The Sonos Roam speaker just got a major connectivity fix

By Phil Nickinson September 21, 2021

Sonos today rolled out an update that targets one speaker and one speaker only — and it may well drastically improve the super-popular (and very portable) Sonos Roam.

There actually are four fixes in Update 13.3, which is available now via all of Sonos’ platforms, which includes Android, iOS, iPad OS, MacOS, Windows 8 and up, and Amazon Fire OS 7 and up. Half of the bullet points tackle battery life specifically, which has been a sore spot for Roam owners from the get-go. And battery most certainly is an important feature of a portable speaker, second only to sound quality — especially for one that costs $179 at retail. (Now’s a good time to remind everyone that Sonos speakers have gotten a little more expensive of late.)

Sonos Roam — Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

Here’s exactly what you have to look forward to in the update:

Better power management “to help extend Roam’s battery life when it’s not actively being used.”
You’ll now be alerted if you’re trying to charge the Roam with an underpowered charger.
You can now wake the Roam via the top playback buttons ,as well as with the main power button.
If you have two Roams in a stereo pair, they’ll reconnect automatically if one unexpectedly drops and then reconnects to the network.

Those definitely are some improvements you’re going to want to get onto your Roam ASAP. And that bit about being alerted if the charger isn’t powerful enough is perhaps more important than it seems at first, since not all USB-C chargers are created equal.

To get the update onto the Sonos Roam itself, you’ll first need to update your Sonos app on any of the available platforms, and then update your full system from there.

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