Unbind Devices

Overview

Unbinding devices in batches greatly improves work efficiency and reduces costs.

Background information

What is strong binding?

Strong binding is a device binding method with the highest security level for Powered by Tuya devices. If you want to bind your device with another account, you must first unbind your device from the current bound account.

What are the benefits of strong binding?

The greatest benefit is to ensure the security of the devices and data. It is widely used in devices with high-security requirements, such as security cameras, NVRs, DVRs, and more.

What are the problems of strong binding?

The biggest problem is that it increases the difficulty of device circulation, especially in the after-sales process. If customers ask for a change or refund, the returned devices must be unbound from the accounts one by one, which is complex and takes a lot of effort. Unbinding devices in batches is an efficient tool specially designed for solving this problem.

Procedure

Authorize

The device owner account and the authorized account both can unbind devices in batches. Unauthorized accounts cannot do it.

Authorize on the IoT Development Platform

1. By default, the owner account can unbind devices in batches with the Tuya Developer app.

2. Authorize a partner with the partnership type of development.
   On the Tuya IoT Development Platform, in the right-top corner, choose My Space > Authorization. Click Authorize Partner > Add Authorization and complete the information, and then you can authorize a partner account to unbind devices under your account.
   The authorized account has permission to unbind devices in batches with the Tuya Developer app.
   When an account creates a product by OEM, the current PID owner account can manage its permission within the permission scope. The account which shares the OEM link automatically gets permission. After the PID is copied and transferred, the original owner account can also be granted permission.

   

3. Authorize other accounts under the same organization to unbind devices under your account with the Tuya Developer app.

   

   On the Tuya IoT Development Platform, in the right-top corner, choose My Space > Authorization > Join My Space. Click Add Authorization and complete the information to grant space permissions to a specific account.

   

   For the role type, you can select After sale or Administrators. You can also add a custom role that has permission to unbind devices. In the field of Data Permissions, select products.

Download the Tuya Developer app

Download method

• Scan the QR code.

  

• Enter https://smartapp.tuya.com/developer in the address bar of the browser on your phone.

Things to note

Unbinding devices is an operation of a high-security sensitivity, so Tuya limits the operation in some ways.

• Each account can unbind up to 100 devices per day.

• For each product, up to 100 devices can be unbound per day.

This is the default quota. If you want an increase in the quota, you can submit a ticket on the Tuya IoT Development Platform.

Procedure

Currently, you can unbind your devices through a QR code and wired connection.

QR code

The QR code method can be widely applied to security camera products and all devices that support pairing by QR code. We take the IP camera as an example to introduce the basic process.

1. Power on the device and press the reset button to reset the device.

2. Open your Tuya Developer app, Tap + in the top-right corner and select Unbind Devices. Select QR Code, and enter a valid Wi-Fi account and its password.

   

3. After the device is reset and enters the pairing mode, scan the QR code generated by the Tuya Developer app with the device.

4. After scanning the QR code, wait for your device to automatically unbind from your account. After the device is unbound, it will be reset and enter the status of pending pairing.

Determine the status by the status indicator light

In order to ensure that devices can be unbound in batches efficiently, after you start to unbind devices, the app will not immediately return the unbinding results. You can determine the status by the status indicator light.

Take IP camera as an example, generally, the relationship between the device status and the indicator light is as follows.

• Red light steady on: device is starting.
• Red light flickers: device is ready to be paired.
• Green light flickers: device is being activated and connected.
• Green light steady on: device is working properly.

1. To unbind devices, you must reset them first.
2. After the device is reset, the status indicator light will turn red and flicker. Now, you can scan the QR code.
3. When the status indicator light turns green and flickers, it successfully recognizes the information of the QR code.
   • Operation succeeded
     • If the device is unbound successfully, the device will be automatically reset. The status indicator light will finally turn red and flicker. You can check if your device is unbound according to the status.
   • Operation failed
     • When the status indicator light turns green and keeps flickering, the device is still bound and has not been reset.
     • Failure reasons
       • The Wi-Fi account or password you entered is incorrect, so the device cannot be connected to the internet. You can check if the Wi-Fi information is correct.
       • The server rejects to process. If the error occurs, the app will receive notifications of unbinding failure. You can learn the reason according to the operation details.
         • The current login account does not have permission to unbind the device. If it happens, confirm if you have permission.
         • The QR code has expired after a short validity period. You must scan the QR code in real time. Don’t save a screenshot and scan.
         • The number of devices is over the quota. To keep data security, Tuya limits the number of devices under one product and by one account per day. For details, see Things to note.

Wired connection

The wired method can apply to all devices that support wired connection, including gateways, NVRs, DVRs, and video base stations.

1. Power on the device and press the reset button.

2. Connect your mobile phone and the device over the same LAN.

3. Select the wired connection method on the app. The app will automatically search for devices ready to be paired.

4. Select the devices to be unbound. The process will run automatically.

5. After the device is unbound successfully, the device will be reset automatically and ready to be paired.

Operation history

Download the Tuya Developer app to view the operation history.
Following these steps, you can view your operation history on the Tuya Developer app. Also, you can learn the unbinding status and the failure reason.

View the operation history on the Tuya IoT Development Platform.
On the left navigation bar, select Product > Device Logs, and you can see the operation history.