The New Sonos App and Future Feature Updates

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K

Honestly, I dont have any big issues with the app. I can use all speakers and play music from Apple music but I cant start playing the music through the Sonos app. However, I can pause and manage it once it´s started from Apple music.

I get it´s annoying to not be able to use the speakers, that are expensive etc, but the reactions in the forum are, for me, over the top. I understand if the bank app isn´t working or insurance but music and speakers? 

 

With that said, I am very curious to see how it will work to add my latest Sonos product… 

I
Userlevel 4
Badge +1

Apart from the known ‘exhaustively mentioned’ missing elements… both new Sonos Apps are just fine here. All speakers and services are still playing music & TV audio, installed subscription services and my SMBv2 NAS library is working and no issues seen with voice assistant services (Alexa in my case).

… a little slow to launch from a fully closed state, but apart from some optimisation, I find the App simple to navigate and use and undoubtedly it’s going to get better with each new update. 

Unlike some, my (Sonos) glass remains ‘full’, rather than ‘half empty’. 

It is, what it is and I can’t see the (Standstill-2) S2 App making a reappearance and I certainly don’t want to see Sonos fail otherwise we may all end up with paperweights around our Home. 

I’ll just wait patiently for any App updates and will be adding the new Ace headphones to my setup too in the not too distant future, as the Sonos hardware build quality and sound have me hooked, moreso than a software controller ‘remote’ App.

 

If Sonos was paying me a monthly sum, I'm sure I'd be positive about them too. Your opinion about the new app is really here nor there.

Obviously none of us want Sonos to fail, but it's what the company is currently doing. It's failing to listen to their existing customers. And that's exactly the people you are aiming to sell your headphones too.

You might be willing to wait patiently for app updates, but if the company goes belly up in the process there won't be any...

I
Userlevel 4
Badge +1

Honestly, I dont have any big issues with the app. I can use all speakers and play music from Apple music but I cant start playing the music through the Sonos app. However, I can pause and manage it once it´s started from Apple music.

I get it´s annoying to not be able to use the speakers, that are expensive etc, but the reactions in the forum are, for me, over the top. I understand if the bank app isn´t working or insurance but music and speakers? 

 

With that said, I am very curious to see how it will work to add my latest Sonos product… 

I think you are missing the point. Obviously not being able to play music easily is not the end of the world. But people are frustrated because the software was released premature. And because no one at Sonos seems to be able to admit that it was and fix that mistake or at least give a reasonable explanation.

Just because Sonos isn't handling financial transactions doesn't mean they shouldn't practice proper release management.

K

Honestly, I dont have any big issues with the app. I can use all speakers and play music from Apple music but I cant start playing the music through the Sonos app. However, I can pause and manage it once it´s started from Apple music.

I get it´s annoying to not be able to use the speakers, that are expensive etc, but the reactions in the forum are, for me, over the top. I understand if the bank app isn´t working or insurance but music and speakers? 

 

With that said, I am very curious to see how it will work to add my latest Sonos product… 

I think you are missing the point. Obviously not being able to play music easily is not the end of the world. But people are frustrated because the software was released premature. And because no one at Sonos seems to be able to admit that it was and fix that mistake or at least give a reasonable explanation.

Just because Sonos isn't handling financial transactions doesn't mean they shouldn't practice proper release management.

Not at all, I totally understand that. But let´s see things in their perspectives. We all do mistakes, it´s a part of being human. Is the app perfect? no. Are they working on it? apparently yes. Is the ETA long? sure, and? 

 

Apparently from what I read in some other thread the rumor is that the release was pushed from the  leadership. There's a reason I call leadership for leader****…..

 

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

L
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

Honestly, I dont have any big issues with the app. I can use all speakers and play music from Apple music but I cant start playing the music through the Sonos app. However, I can pause and manage it once it´s started from Apple music.

I get it´s annoying to not be able to use the speakers, that are expensive etc, but the reactions in the forum are, for me, over the top. I understand if the bank app isn´t working or insurance but music and speakers? 

 

With that said, I am very curious to see how it will work to add my latest Sonos product… 

I think you are missing the point. Obviously not being able to play music easily is not the end of the world. But people are frustrated because the software was released premature. And because no one at Sonos seems to be able to admit that it was and fix that mistake or at least give a reasonable explanation.

