What is an Illuminary?

An Illuminary is a device with three main parts:

A tiny microcomputer brain that can connect to WiFi
LED lights capable of displaying over 65,000 different colors
A touch sensor

Each Illuminary can talk to any number of other Illuminaries anywhere in the world that belong to the same group. Each Illuminary can be configured to display a color which can be sent to every other Illuminary in its group. When the other Illuminaries receive the color information, they will all change to that color. And if another Illuminary's sensor is touched, that Illuminary will send its color to the other Illuminaries in its group. This is how you can tell someone with an Illuminary that you're thinking about them, you miss them, etc.

What is a group?

A group is a collection of Illuminaries that can communicate with one another. Anybody can create a group and invite other Illuminaries to that group, and any Illuminary in that group can send its color to every other Illuminary in that group. For example, you have two Illuminaries and you give one to your significant other. When you register your Illuminary, you create your group and then invite the other Illuminary into your group. You can then send your color to the other Illuminary in your group. Illuminaries outside your group will neither recognize your color nor send their colors to you.

You can have as many groups as you'd like, but for the Illuminaries to function properly, each group should have a minimum of two Illuminaries.

What is an Illuminarium?

An Illuminarium can be one of two things. It can be:

The Illuminaries in your group(s).
All of the Illuminaries world wide

That's pretty much it. It is, quite simply, a collection of Illuminaries.

How does my Illuminary work?

Using your Illuminary is very simple. When you're thinking about someone in your Illuminary's group, simply touch the sensor on your Illuminary. In just a few seconds, your Illuminary will display the color you chose when you registered it. But even better, all the other Illuminaries in your group will change and show your color. This lets the other Illuminary owners know that you're thinking about them.

At some point, your Illuminary may change its color, seemingly at random. Don't worry, it's not broken. It just means that someone in your group touched the sensor on THEIR Illuminary and their color is being displayed on your Illuminary.

Why are Usernames, Group names and Illumiary names unique?

During the registration process, you'll be asked for a username and password, a group name and a name for your Illuminary, among other things. This information will uniquely identify you, your group(s) and each of your Illuminaries across the entire system. In order to do that, each name must be unique.

How many Illuminaries can I have?

You can own as many Illuminaries as you like. During registration, you can use the same username for each of your Illuminaries as long as the password for that username matches the password we've recorded for that username in our system. You can add each of your Illuminaries to the same group, or you can create multiple groups. Please be aware however that to get the full experience, each group should have a minimum of two Illuminaries.

I successfully registered my Illuminary, but it's not showing the color I chose.

If the group that you assigned to your Illuminary has other Illuminaries in it, then once your Illuminary is registered, it will ask the group for the currently active color and it will change to that color. If you touch the sensor on your Illuminary, it, along with the other Illuminaries in that group, should change to your color.

If it then changes to another color, it simply means that another Illuminary's sensor was touched and that color was sent to the group. In other words, the person with the other Illuminary is thinking about you! It's going to be a great day!

Can my Illuminary belong to more than one group at a time?

Unfortunately, to get the most out of your Illuminary, it can only belong to a single group at a time.

I had an issue registering my Illuminary

I received a message saying I should try a different username.

Usernames are used to identify Illuminary owners so that you can join or leave groups, add other Illuminaries to your group, own multiple Illuminaries to the same or different groups, etc. If you received this message, it simply means there's already another user with that name in the system or the password you've supplied for the username you're using doesn't match the password in our system. You can either make your username unique by adding a number to the beginning or end of your username, adding your birth year, changing the spelling, or otherwise modifying it in some way, or you can use our password reset page to send a password reset link to the email address we have on file. If you're still not able register your Illuminary after changing your username and/or the password, please use our Contact Page to send us a message and we'll look into it.

I received a message saying I should try a different group name.

Groups, like usernames, are unique across the Illuminarium. If you received this message, it simply means there's already another group with that name in the system. You can make your group name unique by adding a number to the beginning or end of your group name, changing the spelling, or otherwise modifying it in some way. If you're still not able register your Illuminary after changing your group name, please use our Contact Page to send us a message and we'll look into it.

I received a message saying I should try a different Illuminary name.

Names are used to uniquely identify Illuminaries across the entire Illuminarium so that it can join or leave groups. If you received this message, it simply means there's already another Illuminary with that name in the system. You can make your Illuminary's name unique by modifying it in some way. If you're still not able register your Illuminary after changing its name, please use our Contact Page to send us a message and we'll look into it.

I received a message saying there was an issue communicating with my Illuminary.

During the registration process, we scan the Internet looking for your Illuminary. Normally, your Illuminary will respond quickly, typically within a 30 seconds, but occasionally, it may take a little longer. If your Illuminary doesn't respond, there could be a number of reasons why.

Is your Illuminary plugged in to a powered USB port? If not, please plug it in, wait a few moments and then click the Save button in the registration screen to resend your information. If it is plugged in, unplug it, wait 10 seconds, plug it back in, then click the Save button after a few moments.
Is your Illuminary connected to your WiFi? Open the WiFi settings on a mobile device or your computer and scan for available networks. If you see a network called 'APxxxxxx' where 'xxxxxx' matches your Illuminary's ID (which can be found on a sticker on your Illuminary), your Illuminary is not connected to your WiFi. If this is the case, please click here to connect your Illuminary to WiFi.
Some networks only allow certain devices to connect. The devices are typically identified through a MAC address, a unique sequence of characters assigned to every internet-capable device, like the one inside your Illuminary. If your router only allows connections to known devices, consult your router's documentation for information on how to allow a new device to connect. Your Illuminary can be identified using the ID that can be found on the sticker attached to it once it's plugged in. The ID is the last 6 characters of its MAC address. Once your Illuminary is allowed to connect, unplug it, wait 10 seconds, plug it back in, then click the Save button after a few moments to resend your registration information.
Some networks block communications through certain ports, or channels. If your network doesn't allow communication over port 1883, consult your router's documentation for information on how to unblock that port. Your router may even allow only certain MAC addresses to communicate over a port.
During the registration process, if you refreshed the page after clicking the Save button, there's a chance the confirmation that was sent to your browser was missed. This may be ok because if your Illuminary is plugged in and connected to the Internet, we'll still be able to register it. Wait a few minutes to see if your Illuminary changes colors and settles on a particular color. If it does, congratulations! You've completed the registration process and can enjoy your Illuminary. If it does not, please close your browser, reopen it and try again.

If you're still not able register your Illuminary after plugging your Illuminary in and connecting it to your WiFi, please use our Contact Page to send us a message and we'll look into it.

I received a message saying there was an issue communicating with the system's servers.

This typically is the result of a problem on our end. Please wait a while, and if the issue isn't resolved, please accept our apologies and feel free to use our Contact Page to send us a message and we'll try to give you an ETA on a resolution.

Miscellaneous

My Illuminary is changing colors randomly on its own.

This is perfectly normal and should give you a good feeling. Why? It means that someone in your group touched the sensor on their Illuminary and their color was sent to you. In other words, they thought about you!

I typed in my SSID and password, but my Illuminary is still blue.

If you're sure you typed in your SSID and wifi network's password correctly, including using the proper casing and adding any special characters, then try unplugging your Illuminary and plugging it back in. If it turns red and then blue, wait about 15-20 seconds. If it glows red and green at the same time, congratulations! You've successfully connected your Illuminary to your WiFi network and it's time to Register your Illuminary!