Blue Iris -> MQTT -> push notification - unable to see embedded image away from home

Hello all,

I am new to home assistant and have been trawling through the forums here looking for help in setting up some automations. I seem to have hit a wall with this current problem I am trying to solve…

I am running HA in a container in docker. I have Blue Iris/Deepstack running on a windows VM and sending MQTT messages with a B64 image payload. These are being converted to push notifications on my android phone just fine by HA. However, when I am disconnected from my home network, the image pushed through MQTT does not show up in the push notification. I am now scratching my head as to why.

The MQTT config in BI is as follows:
On Alert (triggered by Deepstack positive detection) →
MQTT Topic BI/&CAM/alert-image-b64
Payload &ALERT_JPEG
MQTT retain message checked
No On Reset action

The automation YAML is (hardcoded with the camera name “Back”):

alias: Back camera alert
description: ""
trigger:
  - platform: mqtt
    topic: BI/Back/alert-image-b64
condition: []
action:
  - service: notify.mobile_app_pixel_6
    data:
      data:
        image: /api/camera_proxy/camera.back_alert_2
      message: Back camera alert
mode: parallel

Does anyone have any idea why this works completely fine when on the local network but the image doesn’t load when remote?

I don’t have any remote access set up for my HA right now (so no Nabu Casa, DuckDNS/port forwarding, etc.). So it’s not clear to me why HA is able to push notifications through the internet but not the image payload linked to that notification.

Thanks in advance for your help!

I’m trying to setup the same with BI and HA. Wondering where you got the path to the camera?

image: /api/camera_proxy/camera.back_alert_2

Would like to know what mine is.