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Avid Contributor I
April 14, 2016
Answered

Severe battery drain with Sonos app in iOS

  • April 14, 2016
  • 125 replies
  • 19524 views
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?

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Best answer by Ryan S
Thanks for the details guys. We've been looking into iOS battery usage and so far it's all seemed pretty normal. The biggest drain on the battery that Sonos uses comes in two pieces, first off, the app is still going to try and keep alive access to your players while you're on a wireless network, which, even in background mode, will use a bit of the battery. The second piece, is that when you're using the iOS Lock Screen controls on Sonos, the app is "playing" a silent track on the phone. This is the only way to have a non-media app take control over the lock screen in iOS.

If you think your system is seeing an unusually high amount of battery usage, we're happy to take a look, and I'd encourage you to give us a call on our support line.

125 replies

T00LF00L
Prodigy I
December 1, 2016
That's why I suspect iOS 10. My iPhone's reliability is in the toilet since the update.
I am just a worthless liar. I am just an imbecil.
Airgetlam
December 1, 2016
I've had no issue using iOS 10 and the Sonos app (6.4.8), using an iPad Air 2, an iPad 4th Gen, an iPhone 6s Plus, and an iPhone 7 Plus. Not disputing your issues at all, but I'm doubting that it's completely related to iOS 10. Especially since reports of this issue pre-date the release of iOS 10.
Bruce
Lyricist II
December 1, 2016
I've had no issue using iOS 10 and the Sonos app (6.4.8), using an iPad Air 2, an iPad 4th Gen, an iPhone 6s Plus, and an iPhone 7 Plus. Not disputing your issues at all, but I'm doubting that it's completely related to iOS 10. Especially since reports of this issue pre-date the release of iOS 10.

I haven't noticed any problems in my 7 plus all both sonos apps are up to date and iOS is running newest version.
T00LF00L
Prodigy I
December 2, 2016
To clarify, I am seeing an awful lot of background ACTIVITY, but the overall battery usage for Sonos is still very low. But for me iOS 10 has caused many issues. The basics like reminders, email and text are only working about 80% of the time so there's no telling what's going on.
I am just a worthless liar. I am just an imbecil.
Lyricist I
December 2, 2016
I've also just started noticing this problem (only in the past week or so). Used the app for a few minutes last night yet it had completely drained my battery by this morning.



Any clue yet as to why this is happening?
Lyricist III
December 5, 2016
I have the same problem.. any solution to have normally battery drain and keep the ability to use sonos from the lockscreen?
Airgetlam
December 5, 2016
Not currently. One might hope that they've found the issue and it will be fixed with the next revision of the software, but they won't tell us anything until then, and if it isn't fixed then, they won't tell us, either.
Bruce
R0nald
Lyricist II
December 6, 2016
Same over here.
When I leave the Sonos app open on my iphone 6s overnight the battery is almost empty in the morning.
Hopefully thuis is solved soon. Please keep us informed about any news on this topic.
Airgetlam
December 6, 2016
I'd be interested in those who were having this problem letting us know if it happened to be fixed with the release of version 7.0? Perhaps it's too early to tell, being just a few hours, but if you're willing to sacrifice some battery power by turning back on the lock screen controls, it may make at least some people here happy.
Bruce
johnnymumu
Trending Lyricist I
December 8, 2016
Me too. Worked fine for ages (have had app installed on my phone for years, since it came out). Only in last couple weeks has it become awful. Just turned lock screen off, have always had background refresh off for all apps.

Right now Sonos has used 13% of battery in last 7 days: 1.1 hours on screen, 19.2 hours in background. Dwarfing any other app.
—Playing all day, every day—