Remote connection issues - p/word not accepted in Tor connection

Troubleshooting
1

I am newbie to Start9 and have just installed it on a Cubit x86 computer I have built. The install was fast and smooth and I am impressed with the finer granularity of control StartOS offers over Pi Umbrel. I am keen to transfer my LN channels and everything to the Start9 node but I have an issue connecting to the node over Tor with an iPhone and until I am confident that I can remotely connect to the node and with wallet I won’t make the move.

I have Safari, Firefox and Brave browsers on the phone. All of them can connect quickly using the local IP address. I installed Orbot on my iPhone and after a bit of hit and miss getting the connection setting working I can get the browsers to at least try to connect to the Tor address. Firefox comes to closest in that it loads the login page but then returns a ‘unknown error’ after entering the password. Safari and Brave can’t even load the login page.

On a home computer I configured Firefox to open Tor addresses and it works fine. I just need to know how to remotely connect with my iPhone so I can use my Wallet and such. I very much look forward to a VPN solution I read is in the works. With Umbrel I also have issues with Tor but was able to resort to Tailscale to resolve which is not available here. In the meantime how do I connect?

Edit: I don’t understand why but all is working and I can open the node over Tor in all browsers on my phone. Could it be that Orbot has been connected in the background for many hours?

2

Hi Hans,

Doesn’t sound like you’ve done anything wrong at all. It sounds like you’ve correctly followed the guides and understood each step.

Orbot is particularly finicky on iOS and many users complain about it… either it not connecting or appearing connected but nothing working… but at the time you’re asking this question, for some it seems to have stopped working entirely. (And yet, just yesterday, saw someone say it was working for them)

Your first step might be to try to common trick with Orbot. Uninstall and reinstall and see if that helps. Check if there’s a difference between being connected to wifi and using data. Toggle it on and off.

Even on Android, which is your best bet for doing almost anything technical, I’ve had Orbot appear connected but requests fail, so on iOS it would be as likely to be the case too.

The ‘unknown error’ I think is an iOS thing – that was the connection already dead and gone by the time you hit submit.

3

Moved to Troubleshooting - we will have alternative connection methods soon

4

Actually I am finding that Orbot works pretty well on iOS. I have it set to ‘Direct Connection Onion-only’ mode and keep it running in the background. I look forward to a VPN solution because I think it will be faster.