The New Sonos App and Future Feature Updates

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1624 replies

garfieldairlines

Hello, I’m again and again asking for Bonob / Subsonic / Airsonic support

 

I got no reply except a boilerplate email from the “CEO” address that hasn’t even acknowledged my questions.

It has been a month that I am stranded without a reply… My patience is running thin…

https://garfieldairlines.net
A
Userlevel 3

Hi All,

Please note that this is a thread for discussing the new Sonos app - not each other! Please restrain yourselves from inflaming or antagonising other users, or the thread will be closed to further discourse.

Ah! So Sonos staff DO look at this thread 🙂  Perhaps one of them can give us an update as to when to expect the “early” and “mid” June updates that we are all eagerly waiting for?

Thanks

 

Rhonny
Userlevel 7
Badge +12

Hi All,

Please note that this is a thread for discussing the new Sonos app - not each other! Please restrain yourselves from inflaming or antagonising other users, or the thread will be closed to further discourse.

Ah! So Sonos staff DO look at this thread 🙂  Perhaps one of them can give us an update as to when to expect the “early” and “mid” June updates that we are all eagerly waiting for?

Thanks

 

There will be an app update later today (Tues).

John Guarr
Userlevel 4
Badge +5

Hi All,

Please note that this is a thread for discussing the new Sonos app - not each other! Please restrain yourselves from inflaming or antagonising other users, or the thread will be closed to further discourse.

I agree with Corry P.  And ranash1995 supplied some good information above.  I can get my playlist to appear and have moved my music to another NAS drive, which seems to be working now. Only thing I noticed is that when I try to play a song in a playlist, it always shows the first song of the list and starts playing that one even though I didn’t select it.  So I stop the song, wait a few seconds and double tap on the song I wanted to listen to.  So hopefully that issue will go away with newer updates.  I will continue to check each day. 

Flattliner
Userlevel 6
Badge +5

Updated the app just now (80.02.04) and…

It’s still rubbish! The whole design may have been “from the ground up” but that’s exactly where it should return to.

Still excludes local libraries from search, and you still can’t skip down artists lists alphabetically. No indication of volume level - actual numbers please - and most annoyingly, there’s no way to change source from within a speaker/speaker group. Essentially, this app is still a POS and I see no reason to stop using the excellent SonoPhone.

Why are features that worked very well in the last S2 app still missing?

SONOS: Great hardware, terrible software.
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.

Hi Keith. Specifically what are the improvements in this app? All I can see is loss of stability, performance and missing features. Are you able to help me on this and let me know what new features I should be enjoying that were worth removing basic functionality to have? 
I don’t even see any material improvements since S1 in any area. What are these mystery innovative features Sonos keeps talking about? 


It’s a speaker. It should play music with no hassle. Is it that difficult? No other tech or smart home product I own (which is a lot) requires this much troubleshooting to function. When Sonos first came out the ease of use was touted as a key feature. Now I can’t even listen to music on these bricks. 

P
Userlevel 3
Badge

I bought SONOS specifically to play my own music library, not for streaming services. If they are no longer supporting the capability to have your own music library, then SONOS needs to buy back my equipment so I can invest in a system that does. 

Unfortunately bait and switch is a common SONOS tactic. See the ‘legacy’ speakers for the ‘modular’ system. It’s disposable junk unfortunately. 

Belly M
Badge +20

Sleep timer added, fantastic as it does not work for your local library.

D

The new app is not working. It’s lagging to connect. Then once it finally connects, various speakers drop out continually.  It’s plainly not working. I tried to call customer support and was told there is none anymore?????  Not a fan. 

P
Userlevel 1
Badge

In the (long) list of problems that need to be addressed, ANDROID users are still unable to start a LiveOne station. ( it works from iphone/ipad and windows but not Android )

This is highly frustrating.




 

John Guarr
Userlevel 4
Badge +5

Updated the app just now (80.02.04) and…

It’s still rubbish! The whole design may have been “from the ground up” but that’s exactly where it should return to.

