Zwift companion not connecting to computer

I have been trying everything to get my iphone 8 and HP laptop using windows 10 to connect. I have went through all the steps and tricks I can find on here and google search. I’m not tech enough to figure out how to check my firewall settings so that may be the problem.

Anyway I can open Zwift on my computer and when it’s booting up I open my Companion app. When it Zwift first appears on the screen to connect everything the phone in the upper left corner will be white and send out the rings like it’s connected but it only last a split second then it goes darker color and the yellow triangle pops up and I can get nothing from there.

I need them to connect to run my Kinetic Road Machine Smart. Really regretting buying this and should have just dropped the $$ and went with the Saris.

Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Hi @Keith_Boyd, welcome to the forums. Are you trying to use the companion app to send a signal from the trainer to the laptop? Or are you just trying to get the companion app to talk to Zwift so it can show the map, use messaging, etc.?

Are both laptop and phone on the same wifi network? they will need to be or none of the above situations will work.

Following up Mike’s points. As Mike says, make sure both your laptop and your phone are on the same Wifi network. That includes 2.4 vs 5G Wifi. If you are running both a 2.4 and 5G SSID in your house, don’t let the two devices be on different SSID’s.

Second, is your Companion App logged into your Zwift account? It needs to be as the connection between the two is not actually any form of direct communications between devices. It is both devices talking to Zwift servers and they need to be on logged into the same account to communicate.

You’ll know they are communicating when in the pairing screen on the laptop in the upper right corner when you touch the gear icon, you have the option to connect via the Companion App. It sounds like you are suggesting that is what is needed to talk with your Smart Trainer. If you are wanting to connect via the Companion App and the phone is not connecting with the laptop, that is not a failure of the Kinetic Road Machine. No smart trainer would connect without your devices connecting. Though you could also put an ANT+ dongle in the laptop and connect that way. Many of us have found that is actually the preferred connection method. For me, the Bluetooth connections were unstable, whether direct to the laptop or throught the CA. An ANT+ dongle is a cheap $15 investment and makes the connections simple and rock solid.

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Thanks guys. Yes, they are on the same WiFi. I need the app open to send the trainer info to Zwift. And I am signed in the same on both.

I will look into the ANT dongle. Do you know for sure the Kinetic will work with it?

I tried getting kinetic to help me out but once I told them the trainer worked perfectly with their app they told me it was my problem to get it to work with Zwift. I’m new to all of this.

Are you positive? Why can’t the laptop connect directly to the trainer and bypass the companion app.

What exact model of trainer do you have?

It’s the T-6400 road trainer smart control.

I tried connecting directly using the computer Bluetooth and while it looks like it connects it has very erratic behavior. I can be riding along on 0 deg and the power may drop to 78 or spike to 250 or more.

The kinetic rep who had been helping me said I cannot connect that way and never really gave me an explanation. I had been complaining about the erratic behavior.

Sounds like you are either getting signal interference or maybe tire slippage if the watts are all over the place. You shouldn’t need the companion app.

I ordered a ANT dongle so I guess I’ll see if that helps. The rep did mention to try and just put Zwift on my phone instead of the computer but I’d like to have the larger screen.

The trainer works great using the Kinetic Fit app on my phone so maybe that’s it.

@Keith which ANT+ dongle did you order. Be aware many of us have found the CYCPLUS dongle does not work. There are good discussions on the protocol it is lacking. The ANSELF dongle and more expensive ones like Garmin’s work well. You may also benefit from a short USB extension cable. Running Zwiftalizer on your log file will tell you how good your ANT+ connection is. If there are lots of dropouts an extension cable will help with that. Let us know how it goes with the ANT+ dongle test.

well crap. I bought that one but I found a LIVLOV that I could get faster so I bought it also. the CYCPLUS came with an extension. I’ll update results when I get them. Hoping for Monday but it will probably be Tuesday.

Update:

I received the LIVLOV and CYCPLUS ANT+ dongles and extended cord yesterday. After Joel’s comment I didn’t even try the CYCPLUS. I put the LIVLOV in the extended cord and laid it close to the control unit and it worked like a charm. No drops, no erratic behavior just pure watts. the uphills are much harder now lol.

on a side note I had been trying multiple things to figure this out and did find my box fan was causing some issues. By connecting Zwift and the trainer before turning the fan on and keeping it farther away helped with some of the issues it did not fix them all. The ANT+ seems to be a complete fix.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I’m really disappointed Kinetic tech pretty much left me high and dry, you guys saved the day.

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Great to hear it is now working. To see how well the connection is holding you can toss the log file into ZwiftAlizer. The instructions are right there on the home page. That will give you a feeling if it is rock solid or on the edge.

Happy Zwifting

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