Battery drain on Android app 9.0.1


Userlevel 2
Badge
3 minutes ago
I see I'm not the only one with this problem - the latest update seems to have caused the app to consume more battery than the screen, even with notifications and lock screen off! I've had no choice but to uninstall the app as killing it, clearing cache etc, none of the usual things fixes it.

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

77 replies

I'm on a Sony Z5 - same symptoms 😞
Userlevel 2
Badge +1
I'm on a Sony Z5 - same symptoms :-(

What Android version of that running?

The only functionality loss I've noticed so far from 9.0.1 to 8.6 is that you can't adjust the speaker EQ, bass, treble, Loudness from the phone app.
There may be others though.

I'm on my second day of v8 6. Batt drain totally resolved for me on Android 7.0.
Userlevel 2
Badge +1
Well I'll be ....
Sometime late on today my Sonos up re-updated itself to 9.0.1!
I noticed Sonos using 14% of batt Vs 12% screen. Uninstall quick!!
Userlevel 2
Badge +1
How to stop Android auto updates..

Android
By default, Android apps downloaded from the Google Play Store are automatically updated.

To turn updates on or off, follow these steps:

Open Google Play.
Tap the hamburger icon (three horizontal lines) on the top-left.
Tap Settings.
Tap Auto-update apps.
To disable automatic app updates, select Do not auto-update apps.
google play auto update
Userlevel 2
Badge +1
I decided to trial a Beam. Nice sound for TV / film watching.
Had to update the App to 9.0.1 to install and setup. Yikes, battery drain on phone is huge! Uninstall and back to 8.6 asap!

Any news on a fix Sonos?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge running Android v7. Battery drain with latest version of Sonos App was brutal. I had to uninstall. Kept running in background even after repeatedly closing it and doing a force quit. Phone was also getting very hot. After I uninstalled my phone went back to normal - i.e., battery lasted and was not dead by dinner time.
Userlevel 2
Badge +1
Come on Sonos. Have the courtesy to at least update us.
This is not an isolated incident.
9.0.1 is a pathogen on some versions of Android. We need a fix!
Badge
I have had to "Force stop" Sonos regularly as my battery life went from about 36 hours down to 6 or 7 with Sonos running. every time I stopped it I sent in a report so pretty frustrating this is still going on, the update should just have been rolled back. I have been having a play with the app and found that if I start Sonos during the day from the Forced Stop the battery life seems not to suffer as if I dont use the app then it is only a couple of percent, but if I switch the phone off then on Sonos starts eating the battery, particularly if I go straight into another app after switch on such as BBC news. I suspect that at start up Sonos is trying to do something before the system is fully started and getting a failure, then never recovers and just keep retrying and failing until you actually run the app, this idea is backed up by the very high CPU usage of what is actually an "inactive" app.I have just uninstalled it and reinstalled and now it wont connect to my system. Come on SORT IT OUT
Same behavior on my Samsung Galaxy S5 (Android). Battery life has plummeted since recent release.
Phone has been on for < 8 hours & the Sonos app has depleted 21% of battery.

I've just deleted the app on my S5. From 100% to 65% of battery in 3 hours. 13% by SONOS. 3% by the screen. Hopefully this will be solved quickly.
Does sonos have any update on this, its been a month and I'm still having to use 8.6 due to version 9 killing battery in half a day
so in answer to a inquiry on twitter, no there is no update, they didn't have a record of my diagnostic report, and I'm again going to have to reinstall the app, watch my battery life evaporate, and call them wasting more of my time as they make up yet more excuses.
I manually installed version 8.6, and battery was fine again. After some weeks I accidentally updated to version 9.0.1 and battery usage was on the top of the list within a day. I downgraded back to 8.6.
Just adding another "me too". The battery drain is intolerable on android (8.0.0) on a Samsung Note. Tried multiple re-installs (v.9.0.1), but the "force stop" doesn't have any effect on the app at all it seems. It just won't die! Alas, my time is worth more than this, so have uninstalled for good and using the computer as the controller. Have commented on the Google Play store and would hope that Sonos devs would be checking in there occasionally...? Really disappointed with Sonos' apparently lack of engagement with this, and will be checking back here to see if there are any updates. Thanks to everyone who has spent the time and effort re-installing, getting reports and screenshots and uploading them.
Userlevel 5
Badge +11
Used the phone by mistake again and argh!. Come on Sonos it is over a month since you provided any feedback on this very frustrating problem.
Thought that the battery on my OP3T was starting to give in. But no, the Sonos app was the culprit severely draining battery. Please update us on this issue.
Badge
Sorry if I am being a bit stupid here but can someone give me an idiots guide to getting back to a previous working of the software on my phone please. I have auto update off so can then never touch a Sonos update
3 minutes ago
I see I'm not the only one with this problem - the latest update seems to have caused the app to consume more battery than the screen, even with notifications and lock screen off! I've had no choice but to uninstall the app as killing it, clearing cache etc, none of the usual things fixes it.


