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Where is our iOS Widget

  • 19 September 2023
  • 18 replies
  • 5167 views
C
Userlevel 2

We’ve been waiting for 7+ years for a really robust iOS experience. The widget request he’s literally been out there for over 7 years. Apple is clearly all in on widgets - why can’t Sonos provide software that makes it easier to control our system?
 

It’s not like you’re spending your resources on a really great Google or Alexa integration (they both continue to be virtually unusable), or an Apple Watch app, or tight integration with SiriusXM (the frequency of errors starting a stream is laughable), or Apple Music (start a station within Sonos? No, No one would want that). 
 

I love the sound quality of our Sonos system, but if I was creating a new system today, I don’t know that Sonos is worth the price point. Certainly the aging software and lack of innovation is a big warning sign. 

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Best answer by Bumper 19 September 2023, 16:04

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18 replies

jgatie

If you think a not having a widget is “lack of innovation” then yes, Sonos is not for you.  

Bumper
Userlevel 6
Badge +13

- why can’t Sonos provide software that makes it easier to control our system?
 

 

Maybe it’s ROI. They are focused on selling hardware cause it keeps the lights on.  

jgatie

Maybe it’s ROI. They are focused on selling hardware cause it keeps the lights on.  

 

Or it could also be the same as the iOS rules that do not allow control of third party hardware from the lock screen.  Apple is pretty draconian when it comes to that.

Bumper
Userlevel 6
Badge +13

Maybe it’s ROI. They are focused on selling hardware cause it keeps the lights on.  

 

Or it could also be the same as the iOS rules that do not allow control of third party hardware from the lock screen.  Apple is pretty draconian when it comes to that.

Maybe it’s that. I mean Sonos does have an Android widget IIRC. OTOH IMO Sonos is quite uninspired when it comes to software features. I’m gonna blame both.

 

C
Userlevel 2

If you think a not having a widget is “lack of innovation” then yes, Sonos is not for you.  

If you think of how quick and easy it is to pick or change a radio station in your car, and in 7 years Sonos has not meaningfully improved the ease and speed of playing music from your phone, that’s a legitimate frustration. The widget is just a glaring example of lack of innovation. 

jgatie

If you think of how quick and easy it is to pick or change a radio station in your car, and in 7 years Sonos has not meaningfully improved the ease and speed of playing music from your phone, that’s a legitimate frustration. The widget is just a glaring example of lack of innovation. 

 

Not if Apple doesn’t allow controlling of 3rd party hardware from a widget, like they don’t from the lock screen.  You can’t innovate if iOS makes that innovation impossible to implement. 

Bumper
Userlevel 6
Badge +13

If you think a not having a widget is “lack of innovation” then yes, Sonos is not for you.  

If you think of how quick and easy it is to pick or change a radio station in your car, and in 7 years Sonos has not meaningfully improved the ease and speed of playing music from your phone, that’s a legitimate frustration. The widget is just a glaring example of lack of innovation. 

7 years is too kind, its more like 15 years. I was really hopeful that S2 would bring some big changes on the software side, but IMO they have not delivered. In fairness the Ikea partnership has yielded the Symfonisk gen2 controller which can play 2 different favourites with a button push. That’s like revolutionary compared to the sonos software 😀

melvimbe

If you think a not having a widget is “lack of innovation” then yes, Sonos is not for you.  

If you think of how quick and easy it is to pick or change a radio station in your car, and in 7 years Sonos has not meaningfully improved the ease and speed of playing music from your phone, that’s a legitimate frustration. The widget is just a glaring example of lack of innovation. 

 

The infotainment screen in your car has very limited functionality compared to the functionality of your phone.  It is does not need the flexibility to support potential millions of different apps.  It does not get firmware updates on a regular basis.  It does not need to have the same look and feel as every other infotainment screen that can access those radio stations in other cars.  It’s actually playing the music rather than acting as a controller for a multiroom audio system.  

I certainly understand why you would want a better, or just different interface, but this is an apple/oranges comparison that doesn’t really take into account the different requirements and uses for the two different systems.

