Cannot connect to localhost API from Android app

Question

I am new to Django. I have created an API named http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/update/1/ and it works perfectly in the browser and on the Postman app.

Howev

Answer 1

It is possible to call local api with some minor changes.These were the steps I did to hit the local django api from my android app.

• You need to be connected to same network. Better create a hotspot from your pc or laptop and connect android with it
• Create static IP from your system. If you are on VM you may require additional network adapter. Please google it as there are plenty of videos and blogs on the same.
• Host django on the created local IP.

You are then good to go with your android app.

Answer 2

If you are testing your application from a real android device then you need to put the IP address of your PC while you are trying to connect to your Django server through APIs. And yes, you need to be in the same network as well. So you need to check the following things.

1. Make sure that the PC (where you are running the server) and the Android device (where you are testing your application) are in the same network (connected with same Wifi network maybe).

2. Make sure you are connecting to the IP address of your PC where the server is running. For example, right now, the IP address of your PC is 192.168.0.100. Then, you need to connect to this IP address and call your API like the following.

   http://192.168.0.100:8000/api/update/1/
   

3. Make sure you are accepting requests to the port 8000 in your PC. Check your Firewall configuration if it is blocking any incoming requests to the 8000 port. If it is found blocking, then please allow an incoming request to the 8000 port using the following.

   sudo ufw allow 8000/tcp
   

If there is nothing which is helping you, then please check your Android code to check if the API calling is okay. I would strongly recommend using Volley for API calls suggested in developers documentation.

Last, but not the least, please check if you have necessary permission in your AndroidManifest.xml file. You need to add the following permission to grant your application to use the internet.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" /> 
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />

Answer 3

There is no way of calling local APIs from android. Leave it.

Answer 4

Please run your django development server using the following command.

python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000

Once you get it running, in a new terminal window find out the ip address of your computer in your wifi/network subnet using the following command

Ipconfig or ifconfig (depends on your OS)

Then change the base url of your api from 127.0.0.1 to the ip you found in the above step. Now connect the android phone in which your app is being tested to your same wifi or network to which the computer running django is connected. Now you can request and receive response.

127.0.0.1 is the home of your system, your android app will not be able to access that. You need to do it like this.

Answer 5

You can not access a local api outside from that local device. 127.0.0.1 is the local address of its own. If you want to access the api outside from local device, replace the ip with the ip that is open to outside. For example, 192.168.43.2 is a ip that is accessible from outside. Update your api with the accessible ip(use ifconfig or ipconfig in terminal to obtain the ip and use that ip to access from outsid?). Also, please make sure if you have proper permission in AndroidManifest.xml file.

Answer 6

To be able to connect your localhost (I assume you are using emulator, I can edit the answer if not)

You need to use the following url:

http://10.0.2.2:8000/