I know from running a kodi/OpenElec image on Pi B+ that is sufficient to activate zeroconf and to set up a http user/password in the kodi settings in order to make it dicoverable for smartphone remote controls.
I tried to achieve the same when running kodi on max2play.
I can use kodi fine but I need to connect a USB mouse and also connect a video device. This said, the main functionality works fine, but in Settings/Services/Webserver, when activating „allow control of Kodi via HTTP“ I get a popup „Webserver: Failed to start“.
How can I fix this?
Also, when renaming the device, the name is again the old one after restarting kodi.
I found that sometimes when starting Kodi, the message „failed to start RC service“ is showing up. I guess this might be the reason.
But why would the RC server not startup?
I am using an unmodified max2play image and have not significantly changed the configuration. I have only entered the license email, added kodi and that’s it.
Please try changing the port for Kodi. Your system might be using it already for something else. Go to Settings > Network > Services and change the port. Then try accessing via this port from your smartphone remote app.