[Buschel]

It seems there are increasing problems with missing local network access. Recent AppStore reviews point to the Remote App not connecting / working after updating the App version, which we know is not true as the App works when having local network access. Also, this might explain why there are some users which cannot connect at all. I am reading in the web that this is a known problem of iOS and similar problems are reported for other apps as well. This is definitely a threat to the user experience as it looks like an App problem, but is solely caused by iOS.

For now, I added a very detailed description (see quote below) to the "Troubleshooting" section of the pinned thread "How to connect the Kodi Remote App to your Kodi Media Center", which is also linked from the App itself on the server list screen. I will look into improving this by placing this link more prominently when the remote cannot connect.

The Kodi Remote App needs access to the local network. Usually you will be asked via popup to allow this access when the Kodi Remote App tries to access the local network the first time. To set this manually you can either enable local network access in you iOS device's settings menu (Settings > Privacy > Local Network) or in the Remote App's settings (Settings > Kodi Remote > Local Network). If this still does not work, reset the location and privacy settings on your iOS device (Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy). See the following video: ANY iPhone How To Turn ON Local Network Access!.

Last resort is to enforce the popup again by removing the app from your iOS device, then restart your iOS device (*), then reinstalling the App and then selecting "Add Host" > "Find Kodi". In this case you of course need to configure your Kodi server and synchronize the database again.

(*)Remark: For iOS 17+ it was reported that in some cases you might need to restart your iOS device before installing the app again (see https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/750576)

@kambala, is there any way to solve this from the App itself?

[DaVu]

Interesting question and curious about the answer.

My guess is that this an OS problem and iOS requests that confirmation from any app which requires network access.

[Buschel]

Interesting question and curious about the answer.

My guess is that this an OS problem and iOS requests that confirmation from any app which requires network access.

Yes, I also expect this to be an iOS internal problem. The Remote App triggers iOS to show a popup to let the user confirm local network access the very first time the App is accessing the local network. The whole thing is executed, saved and managed by iOS. And there are situations where iOS shows the access is given (can be checked in the iOS settings), but in fact it is not. And the only way to resolve this is to restart the device, delete iOS privacy settings or reinstall the App.

As most apps do not require local network access, this might be unknown / new to users and they just report "Remote App" does not work. Really bad user experience.

[DaVu]

Really bad user experience.

I totally agree. I was wondering about this notification as well as I updated my iPhone and my Mac. And it's an easy task to simply click "something" on that notification just to make it go away. Especially for the "public joe" who doesn't understand why and how the app works. 

I simply guess (and it seriously only a guss) that his can't be solved by something we could develop at the app if the OS or its environment enforces it. 

Hence I'm curious about the answer a dev might give

[Buschel]

Yes, I also don't expect that the Remote App can fix or work around this -- enforced and screwed up by (i)OS.

What the App could potentially do:

• Check, if local network access works. If not, highlight to user and point to "Troubleshooting" solutions.
  
• Ideally being able to reset the local network access from the App. Then a next access attempt would bring up the iOS-internal confirmation popup again.
  

[kambala]

sorry, don't have any extra info on this. I've also read that there're no workarounds available from app side.

[Buschel]

You also see no way to detect a potential missing local network access by sending certain network messages or by specifics of the error messages we receive when e.g. attempting to send JSON commands?

[kambala]

You also see no way to detect a potential missing local network access by sending certain network messages or by specifics of the error messages we receive when e.g. attempting to send JSON commands?

I see that we can use the first approach (Bonjour) described in https://developer.apple.com/documentatio...ork-access

[Buschel]

I see that we can use the first approach (Bonjour) described in https://developer.apple.com/documentatio...ork-access

Thanks, this helped. I was able to add the code from https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6705...sion-check in a quick-and-dirty fashion and it reflects the local network access setting chosen in iOS. I am not sure, if this would show the right state ("NO") in the situation where the setting is enabled in iOS, but still not working.

Btw, the local network access popup only comes once for an app, right? After this you can enable/disable the local network access setting, but the confirmation which was once given is still valid int the background.

At least we could then use the code to check for the access and throw a warning with a link to the trouble shooting help in this forum.

[kambala]

Btw, the local network access popup only comes once for an app, right? After this you can enable/disable the local network access setting, but the confirmation which was once given is still valid int the background.

yes

At least we could then use the code to check for the access and throw a warning with a link to the trouble shooting help in this forum.

yes, true. And/or make some "hidden" button that performs the check that a user could press and report the result.

[Buschel]

Ok, thanks.

My thought: This should be proactively shown when the local access is not granted. Without access the app will anyway not work. Users who have problems would not search for settings/options but rather complain and drop using the app. But of course this should only pop up, after the attempt to trigger the privacy alert was done and the access is still not granted. Let me think on where to place this.