iOS volume indicator appearing in Controller, breaking volume control

  • 10 February 2019
  • 5 replies
  • 795 views

Userlevel 6
Badge +12
  • Enthusiast II
  • 335 replies
Very often when I use the Sonos Controller for iOS on iPad Mini2 I get the iOS volume indicator appearing in Sonos, see image.
When this happens hardware volume control is broken. Restarting Sonos solves the problem temporarily but soon it happens again. Usually when Sonos Controller have been in background for a while or when screen has been sleeping. The problem started some versions ago.
Sonos Controller: 10.0 (latest)
iPad Mini2: Model A1489
iOS System: 12.1.2 (latest)



Another observation:
When volume control is working the hardware volume buttons will often have to be pressed twice to get one "click" in the graphical representation. If the Controller App is restarted by "throwing it out" this usually will not happen.

Other observations regarding other hardware:
Old iPad 4, iOS 10.3.3 latest Sonos: Problem never occurs
iPhone 7, iOS 12.1.2, latest Sonos: Problem with volume indicator never occurs, problem with having to push volume button twice is common though. Also the volume jumps seem to be somewhat inconsistent.

Has anyone else seen this and is there a solution, some setting iOS maybe?

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5 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +19
Hi there, T-S. Since the problem only happens on one of the 3 iOS devices, I'm tempted to say that the problem is coming from the iPad mini 2. Have you tried removing the Sonos app and re-installing? Does the volume notification pop up without you doing anything or does it stay up after you press the button?
Both my wife and I are having this issue. It is actually controlling the phone ring volume as well when this is happening. I’ve found that closing the app out of the background solves the issue. But obviously doing that you lose the lock screen controls. We both have the latest iOS and sonos software and have iPhone 6s and iPhone 8. But yes, it’s rather frustrating that this always pops up and then controls the volume of phone alerts and tones.
Userlevel 6
Badge +12
Both my wife and I are having this issue. It is actually controlling the phone ring volume as well when this is happening. I’ve found that closing the app out of the background solves the issue. But obviously doing that you lose the lock screen controls. We both have the latest iOS and sonos software and have iPhone 6s and iPhone 8. But yes, it’s rather frustrating that this always pops up and then controls the volume of phone alerts and tones.

Do you have any Airplay devices (like Airport express, Apple TV e.t.c.). In my end it seems more common to get this issue when an Airplay device is active somwhere.

I can also temporarilyremove the issue by restarting the Sonos app.
Userlevel 6
Badge +12
Hi there, T-S. Since the problem only happens on one of the 3 iOS devices, I'm tempted to say that the problem is coming from the iPad mini 2. Have you tried removing the Sonos app and re-installing? Does the volume notification pop up without you doing anything or does it stay up after you press the button?

Well, other applications using hardware volume (like Spotify) doesn't have this problem so the Sonos application obviously has a hardware compatibility problem the others don't have. Re installing the Controller made no difference.

Interestingly I experimented with Spotify Connect (which I usually don't use) and I can not provoke that application to lose connection with the hardware buttons. They work every time I bring up Spotify even when playing to Sonos speakers this way.
Both my wife and I are having this issue. It is actually controlling the phone ring volume as well when this is happening. I’ve found that closing the app out of the background solves the issue. But obviously doing that you lose the lock screen controls. We both have the latest iOS and sonos software and have iPhone 6s and iPhone 8. But yes, it’s rather frustrating that this always pops up and then controls the volume of phone alerts and tones.

Nothing besides my Beam.