Still excludes local libraries from search, and you still can’t skip down artists lists alphabetically. No indication of volume level - actual numbers please - and most annoyingly, there’s no way to change source from within a speaker/speaker group. Essentially, this app is still a POS and I see no reason to stop using the excellent SonoPhone.

Why are features that worked very well in the last S2 app still missing?

Okay I just read your info about the new release of the app. If I read between the lines I guess you were at able to play songs from ur music library before this upgrade?  And if so, was the upgrade seemless or affects anything else?  Thnx, John

Flattliner
Userlevel 6
Badge +5

Hi John,

I can access my local library (and could before), but can’t search it. I’m using SonoPhone and the thankfully unchanged macOS Sonos app almost 100% of the time now because they deal with my local library very well. The only thing this update does that I regard as a positive is that you can now close the Sonos advert that appears on the home page with the wee x in the top right corner! 

I guess this is what happens when a company has such a grip on the market. To think I used to happily recommend them to friends and family...

SONOS: Great hardware, terrible software.
Rhonny
Userlevel 7
Badge +12

The new app is not working. It’s lagging to connect. Then once it finally connects, various speakers drop out continually.  It’s plainly not working. I tried to call customer support and was told there is none anymore?????  Not a fan. 

Have you updated the app today?

John Guarr
Userlevel 4
Badge +5

Hi John,

I can access my local library (and could before), but can’t search it. I’m using SonoPhone and the thankfully unchanged macOS Sonos app almost 100% of the time now because they deal with my local library very well. The only thing this update does that I regard as a positive is that you can now close the Sonos advert that appears on the home page with the wee x in the top right corner! 

I guess this is what happens when a company has such a grip on the market. To think I used to happily recommend them to friends and family...

Thank you, I am going to give it a try. 

C
Userlevel 2
Badge

Big update today but I still cannot play music from my own library that I laboriously downloaded from my cd’s. The whole purpose of buying 3 different Sonos speakers. This is madness.

Y

Ah, an update!

 

It now looks as though I should be able to play things, but I still can’t. Is this progress? I can’t decide.

 

Unhappy customer #126,272

K
Badge

Can’t search for music in the app!! And it haven’t worked since the new app. I’m Using YouSee musik

Rhonny
Userlevel 7
Badge +12

Can’t search for music in the app!! And it haven’t worked since the new app. I’m Using YouSee musik

I’m sure you will have but have you updated the app to today’s latest version?

C
Userlevel 2
Badge

Can’t search for music in the app!! And it haven’t worked since the new app. I’m Using YouSee musik

I’m sure you will have but have you updated the app to today’s latest version?

Yes, no change!!!!

 

S
Userlevel 6
Badge +6

Definitely a decent update. At least some remedial queue management and MUTE 😂 and maybe WiFi that I’d be afraid to try out.

  • Cannot rearrange queued songs nor delete from queue or get info on a song in the queue.
  • Can’t manage music library, but if you have it previously setup, it should be accessible - no search. :(

It’s remedial at best, but a step forward. Give those coders a cot and coffee and crack the whip!  More to do! 🤣


Clearly, they just ran out of time and released this app prematurely.  Seems like a suicide move - hard to fathom.  This could have likely gone so differently and been a raging success versus a raging dumpster fire had they just finished the app before shoving it down our throats.  That the CEO claims he has been enjoying it since December is either a lie or he has no idea how people use SONOS products - or both.  That dude, Spence, so needs to be sent packing.
 

J
Userlevel 4
Badge +2

Looking at the calendar, it is now early June. Where is our queue management? If your dev team has been permitted to leave the office in the past 3 weeks they aren’t dedicated to fixing this problem as much as they should be. 

Tbf it’s Saturday / the weekend. I wouldn’t expect anything before Monday, and more likely midweek. “Early” has a way to go yet.

Everyone has to sleep, and I can assure you that the best thoughts don’t come when you have a banging head from reading and cross referencing pages of code. I’ve done my fair share of post midnight jobs and staying awake for up to 36 hours. It’s far from productive.

