Sonos App is Hard to Navigate

  • 6 March 2023
  • 6 replies
  • 118 views
B

I’ve been a SONOS customer for around a decade and I’m considering moving to something else….WHY?

 

  • I don’t understand the app
  • I don’t know how to launch anything
  • I’m always confused
  • I get lost in the menus and options
  • Search doesn’t work well

I am probably a complete idiot, but I have difficulty navigating the new app...eventually, i get something to play, but I don’t really know how it happens.  I hunt and peck around and eventually, I get something to play.  Granted my home system is 10 Sonos Amps and architectural speakers - it is complicated.  But you almost need to stupify this down to a google search window that you can type in “Please, for the love of GOD, play Taylor Swift in my daugter’s room so she will start her homework.  I don’t care if you use Pandora or Tune-In or YouTube or Apple Music or any other source, but please please please start playing Taylor so i don’t have to try to navigate this darn app for another 5 frustrating minutes!!!” - I guess voice control might solve this, too?

6 replies

R
Badge

I do not have any amps, so I would guess maybe that could make my reply moot.  That being said I as I understand the amps just take the place of an actual Sonos speaker and would work the same.  I use the app all the time without issue.  I open the app and select the room/speaker I want by using the center icon on bottom of screen (you can group before or after this process).  Then I use the search by using the magnifying glass (which will search all of your connected services) or if I want to hear a play list or song I have played recently I can just go to the favorites tab which is the star icon that has recently played from all connected apps.  The music icon allows me to browse a particular service that I set up.  Once I start playing then I normally group rooms if I am moving around the house a lot.  That is the way I do without any issues at all.  Hope this helps as I have a good experience with that app and I can see how having issues with it would make it a poor experience.

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +21

The spouse agrees with you, hasn’t touched a Sonos for music since they took her beloved CR-100s away.

She uses our Arc and Beam for TV but I am on-call for everything but volume adjustments.

B

I wish the app was more sequential/organized:

  1. Where do you want to play this music - pick rooms
  2. What would you like to play - Type artist, genre, album (Sonos search all sources)
  3. Give me search results to pick from - choose one
  4. Play

It seems like someone should look at the user-interface and tweak it.  Or, hand it to their grandma and see if she could get something playing.  The-Grandma-Test should be the FIRST thing every developer must pass.

Maybe i’ll screen-record my process and upload to YouTube...but I always feel like i don’t know what the next step is.  And forget about LINE-IN/Turntable, CD player...then i’m totally lost.

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +21

Mom is 98 and one of my weekly visit tasks is to unscrew her Sonos setup. Not real fancy, a far out of date antique tablet, running S1 and an ancient Play 1.

If it had a “user Mode” and an “Advanced Mode” it would be so much less confusing for her.

She needs only the “My Sonos” screen but with all the stuff there hidden except for the three radio stations she uses. No other screens, options, choices.

Put everything else behind a password and give no hint it even exists aside from the “Advanced” button.

106rallye
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

I do not have any amps, so I would guess maybe that could make my reply moot.  That being said I as I understand the amps just take the place of an actual Sonos speaker and would work the same.  I use the app all the time without issue.  I open the app and select the room/speaker I want by using the center icon on bottom of screen (you can group before or after this process).  Then I use the search by using the magnifying glass (which will search all of your connected services) or if I want to hear a play list or song I have played recently I can just go to the favorites tab which is the star icon that has recently played from all connected apps.  The music icon allows me to browse a particular service that I set up.  Once I start playing then I normally group rooms if I am moving around the house a lot.  That is the way I do without any issues at all.  Hope this helps as I have a good experience with that app and I can see how having issues with it would make it a poor experience.

This is how I use it too. To me it is not hard at all.

B

I’m not 98 yet, but maybe it’s just me.  Thanks for all the replies - I’ll wait for “GrandPa Mode” to launch or revert back to a record player & hard wired speaker!  :-)

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