Automatic local URL switching frequently fails

[ShawnTheBeachy]

The bug

I have automatic URL switching set up when I am on my home network. I have the following setup:

External network: Only one entry: my externally accessible URL.
Local network: My Wi-Fi name and local URL

I'm not able to reproduce it reliably, but probably 8 times out of 10 when I open the iOS app not on my local network, it still tries to use the local URL. Restarting the app usually switches it to the remote URL.

The OS that Immich Server is running on

Docker on Windows

Version of Immich Server

v1.124.2

Version of Immich Mobile App

v1.124.0 build.187

Platform with the issue

• Server
• Web
• Mobile

Your docker-compose.yml content

#
# WARNING: Make sure to use the docker-compose.yml of the current release:
#
# https://github.com/immich-app/immich/releases/latest/download/docker-compose.yml
#
# The compose file on main may not be compatible with the latest release.
#

name: immich

services:
  immich-server:
    container_name: immich_server
    image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-server:${IMMICH_VERSION:-release}
    extends:
      file: hwaccel.transcoding.yml
      service: nvenc
    volumes:
      # Do not edit the next line. If you want to change the media storage location on your system, edit the value of UPLOAD_LOCATION in the .env file
      - ${UPLOAD_LOCATION}:/usr/src/app/upload
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
    env_file:
      - .env
    ports:
      - '2283:2283'
    depends_on:
      - redis
      - database
    restart: always
    healthcheck:
      disable: false

  immich-machine-learning:
    container_name: immich_machine_learning
    image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-machine-learning:${IMMICH_VERSION:-release}-cuda
    extends:
      file: hwaccel.ml.yml
      service: cuda
    volumes:
      - model-cache:/cache
    env_file:
      - .env
    restart: always
    healthcheck:
      disable: false

  redis:
    container_name: immich_redis
    image: docker.io/redis:6.2-alpine@sha256:eaba718fecd1196d88533de7ba49bf903ad33664a92debb24660a922ecd9cac8
    healthcheck:
      test: redis-cli ping || exit 1
    restart: always

  database:
    container_name: immich_postgres
    image: docker.io/tensorchord/pgvecto-rs:pg14-v0.2.0@sha256:90724186f0a3517cf6914295b5ab410db9ce23190a2d9d0b9dd6463e3fa298f0
    environment:
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
      POSTGRES_USER: ${DB_USERNAME}
      POSTGRES_DB: ${DB_DATABASE_NAME}
      POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS: '--data-checksums'
    volumes:
      # Do not edit the next line. If you want to change the database storage location on your system, edit the value of DB_DATA_LOCATION in the .env file
      - ${DB_DATA_LOCATION}:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: pg_isready --dbname='${DB_DATABASE_NAME}' --username='${DB_USERNAME}' || exit 1; Chksum="$$(psql --dbname='${DB_DATABASE_NAME}' --username='${DB_USERNAME}' --tuples-only --no-align --command='SELECT COALESCE(SUM(checksum_failures), 0) FROM pg_stat_database')"; echo "checksum failure count is $$Chksum"; [ "$$Chksum" = '0' ] || exit 1
      interval: 5m
      start_interval: 30s
      start_period: 5m
    ports:
      - '127.0.0.1:5435:5432'
    command:
      [
        'postgres',
        '-c',
        'shared_preload_libraries=vectors.so',
        '-c',
        'search_path="$$user", public, vectors',
        '-c',
        'logging_collector=on',
        '-c',
        'max_wal_size=2GB',
        '-c',
        'shared_buffers=512MB',
        '-c',
        'wal_compression=on',
      ]
    restart: always

volumes:
  model-cache:

Your .env content

# You can find documentation for all the supported env variables at https://immich.app/docs/install/environment-variables

# The location where your uploaded files are stored
UPLOAD_LOCATION=D:/immich/uploads
# The location where your database files are stored
DB_DATA_LOCATION=D:/immich/.postgres

# To set a timezone, uncomment the next line and change Etc/UTC to a TZ identifier from this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones#List
TZ=Etc/US

# The Immich version to use. You can pin this to a specific version like "v1.71.0"
IMMICH_VERSION=release

# Connection secret for postgres. You should change it to a random password
# Please use only the characters `A-Za-z0-9`, without special characters or spaces
DB_PASSWORD=******

# The values below this line do not need to be changed
###################################################################################
DB_USERNAME=postgres
DB_DATABASE_NAME=immich

Reproduction steps

1. Open the app off my local network.
2. Notice that Immich can't connect to the server. Check the URL, see that it is trying to use the local URL.
3. Reopen the app. Check the URL, see that it is (usually) fixed. Repeat step 3 if not.

