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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

R0nald
Lyricist II
December 11, 2016
Tried it 3 times overnight after the software update without any issue.
I hope it stays this way, very happy with it.
Hopefully it solved your issues too...
johnnymumu
Trending Lyricist I
December 11, 2016
Tried it 3 times overnight after the software update without any issue.
I hope it stays this way, very happy with it.
Hopefully it solved your issues too...


Since which update, R0nald? I have been having the same issue still... Crazy drain on the battery, all seems to be background.
—Playing all day, every day—
R0nald
Lyricist II
December 11, 2016
7.0 update.
Greasyman
Trending Lyricist I
December 11, 2016
My iPhone 6 is the same since 7.0 update. Interestingly the iPad Pro seems OK. The phone won't now last a day from a full charge. It might be apple with 10.1.1 but why is the iPad OK?
Lyricist I
December 12, 2016
Same issue. Updated to v7.0 on iOS and facing severe battery drain as you can see in the attachment. >40% drain in 24 hour time period. Let's get this fixed!
Contributor I
December 12, 2016
Have the exact same problem... Only after 7.0 update. Iphone 6S Plus. Never had any issues before but it is absolutely killing battery now with Background Activity. Reported to Sonos and they replied that they have tested 7.0 extensively and no such issues. Sent me a link to show me how to see what is using iPhone battery.... Like I'm some inept 10 year old.
Ryan S
Retired Sonos Staff
December 12, 2016
Hey guys, if you're seeing what looks like abnormal battery usage can you try turning off the iOS lockscreen for a few days to test? The lock screen has to trick the phone into playing a silent track in order for the app to be able to take over, which might use more background activity than it did previously. This should be the case with the last couple updates, and not specific to version 7.0, but it'd be great to try as a test.

We'd love to look into any trouble you might have with this though, so if you do have a lot of battery usage it'd recommend give us a call on our support line and working with a technician live. They'll take a look at the system and see if we can help improve things.
Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
Greasyman
Trending Lyricist I
December 13, 2016
My iPhone 6 is the same since 7.0 update. Interestingly the iPad Pro seems OK. The phone won't now last a day from a full charge. It might be apple with 10.1.1 but why is the iPad OK?

So, I switched off background activity, removed Sonos from the lock screen, deleted Sonobit and had a cup of tea. One of these activities has solved the problem. Ooh and restarted the iPhone. So far so good.
Lyricist I
January 3, 2017
Same drain issue for me iPhone 7 iOS 10.2 😞 I bought the Sonos to avoid my battery draining with airplay 😕
Lyricist I
January 8, 2017
Also experiencing what seems like a large battery drain for the Sonos app used in the background. Have switched off the background activity to see if that helps. Not sure how I delete Sonos from the lock screen?