Hik-Connect Devices are disappearing from my Hik-Connect account?

[macman]

I hope you guys can solve a little mystery for me...

In my dotage, I have finally succumbed to my first smartphone (the cheapest decent one I could find on eBay, which was a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3). Having long ago added my five Hikvision cameras and video intercom to my iPad, I assumed it would be a breeze to set up my new phone after downloading the Hik-Connect app. But I found that while the video intercom and two of the cameras loaded OK and delivered their live feed, three others refused to play, reporting a wrong password/username (and also suggesting that I was trying to access them remotely which was not the case as the phone and the cameras are all on the local network - and indeed the three uncooperative cameras were working fine in iVMS-4200, the iPad and SADP Tool with access to Hik-Connect reported as enabled).

But the phone could not be persuaded to join the party so I logged on to hik-connect.com and was somewhat surprised to find that the only device listed there was the video intercom. I assume I had added the cameras at some point in order to get the iPad working but I hadn't logged on to hik-connect.com for seven years so maybe they were erased due to inactivity.

Nonetheless, I proceeded to add all five cameras which went swimmingly until I added the fifth camera which mysteriously seemed to cause the previous four entries to disappear. My devices were now listed as the video intercom plus camera 5. This is presumably a clue as to why none of my cameras was listed when I first logged in. Fearing I was on a treadmill to nowhere, I logged out and checked my phone again.

Whatever game hik-connect.com was playing, I was now able to add all five cameras to the phone without any problem.

So everything is now working as I want - except that hik-connect.com refuses to list my added cameras for more than a few minutes so I will presumably have to add them all over again the next time I need to set up a new device.

Any ideas what is going on? I think all the cameras are running the latest firmware which in some cases isn't very recent. And I'm running iVMS-4200 and SADP Tool on a Mac of course so the former is badly broken and years out of date.

 

[Kyle]

Hi @macman
It's a strange one, I've not known of devices randomly disappearing from an account before!
Even if Hik-Connect was disconnecting on the cameras, they would normally still show in the portal, just as offline...
How are you adding them - via QR code or serial number / on the app or in the Hik-Connect online portal (hik-connect.com)?
Have the devices ever been added to any other accounts, or has anybody else logged in to your account on their phones / tablets?

 

[macman]

Hi @macman
It's a strange one, I've not known of devices randomly disappearing from an account before!
Even if Hik-Connect was disconnecting on the cameras, they would normally still show in the portal, just as offline...
How are you adding them - via QR code or serial number / on the app or in the Hik-Connect online portal (hik-connect.com)?
Have the devices ever been added to any other accounts, or has anybody else logged in to your account on their phones / tablets?

Hi @Kyle. Thanks for the housekeeping. Maybe this is a Mac issue since I was using Safari in High Sierra and Hikvision just don't like Macs. I will try later to see what happens when I access hik-connect.com from my new phone.

In my Mac browser the devices have definitely all disappeared apart from the video intercom which was the first device added by my installer and uses a different password to the other cameras (although both are fairly weak since I need to be able to remember them). I will change the passwords if all else fails.

I added the cameras via the Hik-Connect portal from my iMac. I used serial numbers plus the verification code. I have shared devices with my remote son but neither he nor anyone else apart from my installer back in the day has ever logged into my account.

 

[macman]

@Kyle : UPDATE – I used Chrome on my Android phone to log in to the portal (which still showed only the video intercom device) and then added all five cameras (no mean feat for old fat fingers which have no knowledge of mobile phones)…and hey presto, they stuck! I logged out and then logged back in on my iMac/Safari and they are still showing. So this looks like a Hik-Connect Mac bug.

Now I've got to do it again because they aren't in the right order for my live view screen.

(I hate Chrome with a passion but the phone's built-in "Internet" tool couldn't load the portal domain.)

 

[Kyle]

Thanks for the update, that's interesting!
Glad you have sorted it anyway I'll mention what you've found to Hikvison.
I'm assuming this was happening on Safari on macOS Ventura 13.5.2?

 

[macman]

I'm stuck on High Sierra which is MacOS 10.13.6 and Safari 13.1.2 which is showing its age. I may do more tests with Chrome on my iMac but it makes me ill.
Can't see Hikvision rushing to fix any Mac bugs though…