I’m a new Homey user and I have installed a self hosted server on a Raspberry PI5. When I establish a connection via putty and then run the “sudo systemctl status homey-shs” command it looks like the server is loading and running. However if I try to add this homey instance in the app on an Android tablet it says “Self-Hosted Server cannot be activated” and “Error: Not in Setup Mode”.
I have also installed a ping tool on the Android tablet, and I can access the Raspberry PI by means of it IP adres, so the connection cannot be the problem.
Any guidance/advice?
Kind Regards,
Jan van Putten
Hi Jan,
Make sure connections to/from port 4859/4860 between Phone & Rpi are allowed on your LAN.
With the Homey Net Scan app you can check a connection on a specific port.
or
use this test as proposed below
From your phone, try opening:
http://[pi-ip]:4859
https://[pi-ip]:4860
This is what Homey bot came up with; it’s pretty accurate:
Do this on your Raspberry Pi setup:
Confirm the service status
Connect via SSH or local console.
(Run: sudo systemctl status homey-shs
It should be active/running.)
Check logs for the activation message:
journalctl -u homey-shs.service -n 1000 -f
Look for “Homey Self-Hosted Server is ready to be activated!”. If you don’t see it yet, give it a few minutes on first boot to finish downloads.
Re-enter setup mode
Reboot the Pi to restart the server cleanly:
sudo reboot
Wait again until the logs show “ready to be activated” before opening the Homey app.
Network checks
Ensure your phone and the Pi are on the same LAN/subnet (avoid guest/isolated Wi‑Fi).
From a device on the same network, try opening:
http://[rpi-ip]:4859
https://[rpi-ip]:4860
If these don’t load, the service isn’t up or networking is blocked.
Try activation again in the Homey app
Open Homey app → Add New Homey → Self-Hosted Server.
If auto-discovery fails, make sure the Pi is “ready to be activated” in logs, then try again.
If problems persist:
Share what you see from:
sudo systemctl status homey-shs
The last ~30 lines of journalctl -u homey-shs.service
Whether http://[pi-ip]:4859 loads With that, I can pinpoint the next step. If nothing indicates “ready to be activated” after a reboot and some minutes, we’ll gather a screenshot of the error plus the log snippet and I’ll help you file a support ticket.
Hi Peter,
Thanks a lot for your detailed instructions, very much appreciated!!
Some findings:
-http access/connection to the PI seems to work
-https access/connection to the PI does not work
-server does not run properly on the PI, I see the error message: "Failed to start homey-shs service ..
See screen dump of the log file, any ideas?
Kind Regards
Jan van Putten
Hi Jan,
No problem.
Can you somehow copy/paste the console output?
Hi Peter,
I did a rewrite of the SD card with a fresh/new install. The problem has disappeared, I can continue now. Thanks for your support!
Kind Regards
Jan
