Your phone shows a Bluetooth icon next to your Pit Boss. The app's remote-monitoring screen never loads. You're standing at the grill, not on the couch where you actually wanted to check the temperature.
Pit Boss pairs over Bluetooth first, then joins Wi-Fi and prompts for a software update. If Wi-Fi fails, identify whether the grill never appeared, refused the update, failed to join the network, fell back to Bluetooth, or disconnected after setup.
Pit Boss's FAQ explains how to enable 2.4GHz in conventional router settings. An eero mesh network uses a single network name instead. Most single-frequency devices join eero normally, and we found no verified Pit Boss-on-eero failure. If yours cannot join after the standard checks, eero documents an optional setting to try.
Bluetooth pairing can succeed while the Wi-Fi handoff fails. Two owners describe that symptom, which calls for a different check from a grill that never appears in the app.
Still deciding between app-connected pellet grills generally, rather than fixing one you already own? Our Pellet Grills guide covers that buying decision. This article assumes you already have a grill in hand.
Find the Step That Failed
Answer this before doing anything else. Did the grill fail to show up in the app at all? Does it appear but the app refuses the software update?
Does Wi-Fi join fail while Bluetooth still works? Does the connection look fine at setup but drop later? Did an old SmokeIT-connected grill stop working after an update? Each of those is its own section below, with its own fix.
Pair With Bluetooth, Then Join Wi-Fi
Pit Boss's own FAQ lays out the official sequence. Turn on your phone's Bluetooth.
Power on only one grill at a time until the connection is established, then select it in the app. From there, choose your Wi-Fi network name, enter the password, and agree to the software update.
Pit Boss says the update can take up to 10 minutes. Keep your phone near the grill while it runs.
That single-grill requirement comes from Pit Boss's FAQ. Keep other grills off until pairing finishes.
If the Grill Doesn't Show Up or Won't Update
Before assuming a hardware fault, check Pit Boss's prerequisites. Enable Bluetooth on your phone before pairing the grill.
Confirm the grill is plugged in and powered on, then select it in the app. If you refused the software update, close and reopen the app to accept it when prompted again. If Wi-Fi still fails, restart your phone or grill and check that the router is on.
Confirm the router broadcasts on 2.4GHz and that the grill is in range. Then try the network-specific branch below.
If Wi-Fi Won't Join on an eero Router
Here's where Pit Boss's checklist runs out of instructions. It tells you to check the 2.4GHz band in your router settings. Its directions describe a conventional dual-band router's admin page.
An eero mesh system works differently. There's no permanently separate 2.4GHz network name to pick: eero uses a single shared network name across its bands.
eero's own support page is clear that this isn't a compatibility failure by default. Most single-frequency devices join an eero network without any extra steps. If your grill has already worked through the standard checklist above and still won't complete the Wi-Fi handoff, eero documents one more option. Some devices connected through a third-party app can temporarily pause the 5 and 6GHz bands in the eero app, under Settings, Troubleshooting, "My device won't connect," then "My device is 2.4 GHz only." That temporarily leaves the network broadcasting on 2.4GHz for setup.
This is eero's general troubleshooting option for some devices, not a documented Pit Boss fix. We found no verified Pit Boss-on-eero failure.
eero's own support pages disagree on how long the pause lasts before the other bands re-enable. Treat it as temporary and do not plan around a specific duration. If you try it, follow the app prompts while the pause is active; eero says the bands re-enable automatically.
Paired but Stuck on Bluetooth
If the app shows your grill as connected, but temperature readings only update while you're standing near it, you're looking at a specific failure. Two PitBossForum owners describe Bluetooth-only pairing without working Wi-Fi monitoring in separate threads.
One PitBossForum owner estimated Bluetooth's range at about 10 feet and wanted a way to turn it off. That range is an owner estimate, not a specification for your grill.
A reply in that thread suggested unpairing the grill in phone Bluetooth settings and declining the app's next Bluetooth prompt. The captured reply does not report whether it worked. Treat it as an unverified owner suggestion, not an official Pit Boss instruction.
Pit Boss's own setup sequence requires Bluetooth on during initial pairing. Try the official checklist first. If the app still uses only Bluetooth after setup, the owner suggestion is an option to investigate, without a confirmed outcome in the captured thread.
After a SmokeIT-to-Pit-Boss-App Update
If you've owned your grill a while, you may have started on Pit Boss's older SmokeIT app instead of the current Pit Boss Grills app. Pit Boss's FAQ states plainly that SmokeIT stays available for a limited time and is being phased out. It separately confirms that once a grill goes through the connection process and firmware update above, it can no longer connect through SmokeIT at all.
That's a stated manufacturer policy, not a bug. Pit Boss recommends downloading the current app now and deleting SmokeIT, rather than keeping both installed.
Forum accounts back this up from the owner side. One owner reports the old app simply stopped connecting once their firmware updated. That's one person's experience confirming the manufacturer's stated policy, not a separate finding on its own.
If your grill still runs SmokeIT and you're not ready to lose it, know that updating through the new app is a one-way move.
When the Connection Drops After Setup
We found a handful of owners describing intermittent drops after a successful setup. The reported fixes vary because the reported causes vary. Treat each of these as one account, not a confirmed general fix.
One owner suspected their grill's screensaver triggered disconnects, without confirming the cause. A separate owner saw stale app temperatures after a disconnect despite different readings on the grill. Another owner fully powered down and unplugged the grill to reset the control board, and the connection came back.
In a separate forum thread, one owner reported deleting their Pit Boss account, reinstalling the app, creating a new account, and reconnecting to their Wi-Fi network. They said the grill then connected. A different member, chefrob, reported a similar app issue and said a replacement controller had not helped them. That account is separate from the owner who reported success after reinstalling the app.
The account reset is a single owner's report, not a proven general fix. A grill displaying an actual fault code calls for a different path, which our Pit Boss error codes guide covers separately.
If the app still fails after Pit Boss's restart and router checks, an account reset and app reinstall helped one forum owner. Consider it as an owner-reported option before assuming a controller fault; that one account cannot establish your cause.
What to Try Next
Start at the step where your setup actually stalled, not at the top of a generic list. A grill that never appears during Bluetooth setup calls for the official checklist before any eero band change. A grill that is connected but Bluetooth-only may warrant examining the owner-suggested unpairing step after the official checks; its outcome was not reported.
After setup, compare the app's temperature reading with the grill display before relying on remote monitoring. One owner saw stale app readings after a disconnect. If they disagree, check the connection again rather than treating the displayed app value as current.