My Mac and iPhone Tap Form sync using the “Nearby” method works at home but not at a Coffee Shop where my Mac and iPhone are logged into their Wifi network. Should my coffee shop “Nearby” sync work?
Not necessarily. It may not work if your coffee shop has blocked the ports on the network that Tap Forms uses. There’s no fixed port numbers that it uses. It generates high port numbers randomly. The coffee shop may only allow communication on their network over specific port numbers.
Often hotels have this same issue.
The coffee shop might also intentionally be blocking you from reaching other devices on the same wifi network as well. Most people don’t need it and it’s a possible gateway for a malicious attack. Also filters out a bunch of noise from infected or just plain chatty devices trying to probe the local network.
To my pleasant surprise I found the Nearby sync to be working on a recent hotel trip. Purely up to whomever set up the network :)
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