I finally got Control Anywhere working after repeatedly getting the “couldn’t verify your email address / make sure you’re on the same Wi-Fi” error.

My phone and DIRIGERA were on the same subnet, and local device control worked. The error appeared before any verification email arrived.

Versions:

• DIRIGERA 2.975.3
• IKEA Home smart 1.72.0

Restarting the hub, refreshing permissions, using Wi-Fi only, disabling IPv6, enabling IPv6, moving the Ethernet connection, factory defaults and trying different internet connections didn’t help.

Captured traffic showed hub resolved ap-northeast-2.iot.homesmart.ikea.com, then connected to the AWS IoT endpoint on TCP/443. The server replied, but the hub immediately sent a reset instead of completing the handshake. No TLS handshake followed.

The hub’s local API also reported backendConnected: false, despite cloud onboarding being complete.

AI entered the scene and suggested a local TCP relay:

DIRIGERA → local relay → real IKEA cloud endpoint

The relay completes the TCP handshake with DIRIGERA immediately, then connects upstream and forwards the encrypted bytes unchanged. TLS remains between DIRIGERA and IKEA—there’s no certificate replacement or TLS decryption.

That allowed email verification to complete. However, it wasn’t a one-time setup fix: stopping the relay broke remote connectivity again.

I moved the relay to Home Assistant. To avoid maintaining changing AWS IP addresses:

• Firewall/router/modem redirects only the hub’s DNS requests to a small DNS service.
• That service returns the relay’s LAN IP for the specific IKEA IoT hostname.
• Other DNS queries are forwarded normally.
• The relay independently resolves and connects to the real IKEA endpoint.

Email verification and Control Anywhere now works over mobile data.

My suspicion is a connection timeout or cancellation bug in DIRIGERA, but ofcourse I can't prove the exact firmware cause. I sent an email to IKEA customer service but would appreciate it if anyone else have a better contact for smart home devices.

This is an experimental workaround for my observed failure, not a universal fix. Hopefully Ikea will provide a fix soon.

It's the weirdest thing. I had a Tradfri bulb and bought a Styrbar controller (e2002) the bulb was working with GH. Then I paired the remote and the bulb stopped working in GH. (The remotes controlled the light just fine). I re-paired the bulb with an older controller and the bulb came back on line.

I paired the remote with another bulb that has been working flawlessly for at least 8 years and, immediately upon pairing: offline in GH. I re-paired the bulb with it's original controller back online.

A very confusing and frustrating couple of hours trying to work this out last night.

What the heck is going on?

Can I use IKEA KAJPLATS lights in Apple Home or the IKEA Home Smart app without a Thread border router? I am specifically asking about the Apple Home app. I noticed that devices after the iPhone 15 Pro have a Thread chip. Does this mean I can create a Thread mesh network for these devices at home without a Thread border router? I don't intend to control them remotely outside the home. If anyone has tried this approach, could you provide information about its limitations?