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GoWest
Contributor I
December 9, 2024

iOS app cannot find Sonos system but all devices work fine with Mac OS app

  • December 9, 2024
  • 11 replies
  • 527 views

I have an iPhone 12 running iOS 18.1.1, and after months of seriously bad functionality (since the “new app” was released), now all my devices have disappeared from the app, even the one plugged directly into ethernet. On my Mac OS, I can see all the devices, and the Sonos app works perfectly. After following all the usual recommendations, I deleted and re-installed the Sonos app on my phone, and now it cannot even find my Sonos system (I cannot “join existing system”).

I am currently using a “work around” by playing Spotify on my phone, and casting it to my Sonos speakers via AirPlay, but the Sonos app itself cannot see the same speakers that I can cast to.

So what I have done is:

-clicked “forget” on my wifi connection, and re-joined it by re-entering the password multiple times

-re-installed the Sonos app multiple times

-restarted my phone multiple times

-restarted my router multiple times

-rebooted one of my Play 5 speakers and re-set up the wifi connection just to test and see if that made any difference (it didn’t - and my Mac OS app continues to see and play that speaker)

-rebooted my Arc, which is the only speaker connected by ethernet

-confirmed that the Sonos app on my phone has access to Local Network

-spent 2+ hours on the phone with Sonos tech support with no resolution (case #07166165)

If it makes any difference, I have a Unifi network with a Dream Machine SE router and multiple Unifi Nano HD access points. Again, the Sonos app on my Mac OS works perfectly, so I wouldn’t think that the network is the problem.

Any help would be appreciated.

-West

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GoWestAuthor
Contributor I
January 21, 2025

My problem was never quite resolved, but my system “mostly” works now, albeit not nearly as well as it did before the “new app” was released.

If you have older legacy devices (like a Play 1), what I learned is that if these are plugged into ethernet along with other newer Sonos products, the “sonos net” doesn’t work right. So the recommendation I received was to unplug “everything,” which I did, and that made all my devices appear again in the iOS app. Sonos support then told me to go ahead and plug back in a few products, which are the newer items I have like the Arc soundbar. So it at least “works” now, but is VERY slow to react, which makes it difficult to adjust volumes or change music. Sonos support now tells me that the slowness is because the Sonos devices get “confused” by the fact that I have a mesh wifi network with multiple access points, each of which has 2.4 and 5Ghz radios, but there is apparently no solution to that - just stuck with a barely functioning product. I’m very disappointed in how the system functions after the “new app” was released.

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