Enthusiast II

Answered

Anyone else experiencing severe APP LAG & slow loading/refresh with S2?

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
January 1, 2021
172 replies
16097 views

Ever since we took the plunge for S2 (including upgrading/purchasing 6 new Sonos unit for S2 compatibility) it’s been a real mess (system stability and WiFi issues)!

The iOS version of the S2 app is very slow to load, lags almost always, and has a terrible screen refresh rate compared to ANY iOS app we have in the household. Now 20-40 seconds might not seem like long for an iPhone/Pad app to load/refresh, but if you’re trying to get some quick control over the volume or switching songs this is a STUPID amount of time!

S1 was almost instant across all platforms and apps. While I realize Apple can take some blame for issues with iOS apps, why is S2 slow on PC and Amazon Fire (Android) devices as well?

I’m guessing I’m not the only one, but Sonos sure seem slow to address this no matter how many times I’ve reported it to support.

Anyone else think this degrades the Sonos experience beyond the obvious annoyances (especially compared to the hundred or so other apps we use with NO lagging)?

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Best answer by Airgetlam

I’ve got no lag, on my 18 speakers and 5 controllers, using S2. Which makes me think there’s a local issue in your system.

I’d suggest three things to you. First, review the wifi interference FAQ. There’s some potential that your system is troubled, perhaps by outside influences. Worth reading through and applying what solutions are presented.

Second, try a network refresh. Unplug all your Sonos devices from power. While they are unplugged, reboot your router. When the router comes back up, go ahead and plug back in your Sonos devices.

Third, if neither of those work, system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it, or post the diagnostic number here for a Community Moderator to pick up.

There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.

When you speak directly to the phone folks, there are more options available beyond just the diagnostic analysis.

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bac-canada

Enthusiast I

Thank you Ken, your suggestions and time are much appreciated. Since I only understand half of what you suggested, I need to investigate. Since my first S5 device I have gone through all the Sonos trials and tribulations over 15 years (already having done most of your suggestions) and learned more about Router settings and Networking issues than I cared to. Sonos has gone from Plug N Play to “Plug n PRAY” and all I want to do is listen to Music. I don’t want to have conversations with my devices or hear weather reports. I took the Leap Of Faith in 2022 and at considerable expense upgraded my 22 devices from Play 5 to Five, Play 1 to ERA 100, Beam to Arc, and so on just to get on the S2 platform for improved performance and future compatibility. I have the latest higher Orbi with WiFi 6 and only (2) ERA 100 and a Move on Wi-Fi, everything else is hardwired. No Sonos Net and no 2.4 band and I have never had such slow performance on any Samsung/Lenovo Tablet or Phone with S1 as I do now. If interference is the culprit then I should expect the same poor performance on the new IPad Air (gen 5) and back to square one.

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bac-canada

Enthusiast I

UPDATE: It is with mixed feelings I’m happy to have found a resolution to my S2 App lagging issues. I just purchased a new iPad Air 5 and the performance difference from my 1 year old Lenovo & Samsung Tablets is Night & Day. This confirms as I suspected it had nothing to do with Wi-Fi inference, Router type, Router Settings, with or without Sonos Net, hard wiring and so on. I take serious issue with Sonos that I should have to upgrade to an expensive controller to get satisfactory performance. Nowhere have I ever read from Sonos that as you add more and more devices (up to 32 indeed!) you need more horse power in the controller. This explains why the Desktop Windows software runs smoothly on my Laptop (Wi-Fi) or Desktop (hardwired) lots of processing power in these controllers. I don’t have the time or inclination to test a comparable Samsung S8 Tablet to the iPad Air 5 to see if the performance would be the same. If they are, then this would confirm that Android Apps run as smoothly as Apple and indeed you need an expensive Tablet either way. If they don’t, again shame on Sonos for not making it clear to customers that you will get better performance from Apple devices. My goal here is to help others experiencing the same frustration I was after updating many devices to S2, investing a lot of money in my current 26 devices only to find out I need to spend more money on a Tablet to get them to work properly.

Ken_Griffiths

I would guess for an iPhone or iPad/iPad Pro with 26 Sonos network devices to respond to the multicast packets for ‘device discovery’, we’re probably talking about 7 seconds from App launch and probably 2 or 3 seconds when launching the app from a background state.

I don’t mind the wait on my older controller devices and if any devices are not discovered, then in my own past experience, that’s usually been down to local network conditions - which of course can change quite often in some circumstances, like being located next to several neighbouring properties which may auto-change their WiFi settings on router startup, or update etc.

