Successfully set up DuckDNS, but could only access HA with DuckDNS URL from home network

Configuration
1

Hello everyone! So I’ve recently managed to set up DuckDNS to work with my Home Assistant using this guide:

I’m coincidentally also using a NETGEAR router which is the same as the one used in the video, so I definitely got the port forwarding set up correctly. So after following the guide, I now can only access Home Assistant by using the DuckDNS URL (e.g.: https:// hassio. duckdns. org). The URL worked for both my computer and my phone. That is to be expected since the video mentions that after setting this up you can’t access Home Assistant using 192.168.1.XX:8123 or hassio.local:8123 anymore.

The problem for me is that I can only access Home Assistant using the DuckDNS URL from my home network. When I switched to cellular on my phone, the app won’t connect to HA. I even tried connecting my computer to my phone’s mobile hotspot and couldn’t connect either.

I don’t know if this is relevant, but on my web browser I tried entering my public IP and added port 443 (https:// x.x.x.x :443) and this is what I get:
image

So has anyone ever encountered this kind of problem? Thanks for your time guys!

2

Did you set Port Forwarding on router/modem?
In your router, forward external 443 to your Home Assistant serving port (defaults to 8123)

3

Hello Vlad! Yes, I set up port forwarding on the router to forward port 443 (external) to port 8123 (internal).

4

It is possible your ISP blocks access to port 443. You can test by forwarding 8123 to 8123 and see if https:you.duckdns.org:8123 works.

5

Try to use: https://yourdomainname.duckdns.org
No ports at the end.
I’m using it, in or out of home network.

6

I’m sorry Vlad, I guess I should’ve explained it better. What I meant to say was that port 443 was forwarded to port 8123 from the beginning (before you suggested me to do it), and I still couldn’t access HA from outside.

7

I changed my router settings to forward port 8123 (external) to port 8123 (internal) and now I could access HA from outside my home network using https://myurl.duckdns.org:8123. It seems like my ISP does block access to port 443. Does this mean that this is the only way I could get remote access to be set up? Is there a way for me to be able to access HA remotely using just https://myurl.duckdns.org?

8

Only way is to ask your isp not to block 443.

9

That sounds like something that they wouldn’t do for me :sweat_smile:
Well I guess I’ll just have to settle with the current setup then. Thanks a lot man!

10

Pardon me if I am breaking protocol, I’m new at this.

I too have been trying to set up HA for secure remote access with DuckDNS. Thanks for the link to the video. It solved my problem.

If your are still having a problem connecting through DuckDNS with your phone, the app configuration lets your define the “Home Assistant URL.” I’d forgotten that I had initially set it up for internal access, so I changed it to https://mydomain.duckdns.org and it works just fine.