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Recently the S2 app on my Andriod 11 phone stopped working, showing only blank placeholder screens for every function except speaker firmware update. Uninstalling and re-installing didn’t help. It was apparently insisting that a speaker firmware update was mandatory.

However, all earlier versions of the S2 app on my other device continued to work just fine, so I reverted to an older version of the S2 app on my phone, and it worked fine there as well.

So apparently this is a new heavy-handed attempt by Sonos to force firmware updates by crippling the app until you comply. Why not just update the firmware? Because then it won’t be the same product that works with my various platforms now - Sonos firmware updates of the past have permanently removed compatibility and functionality and are irreversible. There is no commitment to warn users of this in the release notes, so firmware updates can’t be trusted.

Recently the S2 app on my Andriod 11 phone stopped working, showing only blank placeholder screens for every function except speaker firmware update. Uninstalling and re-installing didn’t help. It was apparently insisting that a speaker firmware update was mandatory.

However, all earlier versions of the S2 app on my other device continued to work just fine, so I reverted to an older version of the S2 app on my phone, and it worked fine there as well.

So apparently this is a new heavy-handed attempt by Sonos to force firmware updates by crippling the app until you comply. Why not just update the firmware? Because then it won’t be the same product that works with my various platforms now - Sonos firmware updates of the past have permanently removed compatibility and functionality and are irreversible. There is no commitment to warn users of this in the release notes, so firmware updates can’t be trusted.

I think you maybe misunderstanding what happened here. It sounds more a case of your Android mobile automatically downloaded/updated the Sonos controller App, causing a mismatch between that and the older firmware on your speakers, hence when you reverted to the older App, all was well. It’s your mobile that was at fault in this instance, based on the details provided. 

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