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Sonos S2 iphone app not finding my system

J

I have had a Sonos Play 3 speaker for a while now and control it using the S2 app on my iPhone X using the latest ios 16 software. The app has always been slow to start;  now however, with the speaker on and working normally and playing music from a internet radio station, when I launch the S2 app, it comes back with the message “unable to connect to Sonos - let’s fix it”.  It then takes me through a routine which involves re-booting my router and then it finds it. However, if I then put the iPhone down and it goes into standby, the app again fails to find the system; so back to square 1.

I have found that, if instead, I launch the S1 app it finds my Play:3 OK but says “incompatible”, but if I follow the link “open Sonos S2 app” then the S2 app starts to work ! Still no good, because if I come back to the S2 app later - it’s failed again.

There’s a solution on this community web site which says turning off “Private wifi address” in ios 14 is the solution, but this does not work for me.

My broadband is Fibre to the Home - very solid, and the wifi connection is very strong and only 5 yards to the Sonos speaker. When working the app reports my wifi is a good signal and using 5G channel 44

Can anyone help please?

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Best answer by jan1e-gb 14 April 2023, 16:39

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11 replies

Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @jan1e-gb 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

As you haven’t yet mentioned doing so, I would certainly recommend a reboot of your iPhone. If you haven’t done so already, please also reboot the speaker by unplugging it for a moment.

If that doesn’t work, I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team, who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and what it reports.

I hope this helps.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
J

Solved.

I found that the Sonos Play 3 was connected to my wifi at 5GHz.  It reported a good signal: never-the-less I was doubtful about 5GHz since I thought Sonos insists on using 2.4GHz. I switched off the 5G on my router which forced the Play 3 to connect at 2.4GHz.  Now the S2 app works fine on my iPhone.

My BT Smart Hub 2 operates “preferred band Steering” and when I switched the 5GHz back on again my iPhone and other devices went back to 5GHz.  Fortunately the Sonos stayed on 2.4GHz.

There’s no way to turn off the band steering, so let’s hope the Sonos knows what’s good for it and stays on 2.4GHz

Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @jan1e-gb 

That is quite strange. I’m glad you got things working, but it really shouldn’t matter which band each device is connected to as each is part of the same network (a WiFi band is not a network, just a communication method for joining one). Sometimes, routers have an option called “Wireless Isolation” which would prevent devices from talking to each other, but I don’t recall any such option being on the BT Smart Hub 2 (though the software for it could have changed since I last logged into one about 2 years ago). 

If one of your WiFi bands was configured as a guest network, that could also produce the results you saw - if this is the case, please don’t connect Sonos or the device running the app to a guest network.

I recommend turning your router off for at least 30 seconds 6-12 times a year regardless of seeing any issues or not. If this doesn’t fix things, then I suspect that your router might be faulty in some way - I recommend contacting BT, informing them that the router doesn’t seem to be allowing two devices bridging the two bands to communicate, though you are welcome to contact us first to double-check things for you.

For what it’s worth, your Play:3 will be perfectly happy connecting to 5GHz, and the app should be more responsive if both devices are on 5GHz too. 5GHz has a lower range than 2.4GHz, however, and isn’t as good at penetrating walls and other solid objects, so it’s easier for things to go wrong - not that they should in the way that they did for you. I wouldn’t count on the Play:3 staying on 2.4GHz long-term, but as I said, what happened really shouldn’t have happened, so this should not, by itself, be a concern.

I hope this helps.

Edit: If you have any WiFi boosters or extenders, these could also cause what you described - these are not supported by Sonos for this very reason and should be turned off.

 

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
K

Similar issue. My iPhone12 is “unable to connect to Sonos” using the s2 app.

After calling in to the Helpdesk I learn that my Sonos Play1 is online, connected to the Wifi network, and it on the same network as my iPhone. However, the S2 App cannot find it because the “Limit IP Address tracking” option, which is primarily for Mail and Safari, is switched on.

When I switch this selection off the “Private WiFi Address” selection automatically switches on.  The iPhone system toggles between one of the options being on for at least one round, until I can finally switch them both off. And, when I switch both of them off, then my iPhone gives me notice of a “Privacy Warning.”  

The Helpdesk agent informed me that the Sonos cannot be accessed if I am using either of the privacy settings on my phone, even without a VPN.  

I am saddened as it seems the only way to use this device is to expose my phone or other iOS device to privacy risks.  

Is there anyway around this.  Can’t I just bluetooth connect them?   

The Helpdesk agent could not advise me on Bluetooth, but this seems like a simple solution. 

😥

Airgetlam

Because the PLAY:1 has no Bluetooth capability?

Bruce
K

The Helpdesk agent seemed to insist the blue tooth needed to be enabled.  But it looks like I now have a speaker I can only use if I accept the risky privacy settings despite warnings on my phone.

Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @Khrysten 

Those warnings (and features) are there for when you are connecting to public WiFi networks. If you are connecting to your own WiFi, however, there’s no risk (unless you have an unsecured WiFi with no password, of course, which would not be recommended).

Your Play:1 does not have Bluetooth.

I hope this helps.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
M

We are all having the same issue with the App. If Spotify can connect to the ONE speaker then your App should be able too. This seems to be an issue no one wants to fix. Since the last update this seems to be more of an issue. As long as SPOTIFY can find it I will not throw it in the trash. This should be seriously looked at instead of blaming the network for its problems.

Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @Moosewalk 

Spotify Connect finds your speakers by communicating through the cloud, via Spotify and Sonos servers. The Sonos app finds your speakers by communicating on the local network. Therefore, if the Spotify app can find your Sonos speakers when your Sonos app cannot, then the local network is to blame - there can be no other explanation that fits.

We are aware that this is an issue for a small number of our users, however, so thank you for your feedback - it will be considered.

I hope this helps.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
M

Corry, thanks for your feedback. If Spotify can connect and see my Sonos One from the Cloud to me that would be a bigger feat. My local network has no other issues with any other devices. Even my TV remote that controls several devices works just fine on my network. No issues except with this Sonos App. If only a few have this issue I am guessing they are just doing what I am doing as a workaround.

Thanks again

Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @Moosewalk 

When it comes to home networking, getting online seems to be the easy part. Sonos utilises the local network in a way that most other devices do not - with multiple devices all talking to each other and the apps, we use a lot of multicast (multiple destination) data packets, when most WiFi devices use unicast (single destination) data packets. If the router is somehow not handling these in the expected way, we end up with issues that are network related, but only seem to affect Sonos functionality.

If you are experiencing such issues, I highly recommend you get in touch with our technical support team who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and what it reports - they might just be able to adjust a setting on your router for you that will fix things.

I hope this helps.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein

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