React app not visible on local wireless network

problem

I created a React app and I want to see it on my mobile phone, using the local network that has a wireless router.

When I npm start the app, it says:

You can now view the-most-awesome-app in the browser.       

  Local:            http://localhost:3000        
  On Your Network:  http://172.**.***.1:3000    

(I masked the IP here with stars out of probably unnecessary precaution)

But when I try to use http://172.**.***.1:3000 on my phone it doesn't work.

This is the IP address shown in ipconfig too.

I tried creating an Inbound rule in the Firewall, even disabling the Firewall, nothing worked.

solution

Turns out I was using the wrong IP, and npm start was also showing me the wrong one.

Doing ipconfig in a command prompt showed this, among other entries:

C:\Users\Dan>ipconfig

Ethernet adapter vEthernet (Default Switch):

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::****:****:c027:522e%47
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 172.**.***.1
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.240.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

[...]

Wireless LAN adapter WiFi:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::****:****:d468:a03e%16
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.194
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

It turns out that the correct IP to use is NOT the one under the section Ethernet adapter vEthernet (Default Switch), but the one under Wireless LAN adapter WiFi.

So, in my case, http://192.168.0.194:3000 worked on my mobile phone.

React local IP

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Author: Dan Dumitru
Last Edit: November 7, 2022
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