App suddenly stopped working when using OpenVPN

[dockdoc]

Hi all,

Wondering if anyone has any insights here? I've been using OpenVPN and the Blue Iris app on iphone for several years without issue. All of a sudden it stopped working this weekend, including on my wife's phone.

Our usual process is connect to OpenVPN (which is configured on the home router), then open BI app, connect. Now it just says "Connecting" then "Retrying" but doesn't ever connect.

I thought it might be an issue with the VPN so I did some troubleshooting, but don't think that's it. For example, if I connect via VPN on my laptop (from a different network), I can connect to the VPN easily, then to go my LAN address and use the BI Web UI no problem. So that suggests to me that the VPN is working OK.

I checked my BI App settings, which I hadn't touched, and they're correct. The app works fine when at home on the Wifi.

Kind of puzzled here. Appreciate suggestions!

update - I think the problem is actually related to OpenVPN and iOS. I noticed that I wasn’t also able to access my network config app while connected, which I usually can when on the VPN. Rebooting iPhone didn’t work. I’m suspecting there’s a bug that’s creating issues.

In the process of researching this I learned about WireGuard which my router also supports, so I installed and configured that and it works perfectly and I can access BlueIris using it. So… I guess that’s my solution? Really annoying because I had zero issues with OpenVPN for so long.

 

[PoeNoPoe]

Hi all,

Wondering if anyone has any insights here? I've been using OpenVPN and the Blue Iris app on iphone for several years without issue. All of a sudden it stopped working this weekend, including on my wife's phone.

Our usual process is connect to OpenVPN (which is configured on the home router), then open BI app, connect. Now it just says "Connecting" then "Retrying" but doesn't ever connect.

I thought it might be an issue with the VPN so I did some troubleshooting, but don't think that's it. For example, if I connect via VPN on my laptop (from a different network), I can connect to the VPN easily, then to go my LAN address and use the BI Web UI no problem. So that suggests to me that the VPN is working OK.

I checked my BI App settings, which I hadn't touched, and they're correct. The app works fine when at home on the Wifi.

Kind of puzzled here. Appreciate suggestions!

update - I think the problem is actually related to OpenVPN and iOS. I noticed that I wasn’t also able to access my network config app while connected, which I usually can when on the VPN. Rebooting iPhone didn’t work. I’m suspecting there’s a bug that’s creating issues.

In the process of researching this I learned about WireGuard which my router also supports, so I installed and configured that and it works perfectly and I can access BlueIris using it. So… I guess that’s my solution? Really annoying because I had zero issues with OpenVPN for so long.

Same issue, curious if anyone found a workaround for openVPN.

openVPN on PC still works, can see cams and remote into the blue iris server no issues, but on ios openVPN connects and goes green saying it has a connection to the home router but no access to Blue Iris or Plex server (both on same PC). WAN address matches Blue Iris server so I agree it does seem to be an openVPN & ios issue/

 

[dockdoc]

Glad to hear I wasn’t the only one with this problem! For what it’s worth I switched our devices to Wireguard and that seems to be working well. It was a steep learning curve to get WireGuard up and running properly, much more challenging than OpenVPN but it seems to be quite reliable and effective, and plenty of resources on Reddit and other places.

 

[Kameraad]

Usually when you create a username with a certificate in openvpn, it has an expiration date. Could it be that you created the certificates for you and your wife at the same time and your laptop a while later? Maybe try creating a new login and test with that. On my phone (android) it is possible to see the openvpn log, icon at the top right corner, maybe that will tell you what the problem is.

 

[dockdoc]

While I didn’t know that was the case, when I was troubleshooting openVPN I created new certificates, so I’m guessing that wasn’t the issue. Appreciate the suggestion though.