I hope an update is coming because I’m over going to use my roam and it’s dead. Out of the five times I’ve wanted to use it I have only been able to use it once. I have to leave it on the charger when not in use otherwise it will be dead when I go to use it. When it’s on the charger and it gets to 100% there is no way to turn it off. If I hold the power button for five seconds it turns off but within a few seconds it turns itself back on again. If they don’t say a fix is coming within a week sadly it’s going back.
Roam is always turning itself on and the battery is always dead making the roam unusable
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Ken,
Thanks for that link. I’ve always been pronouncing that as “Kee”, rather that “Chee”. Good to know I was wrong, and will use the appropriate pronunciation from now on.
Interesting read, beyond that nugget, too. :)
Got up this morning and the red light was flashing. The roam was completely dead and it was on the wireless charger since yesterday. The charger is working so for whatever reason the roam will no longer charge from it. I plugged the roam in using the supplied charging cable a few hours ago and I’m now once again waiting for it to charge back up.
Just curious, is it a ‘certified’ Qi charger?
https://www.howtogeek.com/425885/what-is-a-qi-certified-wireless-charger/
Yes it’s Qi certified. It’s a JW 04087. I own several of these and they work great will all of my other devices
I have terrible and sad experience with Roam. I guess my unit showed me all possible problems described in this thread. First, I had to update my system to S2, it was not problematic but I had to stop using Connect:Amp I bought a few years ago 
Adding Roam to S2 in the app was not straightforward neither was the Bluetooth setup.
Note: You don’t have to stop using the C:A, just simply reset it and set it up using the S1 App - it will continue to work just fine.
Since I managed to include Roam in my app together with 3 other rooms, the real problems started. Terrible battery life, every other time I tried to use Roam, it was out of power. Charging took too long, I could not turn it on and use while charging, it was not responding and I could only see an orange led light. When I left the Roam in the original magnetic charger for some time, the Roam became frozen, I had to restart it to start using it again. Sometimes the BT connection could not be established. I managed to move the sound to another device once or twice, most of the time it was simply not working. When I left fully charged Roam off the charger yesterday night, it was not responding in the morning (/off-line in the app) and I could not wake it up using any method described here. After charging for 30 minutes I could finaly restart it, it suddenly claimed 96% of power. My wife refused to use Roam.
So I am sending it back to Sonos.
Thats your prerogative, but it sounds like you maybe using the power button incorrectly for what your perhaps attempting to achieve with the device. Maybe see if these YT videos will assist you (and the Wife) at all…
I’m going to post this everywhere I can. The “auto turn on” feature is SO.DUMB.
Makes this product trash, basically. I’ll probably be returning it.
Every other bluetooth speaker I’ve used before has auto-turn OFF. That makes 10000% more sense than auto-turn on. It would NOT be a big deal to turn my Roam on right before I want to use it. Who cares about a 2-second delay if your Roam is always dead !?
I suppose it depends how you use it. They probably expect most people will keep it on the charger when they’re on WiFi.
I was having the same issue but think I’ve resolved it. When you turn the Roam off, hold down the switch in back for about 5 full seconds, you will hear a audible that indicates the unit is off. If you just press the switch momentarily, the white power light goes off, but the unit is in sleep mode, not off - so will drain the battery a bit. if you hold it for a second or two, it goes into pairing mode and the white light blinks. Anyway - give this a shot and see if it holds a charge. Also, remember that you can return the unit for a refund within 45 days. Luckily, I have a few days left to see if this solves my battery life issue.
Sonos told me that whenever you “foreground” the Sonos app, Roam speakers will turn on. Of course this is frustrating if you have other Sonos products. You use the app to turn other Sonos products off at night and the Roam comes on. Unless you turn it off, your battery is diminished or dead in the morning. So every night I have to track down the Roams (I own 2) to make sure they are off. I will not buy another Sonos product. I own two Play 1’s and two Roams. This is a fixable problem and they won’t fix it. We should be able to disable this functionality if we want to
+17
Note: You don’t have to stop using the C:A, just simply reset it and set it up using the S1 App - it will continue to work just fine.
Thats your prerogative, but it sounds like you maybe using the power button incorrectly for what your perhaps attempting to achieve with the device.
