Having just upgraded to the new app, I’m utterly amazed at how poor it is from a user perspective.
How did this get through any UAT? These are basic features every Sonos user has enjoyed for years.
Absolutely ridiculous, please add this functionality back ASAP.
The headline of their email today says “redesigned and better than ever”. Whose ever? Not mine.
Did you happen to notice in the email, the graphic shows the volume controls with speaker loudness numbers? Numbers that no longer appear in the actual app being promoted.
Is it possible to roll back to the previous version in the Apple Store? Can it be made available. This botch job is pretty stellar. I dug out an android tablet I have, charged it and thank the Heaven’s above it is using the previous version still that, well works. I hope ownership acknowledges they just hacked and slashed at their installed base of systems usability in a huge way. No to mention brand reputation. Eek!
I’ve been a Beta tester in the past for Sonos, app and hardware, but this new version of the app is so pre-Alpha it’s shocking. I don’t need to repeat comments from others regardless the countless bugs and missing features, but losing alarms and timers is poor, and as music on my NAS is my primary source, accessing and managing that is not easy now. Bookmarked playlists from NAS sources on the home screen don’t seem to work, or is that just me? I absolutely need to be able to search my local music library, if this feature is not reinstated then it has to be “goodbye Sonos”, as the whole ecosystem is useless for my needs 😫 and as other have said, simple features like replacing or adding to the end of the play queue. Sonos should NEVER assume that everyone uses Sonos Radio, Spotify, Amazon or Apple Music etc., many loyal customers use Sonos for their local music libraries.
Oh, and why do the volume sliders in the group screen keep sliding back like they have an elastic band attached refusing to let you increase the volume?!!! This is on both Android and iOS versions!!.
For now, my 10 Sonos speakers have been turned off! (except for my Beam, in case I need the soundbar for TV), as they are effectively useless.
One plus, I have 2 Roams, so I can still play music via Bluetooth from my phone, yay!!! 🤣
It's 'courageous', according to SONOS. 🤦🏻♂️
LIke most people I don’t understand how this latest update was signed off for release.
I use alarms daily, add to and amend queues almost daily but for me the biggest issue was that I couldn’t access any playlists or radio stations. The section within the new app which holds playlists and radio stations was two rows of black buttons which weren’t clickable. The two rows did display correct images for about 10 seconds but then turned black and non-clickable. Even the ‘View All’ button located top-right was a blank, dead button.
I uninstalled this awful update (Aplha downgrade) and rolled back to a previous version of the app on my android phone. I now have everything working again and I’m not installing any more Sonos app updates.
I agree that the new app is terrible. The missing "play next" and "add to queue" features are deal breakers. Very disappointed! Also, I haven't been able to figure out how to add alarms with the new app.
I have now side-loaded the old version of the app (version 16.1). I really, really hope that it will be possible to stick to that version until the new (and broken, IMHO) app is fixed.
Like a previous poster, I would like to know if it is possible to install the old version from anywhere on an iPhone. I've read mentions of links and SDK and Android but my feeling is that because I have recently moved to Apple, I'm stuffed. Can anyone confirm this?
I also did the jump and updated the app on Day 1 :(
One thing I noticed is that even though I still have S2 on other Apple devices, Alarms don’t work anymore, they’re enabled but nothing happens at the set time. And adding/modifying any alarm is also not possible anymore with S2 with a “Unable to save” weird message (same message with Desktop App).
Do you also have this problem with S2 app?
At least, I can still use the Sleep Timer.
And like most of you, I also sent a mail to the CEO.
Hi Sonos, Do you have a new marketing manager who wants to play trial and error with his customers? Your new app looks like you fired all the application designers and hired marketing people in their place. Not only are the functions missing in the new app, which have already been mentioned enough, but the new structure and handling of the app makes you cry. Finally, you also try to integrate a voice control that is still in its infancy with two languages. Go back to the roots and think about what your customers love and expect. Leave voice control to the big boys like Google or Alexa and hire application designers instead of your marketing employees. best regards to your CEO who should keep an eye on the company. As the first Aktion I would make the old S2 app available for download again. Regards
Having just upgraded to the new app, I’m utterly amazed at how poor it is from a user perspective.
How did this get through any UAT? These are basic features every Sonos user has enjoyed for years.
Absolutely ridiculous, please add this functionality back ASAP.
