Why can't apps connect to the internet?

Question

Running on both WiFi and mobile connection, the browser can connect to the internet ok but apps can not connect.

What can cause this?

Samsung Galaxy S

What's your ROM? Have you ever installed Firewall? Or, activated firewall feature of Avast! Mobile Security? — iOS, Mar 19 '12 at 17:14
@Sachin - No. No firewalls or security apps installed. Thought it might be a APN issue at first but had same issues on WiFi. — sickgemini, Mar 20 '12 at 00:58
If an app can't connect check first the app's permission in settings/restrict data usage — JinSnow, Feb 20 '21 at 14:16

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered May 28 '13 at 10:52

Sometimes the culprit is much easier to solve: If accessing secured websites (https:) via the browser fails as well, make sure your date/time settings are correct -- otherwise certificates will fail. Best explained using an example:

Say, today the date is May 28^th 2013 -- but your device's date/time is set to January 1^st 2010. Now you visit a secure website, which is using a certificate issued on June 1^st 2012 -- valid vor 2 years. Your browser won't accept that certificate, as it must assume it's a fake -- issued in the future. Same would apply if your browser's date were set too far in the future, e.g. December 31^st 2014: the certificate would look "expired" to the browser, which again would not accept it.

Same applies to your apps, which often use a secured connection (hopefully!). Just unsecure connections (not using certificates) would work fine -- which explains why your browsers work on many sites.

Sergiy Belozorov · Answer 2 · 2012-03-21T23:06:34.173

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This seems to be a software problem. Try a hard reset - that should restore connectivity. Note that this will delete all your data, so back it up first. When installing apps back try to check connectivity after each new installation - in this way you'll be able to determine what causes the problem.

Also as a random guess - do you use a proxy that only permits web-pages (only HTTP protocol)? That would explain why your browser works, but apps do not (they often use other protocols than HTTP).

edited Mar 21 '12 at 23:06

answered Mar 20 '12 at 11:02

Sergiy Belozorov

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When you say "hard reset" do you mean "factory reset"? A hard reset means to turn off and on again, which will not delete any data. – Jun 10 '13 at 12:56
Yes. I meant "factory reset". – Sergiy Belozorov Jun 10 '13 at 15:35
this is an infeasible solution – Populus Oct 28 '13 at 08:14
it is feasible when all else fails... although I admit it's time-consuming – Sergiy Belozorov Oct 28 '13 at 08:35

score 2 · Answer 3 · edited Dec 11 '12 at 09:23

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Disabling the 'data connection' and then enabling it solved my problem. You should try it. You can alternatively try toggling the airplane mode (or use a widget) that should also enable and disable the data connection (both WiFi/data).

edited Dec 11 '12 at 09:23

Irfan

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answered Dec 11 '12 at 03:09

Maulik Vora

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Why can't apps connect to the internet?

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