Answered

Sonos system dropping to iphone since iOS 16 update

J

Hello all,

Ever since updating to the latest stable iOS 16, I have been having a problem where my Sonos/Airplay system keeps dropping to my iPhone when all speakers are connected. I use an iOS Shortcut to automatically connect all my speakers from my iPhone. I have tried: resetting my router, resetting all speakers, removing/adding each speaker to see if one particular speaker was the culprit. I have also changed phones, and the problem persists. The speakers do not drop when some are connected and not others. This problem persists when I do not use the shortcut and manually add the speakers - system still drops.

My system consists of: Sonos Arc connected to 2 Sonos Ones and a Sub, 2 IKEA Symfonisk bookshelves, 1 IKEA Symfonisk Picture Frame Speaker, 1 Sonos Roam, and 5 HomePod Minis (2 in stereo pair, another 2 in stereo pair connected via Apple TV). All connect via Airplay. The system was previously working fine.

Any idea on a fix? Has anyone been experiencing anything similar? May this be related to an iOS 16 bug?

Thanks,

Josh

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Best answer by Ken_Griffiths 7 October 2022, 01:01

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23 replies

Ken_Griffiths

Its difficult to answer your post Josh, as the issue could be iOS 16 related, or perhaps Network related  as networks can change too and be affected by many external factors.

With Airplay-v1 there used to be a ‘recommendation’ by many users, and software Apps, to not group more than 6 Airplay devices for playback, but I’ve never seen anything relating to Airplay-v2. However personally I tend to stick to that unwritten rule and often only ever Airplay to one Sonos device and then do all ‘grouping’ in the Sonos App, as that always seemed far more reliable in my own use-case. Very rare do I exceed 6 Sonos rooms when grouping.

I don’t have HomePods to test these things myself, but it might be worth seeing if separating your speakers into smaller groups by ‘manufacturer/brand’ only might make a difference. If you still get dropouts with various smaller/different groups, that might go some of the way to suggest it’s possibly an iOS 16 issue and if the smaller groups play fine, then I would perhaps look at it possibly being network latency and an interference issue, for which there are many posts here in the community that provide suggestions to resolving those type of issues.. here are couple of common suggestions to look at if it does start to look like it might be local network latency:

Wireless Interference Document:

WiFi Interference

Wireless Interference Video:

Wireless Interference and Sonos

M

I’m having the same issue.  This is not network related.  4 of my Sonos devices stopped working via Airplay 2 immediately after the iOS16 update.

 

  1. Sonos One Not working on Airplay 2
  2. Sonos One Not working on Airplay 2
  3. Sonos Amp Not working on Airplay 2
  4. Sonos Amp Not working on Airplay 2
B

Same problem for me with streaming. 
 

it just cuts off out of nowhere. 
 

Youtube, SoundCloud, di.fm 

 

they all eventually cut off since I updated to iOS 16.  :(

Ken_Griffiths

I’m using iOS 16.0.2 on an iPhone XR and Airplay audio is working fine to all Sonos speakers here - no dropouts seen and no issues with (air)playing the audio. Have successfully tried playing music from the iOS Apple Music App to a Beam, Sonos One & Sonos Move, no issues were seen.

 

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Airgetlam

IPhone 13, same iOS, AirPlay 2 to PLAY:5 Gen 2 and Sonos Ones, no issues whatsoever. I often group either PLAY:1s or PLAY:3s to the speakers receiving the AirPlay 2 signal, using the Sonos controller, still no issues.

Bruce
G

@Joshua198 I’m experiencing the same thing. However I only have 3 Sonos Ones and 1 Sonos Roam. However I experiencing dropping even if I’m AirPlaying to one speaker. I’m using YouTube Music and Pocket Casts. I believe it is iOS related since it seems to drop when I pick up the phone after it’s been set down for a while. It has been a super frustrating experience. 

I just checked for iOS updates and 16.0.3 has been released. I’m downloading that now. Fingers crossed. 

G

iOS 16.0.3 does not seem to have fixed this.

Ken_Griffiths

iOS 16.0.3 does not seem to have fixed this.

I’m not experiencing the issue, but I did find these two links online, which perhaps might assist you. See here:

B

Updating to iOS 16.1 now… We’ll see.

