The New Sonos App and Future Feature Updates

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D
Userlevel 1

New app is next to useless. 
I can’t connect to my WiFi, can’t connect to my Bluetooth, can’t link to my account, can’t send diagnostics and when I chatted to the helpline they closed the chat after asking me to try something. 
it’s not like you sell cheap stuff…

I’ve now a useless speaker to go with the useless app and useless customer support. 
why not make a previous version of the app available until you sort out this mess??? Or should I buy another brand? 

A
Userlevel 2
Badge +2

“Local music library search and playback: mid-June”

 

So we’re screwed for a month (at best). Thanks for that. Great update. Well thought out.

 

N
Userlevel 3
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Extracts From Gizmodo “spokesperson”

Why Is Everyone Pissed at Sonos? (gizmodo.com.au)

“We thoroughly analysed the risk of delaying some features when determining the timing of the release and what to prioritise for the app’s initial rollout. Every single one of our customers interacts with the Sonos app, so we knew we’d be met with a breadth of reactions.”

“Along the way we may make mistakes. What we learned this past week is that going forward we plan to be more communicative about changes that are coming. We are also committed to acting on feedback—and delivering improvements—rapidly.”

“We also understand the importance of maintaining the functionality and features our customers expect from us and rebuilding trust is our top priority. We are working swiftly to resolve issues and address the feedback we’ve been hearing from customers while being more communicative about updates they will experience.”

K
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

Extracts From Gizmodo “spokesperson”

Why Is Everyone Pissed at Sonos? (gizmodo.com.au)

“We thoroughly analysed the risk of delaying some features when determining the timing of the release and what to prioritise for the app’s initial rollout. Every single one of our customers interacts with the Sonos app, so we knew we’d be met with a breadth of reactions.”

“Along the way we may make mistakes. What we learned this past week is that going forward we plan to be more communicative about changes that are coming. We are also committed to acting on feedback—and delivering improvements—rapidly.”

“We also understand the importance of maintaining the functionality and features our customers expect from us and rebuilding trust is our top priority. We are working swiftly to resolve issues and address the feedback we’ve been hearing from customers while being more communicative about updates they will experience.”

 

LMAO, same B.S. when they biffed the S2 rollout, at least the CEO apologized back then. 

They have learned nothing from past screw-ups! In fact they have doubled down on screwing customers.  Time to clean out the C-suite and try again! 

W
Userlevel 2

Some comments from the CEO. I’m still trying to understand how the app got released in the state its in, and these comments dont make me any wiser.

Sonos CEO Patrick Spence addresses the company’s divisive app redesign - The Verge

“I’ve been using it since Christmas. Everybody at Sonos has been testing it for months. It has delivered — we know from data and from feedback — that it is easier to navigate. But it’s a change for customers.”

“Things like the alarm issue was a bug, right? So we could more quickly than we have in the past address it. And we’re going to find other bugs as we go through this.”

“And “here’s when they’re coming.” Because we already had a plan for how to go through that.“

“more responsive, and just a better overall experience, and that is the thing for the 99 percent of customers that you’re never going to hear from as you go through it.”

RE: Spence’s remarks

Breath-takingly TONE DEAF.  How to characterize  this deny-deny-deny defense?  99%??  It’s much, much, much more than the <<<>>> alarm.  Else: what’s the magic sauce? Around here, local library, indexing, simple connectivity, et al.,  are REAL issues, not currently experienced on my (pre-80.x) devices.

Can only agree -  it is a change.

Stop. Stop digging, lead-shovel CEO...

C

Whole rooms continue to disappear. Surrounds don’t work. Sub mini doesn’t work. No permanent fixes for any of these issues - beyond disappointed. Dedicate more resources to your software team and stop providing links blaming WiFi interference. This is the most ridiculous, self-inflicted, business catastrophe in recent memory. I never thought I’d regret my Sonos purchases but without timely, permanent fixes - it will be incumbent upon owners to warn fellow consumers against this problematic brand. 
 

Fix your software, fast.

M
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My PlayBase, thus my entire Home Theater, is no longer recognized after the update.  I am not able to reconnect even after factory resetting the speakers.  I have Verizon Wireless Home WiFi/Router.  Will the June update correct the Verizon Wireless router issues?

