Roon Connect App on iPhone XR does not find core

Dameon_Jamie · September 12, 2019, 7:35am

I have a Roon Rock Nuc core. I use an iPhone XR, iPad Mini and an iMac 27 to access Roon. Most of the time I have a trouble free experience with accessing Roon from my devices. However, my iPhone XR periodically does not find the core. I had assumed this was to do with a buggy wifi and had started to look at a new router / modem and mesh network. However, the other day I tried to access Roon on wifi from a MacBook just after a failed connection from my iPhone. The MacBook found the core right away and maintained a perfect connection throughout the evening, Both devices were on the same wifi network.

Why might my iPhone XR not be able to access Roon over a wifi network that other devices have no problem with? The iPhone can access everything over the internet from said wifi network, just not Roon.

If this should go under support please let me know.

Thank you.

Best,
Dameon

ged_hickman1 · September 12, 2019, 8:32am

I’d raise a support request

wizardofoz · September 12, 2019, 10:05am

Moved this to support for you.

One thing to check is that you absolutely sure its on the same wifi network as your other remotes and that it’s also not a GUEST network.

Dameon_Jamie · September 13, 2019, 2:46am

Thank you. Guest networks are disabled. It’s the same network.

wizardofoz · September 13, 2019, 2:49am

Can you post a screen shot of your NUC core web GUI settings. sometimes reliability of connections can be due to misconfigured DNS settings either by using static IP or an incorrectly setup router.

Dameon_Jamie · September 13, 2019, 3:16am

Sure. Here is the Rock core:

I also set up port forwarding on my modem / router for Roon too because I read somewhere that it could improve performance.

noris · September 13, 2019, 3:32am

Hi @Dameon_Jamie,

Thanks for posing those screenshots. Can you confirm if the behavior is the same with those settings in place? If so, I would suggest reinstalling the iPhone app to see if it helps.

wizardofoz · September 13, 2019, 3:57am

I’ll leave you with Noris - you are in good hands. but one other thing to check is that your DHCP settings also adds at least one external address like 1.1.1.1 (cloudflare) or 8.8.8.8 (google) public DNS servers.

Optionally you could try using StaticIP for the NUC/Core and setting the same details as are there now but adding an additional DNS on the same line after a space … ie 192.168.15.1 1.1.1.1

here is mine

Dameon_Jamie · September 13, 2019, 3:58am

Affirmative. Experience is the same from iPhone only and only intermittently. I will uninstall / reinstall this evening and update status after trial.

Should I configure the static IP address? I was not sure if I should use the LAN address: “192.168.15.4”? No other device on the network is configured with that address.

Dameon_Jamie · September 13, 2019, 4:00am

Where is the additional DNS setting from?

wizardofoz · September 13, 2019, 9:39am

You can enter the dns entries manually with a static Ip in the static setting on the web GUI. Otherwise I’m not sure what you mean…normally dhcp allows for a preset list of dns server addresses in the router

noris · September 13, 2019, 8:38pm

Hi @Dameon_Jamie,

I would not focus on the DNS settings too much as a starting point, this is useful when the Core reaches out to the external network, but this issue appears to be when your iPhone is connecting on the same network. Also as a note, do be careful with inputting Static IP settings, as specifying the wrong subnet range could cause your ROCK to get placed on a new network and may be inaccessible from the current one.

Let’s start off by clarifying a question. When this behavior occurs and you are unable to find the Core, is it during regular usage or is it following exiting the Roon app and opening it again (or the screen going to sleep and opening again)?

Generally speaking, when the Roon Remote is unable to find the Core, this could indicate that multicast is going wrong somewhere along the line. In the past we have seen IGMP Proxying/Snooping settings help with multicast issues, but if the router cannot properly pass this type of traffic, it is also a source of the issue.

I would proceed as follows:

Clarify when/how exactly the connection is failing
Take a look for any IGMP Snooping / IGMP Proxying settings on your router and try toggling these
Verify that your network meets our Networking Best Practices Guide
If all the above does not yield the necessary results, replace the ISP provided router with a standard consumer-grade router

Michael_Mowery · September 13, 2019, 10:29pm

I have been experiencing the same issues on my XR and my iPad everyday now for the past week.

Dameon_Jamie · September 15, 2019, 9:27am

Connection fails after iPhone XR goes to sleep and I open it again.

Ok. I will look into these things. Thank you.

noris · September 16, 2019, 7:02pm

Hi @Dameon_Jamie,

Yes, please take a look into the settings I mentioned. One other thing that may be of help, I would try force-quitting the Roon app and starting it again once you notice this behavior. Do let me know how it goes with the above suggestions.

@Michael_Mowery - Can you please open a separate support thread and fill in the setup details?

Thanks!

Dameon_Jamie · September 17, 2019, 4:38am

Hi @noris,
Update: I have found that on my iPhone XR that attempting to connect or reconnect to the core on the wifi network that is on my Router / Modem (Telstra [Australia] Branded Netgear v7610) that this is when the problem occurs.

However, If I switch the the wifi network on my Apple Time Capsule, which is set up as a separate wifi access point in the back of my house, then I can connect to the Roon Core.

The wifi network on the router / modem works for everything else…Netgear, WebBrowsing, Youtube, Email, etc. Just not Roon (intermittently).

Looking into this next. Have to consult Dr. Google.

wizardofoz · September 17, 2019, 4:57am

Clearly there are some IGMP settings in there to look at

Dameon_Jamie · September 17, 2019, 5:05am

Thanks @wizardofoz

Here is a screenshot of my current IGMP settings. Should I toggle it all to disabled? What is this for anyway?

Dameon_Jamie · September 17, 2019, 10:20am

I disabled those settings and it made no difference.

noris · September 17, 2019, 8:32pm

Hi @Dameon_Jamie,

Thanks for giving those settings a try and sorry to hear they didn’t help. We are aware of an issue surrounding re-connecting to the Core when iOS devices wake up from sleep and are investigating this behavior, I have added your report to the tracking ticket.

While our investigation is underway, I would suggest trying to force quit the iOS app when this behavior next occurs and see if it helps.