Narwal App Guide: Maps, No-Go Zones & Schedules Explained

Nov 13, 2026

Most people open the Narwal app, tap Clean, and walk away. That works on day one. But the app is capable of far more than starting a job, and the difference between a robot that fights your home and a robot that fits it is almost entirely down to configuration: a map edited so rooms are named correctly, no-go zones over the one rug you never want mopped, a schedule that runs while you are at work, and a secondary map for the upstairs floor. This guide covers all four, plus the pairing steps, the account setup, and the handful of error states that stop a robot from connecting in the first place. If your robot will not join the app at all, start with section two and see our robot vacuum Wi-Fi connection fix guide instead.

The short version

Pairing requires 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi. The robot does not connect to 5 GHz networks, and Bluetooth must be on during setup. Both the robot and the base station need to be powered and within range of a strong signal.
Zones and no-go zones are different tools. A no-go zone tells the robot to stay out and can be a whole room or a drawn area. A cleaning zone tells it to focus there, and you can add up to six of them to one task.
Both zones and secondary maps cannot be scheduled. A scheduled task only runs on the main map, and a zone cleaning task has to be started manually each time.
Do not remap for small changes. Moving a side table needs nothing — the robot updates the map live during cleaning. Remap only after relocating the base station or making a major layout change.
Never move the base station after mapping. If you relocate it for a second floor, put it back in its original position — the robot still returns to it to dock and wash.
You can use the robot without the app for basic mapping, cleaning and returning to the dock — but you lose remote control, live status, history and all customisation. Some models require app connectivity for mapping and cleaning altogether.

1. What the Narwal Freo App Actually Controls

The Narwal Freo App is the control layer for the whole Freo series. It is not a status display bolted onto the side of the machine — it is where the robot's behaviour is actually defined. Maps, restrictions, schedules, cleaning tasks, device sharing and even the detergent dispensing behaviour are all configured there.

Understanding which control lives where makes everything else easier, because the app's navigation follows a consistent pattern: the Device Homepage is the hub, the map icon in the top-right corner opens map management and editing, and the Settings icon next to it holds device configuration including position and time zone.

App Feature	What It Changes	Where To Find It	Important Limitation
Map	The floor plan the robot navigates by, plus room labels and boundaries.	Device Homepage → Map icon → Map Management.	A room containing the base station can never be fully restricted as a no-go zone.
No-go zone	Excludes an area or a room from vacuuming, mopping, or both.	Device Homepage → Map icon → Map Editing → No-Go Zones → +.	Drawn over the robot's charge path, a no-go zone will block part of the route — keep it clear of the dock exit.
Cleaning zone	Restricts a task to specific areas you define — useful for a spill, a busy hallway or one room.	Device Homepage → Zone → + icon.	Up to 6 zones per task, each at least 0.25 m² (2.69 ft²). Cannot be scheduled.
Scheduled task	Starts a full cleaning automatically at set times on set days.	Device Homepage → Task/Schedule settings.	Runs on the main map only. Secondary maps and zones do not support scheduling.
Quick tasks	Saved, repeatable cleaning configurations you can launch with one tap.	Device Homepage → Quick tasks.	Quick tasks are manual by default — combine with a schedule for genuinely hands-free operation.
Device settings	Device position, time zone, notifications, network configuration and account data.	Device Homepage → Settings icon → Device → Device Position.	Position and time zone must be correct, or scheduled tasks start late or not at all.

2. First-Time Setup: Download, Account and Pairing

Every later feature depends on this step succeeding, so it is worth doing carefully once. The Narwal Freo App is available for all Freo Series robot vacuums and requires iOS 15.1 or above, or Android 7.0 or above.

Download and create your account

Search for "Narwal Freo" in the App Store or Google Play and install the Narwal Freo App.
Open the app and tap "Login/Register with Email".
Enter your email address and the verification code you receive, then complete registration.
Log in with the account you just created. You cannot pair a robot before this step.

