The New Sonos App and Future Feature Updates

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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: Jul 1, 2024. See release notes.

  • Added multi-product setup for professional installers for iOS

  • Improved accessibility for configuring alarms with VoiceOver and TalkBack

  • Added autoplay setting for analog devices using line-in for Android

  • Added support for SonosNet channel selection for Android

  • Added timezone settings for iOS 

  • Added the option to forget a system in order to connect to or create a new system for iOS

Coming soon

  • Local music library search and playback: July

  • Improved playback settings including Play Now: July

  • Create and edit local music library: July

  • Improved Autoplay settings: July

  • Improved Sub audio settings with Amp: July

  • Snooze alarms: TBD

Known issues and workarounds

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.

So mid-June has come and gone. Like many other users, I still cannot load my local library. It’s a joke when they talk about all of these other features they are looking at creating, enhancing or restoring. The single fundamental purpose of a speaker is to play your music and SONOS cannot even do that, so everything else is just a waste of time. 

This image is pretty much a summary of my SONOS experience.

 

C

I appreciate Sonos making the app accessible to blind users. However, there is 1 annoying bug which has been prolonging for the longest time. With VoiceOver on iOS, auto language switching isn’t working. So when there are unicode characters such as Chinese, VoiceOver doesn’t auto switch to the desire language and voice which in turn it speaks out garbage characters and words. Please can you get this fixed at your soonest? Your immediate response is highly and deeply appreciated. Thanks.

M

Hi Keith. I’m sorry you are having a rough day. 
 

I would like to share that this response makes me feel even angrier, because you have continued to justify your actions and clarify when the things you broke will be fixed. What you did not say is “I am sorry”.

I wrote previously that In order for you to begin to recover from what you have done, if it is even possible, you should start by imagining a similar situation with other daily appliances. Your appliance company calls you and says “we have a small routine update we need to make to your home appliances, we can apply the fix remotely. We’ll come by tonight”. 

You come home and the the dishwasher looks the same, but doesn’t actually wash dishes correctly anymore, it is missing the cycles you use every day, and no longer has a timer function so it can run at night. Your family don’t know how to operate it and it is messing up your home routines and schedules.  The oven only now cooks with some of the modes, and has completely removed the timer feature you use every day to cook meals with your family. The refrigerator / freezer temperatures are wrong, you can’t change them, and you are spoiling food and the freezer is thawing and no longer makes ice. When you call to find out what is going on, you are told how great the new experience is. That this was deliberate. There is no way to go back, but that these features will probably come back in the coming months. Until then, there is nothing you can do about it - although feel free to post on our support forums.

Now ask yourself “How would I personally feel if someone did this to me, in my own home, with my own things, without my consent, and then refuses to immediately fix it?” 

If you are like most people, you will probably find yourself saying “I would be very angry. I would want the people that did that to be very sorry, to really mean it, for them to fix it and make amends if they could. Even still, I’d want for there to be consequences.” 

To be clear, this is far far worse than the S1/S2 debacle. People had time to react, and so you were able to recover - but it made your long time customers doubt you. Unfortunately, Patrick already promised that you wouldn’t do anything like it again. He said “If we run into something core to the experience that can’t be addressed, we’ll work to offer an alternative solution and let you know about any changes you’ll see in your experience.” You broke your promise. 

I am going to hope that this is not a mortal self-inflicted wound to your company. It may be, depending on each of your ability to accept responsibility what you did, for how you behaved after the harm was evident, and what you do now.

 

1000% agree!

K
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Why did you release this before it was done? Why didn’t you have a preview or beta program to sort things out before releasing? I’ve been so disrupted for months that I’m not looking at alternatives. I had a party and had my playlist on my computer, but now that won’t work. And that party (my wedding anniversary) was a big deal. It really spoiled it. What are you thinking?

K

When i came here i noticed im not the only one facing lots of issues with the new update, tbh a bit frustrating to have a system that used to work before an update.

  1. Google voice assistant works at my Arc, but not on any of my other devices? 
  2. It takes 20-30 seconds before the volume goes up or down when i adjust it
  3. It takes 20-30 seconds to change song, pause it or in any other way change it
  4. Sometimes i cant reach the system at all when its playing music, so i have to unplugg them to get the music to stop
  5. If i have connected to another system at work or friends place, i need to re-install my whole system at home since it just disappear. 
  6. If i have played music through the system, then pauses it and switch on my TV thats connected with HDMI cable to the ARC, the TV cant connect to it and starts playing through its own speakers. 

Feels sad that a brand like you launches an update that is so far from finished, would prefer if you had an ‘’Beta’’ option for those who want to try the newest features. 