Just because Sonos isn't handling financial transactions doesn't mean they shouldn't practice proper release management.

Not at all, I totally understand that. But let´s see things in their perspectives. We all do mistakes, it´s a part of being human. Is the app perfect? no. Are they working on it? apparently yes. Is the ETA long? sure, and? 

 

Apparently from what I read in some other thread the rumor is that the release was pushed from the  leadership. There's a reason I call leadership for leader****…..

 

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

I work in IT. If I had released such a defective app I would have been fired ! 
If they have rushed it out to the point it has stopped people logging in at all to their systems... I wonder about security?! 

P
Userlevel 3
Badge

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.
 

 

Available now

To access these changes, check for updates in the iOS / Android app store to download the latest version of the Sonos app. Make sure your Sonos products are also up to date.

Last updated: May 21, 2024. See release notes.

  • VoiceOver on iOS now properly interacts with individual elements of the Sonos app's home screen - and now adds improved VoiceOver support for allowing for navigating and controlling the Now Playing Screen, System View, Output Selector, Queue, Volume Sliders, and Add Product
  • Improved TalkBack support for the Now Playing Screen, System View, and Add Product
  • Improved Local Music Library playback of folders
  • Adding and editing alarms with the ability to Search for content


 

Coming soon

  • Continued improvements to navigation for visually-impaired customers: mid-June
  • Adding to queue and playing next: early June
  • Sleep timer: mid-June
  • Local music library search and playback: mid-June
  • Update WiFi settings: mid-June
  • Snooze alarms: TBD



 

Known issues and workarounds


"Sign in as the System Owner" error while updating products during setup

  • Workaround: No workaround currently available.

 

Our latest update resolves some of the most critical known issues, but know we have more to do. We hear your feedback and are working hard to deliver the experience you expect and deserve.

Can you not employ your own software testers instead of making the customers do it? Wait until June for a sleep timer that was in the last version. What are the positives of this ‘update’ beyond vague ‘future functionality’? Since the s2 release features are consistently being removed where are these new features? 

T
Userlevel 3
Badge

I do wonder if SONOS have any idea how many people solely use the system for playing their own library.

Others have commented on the madness of not being able to access your own music and have ripped many,many CDs for their library.

I have a load of old vinyl which has been digitised(playing at 1:1),edited in Audacity, loaded into Music Bee to add artwork and saved on an external ssd and played via Sonos. A slow process but these are old records. I am not interested in streaming or paying for something I already own.

Like others I had assumed the new headphones would allow me to listen on Sonos to my own library but apparently they are only Bluetooth. So no purchase until The headphones can attach to the main Sonos system -- then I would buy.

D
Userlevel 4
Badge

It has been mentioned in this thread before - the public rollout of this failed new application was most likely a management decision. And if not it still is the managements responsibility.

That triggers some interesting questions:

  • What were the drivers for management to take this risk? What is so important (to top management) that they risked the release of this obvious banana software?
     
  • What does SONOS management think of us end users? Obviously some thing like “they will scream, they will yell but at the end they keep on using our products”.
     
  • Where is all of this going? Improving the old S2 app is obviously just a marketing ruse. That could have been done easier and quicker. There are much larger changes in the background. e.g. enforcing system updates. But why? My SONOS was working fine. Looks like a move to an all cloud strategy to collect data, sell data and add some services nobody needs for extra coin.
U
Badge

The new app on my android phone keeps losing my system. I find the Spotify and Tidal apps more useful at the moment to drive my Sonos speakers compared to the new Sonos app. I have never felt so much buyers remorse considering the amount of money I have spent on Sonos speakers. I feel lied to by the Management of Sonos when they say they have been using a beta version of this app for months, because the lack of song queue playlists options are evedent in the first few minutes of use. I was looking forward to buying Sonos headphones but will definitely not be adding to my system until it is as it was with the S2 app.

B
Userlevel 5
Badge +2

It has been mentioned in this thread before - the public rollout of this failed new application was most likely a management decision. And if not it still is the managements responsibility.

