Firmware Updates

The BassWatch supports over-the-air (OTA) firmware updates for both itself and the connected base station. Updates are downloaded over WiFi from LF Audio's update servers and installed automatically.

Before you update: Make sure the BassWatch has a healthy charge, or keep it on USB-C power during the update, so the battery does not run out mid-install. See Battery and Charging.

Updating the BassWatch

When Connected to a Base Station

If the BassWatch is connected to a base station, it can use the base station's saved WiFi network automatically:

1. Long-press the screen (or press the side button) to open the menu
2. Select Advanced
3. Select Update Firmware
4. The BassWatch connects to WiFi, checks for a newer firmware version for its hardware, and downloads it if one is available
5. Progress is shown on screen, with a live status message and percentage
6. Once the download and installation finish, the BassWatch restarts automatically on the new firmware and reconnects to your base station

When Not Connected to a Base Station

You can update the BassWatch even without a base station connection. It picks one WiFi network:

• It uses the WiFi it learned from your base station.
• If it has none, it uses your most recent saved network.
• If it has neither, the WiFi wizard opens so you can pick one.

It uses only that one network. If that network does not work, the update stops and the watch restarts. It does not try another network or open the wizard. See If the Update Fails.

WiFi Discovery Wizard

When the BassWatch needs to connect to a new WiFi network, the discovery wizard walks you through it:

1. The BassWatch scans for available WiFi networks
2. A list of detected networks appears, sorted by signal strength (strongest first)
   • Networks the watch already knows are marked (saved). This includes the WiFi it learned from your base station
   • Secured networks are marked (locked); open networks connect directly with no password step
   • Select Enter Manually to type in a hidden network's name and password
   • Select Rescan to scan again
3. Tap a network from the list
4. Enter the WiFi password using the on-screen touch keyboard. Networks marked (saved) skip this step, and the update starts at once
5. The BassWatch connects to the network and begins the update

Managing Saved WiFi Networks

You can view and manage your saved WiFi networks in Settings > WiFi: review your saved networks and the cached base station WiFi, remove individual networks, or add a network manually. A Factory Reset clears everything here, including your saved networks and the cached base station WiFi, so you will need to re-enter a network the next time you update. A Forget Base leaves your saved networks and cached base station WiFi intact.

During the Update

While the update runs, the screen shows what the BassWatch is doing at each step (locating your network, connecting to it, checking for the latest version, then downloading), followed by a download percentage and a short restart countdown.

• Do not power off the BassWatch or the base station during the update
• Keep the watch charged or plugged in so it does not run out of battery mid-update
• The process typically completes within a few minutes, depending on your WiFi speed
• A brief WiFi problem no longer ends the update. If your network does not accept the first try, the BassWatch tries again, up to three tries in all. The screen shows Connection failed with a short countdown. Then the watch looks for your network again
• If the download is interrupted, it resumes from where it stopped rather than starting over, and the screen shows Resuming download with the percentage it reached. The download also gets three attempts before the update gives up
• Every downloaded update is verified before it is installed, so an interrupted or corrupted download can never be flashed
• After restarting on the new firmware, the BassWatch reconnects to the base station automatically

If the Update Fails

• A failed update does not affect the firmware already installed; you can safely retry
• Common causes are WiFi connectivity problems or being unable to reach the update server
• When a weak WiFi signal is the likely cause, the screen says so. It shows "Update failed - weak WiFi signal. Move closer to your router" when the download was too slow to finish, or "Update failed - unstable WiFi. Move closer to your router" when the connection dropped or never got through. Get closer to your router and try again. If you are using your phone's hotspot, move the watch closer to your phone
• Make sure you are within range of your 2.4 GHz network and that it has internet access
• If the BassWatch cannot find the network after a few attempts, it restarts so you can try again; if the saved password is wrong, remove the network in Settings > WiFi and re-enter it through the discovery wizard
• If the update server reports it is busy ("rate-limited - try again later"), wait a few minutes before retrying

Repairing the Firmware (Repair Firmware)

A normal Update Firmware only installs a firmware version newer than the one already on your BassWatch. If you are already on the latest version, it reports that you are up to date and stops without reinstalling. That leaves no way to fix an installation that finished in a bad state.

Repair Firmware, in the same Advanced menu, installs the latest published firmware even when the BassWatch is already up to date:

1. Long-press the screen (or press the side button) to open the menu
2. Select Advanced
3. Select Repair Firmware
4. The BassWatch connects to WiFi and installs the latest published firmware, using the same WiFi cascade, status messages, and progress display as a normal update

Use this to repair an update that was interrupted, or firmware that is misbehaving, or when LF Audio support asks you to.

