Blue Iris

Hi there,

I just bought BI as well as the android app, and after initial excitement a lot of frustration starts to creep in.

I'm currently struggling with the android app, trying to connect to the server. The phone is on the same network as the BI server. I can open the web UI of the server from the phone by calling http://192.168.x.x:81, log in and use it. But the app can't connect.

I'm 100% sure I type in the correct address (I also tried the way through the license number - same result), username and password. I always get the same error straight away (Unable to connect, please try again. Reason: Unable to reach server).

So I know it's not a networking problem or an issue with the credentials. I'm aware after a bit of googling that Android isn't happy to accept https connections without a proper certificate, but this shouldn't matter for a http connection, should it?

So, take a deep breath, and look at app settings:

1. Did you add the first and last 5 digits of your BI5 licence ?
2. Your LAN IP with :81 on the end (assuming you used that port).
3. Add user and password that you have previously set up in the main BI5 pc Blue Iris settings/ Users ?
4. Clicked to remember password.

That should connect and show your cameras. If it doesn't, look at the Log by clicking the icon that looks like a graph on the top left of the BI5 pc screen and see if it tells you why.

I appreciate the help, but I've been taking deep breaths and quadruple checked everything a dozen times by now.

But I've just found the issue:
When I first started the app, I didn't have the web server on the server set up yet. So I went through the "add new server" wizard on the app, until it was time to add a server manually, and then quit.
Doing this leaves a server titled "(untitled)" in the app. So when I went back to the app later (having set up the web server in the meantime), i edited this entry instead of adding a new one.

However, the "(untitled)" entry is bugged. When you edit it, it doesn't save its settings. This explains why the connection failed immediately (no timeout after a few seconds). It's also impossible to remove this entry with the "Forget server" option.
When I go through the "add new server" again, it creates a new entry ("New Server"), and which I can configure and connect through http.

The only way to get rid of the "(untitled)" server entry is to uninstall the app or clear its settings and start from scratch.

So, take aways:
- If you at an stage see an "(untitled)" entry in your server list, uninstall and reinstall.
- Connecting via http (not https) works perfectly fine without a certificate.
- The app, at a first glance, offers 10% of what the website does. Assuming the recent reviews of the app are right and notifications are either not working or severely delayed, it begs the question why not just work with the website.

Correct.
App doesn't work.
Use a web browser.