Any update on the progress please? Do you need more information from us?



Was going to be 1hr48min of battery life until I deleted the app.
Today, a new version of the controller was released for Android. Nothing has changed 😞 Seriously Sonos? Two month and no status update, is anybody actually looking into the issue? I'm deeply disappointed.
I have had the same problem since about a month ago. I also have submitted my diagnostics 758031041.

I am running an LG G6 and my android version is 8.0.0 and I have the security patch June 1, 2018. Kernel version ios 3.18.71
Sonos, please! Can you at least give us some hint of you trying to fix the battery drain issue?

I tried downgrading to 8.6 to avoid the problem, but that version says there is a newer version, and I HAVE TO upgrade to use it. My battery went from 75% to 55% in two hours without me even using the phone. Why? Sonos. It is ridiculous.
So, now I have to uninstall the app. This CAN'T go on.
Just a quick "me too". I've had to uninstall as Sonos was chomping through 25% of my battery and by 6pm I was looking for a charger.
I've also been forced to uninstall. Force stop didn't work. It's a battery killer on my sony E6653 android version 7.1.1. I was thinking of buying a Sonos soundbar. Not so sure now if they can't fix this in a reasonable time. I was really liking Sonos until now.
Can we get an update on this please? This is staring to make my phone unusable as it needs to be plugged in all the time.

I'm sitting here refreshing the battery usage stats. The app isn't even open yet CPU total is constantly increasing, as is data received via wi-fi, data sent via wi-fi and computed power usage.

What on earth is it sending over wi-fi when the app isn't even running and why is it using CPU?
Userlevel 2
Badge +1
I ran in to the 'can't go back to 8.6' issue, once the latest Sonos 9.1 app had been installed. Tearing my hair out at the time..

Now here's something I did that seems to have completely fixed my Sonos 9.1 excessive battery usage on my Moto G5 android 7.0 phone!

1. Check if you have an SD card installed.
2. Check if you are using Adoptive storage (Androids rather poor way of trying to share SD memory with internal memory.
Even with a super fast SD card as I have it seems to cause problems.
3. If you are using adoptive storage and can take the hit on some apps that are allowed to be stored on the SD card going missing - stop the adoptive storage, reformat the SD card and use it for Photo, video / Spotify downloads but no apps and reinstall the apps you have lost on internal memory.
4. For good measure uninstall the Sonos 9.1 app and reinstall again.
To find the storage settings you need; Goto Settings / Storage / Portable Storage, Three dots at top right, Storage settings.

I found this totally fixed my Sonos app battery usage woes. Most days now the Sonos app doesn't even register on the list of battery hungry apps!
Today for example it's used 7m 3s CPU total and 20mAh. At worst it was 4 hours CPU and nearly 400mAh! What a difference.
The Sonos app now uses less than Spotify .

I have advised the Sonos support team of the above and suggested they advise other customers to try the above, but they have not even responded to me in over 5 days!

Could this be the cause of a relatively few customer devices having this massive battery draining issue with the Sonos 9.0.1 and 9.1 app installed and others being absolutely fine? - maybe?

Why? Who knows, perhaps critical Sonos data gets stored on the SD card and as the app is on internal storage, it's fragmented somehow and data retrieval goes in to hyperdrive, hence the CPU time and current drain - I guess I'll never know!

Do let me know if this helps your Sonos batt drain woes.