I get the error message “This site can’t be reached” a lot when I try selecting “Use Mobile Phone Remote” when trying to play a FotoMagic presentation in Full Screen mode and scanning the QR code. I’m using a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (Android OS, obviously). Sometimes it works, but more often it fails (and last night before a live performance, it failed, so I resorted to using the keyboard to control the start of the show). And yet it worked the other day when I tried it at home.
I keep trying to play with settings on both the laptop and the phone, checking WiFi, Bluetooth, etc. I can’t seem to find a consistent setting where it works ALL the time. I’ve tried deleting the URL and rescanning, tried checking the URL, etc.
When scanning, I get “administrators-mac-pro-8.local:50000/remote-iphone.html” and get the same “…site can’t be reached” message in both browsers that I use (Google and Samsung Internet). The fact that the URL includes a reference to “…iphone…” has me thinking that somethings wonky somewhere (why does the scanned URL include “iPhone” when I’m on an Android?
Is there some System Setting that needs to be set? I’ve tried turning on/off Remote Management, Internet Sharing, Bluetooth Sharing, etc. but nothing seems to work consistently, and I feel I might just be mucking up my settings.
The term “iphone” in the URL is just a file name. It does not mean that the html code does not work on Android. Sorry for causing confusion.
The error “This site can’t be reached” means that the network isn’t able to connect to the server in FotoMagico. Possible causes include:
The Mac and the Android phone are not in the same network. Please make sure that both are in the same Wifi network.
The Wifi network has blocked access to other devices in the same network. This is often the case when you are using a venues Wifi network for safety reasons.
The Wifi network has blocked Bonjour/mDNS which is necessary to resolve the “administrators-mac-pro-8.local” name to an IP number.
The Wifi network has a firewall that blocks access to port 50000 which could be the case if the network admin is very paranoid.
It basically boils down to two possible scenarios: The Android device can’t resolve the “administrators-mac-pro-8.local” or the devices are not in the same network. You can test the first by replacing the name with the actual IP number you can find in Network settings so that it reads something like “http://192.168.x.y:50000/remote-iphone.html”
Here are two ways that could make it work reliably:
Use the Personal Hotspot in your phone as the network. If you get that to work once, it should always work.
Use a travel router like the GL-iNet GL-AXT1800 Slate AX and put it next to your Mac on stage. It does not have to have Internet access to work but it provides you with a Wifi network that you can configure to your needs.
Just want to repeat that I DID have it working before, but then it failed again the other night.
I think I have it working now, but let me go thru your list of possible causes first:
• I double-checked the network (I’m at home and we have two), but they are BOTH the same for my Samsung Android phone AND for my laptop. I tried switching to see if one network was “better” than the other, and in both cases neither one worked (although they had previously)
• There is no blocked access on either of our Wifi networks
• I don’t believe Bonjour/mDNS is blocked either, since I think (although I’m not positive) that my print server at home uses Bonjour.
• All firewalls are turned off, so that’s not it.
I also tried creating a Mobile Hotspot using my phone as the network, and that also didn’t work.
BUT (GOOD NEWS)!!! – I looked up my network IP address and manually typed in and created a URL link in the format you provided – that is “http://192.168.x.y:50000/remote-iphone html” and THAT seems to have worked!! I even saved it as a clickable link in my Notes application, and as long as FotoMagico is running, when I tap on the link my browser opens and up pops the FM presentation as expected.
I can’t explain WHY the common networks between phone and laptop won’t work (at least not consistently) nor why I can’t use my phone as a mobile hotspot for FM – maybe it’s just some glitch on my end. As long as I have a way to make it work, though, in this case I’m happy (for now, anyway).
This strongly points at the phone only sometimes being able to resolve the name “administrators-mac-pro-8.local” to the IP number. There is basically an endless list of possible causes. “Networking is always just one letter away from Notworking”.
Interestingly, those “discovery services” were meant to make it all more reliable but only added one more thing that can fail…
As long is I’ve got it working with the IP address, I’m not going to press the issue. I CAN understand how things get mucked up in the process, particularly when it comes to networking versus “notworking”
At least I know that if the regular procedure of scanning the QR code doesn’t work, I have a way to fall back to a different approach.