K

Kevin Whitehouse

Lyricist I

Thanks Bruce,

Really this question is directed AT THE SONOS COMMUNITY - not support as you can probably tell from my postings.

I’m asking if ANY other Sonos S2 users have experienced the Sonos applications reacting/launching/refreshing slowly compared to other iOS/Android apps and S1.

I do agree that it makes it tough when Sonos’ support has their hands tied with communicating broadly to the community.

I find the lag time is most frustrating when you want to quickly stop or turn down the volume…

I'll quickly get the next offer for the latest speaker though!

Right now why would I buy another speaker, I'm more likely to o go elsewhere completely…

My net promotor score is 4/10 for recommending Sonia right now....

In the world of smart phones and computers the lag is a big issue…

Come in Sonos give us some hope!

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vram

Lyricist I

I am also experiencing this issue and have been unable to resolve it.

My network (Amplifi by Ubiquity) performs excellently in all other respects but I have done a full factory reset on all routers, mesh points and Sonos speakers but noticed no improvement. Airplay 2 picks up the speakers instantly but the Sonos app is often very slow.

I too have tried all the steps in the FAQ with no success.

Same - very frustrating!

Ken_Griffiths

Same - very frustrating!

It’s usually the SSDP ‘multicast’ device discovery of each and every Sonos device across a subnet by the controller device that causes the delay/responsiveness issue, so maybe try to reduce any wired/wireless network interference and maybe reserve device IP addresses in the routers DHCP reservation table. It should not take any longer than 10s (that’s just a ball-park figure) to be fully up and running with any Sonos system when opening the App from a fully closed state, at least that’s been my own personal experience in the recent past.

controlav

Lead Maestro

Same - very frustrating!

It’s usually the SSDP ‘multicast’ device discovery of each and every Sonos device across a subnet by the controller device that causes the delay/responsiveness issue, so maybe try to reduce any wired/wireless network interference and maybe reserve device IP addresses in the routers DHCP reservation table. It should not take any longer than 10s (that’s just a ball-park figure) to be fully up and running with any Sonos system when opening the App from a fully closed state, at least that’s been my own personal experience in the recent past.

An SSDP scan is three seconds per the RFC. It then should take no more than a couple more seconds to obtain the Zone topology and music service list then subscribe to the events on all the speakers, which is enough for the app to be up and running.

Most common reason for slow startup is a crap router/local network. Occasionally one device can be a pain and super slow in response, a reboot of it will fix that. You can see this in the xml logs (on PC).

Author of the leading independent Sonos apps for Android, MacOS, iOS, Windows and Xbox.

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vram

Lyricist I

Same - very frustrating!

It’s usually the SSDP ‘multicast’ device discovery of each and every Sonos device across a subnet by the controller device that causes the delay/responsiveness issue, so maybe try to reduce any wired/wireless network interference and maybe reserve device IP addresses in the routers DHCP reservation table. It should not take any longer than 10s (that’s just a ball-park figure) to be fully up and running with any Sonos system when opening the App from a fully closed state, at least that’s been my own personal experience in the recent past.

An SSDP scan is three seconds per the RFC. It then should take no more than a couple more seconds to obtain the Zone topology and music service list then subscribe to the events on all the speakers, which is enough for the app to be up and running.

Most common reason for slow startup is a crap router/local network. Occasionally one device can be a pain and super slow in response, a reboot of it will fix that. You can see this in the xml logs (on PC).

Not a very helpful response.

Ken_Griffiths

I manage to get things up and running these days around the 10s mark (give or take). here’s a .gif (animation) I created a few seconds ago opening the iPad Sonos App from a fully closed state, that’s with 29 Sonos devices and numerous music services installed. The ‘My Sonos’ tab has no space to add any further items - so it’s all perhaps pushing a ‘worst case’ scenario.

The App is ready to go when the volume control on the ‘now playing’ takes up its correct position (just as a reference point).

This is whilst running all on an 802.11ac WiFi mesh system.

If I open the App from a background state instead, then it’s a few seconds only.

Sorry about the quality, but there’s a 5MB upload limit here - but hopefully the repeating animation above shows you the kind of discovery speed I manage to get. I’m quite happy with that level of responsiveness. As I say it’s a lot less waiting time if the App is just brought forward from a background state.

edit: (animation now attached instead - as it was a bit of an eye-sore) … Ken

Ken_Griffiths

@vram,

If your Sonos App is perhaps taking much longer to discover all your devices than the example shown in the uploaded animation, then it’s ‘highly likely’ a network/router issue, as @controlav mentions. It’s only ever as good as the very last Sonos device to report back - so perhaps focus on that as your starting point.

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