# Set up your vploq

Setup happens once, from a phone with NFC. Have the phone and the device in the
same room — you will hold one against the other.

## What you need

- The vploq device and its power supply
- An ethernet cable to your router
- A phone with NFC and the vploq app, signed in

## 1. Plug it in

Connect the device to your router with the ethernet cable, then to power. Give
it a moment to come up and reach the network.

The device needs a wired connection to the router. That is deliberate: it is
the thing your whole home network is reached through, so it does not depend on
Wi-Fi being healthy.

## 2. Tap it with your phone

The app asks you to hold your phone against the device. This reads the
device's identity — a serial number and a key stored on the device itself, not
something you type in.

Hold the phone steady and flat against the device. Phones read NFC from a
specific spot, usually the top of the back on Android and the very top edge on
iPhone; if nothing happens, move the phone slowly over the device.

## 3. Activation

The app and the device then prove to each other, and to vploq, that they are
what they claim to be. You will see it move through preparing, verifying,
configuring and activating. Near the end it asks you to hold the phone against
the device once more.

This step is the reason a stolen or cloned device cannot be brought online: the
identity read in step 2 has to match a device that was actually manufactured,
and each one can only be claimed once.

## 4. Name it

Give the device a name so you can tell it apart from others later — "Living
Room", "Office", whatever helps. Between 1 and 25 characters. You can change it
afterwards.

## If activation fails

Every failure at this stage is safe to retry — nothing has been consumed.

| What you see | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| Could not read the device | Hold the phone steadier and flatter against it, then retry |
| Device details are missing | Tap the device again from the start |
| No internet connection | The *phone* needs internet here, not just the device |
| Not found in the registry | Contact support with the serial number |
| The device reported a hardware problem | Retry once; if it repeats, contact support |
| Did not confirm in time | Check the ethernet cable and that the device has power, then retry |

If activation keeps failing at the same step, see
[troubleshooting](/support/troubleshooting).

## Next

[Connecting](/using/connecting).