New App Upgrade - HORRID
The new interface is nearly impossible to use... it doesn't even make sense how it works in relation to the previous interface which was better than good enough. As someone that has thousands of dollars invested in sonos I have to voice my utter disgust for this new app. PLs comment below and lets get Sonos to roll back from this atrocious attempt at an upgrade.
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1) Changing the layout of navigation so that we had to spend an hour on the support site just to recreate our way to used Sonos before we tapped the "upgrade" button. Hide-and-go-seek is the height of user insensitivity. Why not educate us about the changes coincidental to delivering them?
2) Sonos should be an open platform to play ANYTHING we want to hear through Sonos speakers. The new interface pushes we users to PAID STREAMING SERVICES by the page layout. If we want something else, like my access to Tune-in Radio, there is no easily identified path, or way to save. The site should highlight equal access to user desired content and music/radio services, not file something out of sight in the hard-to-find Browse icon.
For a company that understands the subtlety of sounds coming so beautifully out of their products, it is a disappointment to learn the user experience of those who pay a premium for quality are ignored.
You have only posted this post. How exactly has anyone tried (and subsequently failed) to help you "get back to functionality" when you never even described what was lost before this post? :?
It is indeed nonsense. The Browse button is on the new tab bar, which is the key navigation tool. It is, in effect, 'browse sources' and lists them exactly as they were on the old main menu, with local sources at the top of the list
Not to mention you can add any of your own content to Favorites or construct playlists from local content and have them all prominently display on My Sonos.
Where did you get that information from?
https://www.engadget.com/2017/10/04/sonos-airplay2
Userlevel 7
+17
Better link
https://www.engadget.com/2017/10/04/sonos-airplay2-pandora-tidal-direct-control/
https://www.engadget.com/2017/10/04/sonos-airplay2-pandora-tidal-direct-control/
What is the work around for fast forwarding OR rewinding within a specific track or podcast. That functionality is missing.
Userlevel 7
+20
Don’t you just use the slider bar in the Now Playing view, as before? Or are you talking about something other than the Sonos controller apps?
The slider bar disappeared. I uninstalled and reinstalled the app and the slider bar reappeared.
Here is my tutorial for the new app. If you haven't sussed the tab bar (and it seems many users haven't) then you have missed the key to easy selection of room and music
All you need is a Room and some music. To select a room, press the Rooms button on the tab bar
There are, as there always have been, three ways to select music:
1. Search (Search button on the tab bar)
2. Browse your sources (Browse button on the tab bar)
3. Choose from your own Playlists and Favourites (My Sonos button on the tab bar)
For non-day-to-day things like Settings, it's the More button on the tab bar.
If the tab bar is not shown, swipe down the screen or hit the little arrow in the top left.
That's about it really. Most of the things from there on are as in the previous app, although that is less true of My Sonos.
I hope that the tab bar will be made visible on the Now Playing screen soon (it really should be already) and that will save some swiping hassle.
All you need is a Room and some music. To select a room, press the Rooms button on the tab bar
There are, as there always have been, three ways to select music:
1. Search (Search button on the tab bar)
2. Browse your sources (Browse button on the tab bar)
3. Choose from your own Playlists and Favourites (My Sonos button on the tab bar)
For non-day-to-day things like Settings, it's the More button on the tab bar.
If the tab bar is not shown, swipe down the screen or hit the little arrow in the top left.
That's about it really. Most of the things from there on are as in the previous app, although that is less true of My Sonos.
I hope that the tab bar will be made visible on the Now Playing screen soon (it really should be already) and that will save some swiping hassle.
Thanks. So not a peep from the horse’s mouth but a rumour.
I'm all for upgrading UI/UX to give a refresh to those who are never happy with someone that just works (I work in Digital myself). However, having Sonos spread over 6 rooms in the house, the red speaker selection function (at the foot of the app) is not working as it should (on a Samsung Galaxy S8)!
If I want to de-select a room from the list and select "Done", there's a 40% chance of it doing nothing, a 30% chance of the sound stopping but the app still telling me it's playing and a 30% chance that it actually does what I asked.
If I've been listening to music spread over two rooms, and want to play music in two different rooms instead, it's hit and miss as to whether it works (perhaps optimistically 50%). Even when it does work, I sometimes get several seconds of 'spinning cursor' before it kicks into life. Around 20% of the time (after whirring for more than 5 secs), the music stops completely and the app defaults to my Living Room, regardless of whether it was part of the selection.
This evening, it's started the habit of playing in the room I selected but selecting a different room in the app (forcing me to open the other menu to manually select the right room).