 

K
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The more I think about it, why can’t Sonos allow the last working version to be downloaded and installed so we can use our systems until you’re done with the roadmap?

G
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The more I think about it, why can’t Sonos allow the last working version to be downloaded and installed so we can use our systems until you’re done with the roadmap?

We’ve been round this loop multiple times and I have concluded that the answer is either pride or there is a genuine technical reason.

Rhonny
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The more I think about it, why can’t Sonos allow the last working version to be downloaded and installed so we can use our systems until you’re done with the roadmap?

We’ve been round this loop multiple times and I have concluded that the answer is either pride or there is a genuine technical reason.

No need to draw conclusions. We’ve been through the actual reason multiple times too. It’s because the old version didn’t support the Sonos Ace, and there needed to be a Sonos app to support this new launch product. To have a second version of the app that didn't support Ace would be very confusing for Ace owners. Of course, those are in the minority, and the majority are apparently suffering as a result, but the rationale remains.

B
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The more I think about it, why can’t Sonos allow the last working version to be downloaded and installed so we can use our systems until you’re done with the roadmap?

We’ve been round this loop multiple times and I have concluded that the answer is either pride or there is a genuine technical reason.

No need to draw conclusions. We’ve been through the actual reason multiple times too. It’s because the old version didn’t support the Sonos Ace, and there needed to be a Sonos app to support this new launch product. To have a second version of the app that didn't support Ace would be very confusing for Ace owners. Of course, those are in the minority, and the majority are apparently suffering as a result, but the rationale remains.


I’m guessing the majority of Sonos users would not have such a polite understanding, accepting response.

I think the decision making was flawed and didn’t take the current user base into consideration at all. 

It would seem they decided to meet a marketing deadline with total disregard to their users.

I wonder how many Ace owners there actually are? Existing users who might have bought Ace probably haven’t because of the new app release.

G
Userlevel 7
Badge +8

The more I think about it, why can’t Sonos allow the last working version to be downloaded and installed so we can use our systems until you’re done with the roadmap?

We’ve been round this loop multiple times and I have concluded that the answer is either pride or there is a genuine technical reason.

No need to draw conclusions. We’ve been through the actual reason multiple times too. It’s because the old version didn’t support the Sonos Ace, and there needed to be a Sonos app to support this new launch product. To have a second version of the app that didn't support Ace would be very confusing for Ace owners. Of course, those are in the minority, and the majority are apparently suffering as a result, but the rationale remains.


I’m guessing the majority of Sonos users would not have such a polite understanding, accepting response.

I think the decision making was flawed and didn’t take the current user base into consideration at all. 

It would seem they decided to meet a marketing deadline with total disregard to their users.

I wonder how many Ace owners there actually are? Existing users who might have bought Ace probably haven’t because of the new app release.

Being polite about it does not mean that I am not angry or that my plans for future Sonos spend is not zero 😉

This was badly planned and subsequently mismanaged, but as the old adage says “don’t get mad get even” and for me that means no future spending on new Sonos products. Loss of future sales is what Sonos will understand. 

B
Userlevel 4
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The more I think about it, why can’t Sonos allow the last working version to be downloaded and installed so we can use our systems until you’re done with the roadmap?

We’ve been round this loop multiple times and I have concluded that the answer is either pride or there is a genuine technical reason.

No need to draw conclusions. We’ve been through the actual reason multiple times too. It’s because the old version didn’t support the Sonos Ace, and there needed to be a Sonos app to support this new launch product. To have a second version of the app that didn't support Ace would be very confusing for Ace owners. Of course, those are in the minority, and the majority are apparently suffering as a result, but the rationale remains.


I’m guessing the majority of Sonos users would not have such a polite understanding, accepting response.

I think the decision making was flawed and didn’t take the current user base into consideration at all. 

It would seem they decided to meet a marketing deadline with total disregard to their users.

I wonder how many Ace owners there actually are? Existing users who might have bought Ace probably haven’t because of the new app release.

@BVRBVR @Rhonny They hosed their existing base in order to sell headphones. The thing is that, as a 10+ year customer of SONOS, I personally won’t buy anything new from them given the disaster at hand.

Rhonny
Userlevel 7
Badge +11

The more I think about it, why can’t Sonos allow the last working version to be downloaded and installed so we can use our systems until you’re done with the roadmap?

We’ve been round this loop multiple times and I have concluded that the answer is either pride or there is a genuine technical reason.

No need to draw conclusions. We’ve been through the actual reason multiple times too. It’s because the old version didn’t support the Sonos Ace, and there needed to be a Sonos app to support this new launch product. To have a second version of the app that didn't support Ace would be very confusing for Ace owners. Of course, those are in the minority, and the majority are apparently suffering as a result, but the rationale remains.


