Skip to main content

Recently I bought a Roam, which I like a lot. However, since then, when the Roam is off or absent,  the Sonos App on my Samsung Tab S8 tablet has started spuriously displaying the message  that my “device needs to be on the same network as speaker, Let’s Fix it”, when it is on the correct wifi network.

If I wait for about 1 ½ to 2 minutes, this message goes away and the app functions properly without further action on my part. Since  I usually use the tablet to control my Sonos system, this is very inconvenient. 

The app does work fine on my Android phone, but for various reasons, this is not a satisfactory solution. Also, m wife has a Samsung Tab S7Plus tablet, and often sees the same problem. Again, it doesn’t happen on her Samsung phone, either.

It looks as if the app is confused when it cannot find the Roam, and expresses that by falsely acting as if it is on the wrong network for a couple of minutes, before coming to its senses.

Has anyone else seen this, is it a known issue, or what?

If the problem is confined to the tablets, what’s different about the phones? For instance do the tablets connect to a different WiFi band? Do they have any specific software installed? Do they use DeX mode? Do they use a random MAC address?

Does this occur whether the Roam is fully awake or sleeping? 

In the past I’ve used S5e and S7+ tablets and not noticed this type of issue. I do ensure that IP addresses are reserved for all my devices. 

Does this issue occur immediately after the tablets have been awakened or immediately after the SONOS App has been launched? Is there a difference between freshly launching the SONOS App and simply giving the App focus?

Same Wifi band for both. Obviously there are likely to be some differences in other apps installed between my wife’s  and my devices. I tend to mostly have same apps on both, but some variation. The fact that two generations of the same Samsung tablet range both show the problem is suspicious, I think. That is one reason why I wondered whether anyone else with the S7?S8 tablets had noticed this.

As I said, the problem seems to occur when the Roam is off or not present.

 

The problem occurs when I first open the Sonos app. After that, it seems to be ok even if  the tablet has slept for a time.

 

A small delay when a controller starts would be normal, while it tries to contact a missing device on the local subnet. However one would logically expect the “device needs to be on the same network” message to only arise if the mobile device could somehow detect the AWOL unit by other means, e.g. Bluetooth. 

Given that the problem is associated with the added Roam, maybe it is looking for it via bluetooth. But it is annoying that it is preventing me from taking any other action for one or two minutes to control other speakers while it looks, and also generating an irrelevant error about the wrong wifi network. I’d expect the app to handle the fact that a mobile  app comes and goes rather more gracefully.

Does the Roam (and therefore the system) have more than one set of WiFi credentials stored, so could it have connected to a different subnet? A ‘powered off’ Roam should simply appear as such.

One quick thought @Gwarner, do you maybe have the ‘power saving’ feature enabled on your S8. If so, try disabling that. See link:

https://thedroidguy.com/enable-power-saving-mode-galaxy-tab-s8-1167245

Terms & ConditionsCookie settings