Roon ARC works on iPhone but not on iPad

[Adrian_Berry]

Hi, I’m confused! I’ve managed to get Roon ARC working with my iPhone but it will not work with my iPad. To get Roon ARC working on my iPhone, I followed the instructions to manually set the port forwarding as the automatic setup did not work. My server is a Mac Mini running Mavericks with the latest version of Roon. I believe I’m using the same login details on both devices as they come from my iCloud Keychain.
Trying to connect on the iPad, after some wurdling, initially it says “Roon server seen less than a minute ago” then it changes to “Only available on your network”. It then starts again and slowly cycles between these messages.

But the server is visible to my iPhone and happily plays music from my library.

So far I’ve tried deleting and reinstalling the Roon ARC app, turning the iPad off and back on and screaming at it. All to no avail!

I’m now at a loss to know what else to try or what info to provide for anybody to help me☹️

Can anyone help?
Thanks
Adrian

[Jim_F (Minimalist)]

If it works on your iPhone, it will work on your iPad. Delete Roon ARC from your iPad and reinstall. Reboot everything including router, Roon server, iPhone, and iPad. Make sure iPad is on same 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz as iPhone. And, of course, make sure WIFI is turned on with your iPad.

EDIT: Also, make sure the Roon ARC versions on your iPhone and iPad are the same and the correct one for your Roon server version.

EDIT2: Make sure your iPad is on the latest IOS version.

EDIT3: Use cellular away from home.

[Robert_F (Rob)]

@Adrian_Berry, I edited the images to remove your email address for security purposes.

[Adrian_Berry]

Good point, so confused that I’d missed that obvious security lapse. Fixed now😎

[Adrian_Berry]

Hmm, I’m out at the moment, hence why I’m trying to use Roon ARC, but will check when I get home in an hour or so.

[Adrian_Berry]

I agree, if it works on the iPhone it should work on the iPad. Trouble is it doesn’t. And I have tried all the reboot options (in the old days we called it BRST - Big Red Switch Time😊) as I’ve been trying to solve this for weeks now.

[Adrian_Berry]

@AMT

On your iPad, with the Roon Remote app, can you access Roon? I

Just got home and checked it out. Yes Roon Remote works fine on the iPad connected to my home WiFi. When I connected it came up and said something like “syncing with library “. So now when my iPad is connected to my home WiFi I can access my music library via Roon ARC.
But when I go outside the house and connect by an alternative local WiFi hotspot it stops working again😥
Now I get

But as you can see from the signal strength bars, there is plenty of signal from our village hall and plenty of bandwidth.

[Adrian_Berry]

@AMT

Could you post a screenshot of Roon Remote open?

Also a screenshot of the Roon Arc tab in Roons settings on the iPad

I think these are what you asked for? Both taken on the iPad connected to my home WiFi
The Roon settings for Roon ARC show all the IP addresses (which are a security risk to share here?) and say that it is using Port 55002

[mSpot]

@Adrian_Berry

But when I go outside the house and connect by an alternative local WiFi hotspot it stops working again

Outside the house, were both your iPhone and iPad connected to that alternative local WiFi hotspot? Or was your iPhone on cellular connection?

[Adrian_Berry]

@mSpot

Outside the house, were both your iPhone and iPad connected to that alternative local WiFi hotspot? Or was your iPhone on cellular connection?

Arghhh. Now I’m utterly, utterly confused
To make sure my answer to your question was correct, I’ve just been out (it’s unpleasantly cold and damp🥶) and tested with both the iPhone and the iPad connected to the village hall WiFi and just connected via cellular.
Roon ARC on the iPad is now working via either connection method. This has never worked before.
Roon ARC on the iPhone has stopped working with either alternative WiFi or cellular connection. 2 days ago Roon ARC over the cellular connection was working fine.

So as it is now 00:23 here, I’m going to go to bed. It’s predicted to be a sunny day tomorrow so hopefully all will become clear😇

Thanks everyone for your help so far.

[Adrian_Berry]

@AMT

Can you get the iPad to setup with Arc on your homes WiFi/network where the Roon Server is?

Yes, both the iPhone and iPad work fine with Roon remote and Roon ARC when connected via WiFi to the same domestic network as the Roon server.

But as noted in the adjacent post, the behaviour between the iPhone and the iPad seems to have changed during these experiments.

As I started this investigation in our local pub and have now had several pints of muscle relaxant, I’m done for. I’ll pick it up again tomorrow.

Thanks for your help so far

[Adrian_Berry]

@AMT

I could be wrong, and only @support can correct me.

I think you can only have one device with Arc in use with Roon.

I’m not able to test that theory right now

You might be right, see other adjacent posts. But if this is the case then the error messages provided by Roon ARC are, at best, misleading. Other apps that only allow one device at a time e.g. the BlackVue dashcam app, explicitly tell you what the problem is rather than giving you misleading messages about “poor connections”!

And I wasn’t actually trying to use both devices simultaneously.

[Adrian_Berry]

@AMT

Well I just tested my little theory and I managed to get playback on both devices.

Was that test carried out on your home WiFi, cellular or external WiFi?

[Jim_F (Minimalist)]

Not true. I just connected my iPhone and two iPads to Roon ARC, all using cellular.

EDIT: And now, over WIFI.

[Adrian_Berry]

Ok, I think I’ve found out what was wrong. I’ve been through everything on my home network and checked every device; hence the long delay since my last post.
What I found was that Roon ARC was reporting that the server is setup to use Port 55002. To get Port Forwarding to work on our BT Smart Hub 2 you have to manually create a ‘port forwarding rule’ in the advanced firewall menu. I had done this and I’m convinced that, when I first created the rule some months ago, the port address was set to 55002. And Roon ARC worked when I was out and about. But now the port address in the hub is set to something completely different. I’ve no idea how that happened. Difficult to see how it could happen accidentally as you have to log on using the admin password and then its 3 layers down in the menu. I cannot believe that the cat walking on the keyboard could have managed that!
Anyway, I’ve reset the port forwarding to 55002 and now both my iPhone and iPad run Roon ARC away from the house, even simultaneously playing different tracks

Thanks for all your inputs; you convinced me that Roon ARC really does work and that therefore it had to be something to do with my configuration. The confusion was down to Roon ARC reporting that it was setup properly whereas in fact the router was not. How I was getting either device to do anything with Roon ARC away from the house is a complete mystery.