Unfortunately, I chose to update Sonos to 15.4 last night.
I can no longer play any music ‘on this mobile device’ which is what I use almost daily.
Is this a ‘feature’ where Sonos will no longer allow play from Androids, or a bug???
Best answer by Airgetlam
View originalThey ‘announced’ it 20 days before hand? Where? On an article buried in their support site - I’m sorry I don’t religiously visit Sonos for my news daily! You know what they didn’t do? ACTUALLY INFORM their users that major functionality was being removed. I just checked my email? You know what I got 20 days ago? Another f’ing spam email offering some measly % off spending more money with them.
Nothing letting me know CORE functionality of my system is being removed.
Playing from a device is by no means a “CORE functionality”. Here’s proof:
So, greater than 90% don’t even stream local music, probably in the 3-4% range by now. Of the ones who do, the original use case of streaming from a computer or NAS is still there, and at least half of the users left didn’t use Android at all. Your case for losing a “CORE functionality” simply falls apart when confronted with reality.
It is a core functionality if it was advertised as part of the system when I bought it, and is the reason I bought it. It is a core functionality if it has been a major access point of their app for OVER FIVE YEARS.
I don’t give a s*** about their 90% bulls*** of other people. I care that the system advertised that I could play my own local music that I OWN. I bought the system so I could play the music that I OWN.
For four years I have played my music that I OWN. The literal purpose of speakers is to PLAY MUSIC THAT I OWN. I don’t need speakers that can only play shit from a streaming service. Why the f would I want speakers that come with a f’ing restriction on playing my OWN music.
Ridiculous.
Your white knighting falls apart when confronted with the fact that this is hardware that I have purchased that no longer fulfills its ADVERTISED and PROMISED role.
Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.
So very poor of Sonos to not announce that before I updated to 15.4.
It was announced 20 days beforehand, not sure how much more time you needed. Also, if you read the announcement, this is primarily an Android OS change.
And I will share my experience and disappointment on all social media channels.
That’ll make a big difference! I assume that you will also include criticism of Google for changing Android as well? 🙄
They ‘announced’ it 20 days before hand? Where? On an article buried in their support site - I’m sorry I don’t religiously visit Sonos for my news daily! You know what they didn’t do? ACTUALLY INFORM their users that major functionality was being removed. I just checked my email? You know what I got 20 days ago? Another f’ing spam email offering some measly % off spending more money with them.
Nothing letting me know CORE functionality of my system is being removed.
Yesterday, my Sonos could stream songs from my phone. Today, after the mandatory update, it refuses to do so. Nothing changed about Android on my phone between yesterday and today, that I am aware of. It seems to me, that Sonos simply tore up the covenant between manufacturer and consumer. If it was really the fault of the big, bad Google, then I would like to know the particulars so that I may target my wrath at the right culprits.
So very poor of Sonos to not announce that before I updated to 15.4.
I guess it is time to drop Sonos for a real quality speaker system.
And I will share my experience and disappointment on all social media channels.
Yesterday, my Sonos could stream songs from my phone. Today, after the mandatory update, it refuses to do so. Nothing changed about Android on my phone between yesterday and today, that I am aware of. It seems to me, that Sonos simply tore up the covenant between manufacturer and consumer. If it was really the fault of the big, bad Google, then I would like to know the particulars so that I may target my wrath at the right culprits.
I’m not a Sonos employee, I don’t have any insight as to where they consider making ‘official’ announcements.
I do recall seeing an article on Engadget about it, too. I’d think most of the major outlets carried it as well.
My guess is this change, much like when it happened to iOS users, is being forced on Sonos by the OS manufacturer. For Apple, it was a ‘security’ issue, Apple didn’t want outside devices to have the ability to reach in to their system. Which puts people like Sonos and others using this method of access in a bad position. Customers, not unlike you, seem to think Sonos wants to do this in order to make you angry. My expectation is they didn’t want to do this.
My Sonos could also browse my device for music before the update, and now can’t - so yes, this is 100% an update on SONOS. Not Android.
And to top it off, the songs from my phone that are in my queue still play fine, so no, this is nothing with Android file access or anything of that nature. It is quite clear the songs are still there and can still be accessed. This is 100% limitation by Sonos. Whether they want to cut dev hours, dev support, or w/e other BS, it is their choice.
