Sonos no longer support IOS streaming

Just got the message Sonos will no longer support IOS devices . Looks like it’s time to sell my speakers .

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Notice how all the people on this forum who are defending Sonos have a huge number of replies, it's because they work for Sonos and spend all their time on this forum. There are definitely a huge number of aggrieved Sonos Play:1 users who have lost functionality with their iPhones. It's so telling that Sonos employees spread disinformation and attack people, rather than working with Sonos to address the legitimate concerns and problems of their consumers.

I have a large number of replies to my account. I would be most happy if I were to be in the employ of Sonos, but alas, I am not. Nor, for that matter are any of the other posters. Sonos has a policy that if you're an employee, your account is marked as such, as you can see by posts by people like Ryan, Jeff, Edward, Ditte, etc.

I've no desire to attack anyone. My objective, as most of the large number of posts people you may be talking about, is to assist others in enjoying the outstanding system that Sonos makes. To my knowledge, none of these folks are paid by Sonos, they're just people who like to help others. However, many of us do feel beholden to correct postings that have incorrect information in them, so that others are aware of the facts, rather than speculation fed by anger.

I want to share the options that people have to continue to use their Sonos devices that they've invested in, and can take just a little time, or even if you want, some additional money invested....but that's not required. I suggest that those who are interested in continuing to use the speakers they've invested in, they should peruse the main thread on this situation, which offers, and discusses many options, ranging from free to not?

I can only speak for myself. I have Sonos Play 1's in 2 houses. I am disappointed that Sonos won't bother to support customers who play music from their iPhones. Time to get rid of my Sonos equipment.

While I regret as much as all other consumers the removal of essential features, it has been quite clear that Sonos pursues a strategy without compromises. Bluetooth support has never been supported and Airplay was introduced rather late. Upon the arrival of Airplay-support on their devices, I decided to equip my homes with Sonos technology: two Beams and six Ones. Pricy but high end and it does the job for me nicely because my music is stored on a NAS. However, I recently discovered another high end brand (audio pro) but with a controller app which is far from perfect. Although the speaker supports all protocols, including bluetooth and airplay and aux-lines, I still believe Sonos is the better choice for me.

I suppose i should just accept that Sonos is only concerned about making money which is fine but I did expect some loyalty towards existing customers who bought their equipment to use with their I phones etc .

Solely blaming apple is a lame excuse it would be better to just come out and say “we can’t be bothered sorting this”. I’m beginning to sound like a worn out record now.

I suppose it's a matter of perspective, but I think Sonos stating that changes in iOS are the reason is not the same as casting blame. And Sonos did attempt to resolve the issue for a year. I'm not sure how you can then conclude that Sonos can't be bothered by it.

I get the frustration, and I get why people wish Sonos would just find a way to fix it somehow. I don't get the accusations that Sonos made no effort to fix the issue, or that Sonos has some ulterior motive for removing the feature. If you want to switch to some other brand because Sonos doesn't meet your requirements anymore, then you have all the justification you need to do so without guessing at motives for Sonos decision.

They made the effort to work with apple to get airplay 2 working because that involves selling more play ones but when it involves retaining a feature that a lot of people bought their speakers for it’s not worth the expense or are Sonos saying it is impossible to resolve , I hadn’t seen that statement . All that a lot of people here are saying is that they want to use their Sonos speakers as they always have .

OK having a party, sitting on the porch outside or by the pool , having a great time, cranking the tunes....

someone says Play that song ...... Ok Just let me run inside and sit down at the computer and put it on be back in a few..... REALLY ??? Talk about a buzz kill !!!

I have over $10k of Sonos gear in my home and it was great- UNTIL NOW!!!

Can even begin express my disappointment.

NO BLUE TOOTH SOLUTION ?

If you read through the threads it is VERY OBVIOUS that the many PRO CHANGE responses in these various threads are written by SONOS or some PR firm....... Im sure this will be removed now for saying that- but really how could anyone support this change besides Sonos?

From the beginning when this company started I have supported and enthusiastically purchased many products, I have even endorsed Sonos products to many of my Clients in the Hamptons that have AV systems costing 100s of thousands.

I would totally purchase a product that would hack into the software and make my equipment work the way it did in the past. Yes Sonos software has always been its weak spot but being weak is better than just giving up, this was a change that seems totally driven to selling more product.

