Please pass these comments on to your deign & usability team.

I wanted to say that by far the best IPAD UI for usability was the original one I first used in around 2016. 

This was similar in layout to the design of the current PC version (which I strongly expect you will scrap because its so easy to use!! ) 

I can tell you this because I used to be able to hand the IPAD over to my guests and they could see how to use it and select music with minimal intervention from me.   That tells you all you need to know,  every single update you have made since to the IPAD version has been less and less intuitive. I hand the latest controllers to guests now and they are totally lost.

Now I know why you did this,  you wanted to share code base with the phone versions which are much more limited in screen space but with each release you seem to have lost your way. 

I have very simple needs :-

1. When I first pick up the controller I want to indicate which speaker or component I want to control
2. I then want to pick the source of my music  (be that a NAS music library, Line in or a service)  
3. I then want to pick either an artist, album, playlist, radio station or track
4. And finally, I want to be able to control what’s playing, start / stop, adjust the volume etc or manage the queue on the component if I’m using one.   

As you see Simple requirements but you have made these simple actions so awkward….

So what is wrong with the current UI? 

1. The System components start out hidden and if I want to select an individual component or a group its several clicks under a different screen.  I can see no rational for this when selecting which component(s) you want to control is an obvious first action.  
2. You have split “Sources” (Music Library and Line In etc.) from “Services”. To me these are all just sources of music or content and I cannot see why you chose to split them out and effectively wasted screen real estate by doing so.  Just put them all on one section as “Content Sources” .  I would suggest most users are like me and only have a handful of services established. 
3. You have a section of “Favourites” which is a mess at the moment because you cannot add or maintain playlists (and almost all of my “Favourites” are pre May 24 playlists). The last think I need is to plaster favourites with individual tracks.  Its not a massive help to be able to save an artist or an album as a “favourite” either. By far the most useful aspect for favourites is the ability to maintain playlists. sadly this is one of the many features you left out.        I know you are working to restore this feature but “favourites” are pretty limited without it

BTW, I do realise that others may prefer to select their music or content source first and then pick the device on which to play it but swopping those two sections around should be a configurable choice within each controller.   

I totally agree with Editor. I just have such difficulty trying to change rooms and sources. I’m embarrassed to say, that, since I have three iPads, I keep one in each room with that room’s music queue loaded so I don’t have to go through all the trouble of remembering how to first select a room, and then find my music in such a ridiculous and complicated way before I can even listen to anything. The app layout is really non intuitive. I get frustrated every time I use it. And in my office, I just use the Windows Controller on my PC, which works the best out of them all. And like was just mentioned, you’ll probably get rid of the Windows Controller soon. I am expecting that..

Again, finding much frustration last evening using the IOS app. My main problem again, and I’m sorry to keep repeating myself, is that after searching for a song, about 120 songs down my 400-song playlist, I was interested in knowing what the next song was going to play, but there is no way to perform this operation. If you select the Queue button, which looks like a flag in the lower left corner of the Now Playing window, it exists out and takes you to the top of the existing playlist. At that point I am pissed, since I have to start scrolling down to try and find the currently playing song and find the area that I was playing. Isn’t there a way to place a marker in the playlist which holds my place like the old app did?! I know it can be done, since you did it before. This is the first thing I check every time there is an IOS update. I don’t know why you don’t feel that this is important. IT’S SO FRUSTRATING!!!!

You probably know this, but just in case, the Desktop controllers will allegedly be replaced with the web app at play.sonos.com 

No, I didn’t know that. That’s a shame, but if I still can use it to access my locally stored music that might be okay. It seems like Sonos is moving a lot of their functionality away from the users and into the cloud, which is troubling. Not the same company it used to be and I’m really not sure I would recommend using and buying their products anymore. They are completely going in another direction. 

Needing Sonos servers, and the internet, to be online in order to listen to the music being stored under your own roof is asinine.

All my music is stored locally. There must be a stand-alone version of the app in order to do this. Or I’ll have to strap the Sonos app all together and search for other options. At this point, I’m really tired of waiting around for Sonos to wake up. This proves to me that Sonos employees and developers aren’t forced to use their app. If they did, we wouldn’t all be complaining about all these stupid problems that never seem to go away. When I worked for a mobile data company years ago, all management, was forced to communicate via these mobile devices. And every Friday, we would have meetings to discuss our concerns and fixes. I know no one at Sonos is using their app. 

As a long-time Sonos fan the latest update has left me wondering what is going on? The app is frustrating to use as it is not intuitive. I am open to change when the change is progressive, but this has definitely been a HUGE regressive programming adjustment. Please fix!!! How can we wipe this new app and reinstall the previous edition?

We own 17 Sonos products and used to be big fans.  Whatever incompetence has overtaken the company has ruined a formerly great product.  I will soon be looking seriously at taking action against the company.  I want all my money back. 