That triggers some interesting questions:

  • What were the drivers for management to take this risk? What is so important (to top management) that they risked the release of this obvious banana software?
     
  • What does SONOS management think of us end users? Obviously some thing like “they will scream, they will yell but at the end they keep on using our products”.
     
  • Where is all of this going? Improving the old S2 app is obviously just a marketing ruse. That could have been done easier and quicker. There are much larger changes in the background. e.g. enforcing system updates. But why? My SONOS was working fine. Looks like a move to an all cloud strategy to collect data, sell data and add some services nobody needs for extra coin.

Maybe it’s a lesson in “How to turn a one time sale into recurring revenue.”

K
Userlevel 1
Badge

Unable to add Alexa voice assistant with the latest app 

J
Userlevel 2

Courage would be you admit ya done f’d up!!

D
Userlevel 4
Badge

...

You might be willing to wait patiently for app updates, but if the company goes belly up in the process there won't be any...

I agree - it makes me very nervous with SONOS trying to make everything depend on their cloud. In case SONOS goes belly up, I can toss my hardware. Not the first time, people have to ditch hardware due to the company operating the needed cloud services goes down.

And I see everything points to SONOS moving to full cloud dependency and on top messing up their journey to cloud in the process.

Z

WTF! This new app sucks.

I rolled back to 16.1 manually (android) - sooooooo much better. Only downside is I can’t hit “update all” in Google play, cuz then Sonos will update to the new broken version.

Sonos - do the right thing (as other have said): Rename the new 80.0 app S3 and release v16.1 as S2. Then users can pick easily.

C
Userlevel 3
Badge

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.
 

 

Available now

To access these changes, check for updates in the iOS / Android app store to download the latest version of the Sonos app. Make sure your Sonos products are also up to date.

Last updated: May 21, 2024. See release notes.

  • VoiceOver on iOS now properly interacts with individual elements of the Sonos app's home screen - and now adds improved VoiceOver support for allowing for navigating and controlling the Now Playing Screen, System View, Output Selector, Queue, Volume Sliders, and Add Product
  • Improved TalkBack support for the Now Playing Screen, System View, and Add Product
  • Improved Local Music Library playback of folders
  • Adding and editing alarms with the ability to Search for content


 

Coming soon

  • Continued improvements to navigation for visually-impaired customers: mid-June
  • Adding to queue and playing next: early June
  • Sleep timer: mid-June
  • Local music library search and playback: mid-June
  • Update WiFi settings: mid-June
  • Snooze alarms: TBD



 

Known issues and workarounds


"Sign in as the System Owner" error while updating products during setup

  • Workaround: No workaround currently available.

 

Our latest update resolves some of the most critical known issues, but know we have more to do. We hear your feedback and are working hard to deliver the experience you expect and deserve.

Sonos. You’ve forced this his new app upon me and it’s absolutely trash. It’s doesn’t respond. I was so happy with the previous version. What on earth are you playing at. You’ve shown yourself to be a bunch of amateurs.

J

Line-in no longer has an autoplay function?!? Also when groups of speakers are set to line in the entire app/system freezes. Need to ungroup, switch app to line in, and regroup. Annoying.

B
Userlevel 3
Badge

Another update yesterday and another facility removed. Where's My Music on the LAN? Now I can only stream music. That is not why I bought into the Sonos system. A nightmare 😫 

Exactly. I have thousands of songs in my personal library. I do not want to stream SONOS radio or someone else’s playlists. I do not want to have to recreate everything I have in Spotify or any other service. 

R

I've spent thousands on products and the one thing I use regularly is the widget for android. Where has it gone?

It's no good saying your introducing features in the coming weeks, when is my widget coming back?

Sonos had a functioning app only for it to be totally changed and functionality as well as appearance being messed up, and fir what reason?

Please roll back the version, fix all these bugs that your Customers are complaining about and relaunch if you have to!

M

NO easy access to my playlists I have curated over years. I have to use AirPlay. You’ve taken a really easy to use app and created a horrible replacement. Did you ever consider doing consumer testing with a range of people? Your app was one of the best things you had going. And you’ve ruined it.  

C
Userlevel 3
Badge

I have nine One’s, two Five’s, a Beam 2 and a port. Now they’re more trouble than it’s worth to use.

