Restrict access to certain zones
Userlevel 2
There should be a way to restrict access to certain zones or allow control of certain zones from a specific controller. This is very important when you have children or have guests staying to stop inadvertent or deliberate changing of zone settings.
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Userlevel 2
Can't believe these points have been made over 8 months ago and still haven't been actioned... I thought I must be the only one with 9 zones in my house and multiple users! My 6 year old doesn't need access to every room. My guests shouldn't be able to have song select wars either.
Userlevel 2
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".
Userlevel 2
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
Userlevel 2
Sharmy, I agree, a simple passcode option would do the trick! Let's see how long before our friends at Sonos initiate this great idea!
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).
Thanks Tom. The solution you posted should work nicely.
Userlevel 2
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.
Userlevel 2
If you have an iPhone or iPad you can restrict specific areas of the Sonos Controller app. As long as the iPhone/iPad are running iOS 6, you can use Guided Access on your daughter's iPhone to disable specific areas of the controller. For example, the rooms 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 a temporary solution. I'm sure Sonos will address this request in a software update some time down the line.
This thread hits is on the head regarding issues with "hijacking" music and volume. Before having AT&T U-verse, I was able to create a "guest" network on my Airport Extreme. I could restrict who could use my Sonos controller. U-verse does not allow the "guest" capability with the AE. It would be great to have Admin controls to restrict access so people don't turn up volume really loud in rooms, change playlists, etc. I would like to control that access via an admin feature in the application. BTW, I love the Sonos system and look forward to their feature enhancements.
I agree after having the kids friends round and and they kept hijacking the music I would say this is essential for house parties.
I would also recommend Sonos to add this feature. It will reduce my problems with other persons controlling my music without my accept.
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?
Userlevel 3
+1 Sonos if you are still listening to your customers please add this feature
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,
Sonos, please add this awesome feature.
Userlevel 4
+6
This is basically the same idea: https://ask.sonos.com/sonos/topics/multiple_user_room_whitelist_volume_max_level But this is based on a room whitelist per device. This would be much easier to realize as the access restriction is part of the controller installation and not part of the system. This won't really help if you want to allow guests to change something, but for the children/parents/grandma it would be enough. It would work for guests as well but only if you prepare the device and provide it.
Userlevel 3
Think this feature has been under consideration for too long!? Vote for this: https://ask.sonos.com/sonos/topics/implement_customers_good_ideas_more_quickly
I can't believe Sonos having got moving with this yet! The sheer volume of people wanting this feature is overwhelming - and as already pointed out, it creates a whole new selling point: ideal for hotels, apartments etc. Rather disappointing there has been no word from Sonos on this at all - WHY aren't you implementing this highly demanded feature?
Userlevel 3
Come on Sonos this would not be difficult to implement! Should defo support max volume calibration so that when the volume is on max it translates to a much lower volume than actually possible (for renting out situations...)
agreed , combine with https://ask.sonos.com/sonos/topics/allow_controllers_to_pair_with_multiple_home_systems
Agreed, this is a must have.
This interview speaks volumes--thank you for finding that. When a vendor allows themselves the power to literally dictate how a customer is to view his or her own equipment, it shows how much regard they will have for that same user's feedback.
I came across a 2011 interview with Sonos CEO John MacFarlane, in which he addresses access restrictions (see excerpt below). In the interview, this is framed as a pure parental control issue. However, as discussed in this thread, the parental control aspect is just a small part of a much broader set of issues relating to unauthorized and unlimited access. For example, if I ever invite my neighbor over and he, with or without my permission, adds his iPhone as a controller to my Sonos system (literally with the push of a button), it would seem that he will retain unlimited access to my system on a permanent basis (and, if he can pick up my wireless signal in his apartment, on a continuous basis). Or am I missing something? Apart from the interview below, does anyone know if Sonos has otherwise publicly addressed these issues? From http://www.theverge.com/2011/10/21/2504462/john-macfarlane-prepares-sonos-for-airplay-assault-and-possible-home: “Will Sonos offer some parental controls to dumb down the interface and limit speaker volume? [John MacFarlane:] We had lots of debates about this early on: how do you personalize a controller. With the CR100 and CR200 you don’t really know who’s using it. You can’t really put an identification step up front, it’s just getting in the way of time-to-music. But if we’re on your phone, that’s your phone. So we can start doing things like, maybe you have a mode on the Android controller or the iPhone controller to dumb it down. But that’s the challenge with doing things like parental controls, which one are you using and which one are they using. You can’t put, "hey, type in the three numbers to start using a controller" because that’s going to drive you crazy usability wise, you’ll turn it off and never turn that feature on again. We view the tablets as the social controllers, the one you’re going to pass around, and the smartphone as your personal controller. There’s a real nice opportunity to have zones that are ordered based on how often you use them and stuff like that.”
Absolutely agree with the 'party mode' so that the 'play now', and 'replace queue' options are removed from the list. I also think both of these should be at the bottom of the list anyway as it is annoying when unintentionally pressing 'play now' and it jumps to the end of the queue to play the song, then stops.
Then, if they are using Android at least, they have complete and unrestricted access to your internet connection. I will have to do some testing to see if they have access to your network as well, I suspect that they do.
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