It’s time to stop adding minutiae to the Sonos app issues

As the phrase goes, Your Mileage May Vary... 

I used the new app for the first time today on my ipad.  The experience was excellent (fast, graphics look good, what's there works first time).  The android experience is in contrast sub-par - slow, graphics look clunky, etc.).

There are still vital and critical components missing - especially queue & playlist management.  This needs urgent attention. 

I mostly agree, but the new UI is known to be buggy and with new version coming out at a rapid pace, it’s hard to conclude that an issue is network or an app bug with 100% certainty.  I generally think the right approach is to first assume it’s a network issue and follow the usually step to remedy that situation.  Besides the fact that network is likely the issue, it’s also something you can actual fix, whereas you can’t fix app bugs yourself.  No doubt, if you talked with Sonos support, they would walk you through network troubleshooting steps before declaring it’s a software bug.

Serious question: You write that . . .

1.     If the app is loading slow IT’S YOUR NETWORK AND/OR YOUR DEVICE.

The app is excruciatingly slow, and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do if the problem is my network and/or device. My devices are an iPhone 11 and a fifth-gen iPad Air. The network is a two-year-old Asus mesh network. So the hardware isn’t particularly old. I’ve restarted everything multiple times. What should be my next steps?

I realize you’re trying to be the voice of reason here, however …
If the day before the app update, people were having no problems with missing speakers, unrecognized Sonos systems, or streaming difficulties, and then as soon as the new app dropped they began to experience these problems and others, is it reasonable to assume it’s the thing that hasn’t changed (network/devices) or the thing that has changed (the app)? Occam’s Razor would seem to apply here, no?

I have no independent basis to doubt what you’re saying. I also have no independent basis to doubt what Andy Pennell is saying. He has an extensive discussion on Device Discovery, which ends:

Device discovery remains the most critical fix for Sonos to make because it is a huge barrier for new users: if you can't get your brand new Sonos speaker working, it goes back in the box and is returned.

Who’s right?

Hi @slworona, CEO Patrick Spence specifically called out “existing speakers missing from customers’ Sonos systems” in the earnings call earlier this month. So I think that answers your who’s right question.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@AjTrek1 While you hold what appears to be a polarised “it works or it’s your problem” view of peoples issues, software is never that simple. In reality there are 4 basic categories for existing users and they happen with most major software and platform releases:

1 - Some people have no issues and the update does what it is coded to

2 - Some people who previously had no issues, see issues following the update

3 - Some people had pre-existiing issues they either learnt to live with or never noticed now see issues again or that the new release didn’t change their existing issue

4 - Completely unrelated events which are co-incidence/bad choice of timing. eg MyTuner geo-restricting uk access, Sonos switching off smbv1 with limited communication or warning, somebody reaches their device limit in a streaming provider.

When Sonos as a company and their staff acknowledge issues and that further updates will likely improve things you can’t keep ignoring that not everything is the users fault.

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers%2Dand%2Dmusic%2Dservices%2D229131/feature%2Drequest%2Doption%2Dto%2Ddisable%2Dlossless%2Don%2Dstreaming%2Dservices%2D6894425?postid=16782193#post16782193

If, however, it is the app that appears unstable (missing speakers, can’t connect, or anything that works in the Desktop app but doesn’t in the main app) then you are probably right - things will improve with further updates.

Cooler heads need to come from all parties, including those adamant things are always the users fault

So basically you’re saying if people with Sonos systems that worked as they’re supposed to before the May update, and now they don’t, it’s not the fault of the new Sonos code, it’s the fault of the owners who did nothing but install the updates. 

I think EMF had a song about that… 

@press250 (Shhhh…don’t tell anyone…I knew that. 🙂)

Hold your horses, folks. This piling on is a bit unfair - @Simon_96 decided to jump onto a post from two months ago before all the facts were necessarily known and so whilst, at the time, @AjTrek1 was posting what appeared to be evident to him then, this may no longer be his view. How many other old threads can we also pick apart with the benefit of hindsight?

