--- title: "Home Assistant app not connecting on iPhone: causes and fixes" description: "Most often the app is not allowed to use your local address: the iPhone's Local Network permission is off, Precise Location is off so the app cannot read your Wi-Fi name, or that Wi-Fi is not listed as your home network. Away from home, check remote access. Update the app first: several 2026 versions fixed connection bugs." canonical: "https://vulpo.app/guides/home-assistant-app-not-connecting-iphone" url: "https://vulpo.app/guides/home-assistant-app-not-connecting-iphone.md" last-updated: "2026-10-30" version: "1.4" --- # Home Assistant app not connecting on iPhone: causes and fixes > Most often the app is not allowed to use your local address: the iPhone's Local Network permission is off, Precise Location is off so the app cannot read your Wi-Fi name, or that Wi-Fi is not listed as your home network. Away from home, check remote access. Update the app first: several 2026 versions fixed connection bugs. ## Start with updates and the app's own checks Update the Home Assistant app and Home Assistant before anything else: several connection problems in 2026 were bugs in one version, not in anyone's setup, and the table lists them. Then let the app say what it sees. In the app, open Settings > Companion app and tap your server to reach Server Details, which marks the address in use right now. Tap an address there, choose Edit, then Understand Internal vs External URLs: that page lists the conditions for using your local address, ticks the ones that are met and shows the Connection security level. When no address can be used, Server Details shows a Troubleshooting button in place of Sync, which opens the same page. When the dashboard does not load at all, the error screen shows a code, an Open settings button and Connectivity diagnostics, which test DNS, the port, the certificate and the server one by one. | Versions | What you see | Fixed in | | --- | --- | --- | | Home Assistant 2026.10 with app 2026.10.0 or older | The connection drops about once a minute and comes back by itself; Assist requests get lost | App 2026.10.1 | | App 2026.7 or older | "Connection lost. Reconnecting..." stays on screen after the app was in the background | App 2026.8.0 | | iOS 27 with a plain http local address | Dashboards take seconds to load at home, while the same dashboard over https is quick | App 2026.9.3 | | App 2026.10.0 or older after a password change | The app retries its old login many times a minute and Home Assistant shows "Login attempt failed" notifications | App 2026.10.1, then sign in again (see below) | ## Works away from home, fails on your Wi-Fi The app picks an address by the name of the Wi-Fi network it is on, never by GPS or zones. It uses the Internal URL only on the Wi-Fi networks listed for your server, and Home Assistant Cloud or the External URL everywhere else. If iOS does not give the app the Wi-Fi name, or the name is not on the list, your home looks like any other place to the app. Location, Local Network and Cellular Data are all on the app's own page in Settings > Apps > Home Assistant. - List every Wi-Fi name: In Server Details, open Internal URL and add each network your home uses under Home network, including a 5 GHz name if it differs, mesh or extender names and an IoT network. Since app 2026.9.3, setup asks before saving your current Wi-Fi as home, so skipping that step leaves the list empty. - Turn on Precise Location: iOS shares the Wi-Fi name only with apps that have precise location. In Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Home Assistant, turn on Precise Location. While Using the App is enough for the app itself; choose Always if widgets, Shortcuts, notification actions and sensors should use the local address in the background too. - Check the Connection security level: With a plain http Internal URL the app asks you to choose. Most secure uses that address only on the listed networks, so without location access the app connects from nowhere and shows "You're disconnected". Less secure uses it on any network, public Wi-Fi included, where the connection is unencrypted. An https address avoids the choice. - Two places, one Wi-Fi name: A holiday home or a travel router with the same network name looks like home to the app, which then tries the local address there too. Rename one of the networks. ## Safari opens Home Assistant, the app does not That points to the iPhone's Local Network permission. Safari does not need it, but the app's own connection to a local address does, and so does every homeassistant.local name. An address that leads out through the internet, such as Home Assistant Cloud, works without it, which is why the app may still connect through the cloud while the local address fails. The error screen then often says "The Internet connection appears to be offline", code -1009, while the Wi-Fi works fine. - Check the switch: Open Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network and turn on Home Assistant. - If it is already on: Turn it off and on again, close the app in the app switcher and open it on your home Wi-Fi. If that does not help, restart the