I’m guessing the majority of Sonos users would not have such a polite understanding, accepting response.

I think the decision making was flawed and didn’t take the current user base into consideration at all. 

It would seem they decided to meet a marketing deadline with total disregard to their users.

I wonder how many Ace owners there actually are? Existing users who might have bought Ace probably haven’t because of the new app release.

@BVRBVR @Rhonny They hosed their existing base in order to sell headphones. The thing is that, as a 10+ year customer of SONOS, I personally won’t buy anything new from them given the disaster at hand.

It was a huge miscalculation that the customer base would tolerate a substandard app and drops in functionality. But there is no doubt that Sonos top brass recognise that now.
As I understand it, there was furore around S1 to S2 - I can’t imagine Sonos screwing up a third time, or investors accepting it.

Bumper

Generally agree but I’m not sure it was a miscalculation and not incompetence. Incompetence has a way of repeating itself. 

P
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I inclined to think it’s more commercial arrogance! I can’t imagine the corporate memory is so poor that it doesn’t remember the debacle over the S1/S2 update. I am still running a duplicate S1 and S2 system because of that with two different NAS drives with identical copies of my music library until I have enough funds to replace my ZP90’s  . Perhaps that is rewarding their bad behaviour and I should be looking elsewhere for my next music system.

 

B
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Generally agree but I’m not sure it was a miscalculation and not incompetence. Incompetence has a way of repeating itself. 

It’s more like hubris. They said it was “brave” to release an app like this. The CEO said we will learn to love it. I can only play SONOS Radio at this point, which is not what I paid for. 

B
Userlevel 5
Badge +2

Generally agree but I’m not sure it was a miscalculation and not incompetence. Incompetence has a way of repeating itself. 

It’s more like hubris. They said it was “brave” to release an app like this. The CEO said we will learn to love it. I can only play SONOS Radio at this point, which is not what I paid for. 

Try the SonoPhone app from the AppStore. 

B
Userlevel 4
Badge

The more I think about it, why can’t Sonos allow the last working version to be downloaded and installed so we can use our systems until you’re done with the roadmap?

We’ve been round this loop multiple times and I have concluded that the answer is either pride or there is a genuine technical reason.

No need to draw conclusions. We’ve been through the actual reason multiple times too. It’s because the old version didn’t support the Sonos Ace, and there needed to be a Sonos app to support this new launch product. To have a second version of the app that didn't support Ace would be very confusing for Ace owners. Of course, those are in the minority, and the majority are apparently suffering as a result, but the rationale remains.


I’m guessing the majority of Sonos users would not have such a polite understanding, accepting response.

I think the decision making was flawed and didn’t take the current user base into consideration at all. 

It would seem they decided to meet a marketing deadline with total disregard to their users.

I wonder how many Ace owners there actually are? Existing users who might have bought Ace probably haven’t because of the new app release.

Being polite about it does not mean that I am not angry or that my plans for future Sonos spend is not zero 😉

This was badly planned and subsequently mismanaged, but as the old adage says “don’t get mad get even” and for me that means no future spending on new Sonos products. Loss of future sales is what Sonos will understand. 

And this as well. This should be getting their attention.

 

P
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Sonos Team, take your time to fix what you have broken. I downloaded Sonoipad and it work. All the feature that I need are present. It doesn’t have the Sleep but anyway I don’t need it. 

You are frustrating your customer that bring the money to Sonos. Do you realize that? 

I won’t replace my speakers by another Sonos...it will be Bluesound. Go on, take your time, have a laugh to all users that bought a Sonos speaker. You have no respect. You could have done another apps Sonos(something) and keep the old app available. But no, someone decided that it was a better idea to have Sonos system down for some months. What a wonderful idea.

You decided to stick with your decision and laugh to your faithful client. 

You said that you read you customer comment but the biggest wish was to bring back available the old app. It seems that someone at Sonos doesn’t read properly or maybe is blind.

S

Hi, So when I move between homes from 1 Sonos system to another, I have to delete the app, download it again, search for existing Sonons system, which it finds and I’m up and running.  However, with the prior version it just worked out that I’d moved from 1 system to another.  Am I doing something wrong or is this just the new normal… 

P
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Generally agree but I’m not sure it was a miscalculation and not incompetence. Incompetence has a way of repeating itself. 

I think the level of miscalculation is justification for it being called incompetence. It really is shocking.

P
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@Keith N 
I’m not sure how many replies you have made on this post…….could you explain what happened in the meeting that decided to do away with functionality which was the main reason for buying the sonos product? 

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