Cannot communicate with other Affinity apps

[Grimsby User]

I've just experienced this hiccup. I'm running Win10 64bit. I purchased all three Version 2 Affinity apps two days ago. Today just by way of exploring, I launched Designer (v. 2.0.0). Then whilst leaving that running, I launched Photo(v. 2.0.3). Next, again whilst leaving the other two running, I launched Publisher (v.2.0.3). I ran correctly, but then put up an error message which read as follows: "Cannot communicate with other Affinity apps. Please ensure the app is up-to-date and that your firewall isn't blocking local network traffic." 

Well as you can see, they are all up-to-date, (Designer doesn't yet offer to upgrade to 2.0.3). I've never touched my firewall for years and I've never had a problem, I can't imagine that is the issue. So, I simply closed/shutdown all three of them and then immediately launched Publisher again. It worked perfectly, and the error/warning was not repeated. I then launched the other two. Still no repeat of the warning. For a final test, I closed them all down again, then launched all three again, in the same order as when the error message appeared. Nope, no error messages. All three working perfectly. 

Just thought I would report this incident in case it's important, relevant or helps anyone else. 

[chodelin]

I am having the same issue, except when i close down all the apps and then reopen, the issue happens again. I cannot launch any of the V2 apps.

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums @chodelin

15 minutes ago, chodelin said:

I am having the same issue, except when i close down all the apps and then reopen, the issue happens again. I cannot launch any of the V2 apps.

Can you explain this a bit more clearly please?

You say you’re having the same issue, “except” when you close the applications and re-open them but “it happens again”.
Does the problem go away if you re-launch the applications or not?

You say that you “cannot launch any of the V2 apps”.
If you can’t launch the applications then you won’t be able to see the message as shown in the original post so this isn’t the “same issue”.

I’m just confused as to what is actually happening.

[VariedFiction]

Hi

Edit: I think I managed to find a fix for the below, it is in updating the Microsoft .NET Framework to 4.8.1 (the latest one since the writing of this), you can google the .NET framework and find the latest download from the Microsoft website, I don't think it's available in the standard Windows Update/settings. Everything seems to work as it should even after saving and closing the apps, I can re-open them without the error below and without having to restart the pc.

-------------

I also have this issue. Or at least something similar where the error message says the apps cannot communicate with one another. I've reinstalled the apps directly from the affinity website a few times and tried it once from the Microsoft store now.

It only happens when I open a file in one of the apps, edit it and save it. Once the app is closed after saving I cannot open it again and need to restart the entire computer to open the app again.

Interestingly, on the Microsoft store versions the apps would chase me to sign in but not allow me to actually do so, with a "please try again in a moment".

I've allowed in and out connections for the apps in the firewall, and added exceptions to the antivirus and antimalware apps and there's still the error message.

It only seems to be happening on my computer, but my laptop is ok. Both have the latest Windows 10 updates but only the desktop is misbehaving.

Can't attach the screenshot directly as the paperclip is stuck loading... I've tried adding the link to the screenshot though. https://1drv.ms/u/s!Apy_YxLt817jgs1tsHUGKasaVM-aZA

 

 

Edited January 2, 2023 by VariedFiction
found solution

[spa]

I had the same issue after updating Photo to v2.0.3 from within the app itself on Windows 11 22H2 (why I joined the forums). Photo would fail to open with "Cannot communicate with other Affinity apps. Please ensure the app is up-to-date and that your firewall isn't blocking local network traffic". If I tried opening Designer (still at v2.0.0 at the time), it would just hang on initializing at the splash screen.

After just a reboot, they were both opening normally again. I then updated Designer to v2.0.3 and everything still remained OK. So a bit of an oddity.

Edited January 6, 2023 by spa

[yellowsaber]

Woke up to the same issue, Photo and Publisher now will not open at all and just give me this error

[walt.farrell]

25 minutes ago, chemicalsam said:

Woke up to the same issue, Photo and Publisher now will not open at all and just give me this error

That should mean that either: 

1. Designer is already running but is hung. Or 

2. You have a Firewall shop that is blocking local communications between the Affinity apps.

 

[RayCFrog]

I just had this problem. I had 2.4.1 Photo running a long-running plug-in, and 2.4.0 Designer would not start. Once the plug-in in Photo had finished, Designer started ok. It seems totally ridiculous to me that Designer will not start if Photo is busy. It may be useful to have apps talk to each othe, but to make it impossible to use an app because a different app is busy seems very poor design.

[R C-R]

10 hours ago, RayCFrog said:

It may be useful to have apps talk to each othe, but to make it impossible to use an app because a different app is busy seems very poor design.

This seems to be an unintended consequence of the new V2 feature to link custom content across the apps. As I understand it (which may be totally wrong) edits made to linked content in one app should be updated in the other(s) immediately so if the other(s) are busy that can't happen.

[Juc1]

Cannot communicate with other Affinity apps

I am having this problem today in Windows 11, cannot open either Photo or Designer, have rebooted numerous times. 🙁

[walt.farrell]

7 hours ago, Juc1 said:

Cannot communicate with other Affinity apps

I am having this problem today in Windows 11, cannot open either Photo or Designer, have rebooted numerous times. 🙁

Check your firewall settings, and make sure the Affinity applications are allowed to use the network. 

What has changed since the last time it worked?

[NathanC]

 

17 hours ago, Juc1 said:

I am having this problem today in Windows 11, cannot open either Photo or Designer, have rebooted numerous times. 🙁

I'd also suggest following the guidance in the FAQ linked below, as we are more commonly finding that the 'Affinity' Application data folder is hidden on some systems.

 

[Juc1]

ok I it looks like the .affinity folder being (unintentionally) hidden was the problem, now opening ok, thank you 👍