iPhone. Apple has documented cases in iOS 17, iOS 18 and macOS where the switch showed on while access was off. - After reinstalling: Deleting the app resets the permission. Open the app on your home Wi-Fi and allow the prompt. If the first local connection comes from a widget or a notification in the background, iOS refuses it without asking, and the app may not appear in the list until it connects with the app open. ## What the error codes mean The error screen shows a code from iOS. The same code can have more than one cause, so start with the first thing to try. | Code | Usually means | Try | | --- | --- | --- | | -1009 | Local Network permission off, or Cellular Data off for the app, although the phone is online | Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network; Settings > Cellular (Mobile Data in some regions), the Home Assistant switch | | -1001 | Nothing reachable at that address: a wrong IP, a guest or IoT Wi-Fi without access to Home Assistant, a firewall | Open the same address in Safari on the same Wi-Fi | | -1003 | The name cannot be found: a homeassistant.local name across networks, a DNS filter, a typo | Try the IP address; pause ad-blocking and DNS apps | | -1004 | Nothing answers on that port: Home Assistant is restarting, or the port is wrong | Try the address with and without :8123 in Safari | | -1200 | The secure connection failed, often https sent to a plain http port | Check whether the address should start with http or https | | -1201 | The certificate has expired, or the phone's clock is wrong | Renew the certificate; Settings > General > Date & Time > Set Automatically | | -1202 | The certificate is not trusted or names another address, such as https to an IP with a certificate for your domain | Use http for the local IP, or the name the certificate was issued for | | 400 | A reverse proxy that Home Assistant does not trust | See certificates, proxies and bans below | | 403 | Home Assistant has banned the phone's IP address | See certificates, proxies and bans below | ## Works at home, fails away from home Away from your listed Wi-Fi networks the app uses Home Assistant Cloud if its switch is on, and the External URL otherwise. With neither, Home Assistant is reachable only at home. - Home Assistant Cloud: In Home Assistant, open Settings > Home Assistant Cloud > Remote access and turn on Remote connection. In the app, open External URL in Server Details and turn on Home Assistant Cloud. The switch appears there only once Remote connection is on. From December 2, 2026, Home Assistant Cloud is called Home Assistant Link; the subscription stays the same. - Your own address or a VPN: Enter it as External URL. iOS cannot treat a VPN as your home network, so the address you reach through Tailscale or WireGuard belongs in External URL, with the VPN on whenever you are away. - Cellular Data off for the app: Settings > Cellular (Mobile Data in some regions) lists every app with a switch; Home Assistant needs it on. - Port forwarding that never arrives: Many internet connections share one public address among several customers (CGNAT, or DS-Lite on some cable and fiber lines), so forwarded ports never reach your home. Home Assistant Cloud, Tailscale or a Cloudflare Tunnel work without an open port. - Your domain fails only at home: Some routers cannot send a request for your public address back into the home network. Set an Internal URL and list your Wi-Fi names, so the app uses the local address at home. ## Stuck after a password change, restore or move When Home Assistant stops accepting the app's login, after a password change, a restored backup or a move to a new address, the app can keep retrying instead of asking you to sign in. It shows "Unable to connect to Home Assistant" or "Session is no longer valid", while Safari logs in normally. Reinstalling the app does not help, because the server comes back from the iPhone's keychain. - Re-authenticate: In Server Details, choose Re-authenticate. It signs in again and keeps your addresses and settings. - Delete and add the server: If that fails, choose Delete Server in Server Details, close the app and add the server again. From a broken dashboard, Open settings on the error screen leads there. - Clean up: If Home Assistant now lists the phone twice under Settings > Devices & services > Mobile App, remove the old entry. ## Ports, networks and blockers If Safari on the same iPhone cannot open the local address either, the cause is the network, not the app. - New installs use another port: Home Assistant OS installs set up with 2026.8 or later answer at a plain address, http://homeassistant.local, without :8123. Existing installs keep their port. Use whichever address opens in Safari. - Guest and IoT networks: A phone on another network or VLAN than Home Assistant needs a route and a firewall rule to reach it, and homeassistant.local names do not cross networks without an mDNS reflector. Join the same network or use the IP address. Client isolation on a guest Wi-Fi blocks it completely. - Ad blockers and DNS filters: Apps that filter through a VPN or a DNS profile can block your domain, duckdns.org or nabu.casa. Pause the filter