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My sonos app will not show up in my lock screen. I have disconnected all other devices including airpods. I’ve restarted the app. I’ve toggled the setting for lock screen on and off. I’ve turned both my phone and the system off and on. I’ve uninstalled my sonos and reinstalled.

 

Is there anything else that can be done to correct this issue?

 

Moderator note: We updated this article in October 2023 with new information below.

We’ve removed the ability to control the Sonos app for iOS using lock screen controls and device hardware buttons. The way these features were architected do not meet Apple’s experience guidelines for developers and no longer offer a reliable control experience.

 

The alternatives to controlling volume, mute, tracks that I’m aware of are:

  • Voice control (acknowledging OP rejects this option)
  • Opening up app on phone (again, acknowledging rejection)
  • ‘hard buttons’ on the speakers themselves.
  • For home theatre room, TV remote controls will control volume and mute
  • Various third party smart home remotes
  • Using a different device (tablet, iPad, Mac, PC) that does not lock to control Sonos.

Here’s the release notes about the change.

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/release-notes-for-sonos-s2

 

Be sure to read through these limitations:

Lock screen controls will not appear in the following scenarios:

  • A non-Sonos AirPlay capable device is present.
    • To allow lock screen controls to appear when using Sonos, disable the AirPlay feature on all non-Sonos AirPlay endpoints such as Apple TVs or Apple AirPort base stations.
  • Another app on the iOS device is playing music or video.
  • While the iOS device is connected to a non-Sonos Bluetooth audio device.
  • VoiceOver is enabled.
  • Headphones are connected to the iOS device.

The limitations above do not apply when playing audio to Sonos using an app that supports Sonos direct control or when playing AirPlay audio directly to Sonos. We recommend using either of these options if the above limitations are preventing lock screen controls from appearing on your iOS device.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3381?language=en_US

Unfortunately none of these things are the case. Is there a different kind of hard reset that I can do?

Are you sure you don’t have any other AirPlay compatible devices like an Apple TV, Roku, or AirPlay-enabled TV?

I don’t have any airplay devices connected, and I turned off Automatically airplay to TVs.

I do have airpods, but those are bluetooth not airplay, and obviously i’m not trying to play music on both of those at the same time.

Is there anything else I should check on @GuitarSuperstar 

An AirPlay device doesn’t have to be connected for it to affect Lock Screen controls.

What model TV do you have? What external media devices do you use?

I use a samsung TV, but it has never been connected to my phone. I have an appleTV, but have never used airplay from my phone with it. Is there a way to block the appleTV from connecting entirely to fix the issue? @GuitarSuperstar 

In the Apple TV settings, go to “AirPlay and HomeKit” and turn AirPlay off.

If the Samsung TV is AirPlay-enabled, disable the AirPlay setting in the TV settings.

Reboot the Sonos app after changing these settings.

Thanks so much @GuitarSuperstar – that worked. Appreciate the clarification on the devices not needing to be connected to interfere.

Google has lead me here for help with the same issue.

 

So I have an Apple TV which sometimes I want to use AirPlay on, does this mean there’s no way to get my Sonos Lock Screen controls working and still have AirPlay available on the TV??

 

I assume this is an Apple issue and nothing Sonos can do about it? 🙁

Google has lead me here for help with the same issue.

 

So I have an Apple TV which sometimes I want to use AirPlay on, does this mean there’s no way to get my Sonos Lock Screen controls working and still have AirPlay available on the TV??

 

I assume this is an Apple issue and nothing Sonos can do about it? 🙁

If you have AirPlay enabled on any non-Sonos AirPlay capable device, then Sonos Lock Screen controls will not work.

Thanks @GuitarSuperstar 

That’s rubbish though.

You have my sympathy.

I have the same problem too. Lockscreen controls on my iPhone 13 Pro sometimes work, sometimes don’t. I don’t have any Airplay devices (only Airpods Pro). TV has a Chromecast. That’s it.

But the icing on the cake: huge battery drain from Sonos. I switched this feature off because it causes Sonos S1 to have huge battery drain even when not in use (so long as it is connected to the wifi network that the Sonos system is on).

I gave up. Too much hoop jumping. The people who build these things never use them.

So my conclusion is the iOS Sonos app/support is waayyyy badly broken. It just about works even open interacting with it (still doesn’t load my recently played randomly 1 time of out 10). It’s funny because of the old “Apple just works” mantra. Oh well. But iOS is riddled with dozens of tiny usability nuisances. So this is just one more to suck up.

Android works flawlessly.

How about adding a “Prevent Sceen Lock” option to the app?!

That way you could just leave the Sonos app open and available at all times.

If you’re like me, you like manually and frequently changing songs. Adding this option (as seen on many other apps) prevents the screen from locking, enabling me to use it frequently without having to unlock my phone.

 

 

 

 

Adding that I had AirPlay Receiver turned on for my MacBook (System Preferences - Sharing - AirPlay Receiver checkbox). Once I turned that off and rebooted the Sonos app the iPhone Lock Screen controls started appearing.

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