NAT loopback
NAT loopback, also called NAT hairpinning, is a router feature that lets a device on a local network reach another device on the same network using its public IP address or domain name, instead of its internal address. Without it, a request from inside the network to the router's own public IP can simply fail or time out, because routers expect traffic to arrive from outside or leave from inside, not loop back on itself. This matters whenever a local user accesses a self-hosted service -- a security camera, NAS, or web app -- by its public address or DNS name while on the same Wi-Fi network as the server. Not every consumer router supports NAT loopback, which is a common cause of "works on mobile data but not on home Wi-Fi" reports; the usual workarounds are split-horizon DNS or using the device's local IP address instead.
By AdminKit team, Netbase JSC · Updated