And I, and others who used this feature, have every right to be PISSED that a feature we used is being forcibly removed by a MANDATORY update. Especially one without any good faith attempt at notifying users. Like others, I have received no emails. There was no alert in my app. There were no patch notes. Hell, even finding this article and these threads took time to scroll past several google results that say that I SHOULD still have access. This is abhorrent, and handled like s*** on molasses.
This feature was one of the main reasons I invested in Sonos as my entertainment system rather than another set of bluetooth speakers/media center.
Give me back my version that works, and let me opt out of automatic updates. I don’t need your cloud network bs.
Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.
So do you think the average Sonos user reads the community news and announcements forum?
Probably not. Pretty sure that Sonos knows this as well. That’s why they announced it there.
I follow Sonos on Twitter and Instagram. I didn’t see it announced there. I also did not receive an email. So I’m pretty sure it wasn’t general knowledge. Where was it announced?
They ‘announced’ it 20 days before hand? Where? On an article buried in their support site - I’m sorry I don’t religiously visit Sonos for my news daily! You know what they didn’t do? ACTUALLY INFORM their users that major functionality was being removed. I just checked my email? You know what I got 20 days ago? Another f’ing spam email offering some measly % off spending more money with them.
Nothing letting me know CORE functionality of my system is being removed.
Playing from a device is by no means a “CORE functionality”. Here’s proof:
So, greater than 90% don’t even stream local music, probably in the 3-4% range by now. Of the ones who do, the original use case of streaming from a computer or NAS is still there, and at least half of the users left didn’t use Android at all. Your case for losing a “CORE functionality” simply falls apart when confronted with reality.
If this is following the same change as to what happened with iOS, you can thank Google for it. Apple shut down that method of connection a while ago.
No
The Verge and Tom’s Guide provided only 1 week notice - if you read the articles:
If Sonos can show pop-up ads when I start the app on my phone, they certainly could have issued a pop-up warning for Android users 2 months ago to alert them.
Sonos chose not to do so.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/15/23724054/sonos-android-on-this-device-shutting-down
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/sonos-speakers-are-getting-a-surprise-downgrade-for-android-users-heres-3-ways-to-get-around-it
I bought a $700.00 Android HiFi music player and a $160.00 microSD card to play my music from my Android device on my Sonos speakers. This is a hard pill to swallow no matter whose fault it is. SMH 😔
It would be nice for a Sonos employee / representative to explain why they did it.
I have my complete music collection on my PC and my Android phone in FLAC and MP3 formats.
Up to now I have been playing them from my phone using “play from this device” over my Sonos speaker setup.
Could someone please tell me how I can play my music over the Sonos speakers.
For example will it work if I move my collection to a NAS or do I need media server software?
This is a total load of crap.
I have lost the ability to play my music over my very expensive Sonos speakers.
My router will not recognize a USB device to play the content.
I will probable need to pay €300 to €500 for a NAS if that works.
The answer is forget Sonas find a different solution.
A friend of mine called me and said that SONOS had sent him a warning email at least a couple weeks in advance. Since I don’t use this feature I didn’t receive an email.
+20
This update is a rip off.I don’t want to buy à NAS or pay a streaming service to listen to my music on my mobile or a" free" streaming service with ads.
I’ve called Sonos (I’m in France) today, they’ve sent me an email to which I need to reply and complain.
The woman on the Phone said many people are complaining and Sonos pay attention to the comments,so I suggest you, guys should do the same if you wanna hope Sonos to do something for us
I’m very angry,and will let it know on the social networks if they don’t solve this
Hope my english is good enough
I hope that you are also complaining to Google, who actually introduced the restriction! 🤦♂️
Play stored music from a £20 USB stick plugged into your router without turning your PC on or buying and configuring an expensive NAS.
This is my solution using a Windows 10 PC and the latest Sonos app on an Android mobile phone in the UK. It is not perfect, but it works for me. When I had finished, the settings automatically updated in the app on my iPad so I can control it from there as well.
I have 2 Sonos One SLs, a Sub mini and a Beam Gen 2. All are wired via ethernet cable to my router, but there is no reason why this should not work via WiFi. I have a BT Smart Hub 2 router, with fibre to the premises, that has a USB port.
I put all my stored music on a 128 GB USB 3.0 stick formatted as NTFS. I tried FAT32 and some of the music would not copy over. The music is stored in folders named for each artist, with each album in a folder named for that album.
Plug the USB stick into the router.
In the Sonos app click the settings icon and choose “System” then “Music Library”, then “Music Library Setup”, then “Add Shared Music Folder”.
