I know there are other threads about this but I have not found any solution. It is impossible to properly play music from my iPhone music library to my Sonos speakers. The songs skip midway through, then skip and skip without even playing, then just stop playing all together.
Yes, I have done everything suggested. I have changed my wireless settings from automatic to channel 1, and I have set auto-lock to never and tried my best to NEVER USE MY IPHONE FOR ANYTHING while using Sonos. But this is ridiculous. Not only does it drain my battery but sometimes while playing music all evening long I need to use my phone - shocking, I know. The moment I open any other app, my songs start skipping.
This is NOT a wireless connectivity issue or other communication with Sonos speakers issue. I can stream Pandora from my Sonos app all day while using 6 different iPhone apps and never have the Sonos app on the screen. This is ONLY an issue when playing from my iPhone library. Again, Sonos, this is only an issue when playing from my iPhone music library.
This should not be an end-user workaround. This is a basic function and should be something that is fixed and explained by Sonos. Where is the solution?
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The solution, as has been explained in many threads, and in the Sonos FAQ on the matter, is to move your music off of the iOS device, and on to either a computer's hard drive, or an NAS of some type.
Yes, it's a pain in the rear. You can thank Apple for forcing this issue to occur, which Sonos has indicated that they're working on finding a solution for with Apple. And if you've ever been a developer working with Apple on anything at all, you'd have some sympathy for Sonos.
Yes, it's a pain in the rear. You can thank Apple for forcing this issue to occur, which Sonos has indicated that they're working on finding a solution for with Apple. And if you've ever been a developer working with Apple on anything at all, you'd have some sympathy for Sonos.
This is NOT a wireless connectivity issue or other communication with Sonos speakers issue. I can stream Pandora from my Sonos app all day while using 6 different iPhone apps and never have the Sonos app on the screen.
When Sonos is playing music from a streaming service, the phone is not doing anything. It tells Sonos what to do, and then the players fetch the music over WiFi on their own, you could even turn the phone off. Interesting, isn't it, that everything works fine when you cut the iPhone out of the loop and just let Sonos do it's thing?
So the solution to being able to play music to Sonos via my iPhone is to not use my iPhone. Helpful.
I have no patience or sympathy for a company that sells a product intended to perform a service it does not perform. They spend millions on ads featuring people playing music from their iPhones.
I would appreciate constructive answers rather than belittling the question. A Sonos setup is not a small investment and it should work as advertised. Period.
I have no patience or sympathy for a company that sells a product intended to perform a service it does not perform. They spend millions on ads featuring people playing music from their iPhones.
I would appreciate constructive answers rather than belittling the question. A Sonos setup is not a small investment and it should work as advertised. Period.
Then I'd recommend that you speak directly with Apple.
No one is terribly pleased by this. Certainly not us, the customers of Sonos, but while I'm sure it's high on Sonos' list of things to get fixed, they have to rely on Apple to revert the change that was made which affects the way that Sonos, and oddly pretty much only Sonos works.
Until Apple is willing to work with Sonos on a fix (which they may, or may not have an interest in doing, since Sonos competes directly with HomePods), it seemed appropriate to provide potential solutions so that you can continue your life in the meantime.
And if you own an AirPlay 2 Sonos receiving device, such as a Beam, Sonos One, or PLAY:5 gen 2, you can always AirPlay 2 your content to your Sonos system, using Apple's own music player, which (oddly) isn't affected by the change that Apple made.
Yes, you're right. It sucks. I don't know of a single person who likes the situation, including me. But it exists. We've just offered you potential alternatives until such time as Apple deigns to acknowledge the issue.
No one is terribly pleased by this. Certainly not us, the customers of Sonos, but while I'm sure it's high on Sonos' list of things to get fixed, they have to rely on Apple to revert the change that was made which affects the way that Sonos, and oddly pretty much only Sonos works.
Until Apple is willing to work with Sonos on a fix (which they may, or may not have an interest in doing, since Sonos competes directly with HomePods), it seemed appropriate to provide potential solutions so that you can continue your life in the meantime.
And if you own an AirPlay 2 Sonos receiving device, such as a Beam, Sonos One, or PLAY:5 gen 2, you can always AirPlay 2 your content to your Sonos system, using Apple's own music player, which (oddly) isn't affected by the change that Apple made.