 

B
Userlevel 5
Badge +2

Another update yesterday and another facility removed. Where's My Music on the LAN? Now I can only stream music. That is not why I bought into the Sonos system. A nightmare 😫 

Exactly. I have thousands of songs in my personal library. I do not want to stream SONOS radio or someone else’s playlists. I do not want to have to recreate everything I have in Spotify or any other service. 

But you could have this:

 

T
Userlevel 4
Badge +6

 

Available now

To access these changes, check for updates in the iOS / Android app store to download the latest version of the Sonos app. Make sure your Sonos products are also up to date.

Last updated: May 21, 2024. See release notes.

  • VoiceOver on iOS now properly interacts with individual elements of the Sonos app's home screen - and now adds improved VoiceOver support for allowing for navigating and controlling the Now Playing Screen, System View, Output Selector, Queue, Volume Sliders, and Add Product
  • Improved TalkBack support for the Now Playing Screen, System View, and Add Product
  • Improved Local Music Library playback of folders
  • Adding and editing alarms with the ability to Search for content


 

Coming soon

  • Continued improvements to navigation for visually-impaired customers: mid-June
  • Adding to queue and playing next: early June
  • Sleep timer: mid-June
  • Local music library search and playback: mid-June
  • Update WiFi settings: mid-June
  • Snooze alarms: TBD

Per the support page (https://support.sonos.com/en-ca/article/downgrade-a-sonos-product-to-s1):

Sonos app version 80.0
The ability to downgrade a Sonos product to S1 is temporarily unavailable, but will return in a future update.

 

When will this be available?  It seems to have been missed in the list above.

I respectfully suggest that Sonos adds the ability to downgrade S2 products back to the S1 app, so that it can be done without requiring a second app.  This capability used to be in the S1 app but was taken away from the S1 app about a year ago.

If nothing else, this would mean that products marketed as “S1 compatible”  or “Sonos App and S1 compatible” can be added to an S1 system.  As it stands now, https://support.sonos.com/en/article/sonos-app-version-compatibility is not accurate.

J

When will the Sonos app work with my Rockbot subscription again?! I’m stuck playing the sonos radio stations that I can’t even customize.

 

I’m totally frustrated and when I called support they were absolutely helpless.

G
Userlevel 5
Badge +8

stupidest thing I've encountered is not showing numeric volume level on main screen slider🤷‍♂️

I mean...how effing complicated is it to code this basic feature?

amblue02
Userlevel 4
Badge +3

We set out to create a more personalized and effortless listening experience with the updated Sonos app.

Available now

To access these changes, check for updates in the iOS / Android app store to download the latest version of the Sonos app. Make sure your Sonos products are also up to date.

 

You have just released a version THAT FORCES A FIRMWAREUPDATE ON OUR UNITS!!!!!!!!!

What the H*** are you thinking?!?!?!?!?!?

Now we can’t even use the bloody App without forcing an update on the system units…

You have lost ALL respect, ALL! 

 

 

Yup - I fully agree. SONOS is moving fully into share holder value and is simply riding the existing customer base. Some fall out is to be expected. Who ever is left will have to pay extra to make up for the churn of lost customers in this transition to a pay-per-use / pay-by-personal-data / pay-per-advertisement cloud service to continue to use your own SONOS boxes.

Just take a look at who is driving SONOS. Ex-SONY and ex-Broadcom employees. SONOS seems to be working on “expanding portfolio of software enabled hardware and services” - fully in line with making our audio boxes totally dependent on their cloud services. Technically, that requires many changes to the firmware and the app to make every thing got through their central servers.

Looking at what Broadcom did with the VMWare licensing, I have a good feeling what is ahead of us. e.g. recurring fees for using my already purchased speakers.

Well, I cut my boxes from the internet. I will not install any firmware updates. The consequence is, I can not use this new crappy app anymore and use my SONOS boxes only via Airplay. But at least I can still do that and SONOS can not take that away from me.

Speaking of Shareholder Value, the stock is now below $16 at $15.97.  Seems that shareholder value has been destroyed with the market cap down -11% since the “refresh” was introduced.

 

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