P
Userlevel 2

“more responsive, and just a better overall experience, and that is the thing for the 99 percent of customers that you’re never going to hear from as you go through it.”

Where does this 99% figure come from? Has Sonos surveyed its customers since the release of S3? I don't think so!

I think the Sonos CEO is in complete denial. 

AlexPermit
Userlevel 5
Badge +5

“Along the way we may make mistakes. What we learned this past week is that going forward we plan to be more communicative about changes that are coming. We are also committed to acting on feedback—and delivering improvements—rapidly.”

 

Is there a comprehensive list of “feature enhacements” (i.e bugs) acknolwedged by Sonos?  If there is, please post it.

We all know the basic list, but through this forum I know of others not so clearly discussed.  I’d like to spot check such a list for such known bugs.

L

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

Sonos hates their customers 

Sleep timer will be available on mid-June ? Why don’t you wait for everything is well setup then upgrade to new version, I put sleep timer every night for years, yesterday I found out that I wasn’t able to setup the timer, I couldn’t even sleep, it’s a disaster, is that possible to row back to the old version for the moment ?

S

How is it possible that you can not update the queue (specifically delete songs from queue)? This is the most basic necessary function. Is there a workaround? I’ve tried working backwards from the Spotify app but that is defunct as well. I’m seriously considering moving on from Sonos after this flop. It’s beyond frustrating. Guess I’ll be playing vinyl this weekend. 

H
Userlevel 1

How about roll back to the old version.  Fix all the stuff, and then release it after June!  Make a dang headphone only S3 version if you must.  Try to win back some good will by doing it right!

This is honestly the best way to do it. Revert back, properly fix it, and release when it’s ready. 

Arborg
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Hello Sonos Community,

I've encountered an issue with the alarm function in Norway and wanted to share my experience in case others are facing the same problem. I set my alarm for 06:00 (06:00 a.m.), but it activated at 08:00 (08:00 a.m.) instead. Considering Norway's current time zone is Central European Summer Time (CEST), which is UTC+2 hours, it seems the alarm system may not be accounting for the daylight saving adjustment.

This could be an oversight in the alarm's time zone consideration, and I believe it's worth looking into. If anyone else has experienced this or has a solution, your input would be greatly appreciated. Meanwhile, I'll also be reaching out to Sonos support by chat so they can test my hypothesis.

Best,
Arne Borgersen

AB
B
Userlevel 1
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This morning I woke to find my iPad and iPhones sporting the new ‘Black’ App that I had been assiduously avoiding installing. I thought I had disabled auto updates but apparently not.  The first thing I found was a an advertisement for some new SONOS product on the Home screen that I couldn’t delete. Then to my utter dismay, I discovered that the individual room mute function has gone. I have  seven zones, some with fixed output levels and 3rd party amplifiers. On these zones it is not possible to pull the volume down while you take a phone call or something. On a phone call to support the agent acknowledged the problem and said that Mute was coming back but no idea when…

It is incomprehensible to me that any Company would force their loyal customers to to adopt a thoroughly untested, buggy and feature-poor software application. It speaks to SONOS’ arrogance that they are in complete denial; the only thing saving them from a mass exodus is the hundreds & thousands of dollars invested by each customer. I  for one will definitely considering options in the future.

Nice Try SONOS

 

O
Userlevel 6
Badge +8

This morning I woke to find my iPad and iPhones sporting the new ‘Black’ App that I had been assiduously avoiding installing. I thought I had disabled auto updates but apparently not.  The first thing I found was a an advertisement for some new SONOS product on the Home screen that I couldn’t delete. Then to my utter dismay, I discovered that the individual room mute function has gone. I have  seven zones, some with fixed output levels and 3rd party amplifiers. On these zones it is not possible to pull the volume down while you take a phone call or something. On a phone call to support the agent acknowledged the problem and said that Mute was coming back but no idea when…

It is incomprehensible to me that any Company would force their loyal customers to to adopt a thoroughly untested, buggy and feature-poor software application. It speaks to SONOS’ arrogance that they are in complete denial; the only thing saving them from a mass exodus is the hundreds & thousands of dollars invested by each customer. I  for one will definitely considering options in the future.

