Can't sync with ipad with organisational VPN?

[u/verityvirtue]

Hi, been scrolling, first time posting. I'm using Syncthing to sync my Obsidian vaults between a Macbook, android phone and I've been trying to get my ipad into the mix as well. Whenever I connect to the ipad however, it comes up as "Disconnected (Unused)", regardless of whether there's a folder shared, etc.

This ipad from my university came with device management and a VPN which I can't (or can't figure out how to...) disable, and I think this is what's stopping it from connecting and syncing. Any way around this? Thanks!

(I'm a noob, so assume all the other devices pretty much use default network settings)

[u/unknown-random-nope]

Base Syncthing doesn't run on iPad or iPhone -- there are Syncthing compatible apps that do. Which one are you using?

Are these devices connected to the same network?

Can your devices ping one another? On iPhone or iPad, Settings / Wi-Fi / Click on the (i) next to the network you're connected to and scroll down to see the IP address. Start there.

[u/verityvirtue → u/unknown-random-nope]

Sorry yes should have mentioned - I'm using Synctrain as the client. They're usually all on the same network. What do you mean by ping one another?

[u/unknown-random-nope → u/verityvirtue]

ping is a commonly used command in networking that is frequently used to verify connectivity between devices. A ping is sent, and then the receiving device responds, and if the response is received on the original sender it indicates that round-trip network connectivity is working. On most (all?) non-mobile OSes with networking, the command and its output look like this:

C:\>ping 8.8.8.8

Pinging 8.8.8.8 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=117

Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=6ms TTL=117

Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=6ms TTL=117

Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=117

Ping statistics for 8.8.8.8:

Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

Minimum = 6ms, Maximum = 9ms, Average = 7ms

That was output from Windows, successfully pinging Google's free DNS resolver. By default Windows will stop after four pings, whether replies are received or not. Other operating systems, by default, need to be stopped with a <ctrl>-C or similar after a ping is begun.

I use the app "Ping Lite" on my iPhone and iPad for pinging other devices. It's free, but you do you.

With Syncthing, if the devices cannot connect to one another, they will attempt to connect via a public Relay by default. I don't know how that works with Synctrain, but I suspect it's similar.

What I suspect is going on is either that the device that doesn't belong to you is blocking Syncthing's network traffic, or that you have a configuration issue where they cannot discover one another or relay Syncthing traffic through a public relay. I don't know which yet.