You can turn off updates, as well as disabling automatic app updates on your phone and controller.  Then always check before updating to see if it is still compatible with your OS version,

The decision by Sonos to downgrade the Mac and Windows controllers is one i too am not happy with.  That’s the constant march of technology I suppose but I feel it is the wrong decision.  Trouble is very few people rely wholly on these controllers now with most having a recent phone or tablet.

Your option is to get a 2nd hand iOS device that runs iOS 12 or above.  the later the better so you have a few years of forward compatibility.

The Desktop controller can still be used to manage service settings -- add/remove online accounts, etc -- but in Apple Music’s case it requires the device to also have the Apple Music app installed. That restricts this specific action to iOS and Android devices.

Thanks both. :-(

That was my gripe about the way this downgrade has been handled. The App Store just said “performance enhancements and bug fixes” in the release notes. This change should have been properly signposted by Sonos so that I could make an informed decision. I am NOT happy.  Sonos, you used to be better than this. 

Thanks for sharing, Howard. I’m sorry to hear about the trouble you’re having, and I know it may not help, but these decisions aren’t made lightly and we try to keep support for OSs for as long as possible. As already suggested above, you do need to be signed into Apple Music app on the device to add the service to Sonos, but I can definitely see the security concerns with your neighbor.

While we try to alert people to changing software requirements, I know sometimes it can be missed. For this change, an in app message went out to everyone that was affected mid-October notifying them of the changes, that is unless they have in app messages turned off. The community release notes for this do have the new requirements outlined, and call out the changes for devices going into limited compatibility. Also, on our release notes page,  there are the release notes found in “In this update” and then there is a section for “system requirements changes”, where it does list changes such as this. I’ll let the team know your feedback about not seeing those.

Over the years we’ve had to stop supporting several versions of iOS and Android, along with Windows and Mac OSs. We’re working to make it so once that decision is made, we’ll still be able to use those devices for basic controls longer than before. Settings will still need fully supported controllers, but the longevity of unsupported Android and iOS devices is now going to be longer than ever. Eventually, even those may have to stop working, but we’re doing what we can to keep limited functionality going on them into the future.

Thanks Ryan for the quick reply, although I can see that sadly Sonos do not provide any way to resolve my issue without me spending more money.

I can’t recall seeing any in-app message in October, however I’m not the only user in my household, so someone else may have seen and not realised the significance. It would be much better issuing the warning at the point of update. 

Before I update, I always check the contents of the update via the option in the app, and as I say this time it only mentioned performance and bug fixes. Again, putting a warning here, would have stopped me updating.

btw - I can’t find any option relating to switching in-app messages on/off.  
 

https://www.sonos.com/myaccount/user/profile/

Ahh thanks Bruce - I’d assumed a setting within the App. In my case, Contact Options “Email” and “Sonos App” are both ticked. Doesn’t help any, but really frustrating that I could have prevented my current predicament, and that there is no path to reverse the change.

I’ve just been reading about an unofficial third party app, Sonopad, which seems to receive a lot of positive reviews.   Does anyone know whether that would allow me to add Apple Music and Rescan my Music folders under iOS 10.3.3?

I don’t use it myself, but the author (I think) is a member here, and other users may be able to answer your question.

Just did a quick check on this; rescan definitely yes, adding a music service unfortunately not (although the function is listed...)

SonoPad cannot add music services, no third party app can (including mine), its pretty complicated, as well as expensive and hard to test. Recanning a library is trivial and we can all do that.

I agree that Sonos do a pretty terrible job of warning about feature deletions these days. Things used to be better (eg the retirement of the CR100 and the gutting of the PC controller were both widely known long before it happened) but the recent changes were a big surprise to many. Made worse by the “frozen” apps having a poor ui to explain the now-deleted feature.

Thanks controlav.  I can understand Sonos wanting to disable adding Services under older operating systems, especially where they need to interface with another app on the device for authentication,  as with Apple Music, as it would incur additional testing and costs for them. As you say, complicated and expensive. However, disabling re-scanning a music library seems strange if it is indeed trivial. 

What with this and the poor Alarms screen redesign, I’ve learned my lesson NEVER to update unless the new release contains something that I actually need, and certainly not to trust the App Store or in-app release notes.  I suppose that I'm showing my age in that I'm used to audio kit continuing to work as intended until it breaks.  This feels akin to buying an audio amp and the manufacturer visiting your house in the dead of night and removing some of the buttons.

I didn’t realize they had removed library-rescan: it is literally a single API call, its about the simplest thing you can do with their LAN API. I guess they threw the baby out with the bathwater when they deleted that chunk of UX.

Yes, in addition to not being able to access my new Apple Music subscription, all Music Library and Music Index functions have been disabled.  So I can't even play any new music that I purchase and store locally. I have a Sonos speaker which has become detached from the system. I don't think that I can even add that back. My current system is basically frozen in time. I'm currently exploring options as I do like the Sonos system, and have recommended it to others, despite feeling let down by all this. 

SonoPad/SonoPhone will let you re-scan your music, but can’t help with adding devices or services.