In “Add New Share” type the address and name of the USB port. For me it is \\192.168.1.254\usb1 where 192.168.1.254 is the address of the router and usb1 is the name of the port. It takes a few minutes to configure itself, do not click anything until it has finished. If it doesn’t work, try again, you may have mistyped the address. I did, several times.
This is the usual address for BT routers, but the address and the name of the port may be different for other routers. Do not put sensitive information on the USB stick as it can be seen by anyone who has access to your network.
Access the music on the android app by clicking the music icon, which takes you to “Browse”, choose “Music Library”. Choose “Folders” then “\\192.168.1.254\usb1” (or the address you used). This takes you to the named artist folders, with the albums inside each. All the other options in Music Library are pants.
I am an old, old-school music enthusiast, not a techie, so this is all at the extreme limit of my abilities with networking and apps. What help I needed came from Google and experimenting, I do not have the knowledge to help with other configurations and I will never buy another piece of Sonos kit ever again.
+17
This won’t work on all routers, but for people having those that it does work on it is a great solution. What router do you own?
Well, certainly at the link I posted in this thread as the original response. I don’t use either Twitter or Instagram personally, nor would I consider them as ‘official’ lines of communication. Or at least, I’ve never seen anything from Sonos saying that they will announce everything there.
I’m not a Sonos employee, I don’t have any insight as to where they consider making ‘official’ announcements.
I do recall seeing an article on Engadget about it, too. I’d think most of the major outlets carried it as well.
My guess is this change, much like when it happened to iOS users, is being forced on Sonos by the OS manufacturer. For Apple, it was a ‘security’ issue, Apple didn’t want outside devices to have the ability to reach in to their system. Which puts people like Sonos and others using this method of access in a bad position. Customers, not unlike you, seem to think Sonos wants to do this in order to make you angry. My expectation is they didn’t want to do this.
+1
The only solution to this is to never buy Sonos again.
The service is deteriorating badly. First there is the New Search which searches everywhere except your NAS or device and this latest downgrade where you can't play music stored on an Android device. One of the solutions provided is to buy the latest Sonos Bluetooth enabled speakers. The reason I invested in Sonos was to ditch inferior Bluetooth playback
How long until the announcement that the function to play music on a NAS is disabled?
Obviously the usual suspects are handing out virtual high-fives and promoting this is as some sort of progression, but this is yet another backwards step and another reason why I'll never spend a penny more on this shoddy outfit.
The only solution to this is to never buy Sonos again.
The service is deteriorating badly. First there is the New Search which searches everywhere except your NAS or device and this latest downgrade where you can't play music stored on an Android device. One of the solutions provided is to buy the latest Sonos Bluetooth enabled speakers. The reason I invested in Sonos was to ditch inferior Bluetooth playback
How long until the announcement that the function to play music on a NAS is disabled?
Obviously the usual suspects are handing out virtual high-fives and promoting this is as some sort of progression, but this is yet another backwards step and another reason why I'll never spend a penny more on this shoddy outfit.
I’d hardly say that “never buy Sonos again” is a solution. It’s a reaction, but certainly not a solution. In fact, several solutions have been put forward, some of which are free and certainly don’t involve buying more kit or resorting to “inferior Bluetooth playback”.
I get that you’re upset, but at least be accurate in your rant.
+1
There is nothing inaccurate in my post. New Search does not show music stored on my NAS and I'm unable to play music stored on my Android devices. These are facts.
The "solutions" put forward are workarounds, not solutions. I have not invested money in Sonos to use workarounds for now removed features they were promoting when they sold me their speakers.
I get that you're a fanboy, but please do not accuse people who are stating facts of being inaccurate.
I have my complete music collection on my PC and my Android phone in FLAC and MP3 formats.
Up to now I have been playing them from my phone using “play from this device” over my Sonos speaker setup.
Could someone please tell me how I can not play my music over the Sonos speakers.
For example will it work if I move my collection to a NAS or do I need media server software?
You can add your library from a PC or an NAS. No media software needed.
Please explain how. I am here to learn. I use my Android phone some, but mainly my Android HiFi music player.
You can add your music library to Sonos, housing it on a PC or an NAS. You can add an NAS to your system for cheap by adding an inexpensive thumb drive to the USB port on most routers. Or you can upload 100,000 tracks of your music to a free YouTube Music account, then add that account to Sonos.
Thank you jgatie
It looks like I need to buy a NAS.
Costly move to update the Sonos App.
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