Yes, you're right. It sucks. I don't know of a single person who likes the situation, including me. But it exists. We've just offered you potential alternatives until such time as Apple deigns to acknowledge the issue.
Phones make terrible web servers, as their operating systems are not designed to be "always on" (else batteries would last no time at all).
To "play from this device" your phone needs to host a web server as a background task. Apple decided to not allow this, in order to keep their phones more useful for every other purpose.
In the past there were various hacks that apps used to keep running in the background, but over time those hacks worked less and less well. The "play from this device" feature is severely effected by this.
IMHO Sonos should just delete the feature. Events in the last year have shown that they are fearless these days in deleting features, so they should add this to the list (cr100, desktop app features, direct Sonosnet etc).
To "play from this device" your phone needs to host a web server as a background task. Apple decided to not allow this, in order to keep their phones more useful for every other purpose.
In the past there were various hacks that apps used to keep running in the background, but over time those hacks worked less and less well. The "play from this device" feature is severely effected by this.
IMHO Sonos should just delete the feature. Events in the last year have shown that they are fearless these days in deleting features, so they should add this to the list (cr100, desktop app features, direct Sonosnet etc).
Since this feature no longer functions and will not until a 3rd party - Apple - decides it will, Sonos needs to clearly state that music can not be played directly from your iPhone on its site, in their ads and in stores. Because there has been no official notification and I guarantee if I went to any AV store today, or the flagship store in NY and said I keep all of my music stored on my iPhone and want to be able to play it through Sonos wherever I am, they would sell me as much as I could carry.
Hi melrose80, in case you haven't seen any of the solutions, here's a bit of background which gets you there. There is a specific issue we're looking into where audio playing to Sonos from an iOS device under the "On this iPhone" section may cut out if there are any non-Sonos AirPlay enabled devices on the network and the phone goes to sleep. If you haven't had a chance to see it, there's a message here on our support page about the specific feature.
To fix the issue, disabling AirPlay on any non-Sonos devices will fix the problem. Also, there's a good page here from one of our community members talking about a solution that worked for him. I've seen it work for other systems, but not necessarily all of them.
For playing music your personal music library, it has always been best to use a local storage like your computer or a NAS drive so the phone isn't the main hub of music. That way you can start playing music on Sonos at any time and leave the house, taking your phone, and music will keep on playing unless you stopped it. Also, if your phone's battery dies, you won't have to worry about the music stopping.
It's also worth noting that all newer Sonos players are also AirPlay 2 compatible. So if you have a Play:5 gen2, Playbase, Beam, Sonos One, or Sonos Amp, you can use your iPhone to play music directly to Sonos using AirPlay 2. You can even group multiple Sonos players together, all playing the one stream you've sent to one of those devices. This means if you go to the store and buy a Sonos player, odds are you'll be getting one with AirPlay 2 compatibility (the Playbar is one of the only ones still sold that isn't compatible).
To fix the issue, disabling AirPlay on any non-Sonos devices will fix the problem. Also, there's a good page here from one of our community members talking about a solution that worked for him. I've seen it work for other systems, but not necessarily all of them.
For playing music your personal music library, it has always been best to use a local storage like your computer or a NAS drive so the phone isn't the main hub of music. That way you can start playing music on Sonos at any time and leave the house, taking your phone, and music will keep on playing unless you stopped it. Also, if your phone's battery dies, you won't have to worry about the music stopping.
It's also worth noting that all newer Sonos players are also AirPlay 2 compatible. So if you have a Play:5 gen2, Playbase, Beam, Sonos One, or Sonos Amp, you can use your iPhone to play music directly to Sonos using AirPlay 2. You can even group multiple Sonos players together, all playing the one stream you've sent to one of those devices. This means if you go to the store and buy a Sonos player, odds are you'll be getting one with AirPlay 2 compatibility (the Playbar is one of the only ones still sold that isn't compatible).
IMHO Sonos should just delete the feature. Events in the last year have shown that they are fearless these days in deleting features, so they should add this to the list (cr100, desktop app features, direct Sonosnet etc).
Wow I totally called this a month ago, huh.