to test, then allow your Home Assistant address. - DNS rebind protection: Routers such as the FRITZ!Box refuse names that point to a private address. If your own domain leads to your home IP at home, add it as an exception to the router's DNS rebind protection; on a FRITZ!Box that is under Home Network > Network > Network Settings. ## Certificates, proxies and bans These matter when Home Assistant runs with https on your own address or behind a proxy. - Self-signed certificates: The app offers Trust Certificate when you add the server. If you replace the certificate later it does not ask again, so delete the server and add it again. Installing your own certificate authority on the iPhone and turning it on in Settings > General > About > Certificate Trust Settings works too. - A certificate for another name: A connection with https to an IP address fails when the certificate is for your domain, because the names do not match. Use http for the local IP, or a local DNS entry for the domain. - Reverse proxy, error 400: Home Assistant refuses requests from a proxy it does not trust and logs "A request from a reverse proxy was received". Since Home Assistant 2026.8 the fix is in Settings > System > Network > HTTP server: turn on Trust X-Forwarded-For and add the proxy's address under Trusted proxies. The proxy also has to pass WebSocket connections. - Banned IP, error 403: Home Assistant bans nobody unless login attempts were limited in the same HTTP server settings. A ban never expires on its own: delete the address from ip_bans.yaml in the configuration folder and restart Home Assistant. ## Where Vulpo fits Vulpo is a native Home Assistant app for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. It reads the Wi-Fi name the same way, so the Local Network and Precise Location steps above apply to it too. Where it differs: when the local address stops answering, it switches to your remote address by itself, and when the Local Network permission is off it says so instead of retrying. With Home Assistant Cloud it finds the remote address on its own, without an External URL. When Home Assistant stops accepting its login, Vulpo shows the session as expired and offers to sign in again or to use an access token. It needs iOS 26 or newer. Vulpo is made by the publisher of this site. ## Why does Home Assistant open in Safari but not in the app? Safari does not need the iPhone's Local Network permission, the app does. Check Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network. If Home Assistant is already on there, turn it off and on and open the app on your home Wi-Fi. ## Does the Home Assistant app need my location? To use your local address, yes: iOS gives the Wi-Fi name only to apps with Precise Location. Without it, give Home Assistant an https remote address such as Home Assistant Cloud, or set the Connection security level to Less secure. ## Why does the app keep saying "Connection lost. Reconnecting..."? The dashboard shows it whenever its live connection drops, for example while Home Assistant restarts or the phone moves from Wi-Fi to cellular. If it never goes away, update the app: 2026.8.0 fixed a hang after the app sat in the background, and 2026.10.1 fixed drops about once a minute with Home Assistant 2026.10. ## Does reinstalling the app reset everything? No. It resets the Local Network permission, but the server and its login come back from the iPhone's keychain. To start over, delete the server in Server Details first. ## Which port does Home Assistant use? 8123 on most existing installs. Home Assistant OS installs set up with 2026.8 or later answer at http://homeassistant.local without a port. Use the address that opens in Safari. ## Sources - [Apple: TN3179, Understanding local network privacy](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/technotes/tn3179-understanding-local-network-privacy) - [Apple Support: If an app would like to connect to devices on your local network](https://support.apple.com/en-us/102229) - [Home Assistant Companion docs: Connection security level](https://companion.home-assistant.io/docs/getting_started/connection-security-level) - [Home Assistant Companion docs: Networking troubleshooting](https://companion.home-assistant.io/docs/troubleshooting/networking) - [Home Assistant: HTTP integration](https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/http/) - [Home Assistant 2026.8 release notes](https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2026/08/05/release-20268/) - [Home Assistant iOS: how the app picks an address (issue 4605)](https://github.com/home-assistant/iOS/issues/4605) - [Home Assistant iOS: drops with Home Assistant 2026.10 (issue 6011)](https://github.com/home-assistant/iOS/issues/6011) - [Home Assistant iOS releases](https://github.com/home-assistant/iOS/releases) Vulpo 1.4. Last updated 2026-10-30. Source: https://vulpo.app/guides/home-assistant-app-not-connecting-iphone --- - HTML version of this page: https://vulpo.app/guides/home-assistant-app-not-connecting-iphone - Site index for agents: https://vulpo.app/llms.txt - Everything in one document: https://vulpo.app/llms-full.txt - All pages: https://vulpo.app/sitemap.xml