If the verification email never arrives, it is almost always a spam folder or a mistyped address — the account cannot be created without the code. The app also lets you change the registered email address later if the original one becomes unusable.

Before you pair: three things that cause almost every failure

Bluetooth must be enabled on your phone. Both the robot and the base station must be powered on and placed where they can receive a strong Wi-Fi signal. And the robot connects to 2.4 GHz networks only — 5 GHz is not supported, so a dual-band router needs its 2.4 GHz band enabled and, on many routers, temporarily separated or given a clear name.

With those in place there are two ways to pair. The first is to tap add a device on the home page and select your robot vacuum model from the device list. The second is faster: tap the scan icon in the top-right corner of the add-device screen and scan the QR code printed on the robot itself — you will find it on the underside of the top cover. Then follow the prompts to enter your 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi name and password. When the connection succeeds, the robot appears on the app's home page.

If pairing fails after all of that

Two situations need dedicated handling rather than more retries. If you have changed routers or moved the robot to a different network, the device needs to be reconfigured from scratch on the new network. And if the router has no separate 2.4 GHz band, a personal hotspot is the fastest way to complete pairing and then reconfigure back to your own Wi-Fi. Both routes are covered in our robot vacuum Wi-Fi setup and connection troubleshooting guide.

3. Maps: How Narwal Builds and Updates Your Floor Plan

The map is the foundation. Every zone, every no-go boundary and every scheduled job references it. Getting the first map right saves an hour of redrawing later, and Narwal's own guidance on the first mapping run is specific about what helps and what hurts.

Open the doors of every room you want cleaned, so the robot can explore them without missing any.
Clear the floor of wires, clothes, books and other obstacles, and make sure nothing is blocking the base station's exit path.
Keep a distance of about 2 metres while mapping. Do not follow the robot, stand in a doorway, or block its path — that is the most common cause of mapping errors and of rooms that appear merged together.
Let the mapping run finish on its own. The map is only saved once the robot has completed scanning the area, returned to the base station and broadcast that mapping is complete. Moving it back manually or force-stopping the task loses the map.
Do not move the base station after mapping is finished.

Small changes do not need a remap

Mapping is fast and the robot does not travel into every corner. A narrow passage may be judged unnavigable on the radar scan and simply left out of the first map — but the robot will identify it on a later cleaning run, and you can refresh the map from the icon on the homepage. Moving a side table needs no action at all; the map updates itself in real time while the robot cleans. If the robot skips a room entirely, pause the task on the robot, push it into the room and press Start to resume.

If two rooms have been merged into one because an open-plan layout has no door or wall to separate them, the fix is in the app rather than on the machine: use Map Management to split or merge rooms and update the map. Where splitting is not allowed, mapping again is the alternative.

4. Editing, Splitting and Remapping the Map

Map editing is reached from the Device Homepage through the map icon, where you will find Map Editing and Map Management. These two panels do different jobs, and it is worth knowing which one you need before you start.

Situation	What To Do	Why It Matters	Note
Rooms merged by an open-plan layout	Map Editing → split or merge the rooms.	Correct room boundaries are what make room-based zones and no-go zones precise.	If splitting is unavailable for that map, remap instead.
Base station relocated	Map icon → Map Management → Remap.	The dock's position anchors the map and the robot's return route.	On the main map, Remap rebuilds in place — nothing needs deleting first.
Large furniture moved, walls removed, bulky items added	Map icon → Map Management → Remap.	Significant layout changes need a fresh map to stay accurate.	Major changes only — moving a chair or side table needs no remap.
Remapping a secondary map	Delete the existing secondary map, then create a new one.	Secondary maps cannot be rebuilt in place the way the main map can.	On Freo X Plus, main and secondary maps both need to be deleted before a new map is created.

The base station is the one thing you do not move

Narwal does not recommend carrying the robot and the base station together to another floor to build a map there. If you move the dock anyway, put it back in its original position afterwards — the robot still docks with it, washes its mop there, and returns to it at the end of every job.

