The New Sonos App and Future Feature Updates

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I
Userlevel 2

Sorry but i have to say this interation of the app is complete rubbish and the people who authorised its release should be taken to task! This has all the hallmarks of a (cheap) outsourced devlopment by people who are undoubtably talented programmers but who don’t have a clue about what the app is actually about.

I’m not seeing a lot of evidence that any proper alpha or beta testing has been done e.g. the app regulary cannot find my system (I restart and, magically, it can see it again), there is no way to edit favourites in the app and it is less intuative and harder to use than the old one. On the plus side - it is nice to look at, but that’s the only plus point.

This really isn’t good enough Sonos! If i wasn’t already invested in the technology this would be enough to make me go to a rival. This really isn’t what I expect from a top-tier player in the connected audio market.

T
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

 the coming weeks, we will reintroduce the below features, while fixing bugs and performance issues. Thank you for your engagement and we look forward to building upon this first step to create a listening experience that meets everyone’s needs.
 

  • Screen reader for visually impaired customers: May 21
  • Adding and editing alarms: May 21
  • Adding to queue and playing next: early June
  • Sleep timer: mid-June
  • Local music library search and playback: mid-June 
  • Update Wi-Fi settings: mid-June

Re queue management: I hope the above is just shorthand, and you’re planning to bring back the full queue management menu in early June, and not just “adding to queue and playing next.” Many of us frequently use other functions as well, such as removing songs from the queue, rearranging songs, and then saving or replacing the queue in its revised form.

S
Userlevel 1

Small consolation. What I can say is that none of this means that my trust in Sonos will ever be restored. Ever.

This app disaster is the final nail in the coffin as far as I am concerned. As long as my existing Sonos products continue to function, I will carry on using them, but when they eventually die, so will my relationship with Sonos. 

Sonos could offer me a 90% discount on new products and I would still turn that offer down. When my products do die, it will be something else that gets my cash. You will never get a single penny of my money again.

It is sad to see how a once great, and I mean truly great, company has turned into a truly anti-customer organisation. Well, that works two ways. As a once blatant advocate for the Sonos brand, you have me now telling everyone who will listen how terrible my Sonos experience has been. 

S

We set out to create a more personalized and effortless listening experience with the updated Sonos app. It was rebuilt from the ground up to ensure it could support future innovation in the years to come. For its initial rollout, we focused on how we could answer some of the most common requests from our customers, including increased reliability, performance, and faster access to music.


Many of you have shared valuable feedback on both the improvements that have made your experience better, as well as the areas where we fell short. We are listening to all of your comments and working to address them as quickly as possible. Over the coming weeks, we will reintroduce the below features, while fixing bugs and performance issues. Thank you for your engagement and we look forward to building upon this first step to create a listening experience that meets everyone’s needs.
 

  • Screen reader for visually impaired customers: May 21
  • Adding and editing alarms: May 21
  • Adding to queue and playing next: early June
  • Sleep timer: mid-June
  • Local music library search and playback: mid-June 
  • Update Wi-Fi settings: mid-June

@Keith N wouldn't it be fair to all your customers to roll back this untested V80 until all the features were  incorporated and tested? I understand the need for reinvention of the same or the theory around continual improvement however on this occasion Sonos have gone backwards. Imagine if builders of houses decided to leave off the front door or car manufacturers asked their customers to come back in two months for the engine! This is pretty poor form. At least give us the option to undo the update. 

K

As a once blatant advocate for the Sonos brand, you have me now telling everyone who will listen how terrible my Sonos experience has been. 

Count me in this boat since the S1/S2 debacle in 2020. Folks always say, and correctly so that one should not judge Sonos reliability by how many complaints are to be seen here, quoting that based on the analogy that one cannot say based on what one sees in a hospital, that the whole world is ailing. But this cuts both ways - for every one that comes here and posts as above, there are many that do not do so, but will think and propagate this about Sonos.

If I was the CEO, I would be a worried man today. Trust once lost is very hard to win back. In marriages and in business.

A

I feel the need to add my voice to the multitude of complaints from end users of Sonos products.

