So today I decided to write a guide on how to connect a GoPro to a WiFi home network.

As you may already know, the WiFi on the GoPro cameras is in AP (Access Point) mode and not in Client Mode, like your computer or mobile (though mobiles can also act as hotspots).

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But really the goal of this guide is to enable you to connect your GoPro to your WiFi home network and not to your computer’s WiFi, you will then be able to browse the internet and connect to your GoPro simultaneously.

I would like to point out that this guide is technical and requires a bit of network knowledge and understanding of your current home WiFi setup including IP addresses and knowledge in DD-WRT firmwares.

So if you have a bit of free time, it would be a really fun project to do. The complete setup of the routers won’t take more than 10 minutes.


What are the Requirements?

You will need the below:

  • WiFi router with a DD-WRT firmware >> This will be your WiFi home router. Check supported routers here. I use a TP-Link Archer C7.
  • WiFi router or WiFi access point with a DD-WRT firmware >>This will act as a Bridge to your GoPro Camera. 
  • Your GoPro camera, I use my GoPro Hero 6 Black.
  • A laptop or desktop with an ethernet port. You can always use a USB to ethernet adapter if you don’t have an ethernet port on your laptop.
  • Cat5 or Cat6 ethernet cable.
TP-Link Archer C7

I’m gonna connect the DD-WRT router to the main router.

The default IP address for the GoPro is 10.5.5.9. The rest of the IP addresses will be different than mine, so your IPs will be different. What ever you have set it as.

I will then create a static route on the main router to allow traffic from the GoPro to the WiFi network.


Configuration

For the sake of clarity, I am going to name the WiFi home router: Home Router and the other router: Bridge Router.

I will just walk you through the steps at a high level so you can understand what I will be doing.

1- Configure the Bridge Router to run in Client Mode so it will act as a Bridge.

2- Configure the Home Router with a static route to allow traffic from the GoPro camera to the Home Router.

3- Connect the Bridge Router to the back of the Home Router

4- Test GoPro connectivity and use Camera Suite for Live Preview

Ok, so just before I start, as I said before, both routers should have DD-WRT firmware running on them or else it won’t be possible to have the configuration options I’m going to show you now.


Let’s Jump to the Setup!

Setting up the Bridge router

I start by turning off the WiFi on my laptop, then I will connect the Bridge Router via an ethernet cable to my laptop.

I can test that I’m connected by pinging the Bridge Router IP address (you should already have this).

I then login to the router, make sure the GoPro is turned on.

Once I’m logged in to the router, I go to “Status” then “Wireless”, then I click on “Site Survey”.

Site survey will detect all the neighboring wireless networks, this will enable me to see the WiFi network of the GoPro.

Your GoPro should appear in the list, if it’s not then make sure it’s WiFi is ON then try again.

Once you see your GoPro’s WiFi in the list, click on Join. You will see a message that you have successfully joined the network.

Another screen will appear under the Basic Settings tab showing the GoPro WiFi name, don’t change any setting here and just click save.

Because we will keep the same SSID name.

Now click, on the Wireless Security tab and Choose WPA2 Personal as Security Mode.

Then choose AES as WPA algorithms. Then under that, you have to put your GoPro WiFi password phrase. Then hit Save.

Now the DD-WRT access point will reboot to apply the new settings. Once the access point has rebooted, go to Status tab and wait for the GoPro to connect to the access point.

You will see it in the list under Wireless Nodes.

Once you see it, it means that the GoPro is connected to your newly set up access point.

Now go back to Setup, change the Connection type to Static IP, then give it a few seconds to refresh.

If you see zeros next to the WAN IP, subnet and gateway, it means that the access point did not connect to the GoPro.

You need to go back to the previous page and check that the GoPro is connected properly to the Access Point.

So if you see an IP address next to the WAN IP just leave it as it is, you also have the option of changing the Connection Type to DHCP if you like, it won’t affect anything.

Next, we will set up the router name. Under Optional Settings, I se the below (you can choose the name you like):

Router name: GoPro_AP
Host name: GoPro_AP

Now under Network Setup, we need to change the router IP settings. You need to find an IP that is not being used on your WiFi network.

Enter this IP into the IP address field, and do not enter a Gateway. Write down this IP address, as you will need later on.

Next, disable the DHCP server since it is not needed in this scenario.

Now hit Save, then Apply Settings. The Access point will now Reboot automatically to apply the changes.

Once it is done rebooting, you can unplug the Access Point from your PC and connect it to the back of your main WiFi router.

Reconnect your PC to the WiFi and test you have internet connection.

Now we need to change settings on the Home router.

How to connect GoPro to WiFi network

Setting Up the Home Router

Open your browser and type in the address of your main router then login.

Go to Setup, Advanced routing and you will need to create a static route. The goal of this static route is to direct the traffic from the WiFi router using the Access point (DD-WRT) to the GoPro camera.

Without setting up this route, your WiFi router won’t be able to learn how to route the traffic to and from the GoPro.

Now, next to Route name, you can enter GoPro or anything else you like. In Destination LAN, enter the GoPro camera IP address.

Gateway should be set to 255.255.255.255 (to isolate the route to the GoPro address).

Now the gateway, should have the address of the Access point (DD-WRT).

Then hit Save.


You are Now all Set Up!

You will now notice that you are still connected to the internet via WiFi and at the same time the GoPro is connected to the WiFi.

Try to ping the GoPro’s WiFi on 10.5.5.9.

I would suggest you to download Camera Suite, it costs less than 5$. You can use it to live preview your GoPro footage on your computer, you also have the option to record the videos.

It is a bit laggy though, but if you don’t like it then the only other way to capture videos without using WiFi is to use a capture device, I wrote a detailed guide on how to set it up here.

I hope you found my guide on how to connect a GoPro to WiFi router useful!

Any questions, please feel free to comment in the comments section below 🙂