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Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the questions administrators ask most, each with a link to the page that has the full detail. New to Kiwire? Start with Your first day with Kiwire.
Getting started
How do we get a Kiwire account?
Either Synchroweb sets up your organisation and sends you the first login, or you sign up yourself on the Free plan: click Sign up under the admin sign-in form, enter your Organization Name, accept or change the suggested Tenant ID (it can't be changed later), choose a username and password, and click Create Account. You are signed in straight away and asked to set up two-factor authentication. See Signing up yourself.
I closed the Setup guide. How do I get it back?
Click the round button at the bottom right of any page. If you finished the guide and want to run it again, open My Profile from your avatar menu and use Relaunch Basic Guide or Launch Advanced Guide. To give it to a colleague again, Edit them on Admin › System › Administrators and click Relaunch. See Getting the guide back.
Why can I only see a few menu items?
While the Setup guide is running, the menu shows only the pages for the steps you have reached; the rest comes back when the last step is done. Staff who won't set up the network can skip the guide: an administrator switches on Bypass Setup Guide when creating or editing their account. If Synchroweb has switched off Show Setup Guide for new admins for your tenant, new administrators skip the guide anyway. Otherwise the menu shows only what your role and your licence allow — if a role loses a page overnight, check whether a module came off the licence. See Staff who should not see the guide and Why your menu differs.
Guests and logins
A guest connects to the Wi-Fi but the login page never appears. What do I check?
The equipment, not Kiwire: its redirect address and its walled garden (the sites a guest may reach before logging in). A blocked walled garden is the most common cause. Portals › Troubleshoot › Controller Test shows whether the guest's redirect reaches Kiwire at all. See Walled garden and redirect and Before you leave site.
The login page appears, but signing in never finishes. Why?
Usually the RADIUS settings: the shared secret on the equipment differs from the Shared Secret Key on the controller in Kiwire, or the Identity doesn't match what the equipment sends. Kiwire silently drops RADIUS requests it can't match, so it looks like a login that hangs. A controller added after it had already started sending can take up to an hour to be accepted. See RADIUS shared secret.
How do I find out why one guest can't log in?
Open Portals › Troubleshoot › Diagnostic Account, enter their username, and Kiwire runs every check a real login goes through — status, expiry, zone, data and time used, devices — and shows which one stops them. See Diagnostic Account and Portal error codes.
Can returning guests skip the login page?
Yes. A guest who has signed in before can be recognised by a cookie, their device's MAC address or a browser fingerprint and let straight through, and the One Click Login method signs devices in by MAC address with no form at all. Browser fingerprint recognition is switched on under Portals › Captive Portal › Configuration. See MAC and auto-login.
How do I let a room TV or games console online without logging in?
Add it to Approved devices under Portals › Captive Portal › Bypass Devices and switch on Let approved devices skip the portal. Guests can also pair their own TV by scanning a QR code. See Letting TVs and other devices skip the portal.
How do I disconnect a guest?
Go to Insight › Reporting › Login, open the Active Session tab, select the session and click Disconnect. This needs the controller's IP Address and COA Port filled in and the controller set to accept disconnect requests. See Before you leave site.
Can hotel guests log in with their room number and surname?
Yes, through the PMS connector: when the hotel system checks a guest in, Kiwire updates that room's Wi-Fi account with the guest's name and password, and check-out switches it off. Each room needs its Wi-Fi account created first. See PMS and hotel systems.
Vouchers and accounts
How do I create vouchers for a group?
Account › Vouchers › Add Voucher › Auto Generate, with a prefix, the number of codes and a profile. Add Group / batch name, Visit date and Number of people if you want to count group visits. For one code shared by the whole group, use Give Username instead. See Counting group visits with vouchers.
When does a voucher's time start counting?
From the first time it is used to log in, for profiles that run for a set time after activation. A voucher can also have a fixed expiry date, set when you generate it; after that date it can't be used at all, whether or not time is left. See Account, voucher and top-up fields.
A guest wants to use their voucher on a different device. What do I do?
A voucher is only tied to devices when MAC Auto Register is on (Portals › Captive Portal › Configuration); then it registers each device it signs in from, up to the maximum you set there (at most 10), and refuses others once the list is full. To free it, select the voucher in the All vouchers view on Account › Vouchers and click Reset MAC. Reset goes further and makes the voucher as good as new: usage cleared, time restarted. See Voucher actions.