  1. The release of the most recent app was not communicated effectively (if at all) to end users. Auto update is set automatically for most people, and automatically installing an app on your phone which removes huge swathes of functionality is appalling. The inability to easily reverse to an earlier version is also shocking.
  2. The App UX/GUI is atrocious. It’s ugly and seems to be jumping on the bandwagon of other UIs (Windows 11) which is just as bad. It isn’t intuitive, it takes longer to do or find anything, and there are far too many large banners and bars crowding out the information we want.
  3. The new app is incredibly slow and laggy. This is probably because Sonos is now pushing everything through their cloud to deliver it back to us.
  4. Which brings me on to my next point: I don’t really care for an “amazing” web app. I want to control my Sonos system locally. Why send all of my data up to a cloud server somewhere only to send it back? That is completely illogical.
  5. Missing functionality - How can you release an app that suddenly removes functionality that a lot of us use. I bought Sonos to be able to play my large collection of FLAC music stored on my local server. I listen to BBC Radio. I rarely use Spotify. I NEVER user Sonos Radio. I want to be able to set my alarms to wake up to in the morning. I want to edit my playlist and my queue. The basics of what a player should give you.
  6. For goodness sake, give us the ability to remove Sonos Radio from our systems. Just because it’s yours, doesn’t mean we want it. We bought the hardware and the ability to use it, not to provide you with another marketing base.
  7. There is “Courage” and there is “Stupidity”. Courage is doing something brave in the face of the unknown. If the CEO of Sonos thinks they were doing something courageous, then what the hell are they doing in charge, because the release of a half-baked, ugly, completely redesigned and rewritten application without sufficient warning or providing an alternative to end users is plain-stupid. I’ve been in the IT business for over 25 years, and as a Project Manager, I would have quit before I let this mess go public.
  8. Give me a guarantee that any firmware updates to my Sonos systems won’t essentially brick my system and force me to upgrade to the new version 80 app. I have lost all trust in Sonos to deliver what I need which is a locally managed sound system with access to local music.

After investing over £1000 in a Sonos system, I can almost feel a class action coming on because this move by Sonos is essentially causing perfectly excellent hardware to become unusable through idiotic software updates.

garfieldairlines

I just got a request for a firmware update, since it’s a black box for me, can you guarantee that this software update will still make it possible to use Subsonic/Airsonic/Bonob on the 16.X Android app ?

Do you even care for self hosting users, I get no answers on that topic no matter how hard I’m looking.

https://garfieldairlines.net
skullc
Userlevel 7
Badge +12

I just got a request for a firmware update, since it’s a black box for me, can you guarantee that this software update will still make it possible to use Subsonic/Airsonic/Bonob on the 16.X Android app ?

Do you even care for self hosting users, I get no answers on that topic no matter how hard I’m looking.

Don’t install it you will be forced to install the new one and you won’t be able to rollback the old one 

Network= livewire cpe pro 3 +eero 6 pro wireless
garfieldairlines

I just got a request for a firmware update, since it’s a black box for me, can you guarantee that this software update will still make it possible to use Subsonic/Airsonic/Bonob on the 16.X Android app ?

Do you even care for self hosting users, I get no answers on that topic no matter how hard I’m looking.

Don’t install it you will be forced to install the new one and you won’t be able to rollback the old one 

Oh **** it’s awful,  this update will basically brick my system. Thanks for the heads up !

 

Edit : So I get censored by a mod in a matter of minutes but it has been days that I’m waiting for customer support ? Okay.

The “Community Code of Conduct” isn’t even accessible when logged off…

This is a bad joke.

 

Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.

https://garfieldairlines.net
R

For its initial rollout, we focused on how we could answer some of the most common requests from our customers, including increased reliability, performance, and faster access to music.​​

 

Unfortunately, that is well and truly not what happened. For many others and me, reliability has significantly decreased, performance is terrible and it access to music is a lot slower. Please, please fix this or allow us to somehow roll back to a working version of the app.

S

Unfortunately I had the app on an auto update so now find myself having to use it and so far not impressed!

Appreciate that things change but not always for the better!

Here are a few things I feedback

Search - in old app I could search in the screen my speaker was playing - now have to click back twice to home screen to search next choice . Not streamlined 

Volume control - in old app when room grouping made one click on the volume slide brought up all volume settings for group Not in new app - have to now click back into the group setting to control Not streamlined 

The old bottom bar with link to home, rooms, and settings was streamlined and worked!!

Equally frustrating is the length of time taking to update my speakers to the new app.Done 4 another 9 to go - perhaps need to go mow the lawn.

J
Userlevel 1
Badge

I find it very coincidental that my Playbase in the master bedroom has audio skip issues from both the optical input and streaming (Spotify) after the software update last week, and now the Play:5 Gen 2 in my piano room is having streaming skip issues.  Additionally, my Beam in the keeping room didn’t automatically start playing a Spotify playlist that I use to help time my kids’ breakfast period so that they don’t miss the bus, and I couldn’t connect to it to play some thing.  All of my Sonos speakers, Amp, and Port are on Ethernet, so this should not be a network issue because I’m having zero issues with non-Sonos devices.  I have to keep the old app on my iPad because my iPhone has the new app already.  Sonos needs to fix this, or I will switch to another brand.

U

Obviously this app was delivered prematurely. I am no longer able to use my two Play 5 speakers that I paid good money for...$399. Each

I did manage to speak to someone in the beginning of this fiasco...little to no help...

Apparently I can play my 2 Play 5's speakers on sonos 1...Sonos 1 does not support my other 3 speakers ...oh!!! but I can play the other 3 on the new app!! ….great...if I want to listen to 2 different stations at the same time!!

😖😡

M
Userlevel 4
Badge +2

Yeah, I'm old enough to remember when software wasn't beta tested on customers.  Worse still, beta testing a new version while at the same time removing access to a perfectly functional previous version.

Honestly. I can't see how pissing off your customer base is a sound business strategy.