Hi, I have an old Sonos speaker and 4 Sonos controllers connected to in-wall speakers in several rooms: kitchen, dining room, living room and porch. None are Airplay enabled. I understand I can add a Airplay enabled Sonos device and group several speakers (and controllers?) so that I can play music using AirPlay.
Can you AirPlay enable a controller and if so, how?
Assuming you can group controllers to AirPlay enable all of them, can you adjust the volume of each speaker/controller separately in the group? This is important...for example, if my husband is asleep in the bedroom and I’m in the living room, I’d want to turn the volume all the way down in the bedroom via the app.
I’m just trying to figure out the best way to AirPlay enable my old Sonos system so that I don’t have a full rip and replace.
Can you AirPlay enable a controller and if so, how?
Assuming you can group controllers to AirPlay enable all of them, can you adjust the volume of each speaker/controller separately in the group? This is important...for example, if my husband is asleep in the bedroom and I’m in the living room, I’d want to turn the volume all the way down in the bedroom via the app.
I’m just trying to figure out the best way to AirPlay enable my old Sonos system so that I don’t have a full rip and replace.
If I interpret what you’ve said correctly, you have your music as downloads only, and all stored on your phone? If so, a free Google Play Music account might be a solution for you without the need to buy another speaker.
But otherwise, Grouped speakers play the same music in sync to all speakers. The volume can be controlled as a group, but additionally you have independent control of each speaker - and can even mute one or more. That might be better to avoid accidentally increasing the group volume and waking your Sleeping Beauty.
But otherwise, Grouped speakers play the same music in sync to all speakers. The volume can be controlled as a group, but additionally you have independent control of each speaker - and can even mute one or more. That might be better to avoid accidentally increasing the group volume and waking your Sleeping Beauty.
Trying to understand all the above is a nightmare.
Lest face it Apple have screwed Sonos and Sonos is pretending everything is dandy!
put simply the functionality of the system especially for those of us using bridges and analog speakers is stuffed.
Thank God I did not discard my CD player!
I will be playing records next and binning Sonis!
Lest face it Apple have screwed Sonos and Sonos is pretending everything is dandy!
put simply the functionality of the system especially for those of us using bridges and analog speakers is stuffed.
Thank God I did not discard my CD player!
I will be playing records next and binning Sonis!
Seems like an odd thing to do, since you spent so much money on the Sonos, and there are so many other options available to play your music from your iOS device, ranging from free to a moderate expense.
If the only option is to put my music on the computer that sits in a room down the corridor that I have to go to anytime I want to play or change music I rest my case - the system has lost all functionality and is then no better than putting on a CD!
You do not need to go to the computer once you have added the music library to Sonos.
As long as the computer is on and accessible through your network you can start playback from your phone under the Browse tab. So yeah if it's powered off, you will need to walk up to it and turn it on.
Only difference is instead of "on this device" you now have the option for "music library"
So you don't have much of a case.
the system has lost all functionality and is then no better than putting on a CD!
It's not losing functionality, it's losing one feature. A feature that is unreliable which has alternatives that are way more reliable.
Any suggestions then on the easiest and cheapest way of playing the thousands of purchased songs stored on my iphone now they have finally removed the option from me this week of playing directly? I do own an old windows based computer but dont think the hard drives will be sufficient for all the music on my iphone and in any case what would be the best way to get the music from my phone to the computer and then access it vis sonos on my iphone?
I think someone mentioned a free google music account would work but not sure how to go about this either. I do have access to my amazon prime music acc still but only have a couple of bought albums in this so not sure if i can import my music into this.
Not used the actual itunes player or app account for years although i do download most of my music through itunes on the iphone.
I had been told i would need to buy a music server / nas /cloud account but all seems very expensive considering ive already spent thousands in the past on my sonos equipment.
Any help, advice or suggestions would be much appreciated as im stuck with a bluetooth speaker again for now.
I think someone mentioned a free google music account would work but not sure how to go about this either. I do have access to my amazon prime music acc still but only have a couple of bought albums in this so not sure if i can import my music into this.
Not used the actual itunes player or app account for years although i do download most of my music through itunes on the iphone.
I had been told i would need to buy a music server / nas /cloud account but all seems very expensive considering ive already spent thousands in the past on my sonos equipment.