If you are already on the latest version, Repair Firmware reinstalls that same version over the top. If a newer version has been published since, it installs the newest one, exactly as Update Firmware would.

Updating the Base Station

You can trigger a firmware update for the connected base station directly from the BassWatch:

1. Make sure the BassWatch is connected to the base station
2. Long-press to open the menu (or press the side button)
3. Select Advanced
4. Select Update Base
5. The base station downloads and installs its own update, and the BassWatch displays its progress as Updating Base Station

If the Base Station Doesn't Respond

If you start Update Base but the base station goes quiet (no progress for about 30 seconds, or 5 minutes total without finishing), the BassWatch automatically falls back to updating its own firmware instead, and the screen switches to showing the BassWatch's update progress. This prevents it from getting stuck waiting. If this happens, retry Update Base once both devices are back online to actually update the base station.

Checking Your Current Version

View the BassWatch's firmware and hardware version in System Info from the menu (see System Diagnostics). To check the base station's firmware versions, open Base Info (see Menus and Settings).

Release Notes

4.12.3

• Set up channel groups from the watch: open Advanced > Channel Groups. Set how many groups you have, and name them. Choose which group follows which. Pick the group for every channel. Needs a WVC base station on firmware 2.0.0 or newer.
• Link another WVC base station: Advanced > Pair WVC adds another WVC base station to your system. If it cannot, the screen says why. The watch restarts at the end.
• Pair another knob: Advanced > Pair Knob puts your WVC base station into knob pairing mode and walks you through it.
• Smart Home from the watch: Advanced > Smart Home shows your WVC base station's Home Mode and smart home status. You can change them there too.
• Mute with one tap: open the volume control and tap the number in the middle. Every group mutes. Tap MUTE again to bring the levels back.
• Choose what Auto Swap shows: with Auto Swap on, Settings lists each view. Set one to Hide to skip it.
• Clip Detection setting: on a WVC-PRO or WVC-PRO 6, open Base Settings. Set how readily the CLIP indicators light up. The indicators show in the AuralSync app and on an RTC, not on the watch.
• RCA gain for each channel: with RCA Gain on, set the gain for each channel, in Base Settings. Needs a WVC base station on firmware 2.0.0 or newer.
• Battery screen: Battery in the main menu shows the charge level, the battery voltage, and a graph of the voltage.
• Battery in System Info: System Info now has a Battery row. It shows the charge level, or Charging while plugged in. Until the watch has charged to full, it may read N/A while plugged in.
• Other channel groups keep playing: this is for systems with 9 or more channel groups. Changing one group's volume from the watch used to turn groups 9 and up off. Now they stay at their own level.
• Groups that follow a higher group show the right level: a group set to follow group 9 or higher now shows the level it is really playing at on the Volume screen.
• Clearer message when an update fails on weak WiFi: when a weak WiFi signal is the likely cause, the screen says so. It shows "Update failed - weak WiFi signal. Move closer to your router" when the download was too slow to finish, or "Update failed - unstable WiFi. Move closer to your router" when the connection dropped or never got through.
• Easier to read with many groups: the Volume screen faders sit in two rows when there are too many to fit in one, so the group names have more room.
• Factory Reset fits on one line: the Factory Reset row in the Advanced menu no longer wraps onto a second line.
• Back on the first tap: after you scroll a settings screen, one tap on the title at the top now goes back.
• The logo stays clear in Competition Mode: the signal bars at the top no longer cover the LF Audio logo. The logo gets a little smaller while the Competition Mode or warning icon shows.
• More reliable pairing with an HPVM voltmeter: searching for devices several times in a row could cause a problem with a voltmeter nearby. The watch then could not connect to the voltmeter until it restarted. This is fixed.
• Fixes a rare restart.

4.11.4

• Better link handling at the edge of range: with a base station on its matching update, the wireless link switches to Long Range sooner when it needs to.
• Signal bars re-measured against real reception: on the watch face, the top bar and the pairing screen, 4 bars is a strong link, 3 is good, 2 is Long Range with the occasional missed reading, and 1 means readings are dropping out, so move closer to the base station. Previously the bars could show yellow where nothing was being lost, and turned red slightly before the connection was in trouble. The bands are listed in System Diagnostics.

4.11.1

• Link-mode label: a small label beside the signal bars shows whether the connection to your base station is running in Long Range mode, which reaches furthest, or High Speed mode, which refreshes the FFT and Scope views several times faster.
• Enable High Speed setting: asks the base station for the faster mode. It is on by default; a watch updating from an earlier version keeps whatever it was already set to.
• Volume changes show immediately: a change now appears on screen the moment you make it instead of waiting for the base station to confirm it, and a change lost to interference is retried for three seconds before the watch gives up.