How do I give a guest more time or data?
Generate a top-up code under Account › Topup Code and either give it to the guest to enter on the portal, or redeem it against their account yourself. The extra time and data are added on top of their profile. See Top-up codes.
Can I import guest accounts from a spreadsheet?
Yes. Account › Users has a CSV import. Each row needs a username and a profile (by name); accounts that already exist are skipped and the rest of the file carries on. See CSV import and export.
How do I stop a guest's access straight away?
For a voucher, use Suspend on Account › Vouchers: it blocks the code and disconnects it. For an account, Edit it on Account › Users and set its Status to Suspended: saving disconnects any live session. A suspended account can't log in again until you set it back to active. See Account, voucher and top-up fields.
Speed and limits
How do I limit guests' speed?
On the profile under Account › Profiles: Max Upload Speed and Max Download Speed, in Mbps — type 0.5 for 512 kbps, 10 for 10 Mbps, or use the converter under each field. Empty or 0 means no limit. Every account, voucher or login method that uses the profile gets that limit. See Profiles, bandwidth and quotas.
What happens when a guest uses up their data or time?
Kiwire checks in this order: if the profile resets on top-up, the counters reset; otherwise, if the profile names an advance profile (for example a slower free plan), the guest is moved onto it; otherwise the next login is refused with a "limit reached" message. See Time, data and credit quotas.
How many devices can use one account at the same time?
As many as the profile's simultaneous-use setting allows — 1 by default, up to 1000. When the limit is reached, a new login is refused, or one existing session is disconnected if your login policy is set to make room. See Simultaneous logins.
How do I put everyone at one site on the same plan?
Set Force Profile on the site's zone under Portals › Captive Portal › Zones Mapping. Everyone who logs in through that zone gets that profile, whatever their account says. See Force profile and zone limits.
How do I cap how many people use one area?
Limit Connected User on the zone. Once that many guests are online in the zone, the next login there is refused. See Force profile and zone limits.
Can I switch the Wi-Fi off at night?
Yes, per controller. Edit it under Admin › System › Device Controller and, under Availability, switch off Open 24 hours and set Opens at and Closes at. Guests are disconnected at closing time and can't log in until it opens again. See Switching Wi-Fi off and opening hours.
Portal design
I changed my portal page but guests still see the old one. Why?
A page only reaches guests once the template is published, the journey that uses it is published and active, and the zone points at that journey. Saving a draft changes nothing for guests. See Publishing and going live.
Can I see my portal without going on site?
Yes. Portals › Troubleshoot › Portal Simulation opens the real login page as a guest would see it, for the controller and zone you pick. Sign-ins there are real, so SMS codes are really sent; use Reset Simulation between tries. See Portal Simulation.
Can different SSIDs or buildings show different pages?
Yes. Make a zone for each — matched by SSID, VLAN, NAS ID or IP address — and give each zone its own journey. Higher Priority zones are checked first, so a catch-all zone needs a lower priority than the specific ones. See Controllers and zones.
Can the portal show in more than one language?
Yes. Switch on Automatic translation under Portals › Translations and tick the languages; each page is translated when you publish it, and guests get the language their device asks for. It uses your AI model. See Translating portal pages.
Reports and data
Why are today's figures lower than the number of guests online?
Live connected is counted live, but sessions today and most reports are added up once an hour, a few minutes after the hour ends. The hour in progress always shows up a little later. See Hourly buckets and the current hour.
Can I have reports emailed to me automatically?
Yes. Add them under Insight › Reporting › Scheduled Reports with the recipients and how often. See Reports.
The times in my reports are wrong. How do I fix them?
Set your Time Zone on the General card under Admin › System › Settings. Reports, "today" and every schedule use it. See Time zones.
Can I ask questions about my Wi-Fi in plain English?
Yes. Insight › Reporting › AI Reporting answers questions like "which zone had the most logins last week?" from your own reports, and KAIA answers questions about your whole set-up and spots problems. See The AI reporting assistant and KAIA.
Privacy
Can I hide guests' names, emails and phone numbers from front-desk staff?
Yes. Switch on Mask personal data under Admin › System › Settings › Consent & Privacy. Only roles with View personal data (unmasked) see full details; everyone else sees them partly hidden. Masking changes only what is shown on screen and in exports, never what is stored. See Hiding guests' personal details from staff.