Having spent thousands on Sonos, I'm feeling peeved to say the least. App version downgrade is the least we should expect.
Some would say that it's pointless to vent but as the owner of a Canary device until recently (sold it on eBay for a loss, due to the 'business decision'), I'm more than happy to vote with my feet if they don't sort it out. They'd soon get the message if the same happened to them (look at Canary on Amazon to see what I mean).
I'd be surprised if this was the version they fed out for beta testing (or perhaps they ignored the feedback).
If I want to de-select a room from the list and select "Done", there's a 40% chance of it doing nothing, a 30% chance of the sound stopping but the app still telling me it's playing and a 30% chance that it actually does what I asked.
If I've been listening to music spread over two rooms, and want to play music in two different rooms instead, it's hit and miss as to whether it works (perhaps optimistically 50%). Even when it does work, I sometimes get several seconds of 'spinning cursor' before it kicks into life. Around 20% of the time (after whirring for more than 5 secs), the music stops completely and the app defaults to my Living Room, regardless of whether it was part of the selection.
This evening, it's started the habit of playing in the room I selected but selecting a different room in the app (forcing me to open the other menu to manually select the right room).
Having spent thousands on Sonos, I'm feeling peeved to say the least. App version downgrade is the least we should expect.
Some would say that it's pointless to vent but as the owner of a Canary device until recently (sold it on eBay for a loss, due to the 'business decision'), I'm more than happy to vote with my feet if they don't sort it out. They'd soon get the message if the same happened to them (look at Canary on Amazon to see what I mean).
I'd be surprised if this was the version they fed out for beta testing (or perhaps they ignored the feedback).
If I want to de-select a room from the list and select "Done", there's a 40% chance of it doing nothing, a 30% chance of the sound stopping but the app still telling me it's playing and a 30% chance that it actually does what I asked.
If I've been listening to music spread over two rooms, and want to play music in two different rooms instead, it's hit and miss as to whether it works (perhaps optimistically 50%). Even when it does work, I sometimes get several seconds of 'spinning cursor' before it kicks into life. Around 20% of the time (after whirring for more than 5 secs), the music stops completely and the app defaults to my Living Room, regardless of whether it was part of the selection.
This evening, it's started the habit of playing in the room I selected but selecting a different room in the app (forcing me to open the other menu to manually select the right room).
Having spent thousands on Sonos, I'm feeling peeved to say the least. App version downgrade is the least we should expect.
Some would say that it's pointless to vent but as the owner of a Canary device until recently (sold it on eBay for a loss, due to the 'business decision'), I'm more than happy to vote with my feet if they don't sort it out. They'd soon get the message if the same happened to them (look at Canary on Amazon to see what I mean).
I'd be surprised if this was the version they fed out for beta testing (or perhaps they ignored the feedback).
I am having the same results as you using iOS and Android
If I want to de-select a room from the list and select "Done", there's a 40% chance of it doing nothing, a 30% chance of the sound stopping but the app still telling me it's playing and a 30% chance that it actually does what I asked.
If I've been listening to music spread over two rooms, and want to play music in two different rooms instead, it's hit and miss as to whether it works (perhaps optimistically 50%). Even when it does work, I sometimes get several seconds of 'spinning cursor' before it kicks into life. Around 20% of the time (after whirring for more than 5 secs), the music stops completely and the app defaults to my Living Room, regardless of whether it was part of the selection.
This evening, it's started the habit of playing in the room I selected but selecting a different room in the app (forcing me to open the other menu to manually select the right room).
Having spent thousands on Sonos, I'm feeling peeved to say the least. App version downgrade is the least we should expect.
Some would say that it's pointless to vent but as the owner of a Canary device until recently (sold it on eBay for a loss, due to the 'business decision'), I'm more than happy to vote with my feet if they don't sort it out. They'd soon get the message if the same happened to them (look at Canary on Amazon to see what I mean).
I'd be surprised if this was the version they fed out for beta testing (or perhaps they ignored the feedback).
I am having the same results as you using iOS and Android
May I ask those finding room selection frustrating .... are you using the 'quick group' facility that is near the bottom of the Now Playing screen, or are you using the Rooms screen?
Because the facility on the Now Playing screen that one poster called the 'red speaker selector' is not that at all. It works as a 'quick grouping' facility but if you want to select or manage rooms you had best do so in the Rooms screen. I don't use the quick group tool at all and I have no problems with room selection.
Personally I would scrap the quick group thing but in the meantime your sanity is best served by ignoring it,
Because the facility on the Now Playing screen that one poster called the 'red speaker selector' is not that at all. It works as a 'quick grouping' facility but if you want to select or manage rooms you had best do so in the Rooms screen. I don't use the quick group tool at all and I have no problems with room selection.