Also, realise this debacle is unlikely to be down to the tech team, it will be pressure from Senior Management & Marketing. If allowed, I’m sure the tech guys will fix things, but don’t give them a kicking online because they’re not going to be happy with this, and doing so only puts you backing the “bosses” who I suspect have instigated this 🤔

 

Having worked in this industry as a tester/QA engineer/release engineer (pick your preferred term). Management/sales tend to be responsible for 8/10 debacles like this. Sen. Management ask for a timescale to do the things they want, then dev&test return with one, then mgt/sales tell them that is far to long. They want it done in a ¼ of the time, because they have already promised X functionality by Y date. They get told impossible. Then ½ the time and ½ the features are agreed on, with the caveat that if any series issue is found this timescale goes out the window. Work progresses and series issue is found, mgt/sales then insist that what is complete is released AGAINST the recommendations of the dev/test team. Then chaos results, the good sales/mgt learn from this experience and don’t make the same mistakes again, the rest, well…………………..  

M
Userlevel 2
Badge +3

In summary for the late comers trying to parse all this noise and just want some answers:

  1. Local libraries (NAS, PC based, etc. collections of ripped/downloaded files) have ceased to work for many systems.
  2. Many other systems continue to work quite happily with local libraries, but tread carefully and don’t disconnect them. They may not come back if you attempt to add a new source.
  3. The 913 error is a networking permissions error that relates to authorising Sonos speakers to access and add the folder with the content. This is a firmware issue that will not change until a fix is available for download and update in mid-June. 
  4. There are literally dozens and dozens of differing configurations for local libraries and most of the suggested fixes are very config specific. Sadly, until the fix is released, you may be just spinning your wheels engaging in attempts to correct it. If you get a 913 error, even after a full shutdown of all your speakers, it is game over until mid June.
  5. A local Plex server (highly recommended) or upload to the Youtube Music service (free service for uploads and a good way to backup a collection) will give you access to your collection as music sources in the app. Not perfect, but they do work without issue.

This took me about 15 minutes to put together. Sonos management; get your act together and show some solidarity with your customers and start providing some feedback that is visible on your home page. 


is there a Plex 101 somewhere? I keep seeing folk say that it’s a good thing but, until now, I’ve always found that my Sonos system could simply find what I wanted, when I wanted it. As that’s no longer the case, perhaps I need a new approach. Don’t want to have to scroll endlessly through my large library to find the track/album/artist that I wish to play

B
Userlevel 4
Badge

Looking at the calendar, it is now early June. Where is our queue management? If your dev team has been permitted to leave the office in the past 3 weeks they aren’t dedicated to fixing this problem as much as they should be. 

Tbf it’s Saturday / the weekend. I wouldn’t expect anything before Monday, and more likely midweek. “Early” has a way to go yet.

Everyone has to sleep, and I can assure you that the best thoughts don’t come when you have a banging head from reading and cross referencing pages of code. I’ve done my fair share of post midnight jobs and staying awake for up to 36 hours. It’s far from productive.

Also, realise this debacle is unlikely to be down to the tech team, it will be pressure from Senior Management & Marketing. If allowed, I’m sure the tech guys will fix things, but don’t give them a kicking online because they’re not going to be happy with this, and doing so only puts you backing the “bosses” who I suspect have instigated this 🤔

 

Having worked in this industry as a tester/QA engineer/release engineer (pick your preferred term). Management/sales tend to be responsible for 8/10 debacles like this. Sen. Management ask for a timescale to do the things they want, then dev&test return with one, then mgt/sales tell them that is far to long. They want it done in a ¼ of the time, because they have already promised X functionality by Y date. They get told impossible. Then ½ the time and ½ the features are agreed on, with the caveat that if any series issue is found this timescale goes out the window. Work progresses and series issue is found, mgt/sales then insist that what is complete is released AGAINST the recommendations of the dev/test team. Then chaos results, the good sales/mgt learn from this experience and don’t make the same mistakes again, the rest, well…………………..  

