Podcasts now have skip forward and back 30 second buttons

SeanMacGabhann wrote:

Maybe they have been available for a while?

But I only noticed when playing a podcast yesterday evening. It's been much needed and is a great help

(I'm using Pocketcasts integration - don't know if it's specific to that?)

New IOS update today and they are gone. I thoroughly enjoyed the 24 hours we got to enjoy it Haha

Had everything update this morning - just checked a podcast and I still have the 30>30 buttons

ah wait - thought I had updated everything.... double checked and there was another UPDATE icon in my app updates - and yes, those buttons are now gone again

I expect they will be back tho - clearly someone has done the work on the functionality

Yep, yesterday I noticed the skip back/forward buttons for PocketCast podcasts on the Sonos app, but they're gone today.

This is an odd situation. I had. a Twitter exchange with Sonos Support (@PocketCasts. didn't reply but @Sonos did).
Sonos denied that the feature could have been there since its not supported. But it was definitely there and I used it extensively for the 36 hours it was there. I referenced this thread here too that others had it briefly.

Seems to have baffled the Sonos folks but they said they would submit it. as a feature request. Here's that Twitter thread :

Hey @pocketcasts we had a very brief 2 day stretch where skip forward/back 30 seconds feature of PocketCasts was working in the @Sonos iOS app It was the best 48 hours of my PocketCasts life but now its gone w/latest Sonos update What gives? We MUST get that feature back!!!
Sonos Support Team (@SonosSupport)
1/30/19, 8:14 PM

@david2chicago @pocketcasts @Sonos Hello David, thanks for reaching out. Those features aren't currently supported on Sonos, but we'll pass this feature request along to our team. Take a look here for the supported features of Pocket Casts and Sonos: support.sonos.com/s/article/3519
David (@david2chicago)
1/30/19, 8:35 PM

@SonosSupport @pocketcasts @Sonos Why was the feature there and actively working for a couple days? Then yanked.
Sonos Support Team (@SonosSupport)
1/30/19, 9:04 PM

@david2chicago The feature has not been supported at this and would usually have required an update to appear in the first place so we aren't too sure how you would have seen them. We will certainly pass on your feedback though.
David (@david2chicago)
1/30/19, 10:19 PM

@SonosSupport It was there, trust me, i used it extensively. I wasn’t alone either. en.community.sonos.com/controllers-so… Came and went quickly and users want it back! That hold to forward scheme you have in the Sonos app is useless btw.
Sonos Support Team (@SonosSupport)
1/30/19, 11:03 PM

@david2chicago Thanks for following up with us David. We will go ahead and submit this as a feature request. The only way to go forward will be to hold down the fast-forward button or use the scrubber.
via Tweetbot

The Pocket Casts controls have vanished for me too. Perhaps some beta functionality was released prematurely. Still there for Audible, though:

It may be the source server that provides/provided access to that functionality, as a test. Which suggests it might come back. Probably not something Sonos controls, they wrote the API, but how it gets implemented on the back end is up to each streaming group on their own.

Airgetlam wrote:

It may be the source server that provides/provided access to that functionality, as a test. Which suggests it might come back. Probably not something Sonos controls, they wrote the API, but how it gets implemented on the back end is up to each streaming group on their own.

That's certainly possible. I haven't looked at the API recently, but it may have some form of negotiation with the service to determine capabilities, which influences what controls are displayed.

Someone on this board mentioned a reasonable solution that seems to work well for me. When you hold down the skip back and skip forward buttons, the podcast fast forwards and back at a very controllable rate. Just keep your eye on the counter.

These skip buttons were the greatest 24-hour tease Sonos has given us yet. I even sent screenshots to a friend I was so excited when they appeared. But as always, Sonos just screws everything up in the end and they are gone now and have been gone for quite a while. I will just go back to not recommending Sonos to anybody

It was probably a mistake that escaped through from beta testing in the first place.

And I'd assume that they'd need to be turned on/off by the third party...Sonos would have written the API, but I don't think that they'd control them being on or off on each stream individually. It has to be something sent/not sent by the server.

The 30 second skips are a core Sonos feature in SMAPI for audiobooks, described here (with a picture of the buttons no less): https://musicpartners.sonos.com/?q=node/488 Whether the controls show up in the app depends on the implementation of the SMAPI service. From the OP's description it appears that Pocketcast enabled this on their service, then for some reason disabled it again.