How to update the firmware on a UniFi Travel Router

When travelling, whether for work or pleasure, having a compact travel router can be a real benefit.

The idea is that they connect to the local Wi-Fi, or Ethernet, and then create it’s own, Wi-Fi signal for your devices. Apart from it being more secure, you can set it up with the same SSID as your home network, which means that all your devices just connect automatically.

Also, when a hotel provides Ethernet connectivity, that’s often faster and more stable than the Wi-Fi, but then you’d need to connect each device physically to make use of it – the travel router solves this too.

I use a UniFi Travel Router, and I would highly recommend it. It’s well built and has lots of features, including dual-ethernet connectivity and VPN support.

The router is managed by the UniFi app, and when you head into Settings -> Update, you’ll find that firmware updates show a “Release Channel” of “Stable”. This means you’ll only get the final version of any updates.

This is for the iPhone app, but I assume the Android version is similiar.

1. Click on the Settings icon in the bottom menu (which is represented with a cog icon). You’ll be taken to this screen…

1. Near the bottom of this menu is an option named “Updates”. Select this.
2. The “Release Channel” will be listed as “Official”. This means you’re set-up to receive only the final versions of any firmware update.
3. Below that it will show the current firmware level and whether you’re able to update

Release Channel – what is it and how can you change it?

There are 3 levels of Release Channel and, by default, it will be set to “Official”. Other options include “Release Candidate” and “Early Access” – the latter is the earliest version of any firmware release that’s available to the public.

Jon Honeyball, Contributing Editor of PC Pro magazine, said…

I run all of my Ubiquiti hardware, on all sites, on the early access firmware. I havent been bitten yet. And they iterate really fast on builds

Whether you want to take that risk is up to you. I have my travel router set up for “Release Candidate” updates.

But, if you find you’re not able to change the Release Channel, that’s because you have to do something else first.

1. Sign into your Ubiquiti account on their website, via https://account.ui.com
2. Click on “Account Settings”
3. Near the bottom is an option named “Early Access”. You’ll need to select this to sign up for it.

Once signed up, you’ll find the app now offers you all of the release channels.