Relevant log output

No response

Additional information

Immich's "Location" permissions are set to Always.

[alextran1502]

when I open the iOS app not on my local network

Do you know if this is happening when you are on mobile data or on a different WIFI network?

[ShawnTheBeachy]

@alextran1502 It happens both ways. The other day I had it happen on mobile data, and today I had it happen while on my work Wi-Fi. Wish I could give more info, but I can't seem to reproduce it reliably...

[alextran1502]

Thanks, I will investigate this

[ShawnTheBeachy]

@alextran1502 Not sure if this is helpful, but I just noticed it actually goes the other way, too. I just opened Immich on my local network, and it continued using the remote URL until an app restart.

[alextran1502]

@ShawnTheBeachy can you let me know where do you confirm the connection info?

[ShawnTheBeachy]

@alextran1502 I'm tapping on my profile photo in the top right corner and checking the "Server URL" in the popup.

[alextran1502]

Ah that is not necessarily reflecting the correct info. There is a caching bug of showing the value. However, it is using the correct url

[ShawnTheBeachy]

@alextran1502 Ah I see! Perhaps there’s overlap with some other bug, then? I just encountered this issue again and I did some testing; the app was non-functional until I did a restart and it showed the correct (remote) URL. Any attempts to refresh the library, view albums, search, etc. just showed a spinner indefinitely. I also checked the logs, and it did say “Resuming session at [my local URL]” even though I wasn’t on my Wi-Fi.

EDIT: Looking at the logs more, it does actually look like the sync was succeeding, though. Perhaps some parts of the UI just aren’t using the correct URL or something…?

[pablodre]

Same for Android phones.
I think the URL switch doesn't work. If I turn off the WiFi and refresh (pulling down the screen), it takes forever. But if I close the app and open it again, it works perfectly with 5G (but on then URL server shows a local IP).

[DorukAkinci]

I could actually troubleshoot this to some extent, but I didn't check the iOS mobile app codes.

It seems like this feature actually works. It understood my new local IP address value and also forwarded the requests accordingly. It is visible on the logs however there is an interesting Socket operation failed error message here.

As you can see in the following error message the address 192.168.50.103 is correct however the port 61701 is not correct at all. the URI has the correct 2283 port definition tho. ( a fun fact here, this is actually a full URL, not a URI ) Maybe the mobile app confused some parameters and it is not correctly setting the port and URI variables.

PlatformDispatcher - Catch all

ApiException 400: Socket operation failed: GET /partners (Inner exception: ClientException with SocketException: Connection refused (OS Error: Connection refused, errno = 61), address = 192.168.50.103, port = 61701, uri=http://192.168.50.103:2283/api/partners?direction=shared-by)

#0      IOClient.send (package:http/src/io_client.dart:154)
<asynchronous suspension>
#1      BaseClient._sendUnstreamed (package:http/src/base_client.dart:93)
<asynchronous suspension>
#2      ApiClient.invokeAPI (package:openapi/api_client.dart:101)
<asynchronous suspension>
#3      PartnersApi.getPartners (package:openapi/api/partners_api.dart:102)
<asynchronous suspension>
#4      ApiRepository.checkNull (package:immich_mobile/repositories/api.repository.dart:5)
<asynchronous suspension>
#5      PartnerApiRepository.getAll (package:immich_mobile/repositories/partner_api.repository.dart:22)
<asynchronous suspension>
#6      UserService.getUsersFromServer (package:immich_mobile/services/user.service.dart:63)
<asynchronous suspension>
#7      UserService.refreshUsers (package:immich_mobile/services/user.service.dart:102)
<asynchronous suspension>
#8      AlbumService.refreshRemoteAlbums (package:immich_mobile/services/album.service.dart:172)
<asynchronous suspension>
#9      AlbumNotifier.refreshRemoteAlbums (package:immich_mobile/providers/album/album.provider.dart:31)
<asynchronous suspension>

[Halle914]

Same issue here on Oneplus 12 and Galaxy S24 Ultra.

App does not recognize the switch itself. If I log on through my external IP (through tailscale) outside of my home it connects. But when I come home and connect to wifi it doesn't make the switch itself and stays on external IP and thus no connection at all.

[alextran1502]

@Halle914 Do you have multiple WIFI names on your network?

[Halle914]

@Halle914 Do you have multiple WIFI names on your network?

I do, the following names:

DG72-5 (5Ghz)
DG72 (2,4 Ghz)

Both networks are hidden. But both phones autoconnect to 5Ghz one and are not connect to the other.

Is that an issue?

[alextran1502]

@Halle914, just make sure that the network the phone is connecting to has the same WiFi name as that specified in the Immich app.