5. Multi-Floor Homes: Secondary Maps

A home with more than one floor needs more than one map, and this is where a lot of owners assume the app is more capable than it is. Multi-floor cleaning works by creating a secondary map for each additional level, then selecting the right map before starting a task.

Make sure the current floor has already been mapped and saved as the main map.
Move the robot to the new floor and place it in an open area with as few obstacles as possible, so it can start mapping smoothly.
In the app, go to Device Homepage → Map → Map Management → Create a secondary map, then let the robot complete a full cleaning run so the new map is built.
Check the battery is sufficient before you start, so a low-battery interruption does not abort the map halfway through.
Once the map exists, carry the robot to that floor and select the matching map in the app to start a task on it.

What secondary maps can and cannot do

Narwal's official support documentation is not perfectly consistent on the maximum number of secondary maps — the multi-floor guide states one main map plus up to three secondary maps, while the secondary-map guide refers to up to four. Treat the number your app actually displays as authoritative, and plan around three additional floors. Separately and more importantly, a secondary map does not support a scheduled task — if you want automatic cleaning upstairs, it has to be started manually.

There is a second difference based on how the map was created. If the secondary map was built with the base station, cleaning tasks on it behave exactly like tasks on the main map. If it was built without the base station, only zone cleaning is available on that map, and mopping is capped at 13.9 m² (150 sq ft) per run — beyond that, you bring the robot back to the dock for a mop wash, then select the next area in the app.

Switching between floors once the maps exist takes two taps: open the map icon in the top-right of the Device Homepage, then tap the map you want — or go through Map Management and pick from the list. The same map switcher is where the "how many floors" question gets answered for your own home, so it is worth visiting once during setup.

6. No-Go Zones: The Rooms and Areas to Protect

No-go zones are the single most useful feature in the app for most modern homes. They let you tell the robot to stay out of a specific area — or to skip only one part of the process there.

Setting up a no-go zone

Open the app and go to the Device Homepage.
Tap the Map icon, then Map Editing.
Tap No-Go Zones. You can create a restriction by Area — drawing a custom region directly on the map — or by Room, selecting whole rooms from the list.
Tap the + icon, outline the area, and choose the prohibition behaviour: No Vacuum & Mop, No Vacuum or No Mop.
Save the restriction.

The three restriction types are the point of the feature, and choosing between them is where most value sits. "No Vacuum & Mop" is the complete exclusion. "No Vacuum" lets the robot pass through and mop the area but keeps the brush off it — right for a hard floor where you want wet cleaning but no grit pickup, or for a surface you have already vacuumed by hand. "No Mop" lets it vacuum normally but keeps water off the floor.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Why is my robot vacuum failing to connect to Wi-Fi during setup?

Pairing requires a 2.4 GHz network (5 GHz is not supported) and active Bluetooth permissions on your phone. Ensure both the robot and base station are powered on, properly seated, and within good router range. For more detailed help, see our Wi-Fi connection fix guide.

Can I schedule a cleaning task on a secondary map?

No. Scheduled tasks only run on the main map. Multi-floor or secondary map cleaning tasks must be initiated manually each time you move the robot to that floor.

Do I need to remap my house if I move a small piece of furniture?

No. Moving items like side tables or chairs requires no remapping; the robot updates its map dynamically in real time as it cleans. Remapping is only necessary if you relocate the base station or undergo major layout modifications.

What is the difference between a cleaning zone and a no-go zone?

A no-go zone tells the robot areas to avoid entirely or restrict from specific modes (vacuuming/mopping). In contrast, a cleaning zone commands the robot to focus its cleaning specifically on that designated spot or room.

Can I operate my Narwal robot vacuum without using the mobile app?

Yes, you can use the physical buttons on the robot or base station for basic commands like starting a clean or returning to dock. However, you will lose access to interactive maps, custom schedules, no-go zones, and advanced settings.