In my last product development job, it went something like this:

PD: “You have given us 5 projects of 100 hours each… do you want them done concurrently or sequentially?” 

Boss: “I need them done concurrently, but I need them all done in two weeks.”

PD:  “Impossible. That’s 500 hours of work. If we work on them concurrently or sequentially, it’s still 500 hours of work.”

Boss: “Not good enough - find a way.”

PD: “We can do overtime and get ONE project done in two weeks, but not all five. It’s just impossible given the resources.”

Boss: “Oh, and no unauthorized overtime.”

SMDH

Either way, it’s 100% on the hands of management when these things happen. You can tell the measure of a company by how they respond in times of trouble, more than how they act on a good day. In this case, SONOS has hardly responded at all. Users are digging for information that should be clear as day on the SONOS website. This is a scorched earth approach to managing customer expectations.  What a slap in the face to all of the customers who have invested (individually) thousands of dollars into equipment. 

S
Userlevel 6
Badge +6

In summary for the late comers trying to parse all this noise and just want some answers:

  1. Local libraries (NAS, PC based, etc. collections of ripped/downloaded files) have ceased to work for many systems.
  2. Many other systems continue to work quite happily with local libraries, but tread carefully and don’t disconnect them. They may not come back if you attempt to add a new source.
  3. The 913 error is a networking permissions error that relates to authorising Sonos speakers to access and add the folder with the content. This is a firmware issue that will not change until a fix is available for download and update in mid-June. 
  4. There are literally dozens and dozens of differing configurations for local libraries and most of the suggested fixes are very config specific. Sadly, until the fix is released, you may be just spinning your wheels engaging in attempts to correct it. If you get a 913 error, even after a full shutdown of all your speakers, it is game over until mid June.
  5. A local Plex server (highly recommended) or upload to the Youtube Music service (free service for uploads and a good way to backup a collection) will give you access to your collection as music sources in the app. Not perfect, but they do work without issue.

This took me about 15 minutes to put together. Sonos management; get your act together and show some solidarity with your customers and start providing some feedback that is visible on your home page. 


is there a Plex 101 somewhere? I keep seeing folk say that it’s a good thing but, until now, I’ve always found that my Sonos system could simply find what I wanted, when I wanted it. As that’s no longer the case, perhaps I need a new approach. Don’t want to have to scroll endlessly through my large library to find the track/album/artist that I wish to play

1 - Check your NAS to see if it has Plex or if Plex can be installed.  My WD My Cloud has an App section where Plex was there and all I to do was click install and then configure it to point to the music folder.

2 - or go to the Plex web site where you can download Plex Server to run on a computer.  You can also download the Plex app for configuration or do it via a browser app.

3 - you’ll need to use the Plex app or web interface to configure Remote Access which seems odd since the files are not remote.  Once you get it working and all is good, disable Relay in the Network settings so it won’t keep going out to the internet to do whatever it does...ostensibly rerouting your music through their “relay” servers for remote access - unless you want that.

4 - For setup information, this Forum and the Plex site have SONOS specific instructions that you can find with a search of Google for it.

5 - The Plex server creates what amounts to another streaming service that you can setup in the SONOS app and I had to use the new app and it worked - basically authorizing SONOS on Plex and connecting to your Plex Server.  Since it behaves like a streaming service, you get the “glorious” universal search, or generic search as it really is.

6 - you do not need the Plex Pass subscription to make this work - it should all be free.

7 - Occasionally SONOS will say it can’t play a song in the Queue and the Plex app Console will show some errors.  These are spurious and clicking on the song will almost always start playback and the issue magically goes away.  Some sort of bug maybe or something with my setup.  I’m no expert and my WD NAS is several years old - I was impressed it works at all. :D 

That SONOS is recommending this is a little worrisome.  Will they eventually provide music library search natively or is this the way forward?  Just another piece of software to worry about and troubleshoot when things don’t work.

S
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.

I can’t add any service, as Apple Music and Amazon. I use a Sonos Port at last firmware and last update app. How can I handle that. Thanks

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