First of all, I’d like to apologize for the delay in communicating this but if you read on, you’ll see why it took so long.
Now, I have received a number of reports from users who have trouble getting their Reemote to connect to the Reemote server even though everything was setup correctly and the Mac OSX firewall and/or it’s stealth-mode option had been turned off, as described here.
Of course I immediately started investigating the issue, however, countless hours of debugging as well as rewriting most of my network code so far did not reveal anything at all. Instead it seems like the issue is somehow related to the Wifi network the App is operating on. More precisely it is WPA2 encryption that seems to be causing problems with these kind of Applications on iOS in general.
Technical details
So, it appears that Bonjour on iOS has (or might has in certain scenarios) issues when operating on WPA2 encrypted Wifi networks. In this case meaning that Bonjour simply does not find any services or even does not search at all.
In the case of Reemote, this results in the reported condition – Reemote keeps searching for a server.
Workaround
Since about every networked Application or device in the Apple world is using Bonjour, others seem to be facing similar issues. However, the only workarounds that appear to exist are to either not use Bonjour at all, or if one has to – not to use WPA2.
I can confirm that for me, switching from WPA2 only to WPA/WPA2 does solve all issues with Bonjour, leaving it rock solid and making all Applications relying on it work noticably better.
However, I’d love to hear how it worked out for you! If you try this, sharing your experience would help a lot!
How to configure an Airport
- Fire up the AirPort Utility
- You’ll see all of your AirPort’s listed, double-click the one that provides your Access Point.
- A window will pop up, choose the Wireless tab and make sure Wireless Security is set to WPA/WPA2 as shown below.
- After that, apply your settings – the AirPort will restart.
- Also, it might be necessary to restart the Reemote App on your iOS device (by removing it from the app-switcher) before giving it another try.
Future options
To provide another workaround, future versions of Reemote will have the option to disable Bonjour and to manual provide of the server address instead.
This, as well as a fix for the previously reported Stealth-Mode issue will be included in Reemote 1.2.3 and ReemoteHD v1.1.1 – both shipping in the coming weeks.
Hi there.
I am interested in buying your app so that I can control airfoil on my iMac via my iPhone and iPod touch.
Couple of questions.
Do I need to buy it twice to install on each iOS device or just once?
Second, does your reemote control Rdio? I use an airport express and I find running Rdio with my iPod touch drains the battery fast. So I want to have my iMac run Rdio via airfoil and use your reemote to control airfoil and hopefully Rdio if it can. That way I won’t drain my iOS devices battery.
Thanks.
Chad
Hey there,
Regarding your first question, Reemote is not a universal App meaning that there’s an iPhone App and a separate iPad App.
However, like anything in the AppStore, once you bought something, you’re allowed to install it to all of your devices that are capable of running it, e.g if you buy Reemote you can install it on all of your iPhones and iPod touches.
About Rdio, it’s currently not supported for remote control, but it’s on my list and should roll out with one of the upcoming updates.
Hope it helped.
-Kai
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Hi Kai,
Wondering if Rdio is now supported for the remote control or is it still in the works? This is a big factor for me in switching to airfoil.
Cheers and thanks
Chad
It is, have a look at this post http://blog.010dev.com/2011/12/18/reemote-for-airfoil-1-3-has-arrived/
in combination with Airfoil 4, you’ll also get metadata like cover-art and such.
another problem with Rdio (I am in Canada and we don’t have spottily available…yet) is that I can only use the Rdio app to control 1 set of speakers at a time…and I am hoping that when/if the airfoil remote controls rdio, I can also have the music play over multiple sets of airplay enabled speakers.
Cheers
Chad