Roon ARC on iPhone 15 not working after build 1353

Support
70

Thanks Connor, I shall try to sync the iPhone every time there’s a new Roon/Arc build and will let you know if it succeeds

71

We’ll get this working for you @Norman_Spector. Your patience has been admirable. Thank you again.

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Hi @connor: I installed the Roon server update/re-booted my Nucleus +/ deleted the ARC app and re-installed it and the iPhone was syncing fine for 3 hours when I got the red light and the message that “something went wrong while syncing to your Roon Server.” [PS For future reference, how long should a successful sync take? – You may recall I once allowed it to run for 7 days on my iPad, but don’t think i can do this again on the iPhone!]

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Hi @connor: It’s now been three months that I’ve been without ARC.

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Hi @connor-- Just tried again to sync after today’s update and I got the red light and the message that “something went wrong while syncing to your Roon Server” within 25 minutes

76

Hi @Norman_Spector,

Thank you for the report.

ARC diagnostics around the timestamp of today’s failed sync attempted sync indicate that ARC was using the phone’s LTE connection instead of WiFi. Can you please elaborate on the connectivity conditions under which you performed the latest initial sync? We can see ARC temporarily lose sight of the Nucleus and reauthorize before recovering and completing the sync; however, the phone loses sight of RoonServer once again shortly after the sync, likely preceding the error.

The initial sync with a 700k track library will be necessarily intensive and is something best done on WiFi. However, I can see in logs that sync has also failed on WiFi - and as you’ve mentioned above, these syncs sometimes take up to seven days before ARC still fails. This isn’t expected behavior and if connectivity or library size are preventing initial sync, the app should not wait 27 minutes (much less seven days) to inform the user.

We’ve escalated this particular episode with sync to development and I should have a better explanation and a more robust workaround tomorrow.

In the meantime, I do have more positive news to pass along. My colleague Zenit and I have noticed a recurring pattern of slow performance in your Nucleus logs stemming from the novel local library subdirectory structure and resulting stress on Roon’s indexing. Our senior engineers have investigated this problem thoroughly this week and prepared changes. We have some performance improvements coming down the pipeline that may show improved startup speed, page loading speed, playback control responsiveness (particularly with local files), and potentially ARC sync for your particular setup.

77

Thanks @connor

I forgot I was on 5G. I shall try to sync now using wi-fi.

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Hi again @connor Just tried twice more using wi-fi. [Deleted and re-installed app both times] First time, its started to sync and I came back a few minutes later and got screen that said who’s listening and when I tapped my name i got a white screen; second time, it took quite a while to find the nucleus and then I got the red light and the message that “something went wrong while syncing to your Roon Server.”

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Hi @connor-- Getting a variety of connection experiences right now after re-booting nucleus + and repeatedly deleting and re-installing app. Everything from who’s listening today screen which goes to white screen when I click on my name, to the usual red light message

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Hi @connor : I’m trying first time sync again . Has been going for 30 minutes. How long should I let it continue? Forget it; just got the red light something went wrong after another 10 minutes [40 in total]

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Hi @Norman_Spector,

Thank you so much for working with us to diligently report your findings despite the frustrating overall experience. We’re currently reviewing logs with Roon and ARC developers and will report back with a clear answer.

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Very much appreciate your attention to this @connor

83

Hi @Norman_Spector,

We’ve taken a deep-dive into this case with ARC and Roon developers. Here’s what we’ve learned about the ARC initial sync failures reported on March 19-20 in this thread.

The initial sync, put simply, creates a “marker” for every single library object and associated metadata in ARC. Subsequent ARC sync with RoonServer can be incremental and pause/resume, but the initial sync requires a sustained connection. The timeout interval for the initial sync is about four minutes - after that interval, it will begin to fail and eventually notify the user. Even a large Roon library can usually sync within four minutes since ARC isn’t actually downloading the track files, but the aforementioned “markers.”

There are two possibilities for why this sync can fail in your case, based on what we’re seeing in logs.

  1. The connection during initial sync doesn’t have the bandwidth for all 700,000 objects to sync with ARC in time. We took a closer look at the incidents you reported on March 19, and ARC appears to have retained the cellular connection after you turned on your local WiFi. It still attempted to sync on LTE.

We have a few short tests:

a) What happens if you disable cellular data completely and only allow the phone’s WiFi to connect before syncing?

b) In the above situation, first create a Backup of your library and then disable your local storage, leaving only Qobuz active. Restart RoonServer, and then try to sync ARC with your “smaller” library. This will provide a direct test of whether the 700,000 object count is a constraint within availability WiFi bandwidth.

Please let us know the results.

  1. Another reality here we’ve uncovered that the Nucleus+ itself is underpowered for your library size. For a library of 700,000 tracks, we strongly recommend 32GB, not 16GB, of RAM on the Nucleus+. This will require a RAM upgrade. There’s a guide we’ve prepared here:

Please keep in mind: this should work and, with some steps on both our parts, we will eventually make this work. Your library with 700,000 local files shouldn’t be too big to sync, and once it syncs initially, it will likely not fail again. But we need to eliminate the two vulnerabilities above: connectivity and RAM on the server.

Please let us know if we can clarify further and thank you for your ongoing patience, as always.

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84

Hi @connor: Thanks for getting back to me. Turned off cellular data on iPhone, shut down QNAP, re-booted nucleus + which left 58 Qobuz albums in my library. Deleted ARC, re-installed it and checked the sync after 20 minutes and it had failed [red light message].

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Hi @connor To further troubleshoot, I decided to take the phone out of the chain ane do one more test with my iPad. Went through the same procedure and it failed with the red light message just now after about 25 minutes of trying to sync

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Hi @Norman_Spector,

I’m sorry to hear that the saga continues. We’ve captured these events in diagnostics and are investigating with development. We’re not starting from square one - this round of data should identify the exact failure point.

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Hi @connor: Thanks for getting back to me. That’s my sense too.

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Hi @connor Downloaded Build 1392 and installed the new version of ARC and the sync failed within a couple of minutes [red light + message]

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Hi @connor: It’s now been 4 months to the day that I’ve been without ARC on my iPhone 15 Pro; hopefully the app developers are making progress coming up with a fix

1 Like
90

Question: in both - Wi-Fi and Provider data settings - is an option to reduce background data transmission. I suspect, in case of an inactive display, this setting might be activated. Hence, (1) what are your settings? And (2), is the screen always on while synchronizing?

Just an idea…
Regards
Stefan

1 Like