Roon ARC not starting

Roon Core Machine

Roon-Server on a Mac-Mini.

Networking Gear & Setup Details

Connected Audio Devices

Hello Roon Community,

Several different end-points like Raspberry Pi, iPhones, iPads and a Windows PC.

Number of Tracks in Library

Description of Issue

The iPhones and iPads are a couple of years old and I‘m having trouble with the ones using iOS 12.5.6. Every time I start Roon ARC (builf 106) on this devices the app freezes and only the white screen with the Roon ARC logo is shown and nothing happens.

I tried to delete the app and made a new installation of it. Unfortunately same behaviour, both on the iPhone and on the iPad.

Does anyone else has this problem?

Hey @Reinald_Rudtke,

Thanks for your patience while we continue to address each thread. I’m sorry to hear you’re having issues getting Arc functioning on some of your iOS devices :-1:

If possible, could you list each device more specifically?

Is there any specific reason you’re keeping these devices on 12.5.6? Do you experience any issues using the same devices as normal Roon Remotes?

I’ll be on standby for your reply :+1:

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Hi Ben,

it‘s an old iPhone 6 where Roon ARC isn‘t running. IOS 12.5.6 is the latest supported system for this iPhone. After pressing on the icon a white screen with the Roon ARC logo appears but nothing else happens. It seems the app is frozen.

For tests only I‘ve installed Roon ARC on an old iPad Air 2, with IOS 12.5.6 as latest supported system. Same behavior as on the iPhone 6.

With both devices are no issues with the normal Roon app.

Hey @Reinald_Rudtke,

After discussing this issue with the Arc team further, it has come to my attention that Arc will soon require iOS 14 as its minimum requirement, largely due to the new features being added. This will take place with our next release which will be happening this week.

I noticed you have a handful of other mobile devices that should be good to go with Arc. May I ask what your use case is for the older devices? Perhaps we can find a suitable workaround for the older devices with this update in iOS requirements.

Let me know :pray:

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Hi Ben,

thanks for your response. I try to explain how I use Roon.

I’m using following devices (supported OS in brackets) in my home to remote the ROON server. The devices are installed fix on the wall in several rooms. In addition in each room a Raspberry Pi is installed fix, because I want use a cable connection to my ROON server. iPhone 6s (iOS 15.7.2), iPhone 8 (IOS 16.2), iPad Air 1 (IOS 12), iPad 6 (iPadOS 16.2), Raspberry Pi 3b (HiFiBerryOS) with a HIFIBERRY Digi+ Pro, Raspberry Pi 3b (HiFiBerryOS) with a HIFIBERRY DAC+ Pro, Raspberry Pi 4 (Pi OS, ShairPort) with a HIFIBERRY DAC+ Pro.

For mobile purposes (e.g. car, fitness center, plane) I want use Roon ARC. But it’s very inconvenient getting Roon ARC running, when connection changes between cellular, hot spot or wireless network at home. After every change I have to re-start Roon ARC. For example: When I leave my house and Roon ARC is running on my iPhone 11 (IOS 16.2) and sitting in my car I have to cut the connection to my wireless network and must re-connect via cellular. After this I can run Roon ARC and connect the iPhone via USB-C with the multimedia system in the car (Audi A4. Every time after plugging in the USB cable on my iPhone pops up a window and I must confirm, that I don’t want use Apple CarPlay. To avoid this cumbersome process I would like to leave a iPhone 6 (IOS 12.5.6) with a large memory (128 GB) in my car, which is permanently connected to the multimedia system. But Roon ARC 1.0 (128) seems not running on IOS 12.

Hey @Reinald_Rudtke,

Thanks for the breakdown here!

Unfortunately, there isn’t much wiggle room around using Arc with an iOS version below 14 after this recently release (which included carplay, so you can now go that route if you’d like on up-to-date devices.)

And on a separate note, this reminds me of the iPod days! Could such devices be making a comeback?

Do you only run into issues with Arc when swapping connections? From personal experience, I will sometimes run into this hiccup no matter the streaming service. If I’m on top things (which only happens sometimes) I’ll cut wifi off while still in the house before hopping into the car, which always seems to work much smoother.

Hi Ben,

there are issues when connection change. I tried to use WLAN in the fitness studio or at a friend’s home. But it doesn‘t work. Everytime I got the information from ARC that the connection is poor. Maybe the routers at there don’t allow it. I don’t know. ARC with WLAN only works at my home. But when I switch off WLAN at the phone ARC works good with the cellular connection. Now I use a iPhone 8 or iPhone 11 with IOS 16.2 and switch off WLAN when I leave my home. Then ARC works very well in my car and at the fitness studio.

Hey @Reinald_Rudtke,

Got it, so you’re really only running into issues when using wifi at a friends house? But, when on cellular service all is well?

The best next step, in this case, would be to take note of the date and time the next time you run into this issue and share that information here. :+1:

Hey Ben,
today at 05:09 pm German time I tried to use ARC via Wifi at a fitness studio. After starting ARC a message prompts which informs me about a poor connection and that the core should be checked. The message window gave a opportunity to start ARC offline. After touching this link ARC started in offline modus and plays the playlist I choose well, but no covers were shown while playing. At 05:32 I cut WiFi on my iPhone, closed and reopened ARC. No problems with the cellular connection to my roon core and ARC runs without any problems and covers where shown while playing. I hope this information will help to solve my connection problem via WiFi.

Hey @Reinald_Rudtke,

Thank you for the info! And my apologies here, I did not realize you were referring to a wifi network different from the network your core is on.

In these situations, its likely the case that the fitness studio is running wifi on a public network, which is known to cause issues at this time. There are also additional firewall restrictions potentially in place that could be causing this issue.

When using Arc on your home wifi, how do things run?

Hey Ben,
wifi at home works goog with ARC. Sometimes are dropouts, when ore ARC freezes while playing music and downloading songs on ARC at the same time.

I have two questions, I would like to know. Is it normal, that covers are not shown in offline modus and if there is a possibility to delete the download of a single song only?

Got it, thanks @Reinald_Rudtke.

No, you should be able to see cover art, but with the networking hiccups you’ve experienced, it would make sense if they disappear. Do they eventually load?

If you’ve added a single song to Arc, Arc will look it as a snippet of an album, and so you would need to remove the album in order to remove the single song.

We’re still working on additional features for Arc, but for now I would suggest thinking of Arc as an extension of your core, and any edits you need to make should be edited from the core device.

Hi Ben,
thanks for your recommendations, but I think they won‘t help me. In most cases I don‘t have a complete album in my library. I‘m using playlists to hear music and download them in ARC. Sometimes a song from a playlist isn‘t completly downloaded. So I want to delete the uncomplete downloaded song and download it again. But I can‘t find a function to do this.

If I change the settings in ARC to offline modus some covers disappear other ones are shown in a very bad quality only. When I turn offline modus off they are back again in good quality. Can you confirm, that the album needs to be downloaded to get a cover in a big resolution and if the download was done with a playlist download, the cover is downloaded with a small resolution.

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