iPhone app is maddening

  • 20 July 2021
  • 5 replies
  • 51 views

I love Sonos products and have a dozen different speakers, amps, sound bars, etc.

Using the iPhone app to control them is maddening.  It must be the most sensitive app to any hiccup ever written.  The app continually goes offline “unable to connect to Sonos system”, typically when I need to turn it down/off for a phone call.  After a few minutes, it comes back.  I can force it to return by turning off Wi_Fi on my phone and rejoining the network.  

Nothing has changed on my network for over a year.  Same router, SID, security, etc.

When is the next update to the Sonos iPhone app expected?  It’s overdue….


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5 replies

It’s much more likely an issue with your network than an issue with the iOS app, which I use daily on three separate devices with no issue. I suspect some sort of new/changed wifi interference which is causing the controller or speakers to lose contact with each other, or even an issue with the router losing it’s place in the DHCP table, and assigning incorrect IPs to the devices, which, if they happen to be duplicates, could cause the described issue. 

The most likely issue is that wifi interference one, which often comes from outside your influence, not inside your network, but it’s always a possibility that some new device in your home is causing a new area of interference. Worth reading through that linked FAQ, and then also considering sources outside your home. For instance, in the last home I was in, I had a new neighbor who set up their network on the same channel I was using, which caused some interference between my speakers and my router. Once I was able to figure that out, a quick change of the channel in use fixed the problem. 

In another case, I had a microwave that was going bad, and leaking RF, enough that while in use, it would interrupt the speakers in my kitchen. I replaced that older microwave with a newer model, and resolved the problem. 

 

 

In another case, I had a microwave that was going bad, and leaking RF, enough that while in use, it would interrupt the speakers in my kitchen. I replaced that older microwave with a newer model, and resolved the problem. 

 

Interesting; can one assume then that as long as Sonos is playing ok in the vicinity, the microwave is behaving in a way NOT hazardous to human health? What other way to test them for such? I ask because I have one that is close to two decades old that is working fine.

I honestly don’t know, without going with some sort of professional RF detector, such as the FTC uses when authorizing manufacture of a device. And it could be more than just RF, to be honest, if it was leaking microwaves, I’d have no way of telling other than perhaps the method by which microwaves were discovered as a way to heat items.  But losing the signal to my kitchen speakers when and only when I was microwaving things was pretty damning. And the fact that replacing the old unit with a new one stopped that issue...conclusive, but not scientific, to be sure. 

 I’d have no way of telling other than perhaps the method by which microwaves were discovered as a way to heat items.

Hmm..so as long one does not suddenly start sweating when it is on, all is well? Just :grin:- and apologies to the OP for the small digression.

I was thinking more about putting a chocolate bar in a front pocket, and having it melt, not sure if that story is apocryphal or not.  And yes, apologies to the OP.