I see a lot of posts from people blindsided, like I was, by the new app. I call it the “Ace” app among other things.  I have been living with this downgraded app for several days now and thought it would be good to share mitigations / solutions that will allow for a somewhat normal experience until (if / when) the app is ever fixed.

First if you are lucky and didn’t update your controller app, don’t. And block updates.  Although you may need to update at least one device with the “Ace” app for some features - see below.

Controller Solutions:

• The good news is the Desktop Controller for PC and likely Mac still work pretty much as they always have. For now. Small blessings.
• Android users can roll back to a working version of the S2 app - search the forum for instructions.
• iOS users who dodged the update can use the non-updated S2 app. I have this on a non-updated iPad as well as my wife’s phone.  Some setup features have been turned off apparently by the speaker firmware but the “player” features work.
• iOS users can also purchase ($3) and use the SonoPad app or SonoPhone app which provides much of the controller features of the previous S2 app including local library search and queue management. The volume control is also responsive and works as expected.  This is almost as good or just as good feature-wise as the S2 app.
• The new “Ace” app. None of the above apps offer SONOS configuration or setup. And while some setup features like Wi-Fi are missing from the “Ace” app, you still may need it.  I have it on my phone along with SonoPhone app.

Band-Aid solutions for the “Ace” controller app for NAS Local Music Libraries:

• Plex Server.  Plex is a server app that runs on many NAS devices and desktop computers. It is free. I have it installed and running now on my WD My Cloud NAS. Installation on the WD was easy since it was already waiting to be activated from WD.  If your NAS can run it, there will be instructions as it is quite popular. My NAS is pretty old with 1GB of RAM and I have no idea what processor - it’s no beast but seems to be getting on OK with Plex at almost no CPU usage and about 50% RAM.
• What it does is create a “streaming music service” that SONOS supports and that can be installed and configured on the “Ace” app.  There are instructions for configuring Plex on both the SONOS and Plex web sites.
• There’s a Plex Desktop App for browsing Plex services and for setup.  There’s also Plexamp which is a player app.  These apps are also available for iPhone / iPad / Apple TV / Roku and I am betting Android and probably more.  However, the point of Plex Server in this case is that you play your music media with the SONOS app.
• Plex also supports video libraries, Movies, TV, and Music Streaming services.
• Plex also has some PAY features via Plex Pass.  You don’t need those for streaming your local music library to SONOS devices.
• Once you have Plex set up and connected to your SONOS system as a music service, you can search and play songs from your library using universal search.  It’s not as good as the “classic search” on the old apps, but I’m betting we never see that again.  And since there is no queue management for now in the app, what you get after setting Plex up is five more miles down the road before you find that the bridge is still out.

Yes, it becomes a hodge-podge of a setup with a mix of old / new SONOS and 3rd party services and apps.  That said, you’ll be able to use your system in the meantime - add / delete / rearrange the queue, change the volume, search and play your ripped CDs, and mundane things like that.

More extreme:

• Roon - this is a level up from Plex and is not free.  I think this is a viable path for people who may want to migrate from the SONOS controller app while continuing to use the components they have along with other non-SONOS components they may own or purchase in the future. Roon supports many audio devices / speakers / amps. I have not tried it yet, but if you search you will find some who have shared their experience with Roon.
• LMS / Lyrion Music Server - Roon-like but free and maybe a bit more work or tweaky to setup.  There are some discussions on this board from those who have set it up.

I know the temptation is to vent over the disaster that is the “Ace” app and there is no end of topics covering that. It would be nice if this topic could focus on any other mitigations and workarounds that have been found. But I get the need to vent, even if into the abyss - so knock yourself out if you need it.