Personally I would scrap the quick group thing but in the meantime your sanity is best served by ignoring it,
You think they will listen to both of us?
And keep our fingers crossed they wont make things even worse.
Out of curiosity, and an attempt to be constructive, what controller device do you primarily use? I think the change from 7.4 to 8.0 may have been a much bigger change for tablet users than phone app users. That is obviously a generalisation and there are clearly some unhappy phone users. But I wonder if it might be a part of our widely differing perceptions?
You aren't getting a freaking rollback! If you want to be usefull, stop this rollback nonsense and instead, give some actual constructive feedback on how to improve the new app.
And no, saying "Make the new app like the old one" is not actual constructive feedback.
And no, saying "Make the new app like the old one" is not actual constructive feedback.
Trying to use the new app over the holiday's was an eye opener on how horribly bad it is. Searching the internet and finding this forum thread just validated it even more with the amount of frustration and head scratching my wife and I have experienced over this new app.
I don't know if any one else is having this same problem but we are having extreme issues trying to select the rooms to which we want to play music. We have different devices using the app. In our kitchen we have an iPad that we use for various functions around the house (security cameras, sonos, etc.)
We usually use this device for our sonos system. But sometimes we will also control it from our phones (which are all android). In the past we never had any issues selecting rooms and playing what we want from any device. With the new app changes don't seem to want to take, ever, once multiple devices have the app running.
It seems to be all confused as to what is currently happening. Example: Turn the system on, it shows music only playing in the family room, but in reality the basement is also playing. I try checking then unchecking the basement, no changes are made. Other times my wife is upstairs in the family room listening to music while I am in the basement trying to play music for myself. My changes all of a sudden affect the music playing in her room.
Most times the only way to fix it, is to close every app on all devices then start it on only 1 device for it to sync properly and resolve all the issues. It is completely frustrating and maddening as to what is going on.
The latest app is also the first time we have had to view some youtube videos in order to figure out where some albums and internet radio functions disappeared to. How intuitive is that???
Did they simply let the programmers run wild with this or did they actually field test this with regular John Doe's? Unbelievable how they can screw something up so badly. The worst thing is, how do you even begin to give any constructive criticism back to them, as some have protested... when it seems every single area of the app seems to be in shambles! Perhaps that is why many of us (such as myself) would rather just roll it back to an older version and just have it simply work as it used to.
More embarrassing was the fact of showing guests who have never seen a sonos system before on how confusing and poorly implemented this new app seemed. Just terrible.
I don't know if any one else is having this same problem but we are having extreme issues trying to select the rooms to which we want to play music. We have different devices using the app. In our kitchen we have an iPad that we use for various functions around the house (security cameras, sonos, etc.)
We usually use this device for our sonos system. But sometimes we will also control it from our phones (which are all android). In the past we never had any issues selecting rooms and playing what we want from any device. With the new app changes don't seem to want to take, ever, once multiple devices have the app running.
It seems to be all confused as to what is currently happening. Example: Turn the system on, it shows music only playing in the family room, but in reality the basement is also playing. I try checking then unchecking the basement, no changes are made. Other times my wife is upstairs in the family room listening to music while I am in the basement trying to play music for myself. My changes all of a sudden affect the music playing in her room.
Most times the only way to fix it, is to close every app on all devices then start it on only 1 device for it to sync properly and resolve all the issues. It is completely frustrating and maddening as to what is going on.
The latest app is also the first time we have had to view some youtube videos in order to figure out where some albums and internet radio functions disappeared to. How intuitive is that???
Did they simply let the programmers run wild with this or did they actually field test this with regular John Doe's? Unbelievable how they can screw something up so badly. The worst thing is, how do you even begin to give any constructive criticism back to them, as some have protested... when it seems every single area of the app seems to be in shambles! Perhaps that is why many of us (such as myself) would rather just roll it back to an older version and just have it simply work as it used to.
More embarrassing was the fact of showing guests who have never seen a sonos system before on how confusing and poorly implemented this new app seemed. Just terrible.
"Easy" is a bit of an exaggeration don't you think? "Easy" doesn't require a link with directions. "Easy" is when Lemko_rj didn't need a link to figure out how to play music in the room he/she wants.
Try expressing some sympathy with people having to suffer this app - instead of telling them it's actually easy and almost implying it's their mental capacity that's the problem - and explain that your guide may help them deal with it. It'll be a lot more appreciated.
I am just trying to help. Sneer if you must.
I am just trying to help. Sneer if you must.
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