Bumper

Yeah, I'm old enough to remember when software wasn't beta tested on customers.  Worse still, beta testing a new version while at the same time removing access to a perfectly functional previous version.

Honestly. I can't see how pissing off your customer base is a sound business strategy.

Usually companies ask their customers if they want to be in the Beta and offer an exit if they want out. Not with sonos!

M
Userlevel 4
Badge +2

Yeah, I'm old enough to remember when software wasn't beta tested on customers.  Worse still, beta testing a new version while at the same time removing access to a perfectly functional previous version.

Honestly. I can't see how pissing off your customer base is a sound business strategy.

Usually companies ask their customers if they want to be in the Beta and offer an exit if they want out. Not with sonos!

100%.  This whole update, the response to feedback, etc, it's all quite bizarre.  It's almost as if they're deliberately trying to drive the business into the ground.  I mean I know that Patrick came from Blackberry, but still ...

Bumper

 

100%.  This whole update, the response to feedback, etc, it's all quite bizarre.  It's almost as if they're deliberately trying to drive the business into the ground.  I mean I know that Patrick came from Blackberry, but still ...

I don’t think it’s malice, more Hanlon’s razor IMO

J
Userlevel 3
Badge +4

Help !

my app just updated and now I cannot play music from my library or find how to check the library settings anymore. This is my main source.
is this one of the bugs that I see mentioned as fixed mid June ?

 

surely you are not telling me that I cannot use my Sonos system for a month while this sorted out ?

M
Userlevel 4
Badge +2

Help !

my app just updated and now I cannot play music from my library or find how to check the library settings anymore. This is my main source.
is this one of the bugs that I see mentioned as fixed mid June ?

 

surely you are not telling me that I cannot use my Sonos system for a month while this sorted out ?

Unfortunately that's exactly what they're telling us.  I'm in the same boat.  

 

P

Mid-June? are you serious?

What else will go wrong then?

I thought for a long time about buying your stock, now I am glad I did not.

 

J
Userlevel 1
Badge

By the time that I get my profit-sharing bonus check from work in June, I could have my Sonos setup on the market and be replacing every single bit of it.  I had plans to buy subwoofers for several rooms and upgrade the system in the music room, but those plans are definitely on hold due to this software debacle.  The simple thing to do is to give us the old S2 app, let all speakers roll back to previous update, and let this blow over.  Apple had “antenna-gate” for the iPhone 4, and they came out stronger due to swift action, even if the response from Steve Jobs was a little odd at the time.

S
Userlevel 4
Badge +2

Thank you for the info however if you set out to make access to your music quicker, you have totally failed. I use Apple Music and it is no longer possible to pin my entire Album collection to the Home page. Only the first 100 or so load. Also the useful letter index on the right of the page is gone meaning you need to scroll through the whole collection to get to the later letters. Also when accessing the Albums menu via the Services menu and apple the menus take forever to load. It now takes me over 3 minutes to start a piece of music that starts with a letter later in the alphabet something that I used to be able to do in about a minute before. 

Also the customisation of the home page is pathetic. There is no way to organise Sonos favourites  as I want they seem to appear in the order they were added. Come on guys have you actually tried to use your own software.

B
Userlevel 5
Badge +2

We set out to create a more personalized and effortless listening experience with the updated Sonos app. It was rebuilt from the ground up to ensure it could support future innovation in the years to come. For its initial rollout, we focused on how we could answer some of the most common requests from our customers, including increased reliability, performance, and faster access to music.


Many of you have shared valuable feedback on both the improvements that have made your experience better, as well as the areas where we fell short. We are listening to all of your comments and working to address them as quickly as possible. Over the coming weeks, we will reintroduce the below features, while fixing bugs and performance issues. Thank you for your engagement and we look forward to building upon this first step to create a listening experience that meets everyone’s needs.
 

  • Screen reader for visually impaired customers: May 21
  • Adding and editing alarms: May 21
  • Adding to queue and playing next: early June
  • Sleep timer: mid-June
  • Local music library search and playback: mid-June 
  • Update Wi-Fi settings: mid-June

So now that your entire user base knows that the app you released is a disaster a couple questions need to be answered. 


Why did you release this app when you knew it was missing so many required features?

Why aren’t you allowing users to go back to the last stable version of the app?

Is Sonos motivated to force their users to abandon their large local libraries and switch to streaming?

With an issue as important as the failure of your flagship app that controls all your hardware offerings shouldn’t your user base be hearing from the executive management team?

Do you see your products as simple leisure toys that require no urgent response when the product fails?

Are you willing to share the history of development and quality assurance that went into this release?

 

S

Just realised battery life not shown in music played screen - got to come out and go into speaker screen to check! Not streamlined and certainly not user friendly when I am using up to 5 battery speakers and need to know if charge is needed at a glance.

Sorry Sonos love your products but shooting yourself in the foot with this "improvement"

R

The New App is extremely reliable in crashing or not finding the system and in telling me that an error occurred and then not playingany music. It's a miserable fail.

Workaround is starting the windows machine and start from there. Which customers asked for that?

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