Nice Try SONOS

 

If your iOS device has auto-updated your Sonos app even after disabling auto updates in the app store that's an iOS issue rather than a Sonos issue. App auto updates are controlled by the app store. 

If you disabled auto updates inside the Sonos app, that setting relates to auto updates of speaker firmware, not app updates.

B
Userlevel 1
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I disabled updates in the App, reasonable expectation that App won’t update; wrong, apparently…

Nice Try SONOS…

 

 

M

However, it does seem odd that you have gone to all this trouble and it has made the new app harder to use. For instance, the EQ settings are buried away for each speaker instead of being near the playback controls. And there is much confusion to be had when those slide up panels pop up and slide down to return to the Home Screen, but in some of them the user can slide from the left to go backwards - but not when returning to the Home Screen. It leaves you feeling very confused about how to navigate through the app with no obvious suggestion of sliding left or right to return back to home.
 

THIS. 

Why tf would they get rid of the centralized EQ controls? This was one of the greatest feature upgrades of the S2 app--it was the main thing that led me to believe that Sonos was constantly tweaking and innovating simply for the sake of making their product better for the user. I was clearly wrong.

Bring back the easy-access, centralized EQ controls or I’m going to find a new system (after five figures spent on Sonos purchases over ten years).

T

‘where we fell short’ !!?? - I’ll tell you where you fell short - it's a pile of utter dogshit!!! - won’t even load my music library from a local drive. GET IT SORTED OUT.

P
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What about Windows users?  IOS and Android fixes are necessary, but there are other users.  Additionally, I am amazed at the disregard Sonos has shown toward longtime existing users by rendering their systems unusable if they rely on playlists, sleep timers, etc.  I have spent $750 on Sonos speakers that are now of limited use to me.

A
Userlevel 4
Badge +3

The Sonos share price spiked at the time of recent earnings call and release of this dismal set of “upgrades”

Not looking good since.  Hopefully the larger shareholders will be telling the CEO and his leadership team to get a grip, and get it soon. Even the release of the headphones didn’t give them a bounce, not surprising given the lack of interest due to the borked state of the controller apps.

B
Userlevel 5
Badge +2

How about roll back to the old version.  Fix all the stuff, and then release it after June!  Make a dang headphone only S3 version if you must.  Try to win back some good will by doing it right!

This is honestly the best way to do it. Revert back, properly fix it, and release when it’s ready. 

This has been suggested over and over since this completely flawed and failed update has been released, but the sonos executive management seems to be determined to ram this down the throats of their user base no matter the fallout or the pain of their customers.

G
Userlevel 7
Badge +8

The Sonos share price spiked at the time of recent earnings call and release of this dismal set of “upgrades”

Not looking good since.  Hopefully the larger shareholders will be telling the CEO and his leadership team to get a grip, and get it soon. Even the release of the headphones didn’t give them a bounce, not surprising given the lack of interest due to the borked state of the controller apps.

I suspect the downward trend needs to get worse before Sonos will react. The scale they uses for the charts make things look worse (or better) than they are.

A
Userlevel 4
Badge +3

@Gaham - it’s still a 10% drop since 6th May...

G
Userlevel 7
Badge +8

@Gaham - it’s still a 10% drop since 6th May...

And if the trend continues they will start to worry.

The problem is that I don’t think there is anything else they can do.

They must be hoping that things will better when Ace ships.

But fixing the App by rolling back is clearly not an option. Not because they are being stubborn but because they did not make a plan for that option before May 7th.

So my take is all they can do is wait and see which basically puts them in the same position as us except we are waiting on the App getting fixed. 

 

P
Userlevel 1

I think an apology would have been appreciated, along with a clearer roadmap.

I’m pretty old skool. I bought into Sonos in a big way so that I could transfer my entire music collection onto a NAS server, and play that collection through my Sonos system. I can’t do that anymore, and it’s unclear to me from this update when that functionality will return, if ever. My Sonos speakers are currently useless ornaments.

At first, I simply rolled back the app to an earlier version and everything worked fine. Now I see that even that workaround has been blocked.

This update is not “courageous”. It’s flipping the bird to long-time loyal customers, and some clarity and humility wouldn’t go amiss.

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