BI ios app not connecting but receives push notifications

[dbrannon79]

Hello all,

has anyone experienced issues where suddenly the IOS app will still receive push notifications for alerts but when trying to open the app, it won't connect and view any of the cameras? this suddenly happened to me yesterday. I confirmed that it's not only my phone but with my wife's and son's phone.

prior to this, everything was working fine.

 

[blulegend]

I noticed this this morning with the iOS app.

When connecting over LAN, it’s super fast.

When connecting over WAN, it’s super slow or not connecting at all.

Rebooted the server, updated to the latest version of BI5, etc. Nothing.

if I’m off the LAN, but VPN in back to the LAN, it’s also super fast. Not sure what’s going on but it’s frustrating.

 

[dbrannon79]

I need to setup a decent VPN for my LAN. any good suggestions? I'm not too familiar with them other than for privacy. I have a subscription with express vpn but I think they just offer anonymous browsing.

 

[wittaj]

You need a free VPN. Paid VPN is for hiding your IP address for illegal streaming and porno LOL.

You need a free VPN that puts you back into your network - you are hosting the VPN in this case.

With Express VPN, you are hiding your IP address and you are now trusting who knows what and where those servers are and what are they mining from your connection.

Many routers have OpenVPN native to the router and is a logical and easy choice. If you do not have a router with OpenVPN or stuck with an ISP router, than many use ZeroTier or a few others.

 

[dbrannon79]

Thank you, I will have to look into this. I have used OpenVPN way back in the day but unfortunately my current router ( Eero Pro 6 mesh) doesn't have the ability to use OpenVPN that I'm aware of. since I have a home server running TrueNAS based off a linux distro, I think it's possible to install OpenVPN on it to get into my local network.

I had seen ZeroTier along with one other mentioned here before that for the life of me can't remember the name. This gives me something to fiddle with over this weekend since we are expecting some cooler wet weather!

P.S. if there are other VPN suggestions to look into please do mention their names

 

[blulegend]

but does anyone know why it seems to be so slow all of a sudden through WAN?

 

[dbrannon79]

not sure if it's related, but yesterday their update servers were down for a bit. my BI interface on the PC was giving me a "cant connect to the internet" when checking for updates.

Also for my area, I was told that there was a mass internet outage in the San Antonio area here in Texas. I'm hoping this is just a intermittent problem that will just fix it's self soon

 

[blulegend]

It doesn’t make sense since the app is supposed to be connecting directly to the server whether it’s WAN or LAN. But LAN is much faster right now while WAN sometimes just drops. And when I connect via VPN to the LAN, it’s as if I’m on the LAN itself and fast agaiin. Doesn’t make sense

 

[dbrannon79]

I would think that while on WAN, your phone is connecting through a BI server somewhere. if that's the case then their server may be the issue. I will verify if my phone will pull up the cameras while on LAN when I get home from work later this afternoon.

 

[blulegend]

on WAN, my app is set to connect directly to my home IP which will port forward. Nothing has changed but seems overnight, this slow to connect issue began. Once connected, it’s slow to load thumbnails in the app. Clicking various thumbnails or live views also take time to establish and once connected, the steaming seems fine.

 

[TonyR]

Video of setting up Zerotier with Blue Iris ==>> here.

 

[dbrannon79]

I just had my wife verify with ours, she is able to get notifications on and off wifi but can't connect when opening the app at all. it will sit there with the connecting screen for a moment and display a message "Unable to make connection, check server address"

this started happening yesterday where nothing has changed on the PC.

EDIT: I am going to reboot the router and then check to see if the public IP has changed. right now looking through my eero app for the router, the public ip has not changed.

 

[TonyR]

I just had my wife verify with ours, she is able to get notifications on and off wifi but can't connect when opening the app at all. it will sit there with the connecting screen for a moment and display a message "Unable to make connection, check server address"

this started happening yesterday where nothing has changed on the PC.

So BI's WAN IP and LAN IP are what they were when it worked?

 

[dbrannon79]

So BI's WAN IP and LAN IP are what they were when it worked?

right now yes. I am wondering if my ISP is doing something where my router hasn't updated the wan IP. I'm using ATT fiber in pass through mode with a Eero 6 router behind it running the LAN

 

[dbrannon79]

my eero is rebooting. I will double check it's wan ip again after it comes back up

 

[dbrannon79]

rebooted and shows the same wan ip. I get off work here shortly, so I can be in fornt of the pc running BI rather than remoting into it from work! much easier to see the screen and troubleshoot vs trying to do everything from my phone.

 

[dbrannon79]

ok, I finally was able to get it fixed. I don't necessarily like or really know what the setting mean, but I went back through the web server remote access wizard in the settings. and it started working again. I can connect with my phone on or off my wifi now.

in the screenshot here, the profiles only showed "Private" I clicked on the create/update button and it changed it to this and put a green check on all the next screens. I am curious about the meaning on "public" I an not able to change anything in these fields manually, but does this allow anyone with my public IP to just hack their way in or is there something to this and it's secure?

 

[wittaj]

The public/private in the firewall simply has to do with what network your computer is on. It will call it either private or public based on what YOU set up your network as. I suspect your home network was labeled as public and that is why the firewall adds a new one so that you don't block yourself from your own system. As long as you are not taking the BI computer to Starbucks, nothing to worry about LOL.

Windows updates can change these from time to time as well.

But the remote access does expose the system, so a private VPN you host will be a better option.

 

[dbrannon79]

I'm suspecting windows update may have caused this. there was some updates that caused all of my pc's to restart this week.

 

[dbrannon79]

Video of setting up Zerotier with Blue Iris ==>> here.

Thank you for sharing that video. I am going to set this up on all of my devices. I actually was looking for something like this and it seems so simple to setup. this is something I can use to access my nas while away from home too! I'm curious if this is like a VPN where it slows internet speeds for things like streaming movies from my plex library. I will find out soon enough LOL.