I won't be surprised if Sonos is soon purchased by one of the big guys that are monopolozing everything..... This certainly seem like a maneuver by a company that is selling out and no longer concerned about its customers that have been with them since the start.

Is there something I am missing?

I will retract my comments immediately and continue to purchase and endorse Sonos products If I am wrong and missing something. Am I missing some silver bullet here? Maybe Sonos needs to hire some 12 year old kid to figure it out.

May have found your silver bullet..... maybe more than one....

1) You do not have to be at your computer to play songs from it. It just has to be turned on (take a look at https://faq.sonos.com/manage).

2) You own a Playbar, that is Airplay capable. When grouped with another speaker this speaker can also play your music from your iPhone.

3) Upload up to 50.000 songs to Google Music free and add it as a music service.

So: yes, you have a right to be annoyed about this move from Sonos (caused by Apple), but your problem is not as big as you think it is.

A PLAYBAR is not AirPlay 2 capable.

You can still select and play music that is stored on a computer hard drive from your iPhone. So, no need to run to the computer to choose what to play.

You have a Play:5 so could plug in a Bluetooth receiver and play to it from any paired device.

A PLAYBAR is not AirPlay 2 capable.

Oops. You’re right of course. It’s the Playbase that’s Airplay capable.

I'm sorry but I can't believe this thread is even still a thing.

If your Sonos speaker supports Airplay 2 then use that. If your Sonos speaker does not support Airplay 2 then either store your music on a NAS drive or upload it all for free to Google Play Music or pay for an Apple Music subscription which includes it.

All these options are far superior than the play from iPhone option in the Sonos app, especially the NAS drive and Google Play/Apple Music options which will actually allow you to use your iPhone as a controller instead of the source device and therefore have a much more reliable method of streaming which isn't dependant on your phone's wifi signal or battery life.

Others can't believe they now can't stream music and podcasts from their phone like they have since they bought their speaker(s). This was a superior experience for them. You clearly don't want to be dependent on your phone, they clearly do.

Sonos to keep its customers happy simply by providing a cheap Airplay2 bridge. I’m sure it is not beyond them to provide this piece of hardware. I’m happy with my set up and don’t wish to add another speaker. It was already a significant investment in Sonos

Bridge, Playbar 2, Two Play:3’s, Sub

Well I can't see that happening, if you've ever worked in any electronics product development you would know the massive amount of work and lead time this would take, for such a niche product too. All but one of Sonos current speaker range offers Airplay 2 so there would not be a bright future for such a product. And as discussed in this and the countless other threads on this, there are alternatives,

I did see a Raspberry Pi solution too. That would be quite cheap

https://www.mitchellbusby.com/2018/06/09/airplay-sonos.html

Thanks. Fully understand where you are coming from. Obsolescence is the risk of the early adopter, and I was conscious of the risk. However, it does reflect poorly on Sonos that they are willing to lose the goodwill of the early adopters who took a risk on their untested and proprietary system. They choose a deliberate (and possibly cynical) path to try and sell more hardware.

However, now that their equipment is now no longer aty the cutting edge, it frees me to again adopt something new and more forward in terms of technology. I'm an early adopter after all.

Devialet, here I come. Thank you Sonos for the prod. I was procrastinating until now.

l do think you are being insulting to the developers at Sonos. They tried to offer a feature that was available from Apple and got caught when Apple decided to concentrate on airplay. They were not the only manufacturer to get caught out by this, but at least they offered options. To think this was a deliberate ploy is disingenuous.

Good luck with the deviant stuff, all fur coat and no knickers was the best quote I’ve heard about them.

Has anyone found a solution to the iOS streaming issue?

Because I use the Sonos to stream music that I created into my meditation studio, it's a work issue! So, I invested 4+ hours yesterday on the Sonos workarounds. And after midnight, here's what I found...

You can stream from your iphone using Apple Airplay.

Pick track. When it starts playing, touch the name of the track that shows at bottom of screen. The track window maximizes, and you'll see the airplay icon uner the volume controls. Click that and you'll see the list of compatible devices, inc. Sonos speakers. BUT Sonos won't show up, unless you've got "at least one Sonos One in your system" - or others on their list, which all seem to be robot enabled.

