[Buschel]

The standard way to connect Kodi Remote App to your Kodi Media Center

1. Have a Kodi Media Center installed on a device. This device must be connected to the same network as your iOS device which runs Kodi Remote App.
   - Example: Run Kodi on a HTPC which is connected to your router. Connect your iOS device via WiFi to the same network.
   
2. Enable support for remote control in the Kodi Media Center in "Settings > Services Control":
   - "Announce these services to other systems = ON"
   - "Allow control of Kodi via HTTP = ON"
   - "Allow remote control from applications on other systems = ON"
   - "Allow remote control from applications on this system = ON"
   - Screenshot: https://ibb.co/w4kdfNg
   
3. In the Remote App please first press "Add Host". In the next menu press "Find Kodi". The Remote App should now find the Kodi Media Center.
   
4. Accept the "Local Network Access" popup which comes up the very first time you use Kodi Remote.
   
5. If you should have set a password and username, enter the same into the mask.
   - Screenshot: https://ibb.co/6NK0v2k
   
6. Finally save and connect to the newly created server entry by selecting it.
   

Screenshots showing the complete flow on an iPhone: https://ibb.co/Snq9pcw

Troubleshooting:

1. Can Kodi Media Center be accessed from a browser?
   To check this you open a browser on another device (e.g. a notebook, pad or smartphone) and open the URL http://KODI_IP:PORT, whereas KODI_IP is the IP address of the device running your Kodi Media Center and PORT is the port you configured in the settings of the Kodi Media Center (usually 8080).
   - Example: http://191.145.167.31:8080
   If the browser remote UI works, then also the Kodi Remote App shall be able to connect. If the browser remote UI does not work, then most likely the Kodi Media Center is not configured right or not connected to the same network.
   
   
2. iOS Local Network Access granted?
   The Kodi Remote App needs access to the local network. Usually, you will be asked via popup to allow this access when the Kodi Remote App tries to access the local network the very first time. You must approve this for the App to work.
   
   You can check the local network access via iOS device's settings menu (Settings > Privacy > Local Network) or in the Remote App's settings (Settings > Kodi Remote > Local Network). Make sure this is enabled for Kodi Remote.
   
   If local network access setting cannot be enabled or is enabled but does still not work, you have two choices (as Apple does not provide any other way to do this):
   
   1. Delete the App from your iOS device and re-install (*). In this case you of course need to configure your Kodi server and synchronize the database again.
      
   2. Reset the Location & Privacy settings on your iOS device (Settings > General > Transfer or Reset > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy). See the following video: ANY iPhone How To Turn ON Local Network Access!.
      
   
   (*)Remark: For iOS 17+ it was reported that in some cases you might need to restart your iOS device before installing the app again (see https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/750576)
   
   
3. Problems with routers
   It has been reported by users that iOS devices were showing random ability/disability to connect to Kodi when allowing the iOS device to automatically switch the WiFi network (5 GHz, 2.4 GHz). This could be fixed by manually configuring the router to assign the iOS device to the same network as the Kodi server.
   
   
4. Problems with repeaters
   I have seen loss of connection and inability to reconnect when working with a repeater. Problems vanished after removing the repeater or using a different SSID for the repeater.
   
   
5. Problems with local networks without internet access
   It was reported that the Kodi Remote App does not connect to the Kodi Media Center, if both are connected to a local network which has no internet access.
   
   
6. Remote not reconnecting to a server it connected to before
   Kodi Remote up to version 12.1 only uses IPv4 addresses to access the server. It is possible your router gives a new IP address to the Kodi server after a while or after restart. In such case the Kodi Remote will not be able to connect to the now invalid IP address. This can be resolved by again using "Find Kodi", and it can be avoided by setting the router to not change the server's IP address.
   From Kodi Remote version 1.13 on you can configure "Find Kodi" to search for the local host name -- e.g. "my-server.local". If supported, this will continue to connect to the same server, even when the IP address changes.