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I have an iPhone 12. I have a Sonos Move and 2 One SL’s. Heres my problem. I can only control the volume when the App is in the foreground (ie on my screen). When the app is in the foreground I can control it via the hardware on iPhone (ie the volume buttons on the side) or via the slider. On the App I have “Hardware Volume Control” & “Lock Screen Controls “ both turned on (ie to the right). To state the obvious, its all connected via wifi. I have seen some solutions that perhaps what's stopping it is the phone is connected to some other device via bluetooth. Thats not it as if I turn bluetooth off that doesnt fix the problem.

If the ONLY wat to control the volume is to have the App open, and in the foreground, thats nuts.

Help

 

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.

For more information please see here:  Release notes for Sonos S2

​Hi @hoganhaley,

Thank you for reaching out to the Sonos community and for letting us know about your concern. Let me share some information about how you can control the volume of your Sonos system.

You can control the volume on the Sonos app on your iOS devices, on the Sonos speakers, using voice commands like Google Assistant and Alexa on a voice-enabled speaker like your Sonos Move. On iOS devices, you can control the volume if Hardware Volume Control of and you can control your Sonos system on the lock screen.

Lock screen controls will not appear in the following scenarios:

  • A non-Sonos AirPlay capable device is present.
  • Disable the AirPlay feature on all non-Sonos AirPlay endpoints to allow lock screen controls to appear when using Sonos.
  • Another app on the device is playing music or video.
  • While connected to a Bluetooth audio device.
  • VoiceOver is enabled.
  • Headphones are connected to the iOS device.

iOS devices don't provide a way to control devices on your home network from the lock screen, the controls are only available for audio being played on the device itself. The Sonos implementation of lock screen controls was built in a way that's no longer viable and with the launch of AirPlay 2 on Sonos, we made the decision to remove the functionality in households that use AirPlay.

Hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns, we’ll be glad to assist you. 

What does this mean? 

“On iOS devices, you can control the volume if Hardware Volume Control of and you can control your Sonos system on the lock screen”.

Again, I cannot control volume unless I have the app actually open and active.

I can do nothing from a lock screen

Did you follw the advice given in the second link (Control Sonos from the iOS lock screen | Sonos).

To the question above, yes. Again, nothing shows on lock screen.

But I just inadvertently discovered something.. Unbeknownst to me I can airplay the Sonos system through to the speakers from the Iphone music app, Tunein App...etc. And I can then control the volume from the lock screen.And I can control the individual speakers as well.  But  strangely enough, if I use the Sonos App for playing music, radio...etc, I cannot control the volume unless the app is open on my screen.  And yes, I do follow the advice as given.I have uninstalled & reinstalled the app & no change.

So do I have this correct that you can only control the volume from lock screen if you are using airplay?

Just solved the mystery. I have Apple TV. If I am playing music or whatever through the Sonos App with  Apple TV hardware been plugged in, cannot control volume on lock screen. Unplug Apple TV, magically can control on lock screen.

That should be front & center on Sonos Lock screen help page.

But that is also what the link refered to by @Rowena B. and @106rallye says.

 By saying “ A non-Sonos AirPlay capable device is present”? 
if that’s the case I certainly didn’t realize my Apple TV  device was that. Guess I should have  and in retrospect makes sense. Still say that should say ie Apple TV. 

 

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