IOS App is very, very fragile (16.x)

  • 24 March 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 48 views
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SONOS App version 16.1 (but I’ve seen this on earlier, recent revisions as well)

Sonos S2 OS

System includes SONOS Beam, mini-sub, Sonos One (x2).  The entire system is connected wirelessly.

iPhone 12 Pro, IOS 17.3.1 (but I’ve seen this on earlier, recent revisions as well).

Summary: My iPhone Sonos App frequently, and arbitrarily loses connection with my Sonos system. It seems very clear that the wifi connection between the APP and wireless network is extremely fragile.  Which is weird because the network is quite stable (it serves two TVs, two laptops, two iPhones, tablets, etc) in all other respects.

Symptoms include:

  1. After playing for awhile, I’ll glance at the app and notice that it is not showing the currently playing song.
  2. On startup, my iPhone reports that it cannot connect to the Sonos system
  3. When browsing my music library, it will report that it “cannot browse the library”.  The library is stored on a NAS device on the same network.
  4. When this is happening, I am still able to connect to the SONOS system (and library) using a laptop (PC) or tablet (Android) both of which are connected to the same network wirelessly.
  5. When this is happening, my phone continues to behave normally - email, web surfing, etc. all work fine, including with cellular turned off (i.e. the WIFI connection is suitable).

Diagnostics methods attempted:

  1. Shut down/restart the app
  2. Reboot the phone
  3. Remove/reinstall the app.
  4. Power down the entire Sonos system and wireless router, re-connect and power back up.

None of the above reliably solve the problem.

Observations:

  1. Occasionally, if left playing, eventually the app will re-connect to the system and correctly report what is currently playing.
  2. Some of the above methods are occasionally successful.  e.g. uninstall//reinstall the app seems to clear up the problem until a little later when it’s back. 
  3. After uninstalling/reinstalling the app, it will ask to rejoin an existing system, but then reports that it cannot find a system.
  4. I am sitting in the same room as both the Sonos system and the wireless router.

It seems very clear that the WIFI connection between the IOS APP and wireless network is extremely fragile.  Which is weird because the WIFI network itself is quite stable (it serves two TVs, two laptops, two iPhones, tablets, etc) in all other respects.

My understanding is that SONOS is very choosy about which WIFI frequency and/or channel is in use, but as I understand it that impacts the system connection to the wireless network, but should not impact the way that the Sonos IOS APP connects to the network.  I have seen zero connectivity issues with the system itself connected to the network.

Highly frustrating!

 

1 reply

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

You should submit a diagnostic while the system is working properly and a second within a few minutes of it acting up. Once submitted, and the numbers noted, call Sonos Support when you have the time and get them to look at what is happening.

If you’d like to try a few local solutions before calling you could:

Assign static/reserved IP addresses to all your Sonos devices, power them down, reboot th router and power them back up.

Confirm your phone is always connecting to the same WiFi band, not switching between 2.4 and 5 GHz. The 2.4 is the most likely to be working properly.

Confirm your phone is not saving power by putting any part of the Sonos software to sleep.

 

Keep in mind the Sonos App isn’t just connecting to your network, it is using your network to connect to the Sonos devices across your network and that can be a problem when the network isn’t fully meeting the Sonos needs. 

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