java.net.ConnectException: failed to connect to /192.168.253.3 (port 2468): connect failed: ECONNREFUSED (Connection refused)

A connect failed: ECONNREFUSED (Connection refused) most likely means that there is nothing listening on that port AND that IP address. Possible explanations include:

  • the service has crashed or hasn't been (successfully!) started,
  • your client is trying to connect using the wrong IP address or port,
  • your client is trying to connect using a DNS name that resolves to the wrong IP, or
  • server access is being blocked by a firewall that is "refusing" on the server/service's behalf. This is pretty unlikely given that normal practice (these days) is for firewalls to "blackhole" all unwanted connection attempts.

Note that while you have an array variable called urls, it cannot contain real URLs. There is no overload of the Socket constructor that takes a real URL in any form. Indeed, if you supplied a URL in string form like this:

 new Socket("http://example.com", 42)

the result would be a different exception. Likewise, if you attempt to connect to an IP address on a network that you can't route to (e.g. "a different WiFi network"), then you will get a different exception; e.g. "host not found", "no route to host" or "no route to network".


A common mistake during development of an android app running on a Virtual Device on your dev machine is to forget that the virtual device is not the same host as your dev machine. So if your server is running on your dev machine you cannot use a "http://localhost/..." url as that will look for the server endpoint on the virtual device not your dev machine.


Why this might have happened:

  1. The server couldn't send a response: Ensure that the backend is working properly at IP and port mentioned.
  2. SSL connections are being blocked: Fix this by importing SSL certificates

Less likely:

  1. Cookies not being sent
  2. Request timeout: Change request timeout