[PROBLEM] Can't open moode.local from Android phones - but can from wifi connected Windows PC

[rongon]

Hi 

I'm having a weird problem. I used the search to see if any previous posts showed up, but nothing came up. So I ask... 

I have two Windows laptops connecting through WiFi to a home network router. 
My Raspberry Pi 3B is running Moode 5.3.1.  

I would like to access the Moode UI through my home network, rather than using the RPi as a wireless access point. 

-  I quickly and easily access Moode from the PCs by opening http://moode.local 
This works from the PCs whether they are connected through ethernet or through WiFi to the network router. 

- However, if I try this from within Chrome on my Android smartphone, I get an error message "This site can't be reached". 
However, I can access websites of all kinds from the phone. It's just http://moode.local that won't connect. 
I've also tried http://moode.local/ (ending with a forward slash).

From the PC, I have gone into the Moode System page and have made sure Wait for eth0 address is On. 
On the Network Config page, Address assignment is set to DHCP and is currently showing the IP address as 192.168.1.4
In the Wireless section I have the SSID set to moode (I do not want AP mode active).  

UPDATE: I can access the Moode UI by typing in the IP address assigned to the Pi by DHCP. At the moment it's 192.168.1.4. I'll save a shortcut to that and test it out. I suppose it will change over time.
That means I'll have to set the IP address to STATIC and assign one. Is that the best way to get this set up so I can use my phone to select songs, albums, etc?

Thanks in advance for any help or information.

[Klausi69]

After a long period, Android finally supports the basic networking feature, mDNS .local resolution. Perhaps your device is not fitted with latest firmware:
https://www.androidpolice.com/android-md...-hostname/

[rongon]

Thanks for the quick reply!

Hmmm... Update the phone's firmware then? That's not a happy thought, because as was noted in the article, Google's been silently rolling out the updates that enable mDNS, and it's not easy to find good instructions for how to perform the firmware update on my phone.

It seems the app Samsung wants us to use to update the phone's firmware is Samsung Smart Switch. But that looks like a data transfer app (transfer your personal data from your old phone to a new one). The Samsung website's description of the app is typically fluffy and uninformative re: firmware updating.

I think rather than messing with this messiness, I'll set Moode to use a static IP address and bookmark that in the phones' browsers.

[rongon]

Note for anyone else who stumbles onto this thread...

As of September 2022, installing Smart Switch on a Windows PC is a fairly hot mess. It's a long process, requiring the installation of a service pack to a 2008 version of the Microsoft Foundation Classes (which took a long time for some reason) and then installation of device drivers. After a good long install process, you get a screen that prompts you to update your newly installed Smart Switch app, so you get to do the installation process all over again! Nice, eh?

And then... I connect the phone to the PC and... "Unsupported USB Connection" - "Change the connection mode to transfer media files (MTP) and try connecting again."

Down the software conflict rabbit hole I go.

So much fun.

[Nutul]

Note for anyone else who stumbles onto this thread...

As of September 2022, installing Smart Switch on a Windows PC is a fairly hot mess. It's a long process, requiring the installation of a service pack to a 2008 version of the Microsoft Foundation Classes (which took a long time for some reason) and then installation of device drivers. After a good long install process, you get a screen that prompts you to update your newly installed Smart Switch app, so you get to do the installation process all over again! Nice, eh?

And then... I connect the phone to the PC and... "Unsupported USB Connection" - "Change the connection mode to transfer media files (MTP) and try connecting again."

Down the software conflict rabbit hole I go.

So much fun.

I am indeed so sad things went the hardest way for you... I am using Linux since 1995 (and happy to have done so since...)
I wonder... have you just tried, before, a simple http://moode ??? (without the .local thing... just asking)
<rant>
It's so weird, and frustrating, in 2022, with all the zero-conf facility, to still have to go through static IPs just because a messOS refuses to align to the mainstream.
</rant>

Cheers, Al.

[TheOldPresbyope]

For those who may be drawn to this thread by its title "...from Android phones", what's being outlined here seems to be rather specific to Samsung phones. Samsung is well-known for not installing "pure" Android O/S but rather a Samsung-specific release of it. The approach being taken by @rongon using "Samsung Smart Switch" appears to be a Samsung-specific approach to solving the problem as well.

As a counterexample, my Google Pixel 3A phone alerted me that I could upgrade to Android 12 in October 2021 and I did so. At some point after that the web browsers on my Pixel 3A began resolving mDNS addresses---likely in early 2022 after one of the periodic security updates. I don't know when specifically because I had gotten used to the feature not being present so didn't constantly check it.

The moral of this story is, pay attention to which vendor's release of Android is being discussed and what version of Android from the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) it's based on.

Regards,
Kent

[rongon]

Update #2.

After an hour-long battle with Samsung Smart Switch and learning how to get the phone to switch from USB tethering to media file transfer mode, I found out that the phone's own updating app had everything up to the latest version. There is no firmware update that enables mDNS on this particular phone (Samsung S10e).

The solution is then to assign a static IP address to the RPi and create a bookmark in the Android device's browser to access the Moode UI.

That was a frustrating experience...

EDIT TO ADD: TheOldPresbyope nailed it. Good to know that the issue is resolved on Google Pixel 3A. Perhaps sometime in the not too distant future Samsung will update this in their Android implementation. It seems not all Android 12 installs are alike (but you already knew that). In the meantime, I'd be happy to change the title of this thread to "Can't open moode.local from Samsung Android phone". (If I knew the answer to the question when I wrote the question then I'd have phrased the question more precisely!)

[Nutul]

For those who may be drawn to this thread by its title "...from Android phones", what's being outlined here seems to be rather specific to Samsung phones. Samsung is well-known for not installing "pure" Android O/S but rather a Samsung-specific release of it. The approach being taken by @rongon using "Samsung Smart Switch" appears to be a Samsung-specific approach to solving the problem as well.

As a counterexample, my Google Pixel 3A phone alerted me that I could upgrade to Android 12 in October 2021 and I did so. At some point after that the web browsers on my Pixel 3A began resolving mDNS addresses---likely in early 2022 after one of the periodic security updates. I don't know when specifically because I had gotten used to the feature not being present so didn't constantly check it.

The moral of this story is, pay attention to which vendor's release of Android is being discussed and what version of Android from the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) it's based on.

Regards,
Kent

Uh, this is weird. Indeed, maybe arrogantly, I got it as a whole-Android thing. Good clarification, thanks.

Cheers, Al.