This is totally ruining the idea of having a Sonos home :-( .

G

Same here, streaming from iDevice via AirPlay stopped being reliable since iOS 16.

Not device related as all the ones working under the new OS version are impacted while the ones not migrated are working fine. 
Not primarily network related as occurred right after the iOS update.

Interesting: symptoms vary depending on the streaming application. The more reproducible issues happen with Amazon Music app (v2.15.0 just tested), that crashes immediately when AirPlay is triggered via the built-in iOS widget (speaker icon right next to the sound slider).

I’m updating my iPhone to beta iOS versions just to get a potential fix faster. Can tell you beta iOS 16.2 public beta 1 is still bugging severely. 
 

I’ve got a Sonos Move, 2 Sonos One gen2, 2 Sonos Amp, some of them connected via Ethernet, others via wifi and all are failing. 
What we have here is a general iOS/Sonos incompatibility that started with iOS16 and is definitely software related, as different apps are failing differently. Some are working for some time, some are totally crashing immediately. 
 

Issue happens when the built-in AirPlay feature is triggered, as sharing directly in the Amazon Music app on a first speaker, then heading to the Sonos app to share with more is not causing the crash. 
So I would say, issue is software related, somewhere between the app developper and the iOS developper. 

Ken_Griffiths

Same here, streaming from iDevice via AirPlay stopped being reliable since iOS 16.

Not device related as all the ones working under the new OS version are impacted while the ones not migrated are working fine. 
Not primarily network related as occurred right after the iOS update.

Interesting: symptoms vary depending on the streaming application. The more reproducible issues happen with Amazon Music app (v2.15.0 just tested), that crashes immediately when AirPlay is triggered via the built-in iOS widget (speaker icon right next to the sound slider).

I’m updating my iPhone to beta iOS versions just to get a potential fix faster. Can tell you beta iOS 16.2 public beta 1 is still bugging severely. 
 

I’ve got a Sonos Move, 2 Sonos One gen2, 2 Sonos Amp, some of them connected via Ethernet, others via wifi and all are failing. 
What we have here is a general iOS/Sonos incompatibility that started with iOS16 and is definitely software related, as different apps are failing differently. Some are working for some time, some are totally crashing immediately. 

Issue happens when the built-in AirPlay feature is triggered, as sharing directly in the Amazon Music app on a first speaker, then heading to the Sonos app to share with more is not causing the crash. 
So I would say, issue is software related, somewhere between the app developper and the iOS developper. 

Amazon Music ‘Airplay’ is working absolutely fine here, both on an iPad and iPhone running iOS 16.1.1 - I use Airplay often and not had it crash using any of the iOS Apps?

Might it be a duplicate IP address issues? Perhaps try reserving the Sonos device IP addresses in your routers DHCP reservation table and see if that resolves your issue.

A simple ‘sequence’ reboot of your network might also resolve the issue by powering off all and bringing the devices back online just one at a time as follows:

  • Modem/Router
  • Wired Sonos Devices
  • Wireless Sonos Devices - nearest first, then next nearest etc.

Wait until each device settles before powering on the next (and when all is working okay, then reserve their IP addresses, as stated above) 

2 Attachments
C

I am experiencing similar issues on my S2 Sonos Port system with paid Spotify. The sound completely drops after 2-3 minutes but it’s not consistent. I also have a large S1 system and you could set your watch with the Spotify drop out.  10 minutes every time wether play starts with the S1 app or directly from Spotify. 
Just to throw a wrench in the works, my 2nd S1 system at the office works great with Spotify. All 3 systems are on Ubiquiti Unifi based networks. 

Ken_Griffiths

I am experiencing similar issues on my S2 Sonos Port system with paid Spotify. The sound completely drops after 2-3 minutes but it’s not consistent. I also have a large S1 system and you could set your watch with the Spotify drop out.  10 minutes every time wether play starts with the S1 app or directly from Spotify. 
Just to throw a wrench in the works, my 2nd S1 system at the office works great with Spotify. All 3 systems are on Ubiquiti Unifi based networks. 

