Issue with Live Sharing drop-outs

[arlo]

You would use the Refresh Broadcasting button on the lead device. That would be an easier alternative to going to Settings > Live Sharing and turning broadcasting off and on.

Also, are you saying the following device is trying to auto-reconnect on a different day from when you last connected? For example, you were connected at a rehearsal and then closed the app and then at a gig the app tried to auto-reconnect? That shouldn't happen; the auto-reconnect is only intended to run if there is a temporary interruption to the network, or the app crashes and you restart it.

[dr_rollo]

The option to follow actions from is really cool and we're using it since over a year. The big benefit for us is, that we actually don't start with a predefined Setlist. We select the songs adhoc while the gig, starting with set a handful of songs for a set, then having a short break, set up the next set and so on. Sometimes I'm changing the order while playing a set or extend it by more songs. It makes the communication on stage quite easy. Nevertheless can every user switch to the songlist, or switch manually between the Songs.
We also have sometimes the issue with drops and session error. Using three iPads been controlled by mine as master.
The main issue is, if one device is loosing the connection and reconnect, this device comes with the error message ,song cannot be found' and I need to remove the songs and add it again.

Just curious, what does the ,use new peer connections' mean?

[arlo]

The main issue is, if one device is loosing the connection and reconnect, this device comes with the error message ,song cannot be found' and I need to remove the songs and add it again.

I think you mean if you add a song to a set list while a following device is disconnected, the song isn't added on that device. You can avoid that problem by viewing All Songs on the following devices instead of viewing a specific set list.

Just curious, what does the ,use new peer connections' mean?

That uses newer networking code, which is still in a testing phase, but so far it looks like it's more reliable than the older code.

[omygind]

Arlo,
My input earlier in this thread lead to an update from you fixing the pop-up message that was blocking BH. Thanks :-)
However the other issues my report was describing like loosing connection and having reconnecting difficulties still exist just like other users are reporting in this thread.
I get the 'refused' message from time to time. Other times it looks like reconnection succeeds and "connected units" status says connected to the other ipad on both ipads AND 'Following events from iPadX'. Typically one of the ipads follow the other successfully both the other doesn't (even if the status says it does). In this case to get it correctly connected I need to select 'Refresh Broadcasting' on both and do the 'Follow events from' on both devices.

[arlo]

I tried locking (sleeping) iOS devices while Live Sharing, with New Peer Connections on. Locking/unlocking the following device always led to an automatic reconnection to the lead device. Locking/unlocking the lead device was more complicated.

About half the time, that resulted in an automatic reconnection from the following device; otherwise, the following device showed a 306 error and then manual reconnections failed until I clicked Refresh Broadcasting on the lead device.

The lead device should automatically refresh its broadcasting when a device disconnects, but it looks like that sometimes failed because the disconnection was not yet finished. I added a short delay to the automatic refresh and now the automatic reconnect works consistently. Or if the automatic reconnect times out while the lead device is still locked, manually reconnecting after unlocking the lead device also works consistently.

Note that the automatic reconnection is meant for brief outages, like switching the lead device to a mixer app to make an adjustment, then switching back again. It's not meant for a longer outage, like locking your devices during a set break. But if you do that now, you should be able to manually reconnect afterwards without manually refreshing the broadcasting first.

This change will be available in the next release in a few days.

[omygind]

This is great news, Arlo, I really appreciate as this has been a constant pain in the a... :-)

[Insider0203]

When this update rolls out, will users have to toggle that "new peer connection" option on?

[arlo]

I only tested this with the new peer connections. If the same problem occurs with the old code, this might fix that, too.

[arlo]

The automatic refresh broadcasting after locking/unlocking a device should be improved in today's 2025-08-08 release.