Danny
ratty

If you think of how quick and easy it is to pick or change a radio station in your car, and in 7 years Sonos has not meaningfully improved the ease and speed of playing music from your phone, that’s a legitimate frustration. The widget is just a glaring example of lack of innovation. 

I talk to my car if I want it to play BBC Radio 4.

I talk to my Sonos speaker if I want it to play BBC Radio 4.

M

I am also disappointed. It is not seamless, and ios integration is not good. 

D
Badge

If you think a not having a widget is “lack of innovation” then yes, Sonos is not for you.  

If you think of how quick and easy it is to pick or change a radio station in your car, and in 7 years Sonos has not meaningfully improved the ease and speed of playing music from your phone, that’s a legitimate frustration. The widget is just a glaring example of lack of innovation. 


Widget or not I agree. I was at my brother’s house and he had all Apple Music devices and the seamless integration and ability for all guests to see and control the music made me regret investing in Sonos throughout my house.

It’s literally a frustrating and annoying experience each and every time I go to control my music. 

D
Badge

If you think a not having a widget is “lack of innovation” then yes, Sonos is not for you.  

If you think of how quick and easy it is to pick or change a radio station in your car, and in 7 years Sonos has not meaningfully improved the ease and speed of playing music from your phone, that’s a legitimate frustration. The widget is just a glaring example of lack of innovation. 


Widget or not I agree. I was at my brother’s house and he had all Apple Music devices and the seamless integration and ability for all guests to see and control the music made me regret investing in Sonos throughout my house.

It’s literally a frustrating and annoying experience each and every time I go to control my music. 


This should be a wake up call to Sonos if they care about the market of people who are on iOS, which I presume they do given the demographics.
 

The sound quality is excellent, but the entire experience is what matters. 

M

It is sad that industry leading multi room speaker brand loses its position to other competitors… losing google assistant integration, not releasing new OS related features, etc…

Airgetlam

Which demographics? Do you have access to the Sonos user data?

Bruce
D
Badge

I meant the demographics of iOS users, in general. In the US, Apple/iOS tends to capture more of the affluent market which likely intersects with Sonos’s ideal customer profile (given Sonos’s price points). 
 

Sure this is speculation as I don’t have user data but it’s not a far leap to say that Sonos does and should care about selling to iOS users, and given the comparative difference in experience in controlling music from the phone between the Sonos setup and Apple’s, I could see a certain segment of those Apple users choosing Apple’s speakers over Sonos for the convenience, even if the sound quality of Sonos is superior. 
 

Sonos will never be able to integrate as seamlessly as given their closed ecosystem, but they certainly should try harder to reduce the friction because right now it is no contest. And I say this with a house full of Sonos,

buzz

Apple has the closed ecosystem. Apple does not support 3rd party integration of Widgets. If Widgets are the focus of your music listening, you should stay in the Apple ecosystem.

SONOS is actually rather open. Notice that there are dozens of music services integrated into the SONOS controller. SONOS provides a free API that services use to integrate their service into SONOS. After SONOS staff verifies that the service’s use of the API is stable, the service will be added to SONOS. If the music service wants to integrate phone/pad Volume controls with SONOS this is possible. SPOTIFY and Amazon Music are examples of this.

From my iPad playing Amazon Music

 

Ken_Griffiths

There are 3rd-party widgets available for Sonos control. You only have to search the iOS App Store. Here’s a screenshot of one example I came across. It shows what’s playing/thumbnail art, volume/skip/play/pause controls and the user can switch to other rooms etc.

I’m not affiliated to any such Apps and cannot say how well these widgets work.

 

 

D
Badge

Apple has the closed ecosystem. Apple does not support 3rd party integration of Widgets. If Widgets are the focus of your music listening, you should stay in the Apple ecosystem.

SONOS is actually rather open. Notice that there are dozens of music services integrated into the SONOS controller. SONOS provides a free API that services use to integrate their service into SONOS. After SONOS staff verifies that the service’s use of the API is stable, the service will be added to SONOS. If the music service wants to integrate phone/pad Volume controls with SONOS this is possible. SPOTIFY and Amazon Music are examples of this.

From my iPad playing Amazon Music

 

Sorry, to clarify, when I said “their closed ecosystem” I was referring to Apple, not Sonos. 

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