Maybe see if putting the Sonos devices over to a SonosNet connection will resolve the issue. That simply involves wiring one Sonos device only to the Ubiquiti primary hub (that’s assuming that hub is acting as your local router). Make sure before testing the setup that all all your devices are running on SonosNet (WM: 0 wired mode) as detailed in this link: 

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/check-if-sonos-is-in-a-wireless-or-wired-setup

M

I was struggling with this same issue after updating to iOS 16.1.
 

Go to Settings > Sonos > “Allow Sonos to Access” and ensure the Local Network slider is set to “on.”

 

Why on earth this would default to “off” after the update I do not know. But it did for both me and my wife. 

 

I hope this helps someone b/c I was SO frustrated and didn’t think to check on this. 
 

 

B

Same issue. No matter how many times you factory reset. No Apple devices can find the sonos products after the initial use post setup. Initially works, 1hr later doesn’t work. Ever since 16.2. It is a sonos issue. Pretty soon i will forgo using sonos products altogether. Please fix this asap. 16.2 just went out worldwide and soon more users will reach the same level of irritation. 

Airgetlam

It’s really odd. I’m using 16.2 on three different iOS devices, two iPads and an iPhone, and I have absolutely no issue connecting on any of them. 
 

What’s different between our two systems? 

Bruce
Ken_Griffiths

FWIW, I’m using iOS & iPadOS 16.2 aswell and all is working fine here with Sonos - the Apple devices iPhone/iPad are working fine with both the S1 and S2 Sonos Apps and devices. I would check it’s not an IP addressing issue or security on the mobile device, such as Private WiFi Address (MAC Spoofing) in the phone/tablet network connection settings, as mentioned online as causing issues with some routers.

B

By far the strangest thing. Airplay on every iOS device is unable to connect with sonos. It is literally like a switch was flipped to trigger the issue for some. The Sonos app is able to play the Sonos speaker but even that is also hit or miss now post 16.2 update. My startling hub for google products works fine. I can access those products on airplay with no issues. All other apple home devices work fine. Only product with issues is our sonos play 5. Same issue on wired or wireless settings.

 

Ken_Griffiths

By far the strangest thing. Airplay on every iOS device is unable to connect with sonos. It is literally like a switch was flipped to trigger the issue for some. The Sonos app is able to play the Sonos speaker but even that is also hit or miss now post 16.2 update. My startling hub for google products works fine. I can access those products on airplay with no issues. All other apple home devices work fine. Only product with issues is our sonos play 5. Same issue on wired or wireless settings.

Is access to the LAN enabled for Sonos in your iOS settings (privacy and security)?

Airplay is working fine here, (see attached).

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B

I think all the settings are correct. Lmk if something looks wrong

Ken_Griffiths

I think all the settings are correct. Lmk if something looks wrong

looks okay to me - if not tried already try switching off ‘Private WiFi’ Address’ (MAC Spoofing) in your network connection settings - I would also switch off WiFi calling and see if those things sort it.

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Ken_Griffiths

@Bwwilll,
As Airplay2 protocol is an Apple matter I checked their forum too and compiled a further list of things you can use to troubleshoot the issue - see below:

Here are some suggestions from Apple sources to fix problems with Airplay connections:

  • Restart all devices and try to AirPlay again
  • Toggle off Bluetooth on the sending device, or if already off, try turning it on
  • Turn off Cellular Data
  • Disconnect from any other Bluetooth devices (i.e. speakers)
  • Connect to the same WiFi network access point
  • Reset your network settings on your iDevice in Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings
  • Disable ‘Private Address’ MAC Spoofing in the iOS Network connection (mentioned earlier)
  • Disable WiFi calling. (mentioned earlier)
  • Update iOS, and speaker firmware/software
  • Move your devices away from other electronics and closer to the main router
  • Renew your devices DHCP lease via the router configuration pages or better still, reboot the router.
  • Switch off any Security/VPN software installed on the sending (mobile) device

Hope you get things working with your iDevice.👍

Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @Joshua198 et al

This may go some way to explain:

https://9to5mac.com/2022/12/21/apple-pulls-new-home-app-architecture-in-ios-16-2-as-users-complain-about-homekit-issues/

Although we rarely recommend factory resetting Sonos devices, in this case we have received reports from users that it will help - as long as you don’t then add the unit to (new) HomeKit afterwards.

I hope this helps.

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