Restrict access to certain zones

Sonos, please add this feature. Looking back through the threads this appears to have been requested by Sonos customers since 2005. The default setting could remain as the system is currently ie.. unrestricted so the addition would have zero impact on users for whom this isn't an issue. For users who do need to restrict access, you could have a system when the system owner has a master-controller and they can permission other controllers to only be allowed to use certain Zones. I appreciate from a technical perspective limiting music/playlists could be a lot harder. An alternative would be to let the administrator set up a PIN system, which you would only input once when connecting to the system. The master PIN would give that controller unlimited access and a slave PIN would give only limited access (dictated by the master). Thanks,

When you look at the age and length of this thread on the one hand, and SONOS' involvment on the other I wouldn't be too optimistic. It seems (also looking at other ideas) that SONOS is not very interested in customers thoughts or even not giving it too much intention. There seem to be enough people out there who don't need these very useful features and by SONOS products anyway. And as you can read in this thread there're a couple of good ideas how it can be solved an easy way at first. But... hello SONOS team / developers, where are you?

I agree after having the kids friends round and and they kept hijacking the music I would say this is essential for house parties.

Wow.. My overall feeling was that Sonos had stagnated in development just by the "quiet" surrounding them the last couple of years and lack of new features.

Then I'm setting up my kids first phone and started looking into how I could limit his Sonos controller to just his room and is greeted by this.

A 6 YEAR old suggestion without any implementation or serious respons at all.
Wow, my feeling just got verified, Sonos is dead.. =7
Sad.


Glad to see others supporting the idea.

It is very curious to me that such a large thread would not attract Sonos’ attention.

If you have an iPhone or iPad you can restrict your daughter's access to certain areas of the Sonos controller app. As long as the iPhone/iPad are running iOS 6, you can use Guided Access on her iPhone to disable specific areas of the controller. For example, the rooms/zones icon in the bottom right hand corner of the app can be disabled. Your daughter will not be able to access other rooms and, more importantly, will not be able to control the volume in other rooms! You can only disable Guided Access using a passcode (one that you set) so you can sleep soundly! This is only a temporary fix. I'm sure Sonos will roll out a software upgrade soon.

In our scenario, all that is required is a simple menu option to enable a prompt for a passcode when the zone icon is pressed. This setting should be controller specific (not global).

I didn't see this thread before I posted elsewhere... hopefully someone will merge my idea for me... not sure how myself. https://ask.sonos.com/sonos/topics/i_want_to_have_user_accounts_for_the_sonos_system

You can actually also merge it with this one: https://ask.sonos.com/sonos/topics/hide_zones_on_any_type_of_controllers_and_unhide_using_a_password It's intended to achieve the same result.
Exactly. So, create an ADMIN account that basically does EVERYTHING that the system allows you to do now. Create specific USER accounts (to set up for your kids or other "housemates" in shared houses etc) where they get given access by admin to the zones that admin chooses. Create "Guest" account that can be accessed by anyone on the network but it only allows queueing of songs. If a song gets asked for twice by two different controllers, it moves higher up the list. No volume controls or anything else, just control of the song voting for the zone allocated as "Juke Box" or "Party Mode" by the admin. Don't make us login as admin everytime, just set up devices as admin or user at setup, and all others automatically go to "guest mode".

The request to add this feature is over 8 years old ... very very disappointing Sonos... http://forums.sonos.com/showthread.php?t=3271 Apr 26th, 2005

this is really infuriating; Ryan E as an employee participating is actively showing that the SONOS staff are actually reading this thread... they just don't care

For most instances I suspect that we don't even need the password/pin feature. This topic seems to be trying to address a number of different problems, ranging from 'hijacking' to accidental use, filtering of content, restricting usage. The core requirement I have is to configure specific controllers to only show certain zones - e.g. the kids will just see the sonos players in their own bedrooms on their phones/ipods, and not the one in the master bedroom. I believe that the easiest way to implement this would be to add an additional open to the Room Settings list in the controller software, 'Show in this Controller (on)' - e.g. emulate the White Status Indicator Light option. Then in the My Sonos Players list, change the order to show 'non-hidden' players first, and then the 'hidden' ones. I'm hopeful that this kind of change isn't too much work for the team, and could address a number of the issues raised here. For me this is about preventing accidental use of rooms. Personally I'd deal with the problem of children changing the settings themselves in other ways ;o) Sonos are trying to achieve simplicity in their products, PIN codes, passwords, restricting players to sub-sets of music are not easy problems to solve, and no matter how they choose to address them (assuming they ever do), there will always be someone with a different view or opinion. Sonos products are designed for everyone to use with the minimum amount of technical knowledge, and I can understand the reluctance to incorporate anything that increases complexity, and thus confuses users, or makes support the product more difficult.

Please add this feature asap.