Answered

Severe battery drain with Sonos app in iOS


Badge +2
I am seeing very significant battery drain on iOS when using Sonos app. This morning I just used the app for about an hour to play music, and the battery usage report shows that Sonos has consumed 47% of the battery usage in the last 24 hours. This is a trend I've noticed a lot recently. What can I do?

icon

Best answer by Ryan S 29 March 2017, 19:55

View original

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

126 replies

iPhone X with awe-inspiring battery strength is no match for Sonos App! I took my iPhone X camping for 2 days and still 49% battery, but launch Sonos App and it's the first and only iOS app that took the awesome battery of my X to zero!

Mostly just pause the music from the iPhone while selecting songs from the Mac OS app...

Never had this problem with iPhone sonos app version 7.x and prior releases. This 8.x release is truly a disaster.
Sonos, time to pony up some $$ for solid iOS engineers who know their stuff and get busy winning back your loyal user base before this ship sinks. I may delete this app off my phone.
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
I'm running the Sonos app on a variety of iOS devices including an iPhone 8 Plus, and I'm not experiencing this issue.

For diagnostic purposes, you could try disabling 'Lock Screen Controls' in Sonos settings. If that doesn't help, try also disabling "Background App Refresh' for Sonos.
Thanks for your suggestions but this is a Sonos bug they need to drill deeper into. It's clearly background task on Sonos that's draining the battery based on the battery % report I posted.
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
Thanks for your suggestions but this is a Sonos bug they need to drill deeper into. It's clearly background task on Sonos that's draining the battery based on the battery % report I posted.
Probably, but not necessarily. This could be a bug in some part of the iOS API that Sonos is using, or an interaction with something else on your iPhone, given that the problem is evidently not seen on all iOS devices.

The suggestions I made might alleviate the issue for you in the meantime.
Badge
This SONOS iphone battery draining BUG is still present in Iphone X and 8 plus in mid Jan 2018. We see 77% and 60% of our daily battery use from Sonos ...and neither of us changed the volume or anything ...as we weren't even home for a few days.
I'll continue to repeat myself. Please submit a system diagnostic .

It seems obvious to me that Sonos hasn't been able to reproduce the issue in order to fix it yet, so the more information we can provide to them, the better. Unfortunately, it's not happening on any of my 3 iOS devices, so I can't help.

And many people have found that turning off the lock screen and physical hardware controls on the iOS app have mitigated the issue. Not for everyone, but it's worth a shot.
Badge
They can't be trying very hard to reproduce it! It has been described perfectly well a dozen times.

Mitigation of a clear power hogging bug in IOS has gone on far too long. As others have said, get some propper engineers on this Sonos!

BTW A system diagnostic hardly applies, as I am in Brighton and my system is in Northampton. The bug is in the Sonos Iphone app, not the firmware of the Sonos hardware.
I've been involved with a few software products. I can say without any speculation that describing an issue does not necessarily mean that the engineer working on the issue can duplicate it on a machine on which they can see what is happening. It's the reproduction of the issue that is key for someone to fix a 'bug'.

And while I am not familiar with the contents of a diagnostic, I would hazard a guess that there's some data included from the controller device. At the very least, I'd expect a device type, OS version and software version, otherwise there'd be a multiplicity of things that they'd not be able to rectify. But just those three things probably aren't everything that they're collecting, as a guess. There's probably app settings, and perhaps other data too.

And at the end of the day, what's the cost of providing Sonos more information? As near as I can tell, it's around 15 seconds or so of button clicks, and if it helps them identify an issue, why not? Merely stating that there's a problem won't help, since they're already aware of it. There's 5 pages of this thread.

I guess it boils down to whether you want to just state that you're unhappy, or if you want to help them resolve this. Entirely up to you.
Userlevel 2
I am seeing very significant battery drain on iOS when using Sonos app. This morning I just used the app for about an hour to play music, and the battery usage report shows that Sonos has consumed 47% of the battery usage in the last 24 hours. This is a trend I've noticed a lot recently. What can I do?

