Why Does Sonos Roam Turn Itself On? (Answered)

Since it was introduced onto the market in 2021, the Sonos Roam has been getting a lot of love. But with all of this feedback comes some backlash. One of the main problems that people are noticing with the Roam is that it sometimes turns itself on.

Have you gone to use your Sonos Roam, found it to be low on power or without any battery power at all, and wondered, “Why does my Sonos Roam turn on by itself? I could’ve sworn I turned this thing off!” Well, if you have, you certainly are not alone.

Table of Contents

• Why Does Sonos Roam Turn Itself On?
• How do you turn the Sonos Roam on and off?
• How do I stop my Sonos Roam from turning on?
• Why won’t my Sonos Roam turn off?
• Is the Sonos Roam always on?
• Can you use a third-party app to turn the Sonos Roam on and off?
• How do you perform a factory reset on the Sonos Roam?
• Closing Thoughts

Why Does Sonos Roam Turn Itself On?

The Sonos Roam should not turn itself on, but it will always stay on unless you press the power button on the speaker itself to turn it off. If you feel your device is turning on by itself, you should try performing a factory reset on your device. You cannot turn the speaker on or off from any app.

When I bought my Sonos Roam, I was really pleased by its sound quality and ease of use. Not to mention, it has an IP 67 rating for dust and liquid protection and a 10-hour battery life. I really had high hopes that the Roam would live up to the 10-hour battery life rating, and at first, it seemed like it did. But then, it started – the seemingly random powering on and battery drain. Believe me, I wasn’t happy.

So, I went online and did some digging. I typed in my query, then found a lot of other users were asking the same thing: “Is Sonos Roam always on?” To my surprise, I learned that you cannot turn the Roam off via the Sonos app or even a third-party app. You have to do it from the speaker itself, otherwise, yes, the Roam is always on.

How do you turn the Sonos Roam on and off?

The only way to turn the Sonos Roam on and off is by pressing down on the power button located on the speaker itself. Look above the charging port for the rectangular button. You need to press and hold down on it for five seconds to turn the speaker on or off.

You can just put the Roam into sleep mode, which will just automatically happen if you haven’t used the speaker in a while. Press and release the power button to deactivate sleep mode.

How do I stop my Sonos Roam from turning on?

If you don’t want the Sonos Roam to turn itself on and off, you will literally need to turn it off. You can simply press the mic mute button if you don’t want this smart speaker “always listening” to what is going on in the house. 

While users are demanding that Sonos include a power on/off feature in the app, this is something that is still in the works.

Why won’t my Sonos Roam turn off?

The Sonos Roam is designed to be “always on” and therefore “always listening”, so you have to use the power button on the device to turn it on and off. Otherwise, the speaker sends itself into sleep mode whenever it has been inactive long enough.

Is the Sonos Roam always on?

The Sonos Roam is indeed always on unless you manually turn it off. If you leave the speaker inactive for 30 minutes, it will place itself into sleep mode. 

Some people have found that the Roam will actually disconnect from WIFI and Bluetooth after about 10-15 minutes of inactivity though, so you might find that your speaker has no connection and needs to be reconnected.

Can you use a third-party app to turn the Sonos Roam on and off?

There is currently no third-party app – or, for that matter, a Sonos app – that you can use to power the Roam on and off. 

There is one app called Wink that will give you soem control over your Roam speaker. You can download it from Google Play or the Apple App Store. Here’s how to use it:

1. Open up the Wink app.
2. Select Add to Wink.
3. Choose your Sonos Roam.
4. Enter your Sonos login info.
5. Select Finish to link Wink with your Sonos.

Using the Wink app gives you a little more control over your Sonos Roam. Although you cannot yet turn it off from the app, you can do the following functions:

1. Set automations.
2. Control the Sonos Roam when you are away from home.
3. Control the Sonos Roam’s standard features, including Play, Skip, Volume Up or Down, and Pause.
4. Play Sonos favorites.
5. Sync with your connected in-home lights like the Lutron Caseta.

How do you perform a factory reset on the Sonos Roam?

Using the Wink app doesn’t help with everything. If you find your Sonos Roam is turning itself on and off for seemingly no reason, you might have some sort of software glitch going on. 

You should try performing a factory reset on your Sonos Roam to see if that fixes whatever is going wrong. Here is how to perform that factory reset:

1. Disconnect the Sonos Roam from a power outlet if it is plugged into one.
2. Press and hold down on the power button to turn it back off.
3. Press and hold down on the Play/Pause button on top.
4. As you are holding the Play/Pause button, rapidly press and release the power button.
5. Continue holding down the Play/Pause button.
6. When the Sonos Roam’s LED indicator light begins flashing white and yellow, release the button.
7. Now, the Sonos Roam’s LED light will flash green to indicate that it has successfully been reset.

This can also help resolve a variety of other issues, such as random disconnections from Bluetooth or WIFI. It only takes a matter of minutes and is usually a quick and easy fix – usually. It won’t resolve any hardware issues.

Closing Thoughts

If your problem persists, be sure to contact Sonos’s customer support. Digital support is available 24/7/365 and can provide other helpful information, such as how to proceed with a replacement if your speaker is still under warranty. 

While the Sonos Roam is indeed a powerful speaker that usually works well, there is always an off-chance that whatever is causing it to randomly turn itself on is a major glitch that you will not be able to fix with a factory reset. That is why it is a good idea to contact a professional support tech if the reset does not work.