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S2 app suddenly can't connect to Sonos

  • 1 January 2021
  • 8 replies
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Hi There,

I have a pretty large Sonos network with about 10-12 speakers running from it, and using a Boost. All was well until recently.

 

The boost is connected directly the a Sky Q router (I’m in the UK) and the settings have been unchanged for about 3 years. Used to run Sonos either from my iPhoneX, an iPad Pro, MacBook or iMac, all wirelessly. The boost is connected via ethernet and is the only unit to be connected directly. The Wifi is a 2.4GHZ/5GHZ network running on a Sky Q Mesh so only has one network name.

 

I updated to S2 about 2 months ago when I added 2 further speakers. No problems at all until recently. Mid way through a playlist that was started from the iPhone the system just lost connectivity. All the speakers continued playing, but the phone control no longer worked. 

 

Now I have no control from the iPhone, the iPad Pro, or the MacBook, but strangely the iMac still happily controls all the units as it should. I can check the system data using the app on the iMac, but to all intends and purposes the rest of the machines cannot see the system.

 

When I go into the iPhone or the iPad, it says the system cant be found, but when I reinstall or reset the app, it initially finds a system, then won't allow connection to it at all. I can however connect to each speaker individually using the ‘other devices’ in apps like Spotify. 

 

All I get when on the iPhone/Ipad apps is a greyed out section for account details, system, services& voice,  in settings, plus all the browse/playlists are just greyed out lean placeholders that used to contain images/songs etc. This is the same on iPhone and iPad. The MacBook just wont connect to a system.

 

Ive checked the router connections and all the items are present on the system via wifi. Ive changed and changed back the WifiName and tried reconnecting to both existing and new systems, and as I said above, t finds them, says its connected, then will not actually allow a connection, asking me to discover the Sonos system again (that its just discovered) and then says there is no system. 

 

Ive rebooted everything, but dont want to do a factory reset. The router works fine with the 3 sky Q boxes and the smart Tv’s we have dotted around the house. IF I group some speakers using the Mac, they then appear as a group in the ‘other devices available’ on Spotify and will play, but if I try to ungroup them, Spotify starts Sonos which then says there is no Sonos system available.

 

 

Im at a loss as to why the system a; just lost connection without having anything happen, b: why one machine still is happy connecting using Sonos but none of the others are, and c; I can connect using other apps to the ‘Available devices’ as they are all visible in the network

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Best answer by simonthackeray 1 January 2021, 22:55

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8 replies

controlav
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Make sure your iOS devices have granted the  Local Network permission to the Sonos app. If not it would explain why they quit working (because they took the iOS update that added this feature).

Author of the leading independent Sonos app for Windows, the only Sonos app for Xbox, and a Sonos app for iOS
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I’ve checked all that thanks. 
 

ive located the issue. It’s a Sky Q Booster that seems to be the culprit. Disconnect it and everything comes back. 
 

however I’ve decided to connect it all through SonosNet and the Boost, and get a dedicated Android tablet to connect to the unique Sonos network. 
 

anyone know if that just shows up as a seperate network for the android to connect to with default passwords? I use Apple stuff :(

J

Hi.  If you buy another tablet it will connect in exactly the same way to exactly the same network as your existing controllers, so i don’t see the logic for buying it.  I suspect you have misunderstood what SonosNet is.

SonosNet isn’t really a separate network at all.  When you have a Sonos device wired to your router there is a SonosNet segment to your LAN and a WiFi segment.  Data flows between Sonos devices over the SonosNet mesh, and other traffic flows over WiFi.  The cable allows the two segments to talk to each other.  But your router will still handle all the IP addressing as a single network.  

All mobile controllers connect to WiFi, so commands from the app go by WiFi to the router, then out over the cable and SonosNet to the devices.

All your devices are (or should be) using SonosNet already rather than WiFi to connect.  If you look in About My System this will be indicated by WM:0 for each speaker.

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Thanks John B - It seems the iPhone and Ipad dont like to connect to Sonos at all using Wifi even though they are all on the same network. I did have an old Lenovo tablet that use to connect more reliably than the Apple products, but updating to S2 rendered that useless. I just wondered if it would restore the remote functionality. 

ratty

It’s a Sky Q Booster that seems to be the culprit. Disconnect it and everything comes back. 

Kindly explain what this does. Is it a mesh extender, used to extend the ‘backhaul’ to other Sky Q boxes, or does it offer a WiFi point to which an iDevice could connect? 

Edit: A quick google suggests it’s the latter. In that case do the iDevice problems go away when they’re able to connect to a different WiFi access point?

J

Thanks John B - It seems the iPhone and Ipad dont like to connect to Sonos at all using Wifi even though they are all on the same network. I did have an old Lenovo tablet that use to connect more reliably than the Apple products, but updating to S2 rendered that useless. I just wondered if it would restore the remote functionality. 

There are probably millions of users whose iDevices connect with and control Sonos.  I think you need to discover why yours won’t rather than buy an alternative.  But that’s your call.

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Reading around the issue on Sky forums, it does seem to be something with the way Sky broadcasts the 2.4/5Ghz WiFi signals that the Apple devices don’t like. As I said, if I turn off the mesh booster (which is actually so far away from where the Sonos speakers are it wouldn’t connect anyway) then that seems to free up the signal somehow and all the Apple devices then reconnect. 
 

The Sky booster does act to bring in a further unwired sky Q box that then acts as another booster, but again that is sufficiently far enough away from the Sonos kit that it wouldn’t normally affect it. 
 

it seems to be something unique to the combination of Sky, Sonos, and Apple

ratty

it seems to be something unique to the combination of Sky, Sonos, and Apple

It’s more likely to be a generic problem with Sky, Apple and multicast/broadcast traffic. Sonos makes use of local traffic types which most “just connect to the internet” devices don’t require.

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