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.
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.
I wish the app was more sequential/organized:
- Where do you want to play this music - pick rooms
- What would you like to play - Type artist, genre, album (Sonos search all sources)
- Give me search results to pick from - choose one
- 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.
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 Not real fancy, a far out of date antique tablet, running S1 and an ancient Play 1.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.
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.
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! :-)
I agree with BRam999. The app is awful and the biggest deterrent for me (for all the reasons you mentioned) My wife will not touch it. I have to always be tech support.
When I pick a song the music stops after the song is over.
I wish there was a physical button on my coffee that I can press that puts the music on. The music I like.
When I pick a song the music stops after the song is over.
It is not the app, but your music provider doing this,
I usually use a playlist on Spotify, but I do seem to remember Spotify plays songs that it things have a relation with the song I chose.
As I’ve stated before I cannot get my head around why you think the app is so difficult:
- you choose where you want to play something (four vertical stripes in the middle on the bottom of your screen;
- choose which source/music provider (musical note left of the middle on the bottom of your screen); or
- use the search function (classic search is faster than new search, magnifying glass right of the middle on the bottom of your screen).
Setting up voice control could help too.
It must just be a case of "horses for courses” - The Wife and I are mid-60s, rather than in our (young) 90s. I find the Sonos App really easy to use - select a speaker ‘room’, or ‘group’, to place it/them into focus on the ‘Now Playing’ screen and simply do one of these three things…
- Goto search tab and find/select Artist/Album/Track/Playlist/Station etc. and begin playback
- Select Music Services Tab and ‘browse’ an MSP or local library source and begin playback from available displayed items.
- Goto ‘My Sonos’ tab and select either a recent or saved Artist/Album/Track/Playlist/Station etc. and begin playback
Yes, there are some slightly more complex areas of the App, including the integration with voice assistants and Amazon Alexa ‘enabled’ Groups etc; but the above is the basic operation and I find that real easy.
In the use-case here, my Wife uses the Sonos App too, on her iPad and it’s mainly just for playback/volume control, but she will also happily uses Alexa voice control (possibly slightly more than the Sonos App). SVC not so much at this point in time.