Does the AI see my guests' personal details?
No. Kiwire's AI assistants see usernames, emails, phone numbers and MAC addresses masked, read your data without being able to change it, and never change anything without an administrator clicking Apply. See AI in Kiwire and Guardrails.
Admins and security
Can I use the admin console in another language?
Yes — English, Bahasa Melayu, Español, Bahasa Indonesia or 简体中文. Use the globe button on the sign-in page, or the language icon in the top bar once you are signed in. Until you choose, the console opens in your organisation's language. The choice is kept by your browser and doesn't change anything for colleagues or guests. See Changing the language.
Can I install the admin console on my phone and get notifications?
Yes. Open My Profile › App & Notifications and click Install App (on an iPhone, follow the Add to Home Screen steps it shows). Enable Push Notifications and Send Test Notification set up and check notifications on that device. Push notifications carry announcements from Synchroweb; alerts about your site appear in the bell instead. See Kiwire on your phone.
How do I add another administrator?
Admin › System › Administrators: add the person with their own username and a role. Kiwire comes with Admin, Manager and Viewer; make your own under Admin › System › Roles for anything in between. See Administrators.
How do I turn on two-factor authentication?
Every administrator is asked to set it up with an authenticator app on their first sign-in. If someone loses their phone, an administrator can reset it for them on Admin › System › Administrators so they enrol again. See Multi-factor authentication.
Why was I signed out, or asked to change my password?
You are signed out after 30 minutes without activity, or when your login is used from another browser or device — each administrator can have one session at a time. Passwords must be changed every 90 days, and on first use of a new account. See Session rules.
How do I see who changed a setting?
Admin › System › Audit Trail lists every administrator change, month by month, with the old and new values. See Audit Trail.
Billing and licence
Where do I see when my licence expires?
Admin › Platform › License & Plans shows your plan, its expiry date, the modules it includes and any add-ons. Renewing is done from the same page. If it expires, guests can no longer log in — they are told the service licence has expired — but you can still sign in to the admin to renew. See Licence and add-ons.
Why can't I add another controller?
Every controller record counts against your licence's device limit, and adding one past it is refused. The Device Controller page shows how many you have left. See Controllers and zones.
Hardware
Which Wi-Fi equipment works with Kiwire?
The Device Controller form lists 35 device types, among them MikroTik, Cisco Meraki and WLC, Aruba, Ubiquiti UniFi, TP-Link Omada, Huawei, Ruckus, Fortinet, Ruijie, H3C and Allied Telesis. See Supported controllers and the vendor setup guides.
Can Kiwire set up my router for me?
Yes, for MikroTik routers (RouterOS 7), FortiGates that manage FortiAP access points, and Ubiquiti UniFi sites. Add the controller on System › Device Controller, select it and click Site Provisioning. For MikroTik you get one command to paste into the router's terminal; for FortiGate, a script to paste over SSH; for UniFi, Kiwire applies the settings to the site itself, shows you what will change first, and can Revert them afterwards. For other equipment, follow your vendor's guide. See The quick way: Site Provisioning.
What do I enter as the controller's Identity?
Exactly what the equipment sends to Kiwire — in the guest redirect and as its RADIUS NAS-Identifier. If those two differ, add a record for each. Upper and lower case don't matter, but dashes and colons do. For the Shared Secret Key, click Generate on the form and enter the same value in the equipment's RADIUS settings (Cisco Meraki uses a fixed secret that Synchroweb support gives you). See Controller identity and Virtual NAS.
Are there Kiwire mobile apps?
Yes, two free apps for the people on your network, both on Google Play now with the App Store versions coming soon. Kiwire WiFi gets a device onto your WPA-Enterprise Wi-Fi by installing its certificate and setting up the network for it — see WiFi Enterprise. Kiwire Diagnostic works out why a device can't connect and sends the report to Synchroweb support — see The Kiwire Diagnostic app. The links are on the Mobile Apps page, from the button at the top of the admin sign-in page.
What does Kiwire need opened on our firewall?
From the equipment to Kiwire: RADIUS on UDP 1812 and 1813. From Kiwire to the equipment: port 3799 (or the COA Port you set) for disconnects and live changes. For guests before login: the Kiwire portal address in the walled garden. See Connecting a controller.