Remotely connecting to Blue Iris PC from phone

[staind204]

Hello -

I have some questions about remotely viewing my cams in BI from another device, such as a phone.

For some background, I have the BI Desktop app running on a dedicated PC. Cams are up and running, recording to a local drive. How exactly do I access the PC/BI Desktop Application from my phone for view my feeds?

2 Scenarios
Local Network
My phone is on my home local network and I know the internal IP of the PC. What app(s) are best to download and use on my phone? Am I setting up Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection on the PC and then using the app on my phone to access it? Will BI desktop app on the PC work properly like this so I can view the live feeds from my phone? Or is there another recommended way?

Remote Network
I am out somewhere away from my local network. I understand I need to get VPN set up (that's for another day). But once I use something like OpenVPN to connect, do I still use something like the Microsoft Remote Desktop App/tool to get into PC to view the BI desktop app to view the cams/feeds?

Lastly - is there any reason to buy the actual BI phone app? I read a lot of bad reviews on it so that's why I am more interested in actually connecting to the PC itself and using the desktop app to view the cams.

Thank you.

 

[looney2ns]

The BI app works fine, my wife and I both use it daily. One's that give it bad reviews don't have it set up correctly.

You can also use the built in web server in BI to view cameras and clips on your phone or from another computer.
Using a browser like chrome, you can connect by using the IP address of the BI server.
You would connect the same, either on your local network on the cell network with a VPN.
Blue Iris UI3 | IP Cam Talk
How to Secure Your Network (Don't Get Hacked!) | IP Cam Talk

 

[staind204]

Wow I was really over complicating things. The built in web server worked great. Thank you!

 

[samplenhold]

Remote Network
I am out somewhere away from my local network. I understand I need to get VPN set up (that's for another day). But once I use something like OpenVPN to connect, do I still use something like the Microsoft Remote Desktop App/tool to get into PC to view the BI desktop app to view the cams/feeds?

Personally, I use ZeroTier instead of a VPN. Both on my iPhone and on a Windows PC that I have in my RV that is connected to the internet via either a campground's WIFI or my Cell provider using a jetpack/MIFI unit.

For my cell phone, I use the BI app for the iPhone. I like this app and have had no issues with it.

For my Windows PC, I use UI3. I have used RDP when I needed to do more on the BI server than just check out the cams.

 

[Ri22o]

Android or iOS?

I used the TinyCam app on my Android. I liked that I could input LAN and WAN info and it would automatically determine which address to use to view the feed based on my data connection.

For iOS I have UI3 bookmarks on my home screen for Home and Away.

 

[Broachoski]

I learnt something from you guys. I use the app to access BI remotely from my Iphone but did not know untill now that I could use a browser and do the UI3 routine.
I used Tailscale as my VPN and worked like a champ.

 

[staind204]

TinyCam might work fine but UI3 is good enough for me. This solution has worked very well and meets my needs.