Userlevel 2
Has anyone received a reply that actually fixes the problem? Turning off the lockscreen for the benefit of one app doesn't make much sense to me. thanks all.
To the best of my knowledge, Sonos has not been able to track down this issue, so there's been no software update that purports to fix it. However, turning off the lockscreen and hardware controls are only for the Sonos app, and not all apps, so it's not applicable across all apps, which I'm inferring you mean from your comment of "for the benefit of one app".
I have turned off lock screen just for this app. Hasn't really stopped the massive battery drain when I forget to turn off the app too from my iPhone 6.
Basically I try and use a mac or iPad - needing to save my phone battery to use (I know it's weird!) as a phone.
Yesterday I forgot to turn off app, and battery dropped to 30% in hours
Will diagnostics tell anything about my iPhone app - seems this is the issue?
Seems to have been much worse since I added two play ones to my play base and play5.
Not complaining just adding to clamour.
Does anyone with multiple speakers NOT have this as an issue I wonder?
Cheers Dom
I don't think anyone knows if a diagnostic will tell Sonos any information that will help them identify the issue. But it certainly can't hurt to submit the data, either. And if it doesn't help them track the issue, it certainly serves as a reminder that they haven't fixed this issue for some people.

I have three iOS devices currently, and have used the app on many different iPhones. I have never experienced this issue on any of my multiple iPhones or iPads.
Badge
Switched of the volume controls on Iphone X and 8 plus and saved 75% of my daily current drain. Shame on you sonos!
After updating to version 8.3 the Sonos app rapidly drains the battery on an iPhone SE running iOS 11.2.5 (42% of all battery usage in the last 24 hours, overall to cca 40%, so 25% of battery capacity goes just for Sonos used for 4 minutes foreground and 1 minute background (!)). Lock screen controls is Off (since this was suggested as a possible cause in a number of places). The app has also been deleted and reinstalled without any effect. Before the update Sonos battery usage was only a few percent. Nothing else has changed.

I uploaded the diagnostics 8420376. Sonos "solution" has been very helpful:

"We have been investigating reports from customers who are perceiving high battery usage by the Sonos app on their iOS 10 devices. The data has now been analysed and we have determined the battery usage to be reading as expected.

Our only advice to customers who do not agree with this is to force stop the app when it is not in use."
Badge
I'm experiencing the same issue since the latest iOS Sonos app update on an iPhone 8. Sonos has been using 65% of my battery whereas it definitely wasn't this high before the update. A fix would be much appreciated.
First let me introduce myself, No that’s not my real name but it;’s my favourite AKA.
I just recently purchased a pair of Sonos Play 1’s to use at my job. The music that is “piped in” by my home office is seriously enough to make you consider water boarding as a vacation getaway !
I did a lot of research and after setting up a travel router (public WIFI solution) and turning off the piped in stuff,I could not be HAPPIER !!! Excellent products with a great sound !
I too found that after using the system that both my IPad Pro and IPhone 7Plus showed a dramatic battery drain. I need to keep the app running on both units so that I can control the volume and play lists to suit my incoming guests . I have set up a desk top quick charging station on my desk and during the day I will “top off” my units . At the end of the day I shut down the app on both units and the battery level stabilizes . I have to figure the app and the play 1’s are constantly “talking” to each other all day long and that would explain the drain. I believe that if you do not need to constantly adjust the volume and change the playlist you could just close the app and the battery drain would be minimal.
On Friday I will receive the Echo dot 2 and see if that helps as well.
Other wise I am extremely happy with this set up and it” blows the doors off “any blue tooth set up I have tried in the past .
PS I did send in a Diagnostic avctivity report but I suspect that it “is what it is “ .
I just started using the Sonos app on my iPad Air 2 and the battery is draining fast as well when the app is in memory. I see this issue has been going on for 1 - 2 years and Sonos still hasn't figured out why? Also, I just tried calling the Sonos tech support and got a message about not being available due to maintenance so I'm out of luck today.
I'd recommend reading this thread in its entirety. There's at least one recommendation on how to fix this on a temporary basis, at the very least. You may want to submit a diagnostic to provide them any potential additional insight.

