Connecting Android from Another Network

[dmccall]

Problem: I can connect the Android app just fine from home, however when I leave my network, the app will not connect to my computer automatically.

Provisional Solution: The only way to get it to connect is to Force Stop the app, then reconnect. It always connects successfully after force stopping. Then when I go to another network (my office, my sister's house, coffee shop, etc), the app will not connect until I Force Stop the app and reconnect again.

Is there a way to get the app to recognize that it is on a new network since running last time, then reinitializing the connection when it realizes it is on a different network? Force stopping is really inconvenient. I am running v1.3.6.1, but I have had this problem with every version since Ceton first introduced the Android My Media Center app.

(BTW, the best way I have found to Force Stop in Android is to go to All Apps, long-pressing My Media Center, and dragging it up to App Info. The App Info page has the Force Stop button.)

[barnabas1969]

I've never had this problem. When you are finished using MMC at home, do you exit all the way out (using the "Back" button on your phone/tablet), or do you just press the "Home" button? I usually exit all the way out by pressing "Back" several times. Then, when I open the app somewhere else (away from home), it connects fine.

[dmccall]

Thanks for the reply, @barnabas1969. I do not properly leave the app. I just hit the Home button. I will try your method and see if it will connect properly on a new network.

[dmccall]

barnabas1969, The action of backing out of the app seems to be working correctly. Apparently there is a handshake that occurs when the app is launched, that does not occur when the app is simply continued.

SUGGESTION FOR CETON: Have a timeout period the user can set (default 120 mins), which forces the app to completely restart when the app is activated at: timestamp > (lastboot+interval).

I have a few apps on my Android phone that have a true Exit function in their menu and it is a pain. When I leave an app that isn't streaming media, I'm leaving it for a long time!! (I think that Android allows a process to run in the background to monitor last time an app was active)

[Motz]

Have you tried to go back to "Select PC" and reconnect instead of actually having to force quit?

How the app works is if the app is open and you switch networks it will attempt on your old settings and if that fails it will attempt to switch to your other settings.

What device are you on?

[dmccall]

@Motz, thanks for the reply. I have been trying to see what I could to to reproduce the error during a very busy month. I am using a Nexus 5.

I was able to verify what I described above. For clarity, here is what I'm doing to reproduce the problem:
1) Connect successfully to my HTPC on one network (most likely home - where the htpc is, work, or on AT&T cellular LTE connection).
2) Jump to another app (not backing out of the app or force closing it)
3) Change location and connect to that network (most likely work, AT&T or home)
4) Open the app. The app shows the same screen it did when I was last using it.
5) When I try to go to another screen, I get "Unable to Show Information. Please check connection to network"
6) Going to the Select PC screen and reselecting my machine produces the same "Unable to Show..." message.
7) Back out of app using Nexus 5 "Back" button at bottom of screen -or- Force Stop app
8) Relaunch app and it works as intended.

Oh, of course, this isn't completely reproducible. Right now I tried it from my office, and about 20 seconds after showing "Unable to Show" message, app connected to the htpc and app works perfectly. This is version 1.3.6.2 - a ..1 update since my original post.

[barnabas1969]

Oh, I should mention that I have mine configured so that the "local" and "remote" addresses both point to my external host name and port number. I do this with all my Android apps. When I'm on my local network, my router just redirects the traffic to the local network resource as configured in port forwarding. This way, if I walk out of the house and out of range of my WiFi, my apps keep working.

[dmccall]

I have a dyndns account that I used to point to my Remote Potato setup. @barnabas1969, are you saying that you'd just point this app to that account and just change my router's port forwarding to point to My Media Center?

[barnabas1969]

Yes. I set both the local and remote addresses to point to my dynamic DNS host name. I use no-ip.org. Then just forward the external port to your PC. The external port doesn't necessarily have to be the same as the port number you've configured in the My Media Center service on the PC.