, please see our battery troubleshooting guide linked here. 

The Pairing Process

• The first pairing is done entirely through the Bird Buddy app and not directly through Bluetooth settings on your mobile device.
  
  If this is your first time pairing the camera via Bluetooth and you only see an orange blinking light (instead of light blue), please try the factory reset a few times and if there is still no blue light, contact our support team here.
  
  If you do see a blinking blue LED light on the camera (cup the area near the button with your hand), but the app doesn’t find the camera (“Oops, no feeders in sight”), or the pairing fails, please see the Bluetooth troubleshooting guide linked here.
  
  On certain devices, the Bluetooth setup might prompt you to input a pairing code; this is not needed so you can just click "Pair" to continue.
  
  The Bluetooth connection is only needed for the initial exchange of information, and you can disable Bluetooth on your mobile device once your Bird Buddy is securely connected to your Wi-Fi network.
  
  

• If the app can’t find your Wi-Fi network at all, you might have an incompatible network. Please check our article on connectivity requirements here.
  
  

• If your network is recognized but the app tells you that “you’ve hit a wall” during the connection, the camera is having issues with establishing a connection.
  
  → There is a common issue with routers that use HomePass or similar apps to control privacy settings for your network. Click here to check if you are affected by this and how you can get your camera up and running.
  
  → This can happen with some dual-band routers and mesh network setups. Please see our troubleshooting tips linked here.

• There are many reasons why a firmware update can fail and in most cases, the app will instruct you on how to reattempt the update. Please refer also to the list of error codes here for a brief explanation and troubleshooting guides.

• For now, the location setting can only be changed during the pairing process, so you will have to reconnect your camera and account to correct the manually set location. The procedure is the same as connecting your camera to a different Wi-Fi network (if you move the camera or change network providers), linked here.

Postcards and Live Stream

• You can test the live stream by navigating to the Main Settings section of the app and clicking on your feeder's name to access Feeder Settings. In the "Check camera position" section, you'll find the "Test live stream" button. Please note that the stream may take up to two minutes to load.

• If your camera is online and you cannot connect to the live stream, please check if your connection is affected due to the privacy settings of your router.
  
  Please also try reconnecting the camera and reopening the stream. If this doesn't help, please try checking if the stream works if you move the camera closer to your internet access point, or contact our support team.

• First, make sure the live stream is functional. If the live feed is operational, your camera should be working. However, keep in mind that not every bird visit translates into a postcard notification, especially not until the birds get used to your feeder.
  
  For more details on how and when photos are captured, check out our article on postcard creation and tips for optimal performance. If you're not receiving any photos even though your Bird Buddy has been receiving regular bird visitors for many days in a row, please contact our support team.

Feeder Status

• If your Bird Buddy reports that it is offline in the Main Settings screen, this means the camera module is no longer communicating with your network. Likewise, if the camera loses connection during sleep mode, this will appear as the camera failing to “wake up”.
  
  If your Bird Buddy doesn’t get online automatically after some time, please try rebooting your router and camera module to re-establish the connection.
  
  To turn your camera module OFF and ON, follow these steps:
  
  1. Turn the device off first. Press the button for 2 seconds (until you see a solid red light, after that, you can release the button).
  2. Wait for at least a minute, and please reboot your router during this time as well.
  3. Press the button for 1 second to turn it back on (the LED turns solid green for 3 seconds).
  
  If this doesn't help, we recommend that you go through the complete reconnection process linked here.

• The camera can tell that it is in the feeder when it comes in contact with the magnet in the housing. Please ensure the magnet is still there and that nothing (like a seed stuck to the housing) is blocking the contact. If the issue continues despite contact, please reconnect your feeder as instructed here.

• To determine if your camera is on, first remember that you initially activated the device during the pairing process, as instructed by the app with a 1-second button press (which should produce 2-3-second long green LED lights on the camera, but it may be poorly visible).
  
  Once activated, the device is designed to remain on continuously, and there's typically no need to turn it off unless you're troubleshooting. While the camera doesn’t display LED lights in feeder mode to prevent scaring the birds, you can check its status through the app. If the settings section indicates your feeder"Ready for birds" or "Out of feeder," then the camera is on.
  
  However, if the status reads "Offline," the device may have lost connection or powered off due to a low battery. 

The App and your Bird Buddy Account

• Our app and the core Bird Buddy experience are free for both feeder owners and guests. The Pro subscription only introduces certain perks, which you can read more about here.

• The app allows you to discard any postcard without opening it first, but you cannot delete them all at once.  Unsaved (as well as saved) postcards will disappear from the main Inbox after 7 days. 

• If you can’t remove the last photo in a gallery because it’s set as the cover photo, re-classify the image with the Wrong Bird feature into another existing bird gallery (this way this root gallery will disappear as well). You should then be able to remove the photo in the gallery you relocated it into since it's not a cover photo anymore.

• For now, you have to use our app to access your Bird Buddy experience. Check out the list of supported devices here.

• You can easily share the postcards your camera makes with your friends and family. Once they create their own account, send them an invitation code as instructed here. Make sure the guest is not entering the invitation code into the referral code field (this is a part of the Bird Buddy Explore project) on the sign-up screen.

• When you open the photo in a gallery, you can tap on the “i” button in the lower left corner, and this will turn the tile around and provide you with additional information about the photo, such as the coarse location, timestamp, and which feeder it came from.

• You can change your user name in account settings and you can also reset the password by yourself. If you need to change the email address that is associated with your Bird Buddy app account, please contact our support team.

• Please note that the link will only work if you open it on the same mobile device that runs the Bird Buddy app. If you don’t have access to your inbox on the device, send the link to the device via a different app (WhatsApp, Messenger, etc.). If you didn’t receive the password reset link at all, please contact our support team.

Hardware

• The universal pole mount requires Stainless Steel Pan Head Phillips Screws, M4 x 0.5mm Fine Thread, 6.5-8 mm Long.

• Take a look at our mounting guidelines that can help you protect your Bird Buddy from unwanted visitors.

• Look for the small lightning bolt icon accompanied by a "(charging)" label on your feeder battery's status in Settings when the solar roof captures direct sunlight. Globally, climates vary — some regions enjoy consistent, strong sunshine while others encounter more intermittent sun exposure. For optimal solar charging, position the panel side of the roof away from shadows cast by trees or buildings during peak sunlight hours. However, factors like temperatures, particularly colder conditions, and heightened bird activity (leading to more photos being captured) can also impact battery consumption. All these factors combined mean that while the solar roof aids in significantly extending battery life, it may not sustain the Bird Buddy's charge indefinitely in every scenario.

• The metal hanger is attached to the inside of the box, so make sure you do not discard it with the packaging.

• The perch extender is designed to fit between the universal pole mount and the housing, so you can still use the universal mount to fit Bird Buddy onto a pole or wall mount.