That said, much of what he says remains true in that if people have issues they do automatically blame the app where it could be a local issue. (There were myriad issues before the app update - this forum didn’t magically appear on 7th May.)

‘When you hear the sound of hooves, think horses, not zebras.’

Something to consider is that Sonos made major changes under the hood in the way things are done. Some of the changes could expose local issues that weren’t apparent before as Sonos wasn’t using the services.

That said I’m not a big fan of the new app as I’m seeing a lot of the same problems others are reporting, but for me most are transient or just aggravations still letting me use my Sonos for hours of daily listening.

Many issues but the Sonos folks seem to have decided to keep from digging the hole deeper and prioritize getting folks back to fully functioning and less frustrating systems.

Could they do more? Maybe but as a software developer I can assure you abusing the programmers with overtime and pressure is a sure route to two things, loss of productivity and the printer spitting out resumes every time the boss looks away. Been there, done that, gave my 2 weeks and took my accrued vacation after my new job interview.

They are in a corner and need an escape route that works, hope they find something.

True. But zebras still exist.

As a ‘normal’ user, untutored and unskilled in software development and any other relevant field, it’s pretty much futile for me to spend a lot of time digging around looking for some minute anomaly in my home network.

The fact remains it all worked perfectly well before May 7; it all went caca after May 7. 

And so long as the app is a moving target, riddled with ‘known issues’ and other issues yet to be discovered — or newly created issues that result from the ongoing changes being made to the app — patience is the only viable option.

It’s virtually impossible for someone like me to figure out if problems I experience with the app are ‘my fault,’ or a problem with the app. All I can do — and all the countless users like me can do without wasting a lot of time in what is likely going to be a futile effort — is wait for Sonos to tell us they’ve done everything they can at their end; the app is a finished product; and then download the latest software and firmware updates and see what happens.

Taking Sonos at its word, that’s probably going to be October. It’s a long wait, but there is no viable alternative, unless you’re in the mood to abandon ship and replace your Sonos system with something else.

IMHO, while SONOS might like to believe the wings it hears flapping belong to a bluebird, they’d be well-advised to think albatross.

Yeah…. Not sure where this is all going. Cheerio for now.

‘True. But zebras still exist.’

Indeed they do. But I’m virtually certain the nearest zebra — other than one that might be in a zoo — is thousands of miles away from where I’m sitting. Horses, on the other hand, are pastured nearby.

A policy that I recommend to a lot of folks in the “Please just let it just keep working.” camp is to disable automatic app updates on your controller and to disable automatic firmware updates for your Sonos gear.

Come by the forums and check to see if the latest release is getting a good reception and update, if not walk away for a month and check again.

You can use the Sonos desktop app and/or Sonos web app. If your problems persist in those it is most likely network or Sonos account/system related, if not it is most likely mobile device or Sonos app related.

This is really amazing that people are “Trolling” (yes, I said trolling) the community for posts to pick apart (if possible). I penned the original of this post over two months ago! Geeze!!

I still stand by original post that a lot of problems outside of missing features are network related or possible device OS incompatibility. I’ve added device OS incompatibility as although I’m an iOS user I recently purchased an Android device for testing. I’ve found that Android is a bit more finicky with the Sonos app. So IMO it’s still a work in progress before it reaches the level of usability (UI experience) as I have found in iOS. However, the overall UI experience in Android is comparable to that I find in iOS.

That said I’ve posted another video (recorded 08/16/24) of my UI experience with the Sonos app on my iOS device. Please note that in the video (at about 00:20 seconds) you will see “Sonos Ace White Not Connected”. That I hope is enough proof that the Sonos App shown in the video is current since after the Ace release. BTW….Audio Swap which is an Ace feature works as promised by Sonos.

I’ll not drag this out with a lot of explanation as I believe (after viewing the video) you’re intelligent enough to figure-out why I posted it and what it siginfies. Is there still work to be done on the app before it’s ready for “prime time”...you bet your “bippy” there is. However, for me the Sonos App works as a useable interface.