4.11.0

• Follows your base station's wireless channel changes: when the base station moves to a different wireless channel, the watch now follows it straight away. Before this the watch lost the connection for around half a minute each time. On a system whose only displays are a BassWatch or a WDD-LITE, the base station could not complete a channel change at all.
• The update check no longer reports success when it failed: if the watch cannot reach the update server, it now tells you the check failed instead of reporting that your firmware is current.
• The pairing screen no longer empties out: a single failed scan for nearby base stations used to clear every base station from the list. The ones already found now stay.
• Two base stations of the same type can be told apart: they used to appear as one row on the pairing screen that could not be selected.
• Your base station's maximum startup volume is no longer overwritten when the watch connects to it.
• Settings sent to the base station are no longer occasionally sent with a value the watch did not set.
• Fixes a rare restart while checking for a firmware update, and a small amount of memory being lost each time Bluetooth restarted, which over a long session could affect the connection to a paired voltmeter.

4.9.5

• Volume Floor on an older base station: the Volume Floor control no longer appears, and the decibel readout is no longer affected, when the base station is on firmware 4.4.0. On that base station version the floor could be shown and applied at the wrong level. Update the base station to firmware 4.4.1 or newer to use Volume Floor.

4.9.4

• Base station link reliability: fixes the main cause of the watch being left stuck showing Reconnecting to its base station, surviving a restart, with Forget Base and re-pairing the only way back. The watch also no longer switches to replacement link security keys after a brief gap in reception on an otherwise healthy connection. For the best result, also update your base station to its latest firmware.
• Firmware updates are far more reliable: an interrupted download resumes from where it stopped instead of starting over, a WiFi network that refuses the first connection attempt is retried instead of ending the update, every download is verified before it is installed, and an update that does fail now reports what actually went wrong.
• Swiping works on every monitoring view: the Temperature view (including the multi-channel grid shown with a temperature hub) now responds to left and right swipes, where before every swipe on it was ignored.
• Swiping across the on-screen buttons: on FFT, Scope, and Waterfall, a swipe that starts on or drags across the channel pair button (for example CH 1-2) or the view style button (3D / SPEC, COMB / SPLIT) now changes the mode. Tapping those buttons still works exactly as before.
• Swiping on the per-channel voltage readings shown when paired to a multi-channel voltmeter now registers as a mode change.

4.8.0

• Works as a clock when not paired: the watch shows the time, date, and battery out of the box, with a Tap to Pair shortcut to connect to a device.
• Redesigned Set Time screen: simple tap plus / minus controls that save automatically when you leave.
• Easier WiFi entry: a new zoomed two-tap keyboard makes typing WiFi passwords easier during a firmware update.
• Icons throughout the menus for faster navigation.
• More reliable Bluetooth reconnection to a paired voltmeter after the screen sleeps.
• A cleaner unpaired clock face: it hides readings that need a paired device.
• Powering the screen off during pairing now returns you to the clock.
• Saved WiFi networks now ask for confirmation before you delete them.

4.6.0

The first published BassWatch firmware. This is the version your watch ships with, and the baseline every future update builds on.

• Watch face home screen: the idle view, showing the time and date, the watch's battery level, the link to your base station, and a compact glance of system voltage and master volume.
• On-demand monitoring: tap the watch face for the full monitoring screen. Volts and Volume are available on every WVC base station; Temp, FFT, Scope, and Waterfall appear only on a WVC-PRO or WVC-PRO 6, which are the base stations that provide temperature probes and audio analysis.
• Volume control from your wrist: adjust master volume, or per-channel-group volume on a base station with multiple groups.
• Base station settings: IDS mode, thresholds, RCA gain, volume curve, and voltage calibration, sent straight to the connected base station.
• Over-the-air updates: update the BassWatch itself over WiFi, and update a connected WVC base station with Update Base.
• Battery management: adjustable brightness, plus a dim, screen-off, and optional deep-sleep schedule you control from Settings. Wake with a tap, a wrist raise, or the side button.
• Four display orientations: Landscape, Landscape Flipped, Portrait, and Portrait Flipped, so the watch reads correctly on either wrist. See Menus and Settings.
• Customizable colors: 16 built-in themes plus per-element color overrides.

How Updates Work

The BassWatch asks LF Audio's update server which firmware version applies to its hardware. The server returns one of three responses: a new firmware build to install, an "up to date" confirmation if no newer build is published, or a "try again later" response if the device has been checking too frequently. Each is reflected on screen. If a newer build is available, it is downloaded and verified before it is installed, so an interrupted download never leaves the device with a broken image.

The LF Audio AuralSync app also shows firmware changelogs so you can see what is new in each update.