I’ve just moved property and trying to connect my Sonos system to my new WiFi. Obviously it’s an impossible task on what should be very simple. I’m following the steps within the app and it simply doesn’t find any of the speakers and you’re basically at a dead end with a £2,500 system which wont connect. Why is Sonos so poor!? Since owning Sonos speakers the connectivity has always been extremely clunky and over complicated. Absolutely s****, feel like throwing it all in a skip and giving up with it. 

Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.

I was forced to update my system on my PC yesterday (wouldn't let me in until I did) and lo and behold, it doesn't work for s*** anymore, just like my phone app. Going on 6 months and I again have $2500.00 worth of paperweights  Thanks sonos. You went from being the best  (I’ve recommended your product to so many folks, that was a mistake!) to being an ABSOLUTE JOKE!! And not the funny kind..So sad.

Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.

Very well described, exactly what I would want but too logical and user friendly for Sonos to seriously consider sadly!

I moved on months ago from Sonos, they are overpriced crap. Too many young woke people in leadership. This will be going on for another few years or until the head is fired along with the software heads…..

My system is complete crap. Lose speakers constantly! Wish i could start over with something else. 

My system fortunately was getting better again with the latest updates and now is running well. I think Sonos is on the way back to a working app… hopefully soon for everyone. 

May I ask you to which brand you moved. I think about the same but have not anything in mind.

i have Sonos in my whole house, but since they changed the App I’m very unhappy. And the worsted is they do think it’s all right.

this is not acceptable for me.

The hardware is fine for me, but my whole family is struggling with the App.

Thanks for any suggestions 

I kind of agree, the latest Android version is nearly working daily for me, but honestly it's just because I have all the gear and have cried with frustration for the last 6 months, if I just bought it all and installed it, I would think the app was awful and send it back, such a sorry state of affairs.

I think the real frustration for me is that my Sonos system has become so flakey, laggy and unpredictable. From one day to the next I don’t know whether I will be able to see some of my speakers, whether I can group them and whether they will play music. I also find that the ability to access the system will vary between using my iPad and my iPhone - many times some speakers will be viewable on one device but not the other. I can wait up to 5 minutes for music to start playing and I often just give up trying to group speakers together. As many others on this forum have said, I used to be a big advocate of Sonos but no more - wouldn’t recommend anymore and do wish I could go back and choose another system. I used to think the ‘old’ app was a bit flakey, but goodness me the ‘new’ version is just terrible. Such a shame Sonos - what were you thinking?

 

For many of us, less listening.

I know we are all having major issues with the new app and how difficult it is to do anything. I have totally given up on trying to group anything. I find it easier to just sit in one room and play to that room. I have had discussions at various social gatherings about the issues with Sonos lately, and most say it’s not worth calling tech support or even providing any suggestions (and I’ve seen some very good one above) in the various groups, since no one from Sonos is even listening (and/or passing this info up the chain). I have listened to these same people talking about Denon, and how some of their speakers are comparable and priced the same and sound much better then evenly priced Sonos speakers. I only remember hearing about the Denon 150 and 250 speakers. I remember someone telling me that Denon uses the Heos technology, which is very similar to the way Sonos communicates with their speakers, but I might be wrong about this. I was able to see and listen to the Denon Heos system at my local stereo store and was very impressed. I may start going in that direction, since I used to have a Denon DCD-1700 CD player, and at the time, it was rated one of the best CD players. And I think Denon and Marantz have some sort of relationship. This would be my choice for anyone considering changing to another system. 

I am definitely done with Sonos, tried everything to get them to listen to ‘us’ as customers and the only thing I get is a big FY. I am selling all my Sonos never ever to return again.

I am hopefully looking into Unify, since my whole network is Unify, Unify just released their power amp, and I think other products may follow. At least that is a company that builds stuff that actually works.

“Sonos had high hopes for the Ace headphones, aiming to sell as many as 1 million units. However, due to various factors, including a problematic app launch and the headphones' $450 price tag, sales have been significantly lower than anticipated. Gurman reports that only about 200,000 units were sold through September. The flawed app has exacerbated the problem, as one of its main purposes was to create a new system to control the Ace headphones.”

I cannot help laughing about this and thinking good for you Sonos, karma is a b***… :-)

Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.

@John Guarr 

i don’t know if you have a line in on your Sonos speakers but I added a WiiM mini to my Sonos 5 and use the WiiM application to play music 

I use sono+ for volume and grouping but I guess sonophone would work as well 

I now have a WiiM ultra and I am happy with their software as I can plug a hard drive into the ultra with all my music on 

I never updated my software in may but I guess the above should work for you and it’s cheaper than replacing the lot

don’t get me wrong I am not going to buy/replace with new Sonos gear but at least stuff works for now

oh and WiiM are partnering with audio pro and bringing out 2 speakers soon 

just a thought hope this helps you out

 

If I was any good on photoshop I’d make that…

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My Sonos S2 app for iOS is not loading. (and S1 redirects me to S2) ? 

The App was getting worse and worse….slower and slower...and now it's not even loading???

What should I do (I have 4 Play1, 2 Play3, 1 Sub and 1 Beam!!!)? 

Thank you

N.B. When it was still working, it was also getting less and less intuitive to use.