Server and Ports

Gurdip_Gill · January 18, 2019, 5:29pm

Hi All,

I have an app that I submitted to the app store. The app connects to our server on port 8081, we have tested this app
in several different locations to make sure it is working. We tested on different Wifi and cellular connections and all is working.

The app got rejected for the reason it can’t connect to the server. I mentioned to the reviewer if they have a firewall
it may be blocking that specific port, but they still can’t connect.

Any suggestions that may help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Hal_Gumbert · January 18, 2019, 5:50pm

Can you use port 80? Or use port 80 and map it internally to 8081?

Gurdip_Gill · January 18, 2019, 5:56pm

Hi Hal,

I have a webserver running on port 80, maybe I will turn the web server off and try your suggestion.

Thanks

Hal_Gumbert · January 18, 2019, 5:58pm

Another option would be to use different servers / IP addresses so both can be on port 80.

Andrew_Lambert · January 18, 2019, 6:01pm

Could you use port 443 (HTTPS) for one of them?

Hal_Gumbert · January 18, 2019, 6:04pm

Yet another option would be to use NGINX as it could route www.gill.com to the web site and app.gill.com to the app server. Lots of options!

Gurdip_Gill · January 18, 2019, 7:41pm

I have the server running on port 80, everything seems to work. Will this work with Apple when they are reviewing the
app?

Is that port opened normally on all routers?

Thanks all for the awesome advice.

Brian_O_Brien · January 18, 2019, 10:34pm

Last time I submitted a ‘server app’ i was rejected because I was not testing to ensure that there was an internet connection to connect to… Apple will suggest a ‘reachability’ module that you should use to ensure that your clients and servers behave without timing out and blocking the user.

Stéphane_Mons · January 19, 2019, 3:08pm

@Gurdip Gill I think Apple no longer allows apps to connect to unsecured (HTTP) web servers if they use NSURLSession or NSURLConnection internally.

You should get a free certificate and make your web server run on port 443 (HTTPS)

See this article

Jason_King · January 19, 2019, 8:38pm

If you need to check if you have internet connection, a full implementation of the Reachability module you mention is contained within iOSKit.

Gurdip_Gill · January 23, 2019, 6:57pm

I found the problem, just incase anyone else runs into this when submitting to the app store.

Apple now only accept ipv6 when connecting to a server, I was using ipv4 for all my testing, switching to ipv6
and the app was accepted.

Thanks for all the help.