We want SONOS App dark mode back!


Userlevel 5
Badge +11
I like the light background.

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163 replies

Userlevel 5
Badge
The bright background on new SONOS app release is not an improvement.
It's too bright in a dark room, intrusive, hard too see in a light room, and it eats my battery.
Don't like it.

Users speak up. If enough people ask, maybe the app developer will listen.

Brighter is not better.
Please give us back the dark background theme.
Userlevel 4
Badge +1
I agree - I much preferred the dark background. I hope this can be changed back.
Userlevel 2
Badge
No, they don't need to change it back - give us the option of both (or more!)
Userlevel 4
Badge +1
No, they don't need to change it back - give us the option of both (or more!)

Fair enough - that works for me!
Userlevel 3
Yes I agree. The beta testing, if there was any that involved users, obviously didn’t involve the Sonos community in an opinion poll. The new version isn’t intuitive at all. It’s too bright, clunky n clumsy and offers no improvement in functionality. In fact when using the volume control on the iPhone the app has a few seconds delay before responding. I’m not impressed. Bring back the dark skin or else give users a choice. Please do it quickly 😞
Userlevel 3
Just want to add my voice here - I was horrified when I installed the latest update on my iPad, saw that the background had been changed to white and there was no obvious way to switch it back. It's intolerably bright in low light. Please give us the option to return to a darker setting.
Userlevel 2
Agree. I find the white very unattractive.
Userlevel 2
It defies belief if dark mode was removed. I can’t stand the white background.
Userlevel 2
Absolutely agree here -- at a minimum we need Dark Mode as an option. I can deal with all the other changes in the v8.0 Controller app just fine but being forced to use a white version of this app is unacceptable. Even when I dim my iPhone screen significantly it is still atrocious. By design, your app now has so much whitespace that it's like having a flashlight on in the room when I just want some nice ambience with my music. From an Accessibility standpoint, this new version of the Controller app also makes it harder for me to read. Not good at all.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
The wife offered to loan me one of her CR-100s when she heard me fussing about the white screen hurting my eyes. Don't laugh, I took the CR-100 and it is a big improvement for night use.
Give us options to use our preference.
In this age of time this is not difficult to implement !:?
Userlevel 2
Agreed, I miss the dark theme. Currently the screen is unpleasant on the eyes, also with reduced brightness. And the dark theme was just so much cooler.
Userlevel 3
Badge +1
Indeed, the screen is WAY to bright! At least give me the option for a dark background.
Userlevel 3
Badge +4
What I find odd, is that it is difficult to believe, that once the developers said the app was ready, that the hierarchy at Sonos got round the boardroom table, and basically approved the app with all the white background.
Did they not even put themselves in their customer's position, and imagine that as they now sell their system as a home cinema surround, as well as just a music system, that people may want to use the app in subdued or non-lit environments.
As someone previously said on here, it's like turning on the torch on your phone!
Give us options to use our preference.
In this age of time this is not difficult to implement !:?

Agreed... I can totally understand that the space required to provide flexibility may be restricted on the players, but that's not the case for all modern controllers. Any half-way decent piece of modern software usually allows the user to tailor important aspects. I haven't 'upgraded' to the latest version, but even v7.1 is a nightmare on Android phones and tablets in a room with low lighting. It's hard to believe that any professional software designer could have come up with this, but then I don't think that UI issues are Sonos's forte...
Userlevel 2
Totally, agree. It's far too bright. Please give us the option, or if that's not possible, just change it back to the dark background.
Userlevel 2
Come on Sonos. What have done, give me back the dark theme please.
Userlevel 2
Just downloaded Sonopad again. Man what a relief to my eyes again. Nice dark colors, pfew....
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Thanks for the feedback everyone. We hear you, and I completely understand your frustration. Sometimes the app can be too bright. Turning the screen brightness definitely helps, but it's not the same.

We've been sharing with the development team so they can look into this. I don't have any specifics to share, but I want to assure you that this is just the start of the new app. You'll see it improve in a number of ways as we go. As soon as there's any word we can share with you all, we'll let you know!
Truly un-inspired 'upgrade'. The white background is far too bright and left to right scrolling of favourites more clunky than up/down scrolling. I suspect this is just change for change's sake with no real end-user testing.
Userlevel 2
Badge +5
Great, so we got the friendly lip service. It IS appreciated although, not enough. Trying not to update any of my apps on purpose. (We'll see how long that lasts). Dear, Sonos; keep it professional. We're using this for more and more reasons, professionally (at businesses or at sponsored events with music), personally (night time entertainment)... think like a DJ... a dark screen with easy to use interface... obvious volume switches, obvious easy to change music source options... etc... put some DJ's in your design focus group... IDK, just my 2 cents. Hope it helps.Consider a panel with two discs to actually do some "DJing"... (Yeah it will open you up to a whole new market. You're welcome. 1% of sales is my fee.
Userlevel 3
Ryan, the whole controller software is a major step backwards! Nothing is better, but a lot is wrong! It is a nightmare to switch between rooms. I hate to press 5 times more button than normally needed. It's time to fire your software designers!
Userlevel 1
The bright background on new SONOS app release is not an improvement.
It's too bright in a dark room, intrusive, hard too see in a light room, and it eats my battery.
Don't like it.

Users speak up. If enough people ask, maybe the app developer will listen.

Brighter is not better.
Please give us back the dark background theme.


Signed up just to agree with this. If you're going to change the app from dark to bright after years of it being dark at least give us the option to have a dark theme.
Userlevel 2
Badge
I don't like the updated white background. Please give us the option to change it.
Userlevel 3
Badge +2
(1) A big +1 to way too bright (2) wow the redesign is ugly. Plus the Google Play integration is still very poor. What on earth were Development thinking?

I've been a Sonos customer since almost the beginning and it's disapointing that they still struggle with UX and software. Fortunately for most things we can now use the Spotify app to control Sonos.