Here is a thread regarding today's phone and email outage:

https://en.community.sonos.com/announcements-228985/support-maintenance-18th-of-april-6805958

TL:DR is that they should be back to normal tomorrow.
Userlevel 3
Badge +3
This issue is a new on to me. I recently added a second Play5 to my house, and since then the controller on my iPhone on and ipad are draining the battery incredibly fast. Sonos in the background, not even playing music now accounts for almost all of my battery use!?! Could this be related to a second Sonos being added to my house and grouped? Is the grouping keeping them actively talking to the network, the iOS devices and each other? I can only shake my head at how fast the drain is and how active the sonos controller is on my devices even hours after I last played music. This is not at all normal for an app not actively playing anything to doing anything to be ploughing through battery life above any other app that I am actually using like Mail or a browser.

Not resolved at all for me, and it’s certainly something new since I added a second Sonos to my house.
You've re-opened a 7 month old thread. You'd be more likely to get a quicker response if you opened a new thread....but I'd recommend that if you do, you should submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of replicating this issue, and either post the number here, or contact Sonos to discuss it. There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.
Userlevel 3
Badge +3
Yes I have posted to an older thread, because the issue remains, and no one is responding anywhere else to this with any clear answers.

This thread seems to identify the issue and remains relevant.

What is the problem with me posting to the most relevant thread for my issue if it's a few months old?

In the sonos app it clearly says not to submit a diagnostic unless asked by staff, so I am not sure why you are encouraging me to do that unless you are staff?

I don't know perhaps you are.

But I didn't think posting on a forum topic because it was a few months old was an issue, especially when it directly addresses an issue I have, that is a new issue, and probably doesn't require a new thread, especially as new threads get buried in seconds. It seemed a better option to post to the thread with the most posts and activity than to start another.


You've re-opened a 7 month old thread. You'd be more likely to get a quicker response if you opened a new thread....but I'd recommend that if you do, you should submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of replicating this issue, and either post the number here, or contact Sonos to discuss it. There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.
I'm sorry if I pushed a sensitive button for you, that was not intentional. As I indicated, you're more likely to get a response from Sonos if you open up a new thread, rather than posting in an older one. But I didn't suggest it was an issue. I just recommended a potential quicker avenue for you.

No, since there isn't a "Sonos Staff" next to my name in the post header, I'm not Sonos staff, just someone who was hoping to get you some assistance so that you could resolve your issue. However, at this point, you don't seem to want further assistance from anyone other than Sonos, so I'll wish you the best of luck.
Userlevel 3
Badge +3
How is saying I’m wrong to post to the most relevant thread I could find helpful? And how is encouraging me to submit a diagnostic when the app clearly says only to do that if asked by Sonos staff helpful?

I appreciate the effort but for people who find their way to this site via a search engine query on their issue your response is just clutter. Can you help? Can you answer the question? Do you have the same issue? If not then while I appreciate your passion, it’s just noise.

Yes, I would 100% rather a Sonos staff member provided advice but they just don’t seem present, especially not in low traffic threads.

So your presence and commitment to the brand and the product is excellent and I admire that. But I’ve not yet seen a Sonos rep say “ah yes thanks for submitting your diagnostic let me solve that publicly where it can be indexed by search engines so others can self serve their issue”
If you are looking for Sonos staff, you came to wrong place. This is primarily a users supporting users forum. Sonos staff sometimes replies, mostly when a user is told to post a diagnostic reference number. Sonos staff is then alerted to the diagnostic and gets back to you.

Ironic, isn't it?