VLC can no longer browse SMB shares on iOS after updating to 3.2.13
On 23/10/2020, my iPad auto-updated VLC to version 3.2.13 after it was released to the app store the previous day (version confirmed in both the app store and the About page within the app). After the update, I can no longer browse the media on my local SMB share, and therefore I cannot play media either.
VLC can still see the SMB share and shows it in the list of File Servers, however when I tap connect I get the orange spinning icon and it remains in that status indefinitely with no further information - it doesn't even appear to timeout or show an error message (I have left it for 5+ minutes with no results).
SMB and network details:
- SMB share is running LibreElec on a Raspberry Pi 3.
- No authentication is required, anything on the same LAN can connect.
- The LAN has IPv4 (192.168.. private addresses via DHCP) and IPv6 (auto-assigned using DHCPv6 under the prefix from my ISP) and the iPad and RPi have v4 and v6 addresses assigned.
- The RPi is connected directly to my router using an ethernet cable and all other devices are wireless.
- The router is configured such that wireless devices cannot see each other, but they can see the router and any devices connected to the router by an ethernet cable (e.g. my iPad and desktop can see the RPi, but they cannot see each other).
- Internal and external v4 and v6 connectivity is working, e.g. I can connect to internal and external hosts using ssh -4 and ssh -6.
- I am the only user on the network and all the devices belong to me.
I think this may be a regression in version 3.2.13 for the following reasons:
- VLC worked fine with the SMB share in previous versions (I have been using this setup since May 2019).
- KMPlayer on the iPad can connect to the SMB share, browse the media and play the media.
- All other devices on the network can connect to the SMB share, browse the media and play the media. I can also copy media to the SMB share from my Ubuntu 20.04 desktop and I can connect to the RPi using SSH.
Things I have already tried:
- Restarting the iPad.
- Restarting the RPi.
- Restarting the router.
- Deleting and reinstalling VLC.
- Manually checking for software updates on the iPad and RPi.
The following software is up to date according to the devices and checking their websites (all my devices have automatic updates so it is unlikely that they would be more than a few days behind anyway):
- LibreElec (9.2.4 - RPi2.arm - the RPi2 images are used for the RPi3 as well)
- iOS (14.1 - 18A8395), 6th generation iPad, not rooted * VLC (3.2.13)
Unfortunately as the iPad is not rooted I have very limited debugging options on the device itself. I can run Wireshark on my desktop to try and sniff the traffic between my iPad and the RPi, however that would require changing and testing the security settings on my router so I only want to do that if it would be useful.