Any help, advice or suggestions would be much appreciated as im stuck with a bluetooth speaker again for now.
But otherwise, Grouped speakers play the same music in sync to all speakers. The volume can be controlled as a group, but additionally you have independent control of each speaker - and can even mute one or more. That might be better to avoid accidentally increasing the group volume and waking your Sleeping Beauty.
Just attempted to get a free google music account and even though i have an account i can only subscribe to a single or family account that is free for 30 days then they start charging the card you have to subscribe with.Its so annoying to have purchased thousands of pounds worth of sonos equipment over the years and literally thousands and thousands of pounds worth of music and these global companies want you to pay a subscription to be able to use your own belongings. I could of just streamed for the same amount and saved thousands in song purchases had this been known at the outset. At least Dick Turpin worn a mask! I appreciate its not a fortune in the grand picture of it all but i refuse to be held to ransom so I will find an alternative hopefully with your help.
They ask for a credit card, but they don't charge if you choose the free account after the trial period. Standard practice with all music services, unfortunately.
thanks will give it a go. Do you know if google play ask again before the 30 day free trial is up or do i need to action something to stop them automatically taking the £9.99 per month?
ok im in a new world of Sh**e now! Apparently I already have to of downloaded my music library to another computer first form itunes or whatever music source to be able to load it to google play on a proper computer not an ipad or iphone before i can access the tracks in google play on my iphone and therefore from a source on the sonos???
Surely if im going to do it this way isnt it easier to add the apple music service on my sonos as surely this lets me access my music library?
Surely if im going to do it this way isnt it easier to add the apple music service on my sonos as surely this lets me access my music library?
I clearly purchased my SONOS speakers with the distinct impression that I could play my personal music library from iPhone on my SONOS speakers. I do not accept that this is an Apple issue...SONOS's software engineers should be able to figure this out. Now I have to make other investments, both in significant time and money, to be able to play my extensive personal music library from my I phone on SONOS. Though I have a small SONOS system in my home, I have bought extensive systems for my kids and grandkids. I am simply going to dump my SONOS speakers at my home and buy a BOSE wireless system. However, I believe this misrepresentation of the availability to play personal music from an IOS product will reach class action status quickly. Keep you eyes and ears open. This will go down as one of the biggest "bait and switch" in history. SONOS leadership...you should be ashamed of yourselves. Good luck. See you in Federal Court!
I have Sonos speakers in three homes and am super angry they will no longer play music or my Playlists from my iOS devices. As one of the most expensive speakers systems on the planet they should have long since worked out the issues with Apple. But instead they force customers to purchase music support from other vendors to enable customers to play their purchased tunes stored in their music library. Really! What a horrible management team at Sonos. How about Sonos hires technically competent engineers to fix this simple problem? If not I’m done with Sonos.
Dennis Cirucci
Naples, FL
Springfield, PA
Sea Isle City, NJ
Dennis Cirucci
Naples, FL
Springfield, PA
Sea Isle City, NJ
I too am super angry with Sonos. I have connect 5?amps in my house. Worked fine for approximately 5 years then one day I simply can’t play my entire music library??? Fix this Sonos!! I am no longer a promoter of your product until u do.
Well, that sure told ’em! I’m sure they will fix it now.
If they don’t, it’ll be for the reasons already given by Sonos on numerous threads.
The bottom line is, this is not rocket science. Sonos clearly has made a business decision here. We may never know the real reason. Apple constantly updates its code, much of it includes necessary security features. Vendors have to keep up if they want to keep their market share. Recall the huge Apple change from 32 bit to 64 bit and how many applications no longer worked because the vendors did not update their applications. This was a needed programming change and Apple was doing the right thing. In this case, instead of Sonos sending us warnings every week that the service was being discontinued, they should used that time to have either made the necessary changes or offered us an interim solution such as making the speakers utilize a Bluetooth connection and yes I know this would take away a few features like multiple rooms playing different music and multiple users adding to the cue, but I think most of us would have respected Sonos for at least keeping us in game with the setups we are used to while they worked it out.
Could you explain how Sonos is going to make "the speakers utilize a Bluetooth connection" when the speakers are not equipped with Bluetooth?
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