Connect to localhost from mobile phone using express, nodejs

Question

I would like to access my server that I host on my computer (Node.js & Express) from my phone. The computer is on the same network as the phone.

As soon as I type localhost:3000 in the address bar of the browser on the desktop PC, everything works without problems.

If I now try to open my site with the cell phone under the following address 192.168.0.100:3000, I get no error message but nothing is displayed... The IP address was retrieved with ipconfig.

I have tried several solutions that I have found here on Stack Overflow such as port sharing in the firewall settings. Unfortunately without success.

Here is my code when creating at the server:

var express = require('express');

var app = express();

var server = app.listen(process.env.PORT || 3000, listen);

function listen() {
  var host = server.address().address;
  var port = server.address().port;
  console.log('Example app listening at http://' + host + ':' + port);
}

When I try to check my IP address via the console.log, I get the following:

If someone has an idea what this could be I would be very happy!

#1 Update:

I have now replaced my line of code with

var server = app.listen(3000, "127.0.0.1", listen);

and I get the following back from my console:

I can access my server from my computer through

127.0.0.1:3000

localhost:3000

If I try to access (on computer) through 192.168.0.100:3000 nothing happens. I also get no error message. Only a white screen.

#2 Update:

Typing "ipconfig" in cmd

After changing the IP to

var server = app.listen(3000, "192.168.0.100", listen);

I could not access my server anymore. Not even using localhost:3000. However, when examining the item I found an error that does not show up when I set

var server = app.listen(3000, "127.0.0.1:3000", listen);

I do not understand why the error shows up when changing the IP address, since the code is the same.

Heres a picture of the error

Error fixing

Apparently one way to work around the error is to use a tunneling service (ngrok). I will try it

#3 Update

In my last attempt, i was trying to tunnel my server via ngrok. At first, everything looked like it was finally going to work. From my own PC I could access my websocket server via ngrok forwarding link. However, when I tried to click on the link with my phone/second pc, I got the error that the connection is refused...

If someone has an idea or an approach to what this could be, I would be very happy.

SOLUTION IS POSTED IN THE COMMENTS

Answer 1

If you want to access your localhost over the internet...

There are some softwares / Chrome Extensions that let's you access your local host over the internet...

1. https://ngrok.com
2. http://localtunnel.me
3. http://localhost.run

You can do Google search for more softwares like these ones and choose accordingly to your work.

Answer 2

Sorry I can't comment:

Have you tried 192.168.0.100:3000 into the browser, on the computer?

As for the http://:::3000 you can check this

Answer 3

I give up because new errors keep appearing. I thought I'd post my solution (or my new approach) here in case anyone else is in the same situation as me. In the end I used the following github repository as a base for my project. If I set up a server with this there are no problems at all. I have also tunneled it with ngrok in the end.

Link to Github

It also uses p5.js, node.js and socket.io

Answer 4

I think you cannot see in other devices because you are not sending anything to show. This code worked fine,

const express = require("express");
const app = express();
const http = require("http").createServer(app);
const port = process.env.PORT || 3000;

app.get("/", (req, res) => {
  res.send("Hello world");
});

http.listen(port);```