Device Linking Over WiFi... Uhmmm

[robbaron]

Thank you for posting. Just a note to say that I'm following the thread. Presently my groups issues are too intermittent to post. If I find any rhyme or reason to our issues, I'll definitely jump in. Until then, I'm following intently.

[arlo]

I've been testing the wi-fi device linking with a new CenturyLink 802.11n router, an Apple 802.11g router, an older Apple 802.11b router, and the Internet Sharing function on a Mac. I tested all of these with and without an Internet connection.

All these routers worked as expected when they had an Internet connection, finding other devices in about 10 seconds on the first attempt, and in less than a second after the first attempt due to caching the device addresses. However, I found that the Select a Device window runs very slowly in the iOS version if the router doesn't have an Internet connection -- so slowly that you might think the app has crashed or is not doing anything. (I also found that Internet Sharing doesn't work on a Mac that has no Internet connection.)

In iOS app version 4.1.2, which I submitted to Apple tonight, the speed of the Select a Device window should be back to normal if the router has no Internet connection.

I also added the device IP address to the Help > Troubleshooting page. You can use this to make sure your device is getting a valid IP address from the router, and to find out how high in the IP address range your device is.

[arlo]

I didn't expect this: it looks like Apple has fixed most of the issues with Bluetooth device linking in iOS 9. So if your devices are using an iOS version other than iOS 8, you could try switching back to the Bluetooth method. I haven't tested this in detail, but a quick test shows that it's working similarly to the way it worked before iOS 8.

You would still need to use the wi-fi method for device linking between Android devices, or a mixture of iOS and Android devices.

[Krystofur]

We are using a net gear router with no internet connection. Linking devices does seem to increase the incidence of app crashing though. Otherwise it works well between iOS devices. Seems when someone drops the link my device (the master) crashes back to home screen on its own or when I back out of a show to fix some setting.

However, while 3 of us use iOS devices to link up...the one guy with an android device cannot link up to us. Is this a known conflict? Are these known issues?

Thanks

[arlo]

Android and iOS devices can link with each other when using the wi-fi method, but not when using Bluetooth.

If you are seeing a problem or a crash, it would be best to start a new thread (one thread per issue) and list the specific actions that lead to the problem.