I spent a lot of time finding a solution, that’s not the problem. I did my very last test today. In the morning, I left charched Roam in a living room, near the wifi router. It was turned on in the morning so I guess it was in a stand-by mode during the day, I didn’t push any button, I just stopped the playback. Few hours ago I came back home. Roam was again “frozen”, the white led next to the logo was on but the unit didn’t react to any buttons, it was not visible in the Mac app and it was off-line in the phone app. I had to hold the power button for a long time to resurrect Roam.
I already have the return label so it is time to send the parcel back to Sonos. The positive effect is, I can downgrade back to S1 and control all rooms from one app. The negative effect is, I have to find a good battery powered player for my bathroom.
Hi
I hope this message reaches you before returning the Roam.
We were aware of an issue affecting some Roams on a certain version of firmware that could prevent them from waking from sleep, and your post seems to reflect this. This issue has since been fixed via a software update. If you still have your Roam, please turn it on and update it via the Sonos app and let us know if this solves the problem for you.
For me the roam is not fit for purpose and i want my money back.
i took it on holiday after making sure it was 100% charged via usb c charger. Switched off, 3 days i to holiday I went to get it out to use and yes, completed drained and takes 10-15 mins to get a minimum charge to even show the white light. Useless.
What’s the point in having a speaker with guaranteed battery life if it’s nonsense.
And for the record it was turned off properly.
Userlevel 7
For me the roam is not fit for purpose and i want my money back.
i took it on holiday after making sure it was 100% charged via usb c charger. Switched off, 3 days i to holiday I went to get it out to use and yes, completed drained and takes 10-15 mins to get a minimum charge to even show the white light. Useless.
What’s the point in having a speaker with guaranteed battery life if it’s nonsense.
And for the record it was turned off properly.
If the Roam was shut off completely, it should only lose about 1%-2% of battery charge per day. If your battery fully discharged in 3 days, either your Roam was not shut off completely or your Roam is defective. I’m willing to guess it’s the former.
this thing is a piece of crap, I have several sonos speakers and whoever designed this should be fired.
wanted to use it last night, dead.
again powered overnight. not connected to anything.
wnat to use it today.
dead again.
the power button on the back is useless and it is impossible to tell if it is fully off or not
this thing can't hold a charge for a few hours without being used. piece of crap.
We should combine the multiple threads on this topic. Sonos appear to be completely ignoring it at hoping it goes away (please do prove me wrong by commenting Sonos!).
Here's another thread in case there's anything interesting there too..
https://en.community.sonos.com/wireless-speakers-228992/sonos-roam-battery-drain-6857914
Such a bummer to learn others are having same experience, but I just submitted my return request for MBG return since I bought my unit <45 days ago and it keeps dying on me. Was excited to use this both as a “mobile” speaker around the house and also outside the house i.e. bring to the beach or on a picnic to use as BT speaker, but like everyone else here: whenever I pull it out of my bag or reach for it after it’s been unplugged, its DEAD. Hoping they come out with new software update in near future that fixes device so I can give it another try down the road. Until then...kinda useless :/
Userlevel 7
this thing is a piece of crap, I have several sonos speakers and whoever designed this should be fired.
wanted to use it last night, dead.
again powered overnight. not connected to anything.
wnat to use it today.
dead again.
the power button on the back is useless and it is impossible to tell if it is fully off or not
this thing can't hold a charge for a few hours without being used. piece of crap.
If you press and hold the power button for five seconds until you hear a chime, it will power off the Roam completely which will conserve the battery’s charge. When powered off completely, the Roam only should lose 1%-2% charge per day.
If the Roam is still showing in the app then it is not completely powered down. You have to keep doing it until it shows “offline” in the app. You may have to refresh the app for it to display as offline unless you leave the app for a minute or so.
It’s my belief that many people are stil thinking that they’ve powered it down completely but haven’t due to the very fiddly button and the fact that it doesn’t always work properly.
Me too. I have the latest version of the software and my Roam wakes from sleep mode *even if I have my phone turned off.
I’m so disappointed in what I hoped would be a premium brand experience.
Can we *please* have an option to disable the wake on LAN functionality? Please?
