Enthusiast II

Sonos Roam does not work with Sonos S1 App

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
April 20, 2021
78 replies
7755 views

Just received my Roam today.

Heads up for everyone as it’s not made clear anywhere prior to purchase that it’s only compatible with the new version of the app.

This means if you have “legacy” Sonos products as part of your set up and use the S1 app to control them you won’t be able to see your Roam as part of your existing Sonos network.

You have to download the new version of the app and then set up a new Sonos system to add the Roam to it. Then you have to add all your music services, any favourites etc etc again to the new app to be able to access them on your Roam.

Pretty s*it experience to be honest, and annoying it’s not made clearer.

By having “old” products Sonos doesn’t want me to have in my network I’m effectively left with a bog standard stand alone portable speaker. Struggling to see the benefit of it over a JBL Bluetooth speaker at the moment to be honest (build quality and sound quality aside obviously 😆).

Anyway heads up for those of you still mulling over the purchase.

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G

GuitarSuperstar

Lead Maestro

@markvoysey Covering this up? I wouldn’t call including this graphic on the Roam’s product page “covering this up”:

*https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/roam.html*

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi

jgatie

I’m beyond frustrated with SONOS at this, plus the fact that I didn’t read / find this article before. I will be returning mine too. It looks like SONOS did a great mktg job at covering this up. Ex fan and brand advocate

Really? So you think Sonos is going to make new products work with S1, which is only being upgraded for bug fixes and security patches? So tell me, which S1 bug fix and/or security patch is going to add the functionality to support a device that didn’t even exist when S1 was retired? Serious question.

J

jbhunteriv

Lyricist II

Just received my Roam today.

Heads up for everyone as it’s not made clear anywhere prior to purchase that it’s only compatible with the new version of the app.

This means if you have “legacy” Sonos products as part of your set up and use the S1 app to control them you won’t be able to see your Roam as part of your existing Sonos network.

You have to download the new version of the app and then set up a new Sonos system to add the Roam to it. Then you have to add all your music services, any favourites etc etc again to the new app to be able to access them on your Roam.

Pretty s*it experience to be honest, and annoying it’s not made clearer.

By having “old” products Sonos doesn’t want me to have in my network I’m effectively left with a bog standard stand alone portable speaker. Struggling to see the benefit of it over a JBL Bluetooth speaker at the moment to be honest (build quality and sound quality aside obviously 😆).

Anyway heads up for those of you still mulling over the purchase.

Just figured this out for myself. Pretty much done with Sonos at this point. What a joke

P

psny

Lyricist III

I just got my Sonos Roam today for fathers day. I didn’t realize it wouldn’t work with the rest of my Sonos system. My bad I guess. But I’ll be sending it back. This is a deal breaker for me and I suspect others.

And for those that will say I shouldn’t expect new products to be backwards compatible. Well why not. It’s a little like saying my 4K TV could only stream in 4K. And wouldn’t be compatible with my cable TV signal that isn’t in 4K.

P

psny

Lyricist III

I’m in the same boat. Sonos Roam all alone on its own network basically its just a Bluetooth portable speaker now of which there are better speakers on the market so will be sending mine back to.

I’ve owned Sonos since their inception and was always portrayed as future proof. At the end of the day it’s only the app upgrade that is the issue and I guess Sonos didn’t want to design their app to allow the use of old and new generation hardware because too many people weren’t upgrading to their new stuff. The only way to get people to upgrade is stop support for older equipment and the easiest way is to switch off support in the app and launch it as a new app.

Your suppositions on Sonos’ motivation for the split are so incorrect, it’s silly. The fact is, the older S1 equipment doesn’t have the memory or processing power to coexist with S2 hardware. Period. It’s like trying to run apps on a flip phone from 2005, except that flip phone doesn’t have to run the exact same content in perfect sync with a brand new iPhone from 2021.

S1 products can all link together and play music from a streaming service. But an S2 product with more memory and processing power not can’t? It’s so dumb. I want to buy new Sonos products to complement my system. Not be forced to buy a new system.

jgatie

S1 products can all link together and play music from a streaming service. But an S2 product with more memory and processing power not can’t? It’s so dumb. I want to buy new Sonos products to complement my system. Not be forced to buy a new system.

You just don’t get it. The app and players all need to communicate with each other, so they all need to recognize other devices on the system. Sonos is not updating the app or the firmware on the players, it is only doing bug fixes and security patches. So how is an app/firmware that is not being updated going to account for a device that didn’t even exist when the updates stopped?

P

psny

Lyricist III

I want a device that will work with my current system. I'm willing to pay for that. I'm not willing to pay for something that won't. So you say I don't get it. I just disagree. Any S2 device is powerful enough to do what the S1s can. So let me as the consumer decide.

jgatie

I want a device that will work with my current system. I'm willing to pay for that. I'm not willing to pay for something that won't. So you say I don't get it. I just disagree. Any S2 device is powerful enough to do what the S1s can. So let me as the consumer decide.

Nope, still dont get it. What you ask for is impossible. It's not a question of can the Roam run S1, it's if S1 can recognize a Roam. There are no updates being done to the S1 firmware. None, zero, niet, nada. It simply won't fit in the older players. So how is a ZP90 going to know how to sync with a Roam if S1 doesn't know what a Roam is and (once more for the cheap seats) S1 cannot be updated to recognize the Roam!!??

V

vbm

Lyricist I

I just got my Sonos Roam today for fathers day. I didn’t realize it wouldn’t work with the rest of my Sonos system. My bad I guess. But I’ll be sending it back. This is a deal breaker for me and I suspect others.

And for those that will say I shouldn’t expect new products to be backwards compatible. Well why not. It’s a little like saying my 4K TV could only stream in 4K. And wouldn’t be compatible with my cable TV signal that isn’t in 4K.

Same here. Ugh! 3 connect amps, a beam and they want me to remove all existing to use the roam. It will Unfortunately have to go back.

P

psny

Lyricist III

Yup.

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