Connection closed

Leronyoung

Any particular brand or model?

peter

No, any router will work. I use an old Airport Express. Small footprint and strong signal.

musicadi

Well, I never used a router and it always worked until lately. @peter when could we expect the auto-reconnect to host festure? Thank you! 🙏

peter

I can't tell. It is hard to fix an issue I can not reproduce myself. First I would need a way to see these disconnects. But for me the connection is absolutely stable.

EDIT: If you have this 30 second disconnect issue. Please send me the logfiles from both host and client via Settings > Create Support Email. They might contain some additional information.

musicadi

peter I just sent you the emails from within the app.

peter

After spending the last 4 hours analyzing this issue, I can reproduce it when I disable wifi on host and client devices therefore forcing the connection to use Bluetooth. Automatic reconnections work not very well as they need a couple of seconds to reestablish.

I did find the following information from Apple on the developer forums:

Multipeer Connectivity accesses peer-to-peer networking through Bonjour. The system’s Bonjour support no longer works over Bluetooth. Thus, Multipeer Connectivity no longer works over Bluetooth.
...
Keep in mind that Multipeer Connectivity is effectively deprecated. While we haven’t officially deprecated it [2], most use cases are better served by other networking APIs. See TN3151 Choosing the right networking API for more on that.

Other developers are also reporting similar issues in their apps (no reply from Apple to this since March):

We have an app that runs on two iPads, in two different modes, that communicate with one another using Apple's Multipeer Connectivity APIs. Last week, after upgrading to iPadOS 17.4 we have had MANY customer reports of erratic connectivity, only on iPadOS 17.4. The iPads connect for 30 seconds to a minute, disconnect, reconnect for a short time again, and repeat.
...
it is easy to replicate the issue on iPadOS 17.4. You must be disconnected from Wi-Fi, but still have the adapter enabled. (We disconnect via the iPad control center.) The pair of iPads will only stay connected for about 30 seconds before disconnecting.

As I can reproduce the issue by disabling wifi, I think the connection falls back to Bluetooth, which is no longer working correctly and as the whole technology seems to be deprecated (although not officially deprecated yet), we can not expect any fixes from Apple.

Effectively this means that Adhoc networking without a wifi network no longer works. You absolutely need to bring your own wifi.

I will investigate other networking APIs (like Websockets for example) for version 4 but those will also need a wifi network. So effectively starting with iOS 17.4 and above, adhoc networking has been killed as far as I can see it.

musicadi

peter Nice…. Apple does a great job at being Apple again! Anyway, if I disable Wi-fi, I don’t even see the session, so in my case the problem is not bluetooth. I will try to see if I can setup a hotspot from my host iPad and connect the client to that. I think that only works though if I have a SIM card. Might be a good alternative to getting a router.

I will reproduce the issue and send you the logs. Let’s see if you find something helpful in there. Thank you!

peter

Your logs look exactly like mine. And I have to clarify what I mean by "disable" Wifi: I did not completely disable it in iOS settings, but just disabled the connection to the current wifi network in control center.

But in the end it does not change anything: You need a wifi router. Adhoc network (even via hotspot) will not work.

musicadi

peter Yes, I left Wi-fi on in settings and only “forgot” the current network. Bluetooth on or off doesn’t change anything.

Btw, I found this on Github. Do you think it could be useful for this purpose?

https://github.com/robbiehanson/CocoaHTTPServer

Lishy

peter hi Peter, when you say wifi do you mean going via LAN no longer works either?

musicadi

musicadi or how about GameKit?

peter

musicadi No, I will roll my own (based on Apples Network framework as recommend by the TN3151 technote). In the course of the last couple of years I have replaced most 3rd party frameworks in Stage Traxx with my own code because these frameworks tend to get neglected as time goes by. Problems start to pile up after a couple of years and then the amount of work necessary to replace it is often way bigger than implementing it yourself in the first place.

Especially the one you posted has not been updated in the last 10 years!

peter

Lishy To be honest, I never tried a wired lan connection on my iOS devices. But on macOS, that works fine for me.

Lishy

peter I meant I connect to a router wirelessly via its LAN?

peter

That's a wifi connection then.

Lishy

peter ok I took wifi to mean attached to a WAN.
So connecting via Bluetooth no longer works/isn’t reliable from iOS 17.4 and onwards?

Damir

Lishy APPLE GONE PEAR SHAPE AGAIN!

peter

Lishy So connecting via Bluetooth no longer works/isn’t reliable from iOS 17.4 and onwards?

Only networking via Bluetooth no longer works at all and adhoc networks work at least unreliably.

Using Bluetooth for audio or pedals works fine.

Rich13

Hi Peter and everyone, I had the "connection closed" issue on a gig last night. Host iPad is Air 4, receiving iPads are 6th gen 17.5, and 5th gen 16.7. All iPads running ST3 3.8.17, using external router on 5ghz band. 5th Gen iPad was fine all gig, 6th Gen iPad showed connection closed after 30 seconds or so. Had to reset iPad and disconnect/re-connect WiFi 3 times before it worked correctly, luckily didn't disconnect again. With the recent Bluetooth issues, would it help to turn Bluetooth off?

peter

If you disable Bluetooth you will not be able to use any bluetooth pedals. If you don't use Bluetooth, it is surely worth a shot.

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