Not able to open shark link when using my iphone as a hotspot

Km6df

All my openspots 2,3,and 4 pro work fine with my home network and iphone 16. When I take my OP on the road it switches to the phone fine however when I try to open shark link on the phone on the road it keeps trying to use the home IP address and I can't access the openSpot.
thanks for the help
DennisKM6DF

HA2NON

Try using http://openspot4.local/ to open the web interface.

Km6df

Thanks I tried both the openSpot4 and the M1KE and it didn't work.
Dennis KM6DF

HA2NON

You can open the M1KE's web interface with http://m1ke.local/
You have to enter these into your phone's browser. Other devices won't be able to resolve these addresses as most phones isolate their Wi-Fi hotspot clients.

You have to open the webpage https://www.sharkrf.link/ also in the phone's browser.

Km6df

Sorry but again it doesn’t work. The link opens but will not connect to os4 or M1KE with my iPhone 16 pro max
Dennis Km6DF

KG4ZOW

It sounds like the OpenSPOT may not be connected to your iPhone's wifi in the first place. (This has happened to me a few times, with the OpenSPOT 2, 4, and once with the M1KE.)

If your phone's "name" hasn't been changed since you set it up, it will probably have a name like "Dennis's iPhone". In most cases, the apostrophe between your name and the "s" will actually be a "typographer quote", which most keyboards (including the M1KE's on-screen keyboard) have no way to type. Life will be easier if you change your phone's name to something which doesn't have these quotes in it. As an example, mine is "KG4ZOW iPhone". (Settings -> General -> About -> Name)
You may need to have the (Settings -> Personal Hotspot) screen up on the phone before the OpenSPOT (or anything else) will be able to connect to it. On this screen, turn on the "Allow Others to Join" and "Maximize Compatibility" settings. (Be sure to turn off the "Allow Others to Join" setting when you don't need it, both to save your phone's battery and for security.)
You should see the green "linked rings" logo at the top of the screen when something is connected to the phone's wifi. The phone won't show you any information about what devices are connected, but if nothing was connected before you turn the OpenSPOT on, and then the green linked rings show up while the OpenSPOT is trying to connect, there's a pretty good chance the OpenSPOT is what connected.

Another thing I found useful is to put your home network after the phone's network in the OpenSPOT's list of networks. This way it will still connect to your home network when the phone's wifi is turned off, but you'll be able to test the OpenSPOT connecting to your phone without having to physically leave the house. (It will also connect to the phone's wifi a few seconds sooner.)

On a related note ... on the M1KE, when you manually enter a wifi network and password using the on-screen keyboard, it will overwrite whatever is in wifi network #1. On my M1KE I have my phone's network in #1 and #2, another hotspot device in #3, and my home network in #4. This way I don't need to re-enter my phone's network info after connecting to a temporary network (at a coffee shop or whatever).

Good luck.