FYI: Sonos has four workarounds for streaming from iOS. I had these results (windows8 plus)...

Apple Air Play. Not available for Sonos Play:1 speakers. Need to buy a Sonos One ($199), to make all your other Sonos speakers work.
Upload your tracks to a streaming music service. In the Sonos app, Apple Music shows: Artists, Albums, Songs, Playlists, Compliations, Recently Added. Great. But click on any catgory, and it only lists 10% of the music in my iTunes library. And, It doesn't show the music I created - which is already in my itunes library and playlists. If you are a maker, you cannot stream the music you created.
Stream from an online music service’s catalogue. The music I uploaded to SoundCloud playlists don't show up in the Sonos App. Just shows error message, "you haven't set-up any playlists yet."
Play your tracks to Sonos from a Mac, PC, or NAS drive. Windows 10 PC downloaded okay. But, again, SoundCloud playslists don't show up. And, Itunes playlists don't show up - just a list of all the individual songs purchased from Apple. My original music and playlists - unavailable.

My last hope is #1. Run down to Best Buy today. Buy a Sonos One. Hope my sound system works again.

@thekell

The best option for me has been a free Google Play Music account. You can upload up to 50,000 tracks for free, and your iTunes created playlist transfer as well! Since this is a cloud based account, you can access all of your music from any device that you log into, anywhere you are. It has worked exceptionally well for me, and is a much better solution than playing music stored on your phone for many reasons.

Pros:

Doesn't drain my phone battery.
My music doesn't take up valuable storage space on my phone.
Doesn't stop playing when I walk out of range. I can start playing music in the house, and leave. The music keeps playing for my wife.
No more cut outs in music when my phone sleeps.
My entire family has access to our whole catalogue, as opposed to my phone being the only source of our collection.
If you buy more music on iTunes, or make playlists, you can set the Google Music Manager to update automatically.
Even your rare or personally recorded tracks will upload and play just fine.

Cons:

You must set this up from a computer, not from your phone.
You have to set up a Google account, and provide a credit card (The card is only charged if you purchase tracks from Google. Storage of personal uploaded tracks and playlists is free).
You must have a cellular or wifi connection to play your tracks.
The initial upload is painfully slow, but it eventually will match your iTunes.

I probably missed a few things, but hope this helps.

Sigh, I really enjoyed my Sonos speakers but there are equal offerings out there without the egregious price tag. Sonos, you've half-@$$ed your software and hardware for the last time. I just listed all of your crap on ebay and will move on to younger stronger competitors. I felt some loyalty to your company back when you showed half a degree of customer service and technical competence. No, I will not replace my speakers with airplay 2 compatible Sonos at your ridiculous prices. Because if you've taught me anything, it's that you cannot ensure proper viability or function of your products.

As an aside, Amazon is sending me replacement speakers at just over 25% of what the Sonos cost me. Nice. And, they guarantee compatibility for their service! No more "prime is streaming on another device" crap. Oh, and it has Alexa built in (which I don't use but I'm just enjoying breaking up with an overpriced tramp who wasn't good to me).

Bye now...

Yes. You would Airplay your music to the new player and group the new player with your existing Sonos players

Sorry, this is misleading. You older generation Sonos speakers and your subwoofers will still not work. And for the newer generation for which it will work.....the music sounds bad and you only have half the sound volume and there is an echo. I’m listening to mine right now and it’s very disappointing.

Sorry, 106rallye is correct. This is something I do all the time.

I send an AirPlay 2 signal to my PLAY:5 gen 2, and sync two rooms of PLAY:1s, and occasionally a PLAYBASE with surrounds and a SUB, they’re always in sync, with no alteration in sound quality or volume, it’s the same if I was streaming using the normal Sonos process.

If you’re having “tinny” sound, and delays, there is something else going on with your system.

Nope, nothing else going on other than Airplay 2 is a bad substitute that only works with later generation (poorly at that). Everything I said is a fact stabbing me in the ears. My older 3s and 5s individually mounted/free standing in various rooms are useless at this point.

I also occasional group my PLAY:3s with a Sonos One, and there is still no difference in quality, although due to their location, this is much less frequent than using the PLAY:5 gen 2 and the PLAY:1s.

I would certainly recommend that you call Sonos and have them look at what is going on in your system. What you’re experiencing is not the norm.

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