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The Sonos app suddenly not working with the iOS lock screen control and volume button anymore, suspect it happen after the Sonos iOS app updates.

 

So far I had tried:

  1. Restart the iPhone and make sure the iOS and Sonos App having latest version
  2. Reset Sonos app
  3. Reset + uninstall + reinstall app
  4. Off and on Sonos ERA300 and do the above
  5. Research all possible solutions from Google but nothing helps yet :(

 

All of this not working, my app version is 15.6 build 74043110 with iPhone 14 Pro iOS 16.6. Is anyone facing the same issue or this is a known software bug?

Sonos is not a music player like Apple Music or pandora. It was nice to be able to use the volume control inside the app itself. But moving the tab is not that big of a deal. Y'all get overly wound up over the littlest of things. I am sure apple wants to limit Sonos and certain apps functionality to drive people to THEIR product. Don't blame Sonos blame apple. 

If it is that big of a deal, just use the voice commands “hey Sonos turn it down 20%” etc. 

 

Y’all havent read the entire thread, Ubet, or you’d understand that all the response leads to the point that Sonos made this decision themselves. I’ve had Sonos products since 2012 and am a big fan, even still have my original play5, never complained once, so this isn’t some gripe - I’m funamentally annoyed that a feature I use EVERY DAY has been removed.

Voice controls are just as useless as unlocking the phone if you’re in a room where someone else is sleeping. It’s a backward step, Spotify can handle it, Sonos now can’t… so its achieveable, they’ve decided not to.


This is a significant setback for the product. Is anyone aware if Sonos produce a hardware remote control that can be used with their products instead? Thank you. 

I agree.  I would even spend additional money for a hardware remote.  If you are going to make things harder to control at least give us a better option.  

Also, since I see some mods have removed things.  Is there any plans to bring this back?  Not a total deal breaker but I am starting to lose patience with these kind of things.  Sonos is less and less the only game in town (cough Audio Pro) and I would hope they would get that.  I have over ten products, but also I am one of the types to sell everything and go to a whole new ecosystem if I get annoyed enough.  Or maybe check that stock price.  Ticking off loyal customers is not the way to improve that.  

 

It seems like you might not be aware that the reason this was removed is because it would not work reliably ( would not work in some scenarios, had to repaired every time Apple changed things) and did not fit wit Apple’s policies.  That means that no other multiroom audio system (other than airplay, which Sonos supports) is going to be able to do this either. That means there isn’t going to be a plan to bring it back till Apply changes their policy.

Sonos is very unlikely to produce their own hardware remote.  They have been down that road before and abandoned the idea when smartphones became a thing and made their remotes essentially obsolete. There are some 3rd part remotes out there, ikea already mention, and lutron is another good option.

The part that I don’t get is how Spotify and Tidal both work fine, and also I never once had an issue.  If those companies can make it work why can’t Sonos?  It seems to work just fine elsewhere.  If all companies were giving up I would say sure, but this appears to be more of a Sonos issue than it being impossible.  


As I understand it the feature works with music players. The Sonos app is not a music player (the speakers fetch the music themselves) but a remote to the system…..

I never actually thought about their music service.  if they consider the app just a controller and don’t support volume then I am sure it will push some folks to other services (it easily would me).  Why would you even consider the Sonos service if it has inferior functionality.  I just think they should reconsider  this decision because I am sure they are also costing themselves radio subs.  


It is a Sonos decision, forced on them by Apple. 


What do blind people do? 


@mattmik You can still control volume with the Sonos app (or voice, or the IKEA Dirigera Hub and remote) , just not with the lock screen controls.

If I have the Sonos app open on my phone I cannot use the volume buttons either.  I have to use the slider which is not ideal.  Am I missing something?  I would be fine with having the app up but that is not functioning on the two iPhones in our house.  

I would not mind the Ikea remote, but they have a habit of discontinuing things pretty quickly and the $80 or so it cost isn’t cheap.  I also have two other smart hubs in my house,  I still would love it is Sonos would make an OEM remote.


@mattmik You can still control volume with the Sonos app (or voice, or the IKEA Dirigera Hub and remote) , just not with the lock screen controls.

If I have the Sonos app open on my phone I cannot use the volume buttons either.  I have to use the slider which is not ideal.  Am I missing something?  I would be fine with having the app up but that is not functioning on the two iPhones in our house.  

I would not mind the Ikea remote, but they have a habit of discontinuing things pretty quickly and the $80 or so it cost isn’t cheap.  I also have two other smart hubs in my house,  I still would love it is Sonos would make an OEM remote.

I would agree. I’d rather an OEM remote over the app or an expensive third party remote. I realise that wouldn’t necessarily be everyone’s preference though. I hope Sonos do look at alternative options as, regardless of the reason for the functionality removal, it does lessen the product offering quality. Sonos might blame it on apple but I expect fewer people would ditch their apple products if the choice was to be forced. 


Thanks for remote suggestions. The ikea offering is a bit expensive but I will look into lutron now.

 


I think that many S2 users could simply start using AirPlay rather than the SONOS controller. Some S1 users could use AirPlay with some SONOS players, but without the Group capability.


I don’t need a work around. I need what I paid for. Why can it work on android and not iPhone ffs it’s not rocket surgery. It’s 2 buttons on an iPhone lol 


Interestingly the BBC Sounds app still works with the iOS lock screen and hardware volume buttons. Maybe Sonos could have a word with them to see how they do it?

 


The whole thing is bizarre. I have reached out to Sirius and they are looking into it 😎


BBC sounds app works by playing the sound directly through the iOS system. Sonos plays the sound by the remote control app telling the speakers where to go and get the stream from, so nothing is ‘playing’ on iOS, it’s all on the speaker.