Me too. I have the latest version of the software and my Roam wakes from sleep mode *even if I have my phone turned off.
I’m so disappointed in what I hoped would be a premium brand experience.
Can we *please* have an option to disable the wake on LAN functionality? Please?
Did you turn the Battery Saver option on in the settings?
Me too. I have the latest version of the software and my Roam wakes from sleep mode *even if I have my phone turned off.
I’m so disappointed in what I hoped would be a premium brand experience.
Can we *please* have an option to disable the wake on LAN functionality? Please?
Did you turn the Battery Saver option on in the settings?
Thanks for the reply and advice there. I hadn’t!
I have now - much appreciated. Let’s see how this goes :)
The battery life on the roam is absolutely terrible. It might be light enough to roam with you but it can’t play music the full day.
What was this latest update? Was it meant to help?
I have heard someone say take it off wifi and just use it via bluetooth but I can’t see this option.
Very disappointing product.
Userlevel 6
+12
The battery life on the roam is absolutely terrible. It might be light enough to roam with you but it can’t play music the full day.
What was this latest update? Was it meant to help?
I have heard someone say take it off wifi and just use it via bluetooth but I can’t see this option.
Very disappointing product.
Couple of reports about better battery life, couldn’t tell you though I returned mine, not interested in Beta testing
https://reddit.com/r/sonos/comments/nrtddx/it_looks_like_the_1311_update_fixed_battery_drain/
I have exactly the same issue. I've only used the Roam for 10 mins since having it delivered, but I've fully charged it 3 or 4 times, and switched it off after charging = put it to sleep.
My observations is that it keeps waking from sleep without my touching it, draining the battery and next time I look at it I have an orange light and depleted battery. I suspect it something about sitting on my Sonos WiFi network. I may put it in BT mode, put it to sleep and see if it stays asleep.
Hopefully an update will fix this problem. There is definitely an issue with sleep management and impact on battery life.
I am so frustrated after living all of my other sonos devices. I dont want it to sleep, i want it to be off inless i turn it on. Ive tried to use it twice after fully charging, thinking im switching off and then leaving until I want it. So far its had zero use as has never had charge when ive needed it. Totally useless given its purpose. I have a £100 sony speaker tgat works perfectly and just as i expect to use it. It even keeps a charge ! Hoping sonos come up with an update that actually switches it off.
I feel exactly the same. Each time I’ve wanted to take it somewhere it has no charge. What a flawed design to come on when you open the app. Why would I want the roam to come on when I’m watching TV with the Arc, Sub and One’s? Its a portable speaker and there is no need for it to turn on!!
Hi
To fully power off the Roam, you need to hold the power button for 5 seconds, while setting it to Sleep is just a single press and release.
Xander, can you let the community know the status of working to fix this -- so the app doesn’t wake up the Roam when opened (unless that is desired)?
Userlevel 7
It’s best to keep the Roam on its charger when not in use so it will always be charged when you need it. Keeping the Roam on its charger after it is fully charged will not degrade the battery.
I’m in the same club, turn off Roam NOT ON CHARGER or plugged in and yep, come back to it and it’s either dead or on. Kind of pointless for a battery powered device to not keep itself turned off when not charging. I’ll wait another week for a good answer or fix otherwise both units go back as defective.
It’s best to keep the Roam on its charger when not in use so it will always be charged when you need it. Keeping the Roam on its charger after it is fully charged will not degrade the battery.
Given it's supposed to be a battery powered speaker with a declared life of 10 days or so when not in use, surely you accept the absurdity of that ‘advice’?
My testing shows maybe 4 or 5 days (not 10), when the Roam is in sleep mode. Is anyone out there getting 10 days of battery life, with Roam unused, but in Sleep mode?
Got up this morning and the red light was flashing. The roam was completely dead and it was on the wireless charger since yesterday. The charger is working so for whatever reason the roam will no longer charge from it. I plugged the roam in using the supplied charging cable a few hours ago and I’m now once again waiting for it to charge back up.
Just curious, is it a ‘certified’ Qi charger?
https://www.howtogeek.com/425885/what-is-a-qi-certified-wireless-charger/
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