Adding songs to queues was something I used all the time and it’s so frustrating to keep having to start individual tracks/albums, rather than setting them up in advance.
This update has rendered our 8 Sonos devices as expensive bricks. This update has made the app so slow that each action takes minutes (yes, MINUTES) to register changes. Volume, pause, play, group changes, etc. Even our alarms are now gone, which we used to wake up each morning.This updates needs to be rolled back immediately. What a clusterfrack!
Having just upgraded to the new app, I’m utterly amazed at how poor it is from a user perspective.
How did this get through any UAT? These are basic features every Sonos user has enjoyed for years.
Absolutely ridiculous, please add this functionality back ASAP.
This can’t have been tested before being released.
Key functionality has been lost, what is there is largely irrelevant rendering the app almost useless.
The help line on 0800 0261 526 has a 65 minute wait - says it all
Is there a way of rolling back the upgrade?
The statement issued by Sonos is pathetic and is a big middle finger towards their users. The blatant lies from them are also shocking.
They claim it was courageous, it’s actually complete incompetence. Here is an email screenshot users received 2 weeks prior to the release of the new application stating that products, services and features will continue to work as they always have done. Why are the media giving Sonos so much respect about this?
Also - when scrolling a long list - what happened to the letters that let me skip down. I have to scroll manually now? That’s HORRIBLE.
This is why I used to beta test so I could at least TRY and get these obvious things fixed. I’ve been on Sonos over 10 years (I have ZonePlayers, for cripes sake) and I’ve never seen anything this bad.
Okay. It looks like things may be settling down. It didn’t initially like that I had my system set up to use SonosNet from a Boost. With the help of a non-updated iPad, I was able to re-create the system I wanted, quit the other app, and it SEEMS like it’s working. (I connect my NAS direct to the Ethernet port on a Playbase; not a COMMON setup, but with SonosNet it worked fine. Take away SonosNet and it seems to fail). It still doesn’t see the Boost in the new app, but I don’t care for the moment (It does show WM as being SonosNet; it just doesn’t see the Boost as a component). It seems to be working and that’s enough for me. Not a great experience and one I wouldn’t willingly inflict on someone who’s not tech-savvy and willing to eff around until it’s working right again.
My boost is showing up as “Unavailable” and I have a sub showing up as not associated with anything yet shows up in the room specified.
Dreadful behaviour. Removing key features without giving the users a choice is pretty terrible behaviour. Need to have the ability to stay on the fully functional version. They treat it as if you are renting the hardware.
Having just upgraded to the new app, I’m utterly amazed at how poor it is from a user perspective.
How did this get through any UAT? These are basic features every Sonos user has enjoyed for years.
Absolutely ridiculous, please add this functionality back ASAP.
Agree - new app is a step backward, lost all my playlists - thanks Sonos (I have 14 Connect:Amps)
Hey folks I’m wondering if any of you are experiencing drop outs since the update? I never had that issue until now.
Having just upgraded to the new app, I’m utterly amazed at how poor it is from a user perspective.
How did this get through any UAT? These are basic features every Sonos user has enjoyed for years.
Absolutely ridiculous, please add this functionality back ASAP.
I’ve been experiencing queue bugs on Android for 2 years. It got slightly better recently. My guess is they can’t fix the queue bug and decided to eliminate the feature. On the other hand, the timer I use DAILY had no bugs and they did not include it. There is no reason we should lose features in a new version of an app. They had plenty of time to develop and test it
What an unmitigated disaster. Not only is the new app buggy but with the loss of TuneIn (legacy) now all my manually added radio stations are lost too. And there is no way of adding radio stations manually anywhere now. This has been the main use of my Sonos system (using URLs from my premium Digitally Imported account). Why Sonos Radio does not have a manually adding URLs feature instead nobody knows. It has been flagged endlessly in the past months but is just being disregarded. Way to go to ignore your customers.
Sonos Favorites from the old MacOS controller (16.1 version) do not carry over to the new iOS app either. Make any changes now and they are limited to the Mac controller only, no syncing. Useless.
I'm also a (long time) Digitally Imported premium user and am in shock that Sonos released such a crap update.Apart from all the other issues, I listen to DI every single day. If there isn't going to be a fix sometime in the near future, I would be forced to sell all my Sonos gear. That would be a big shame (and loss)...
I don’t care about new looks. I don’t care about missing features. I only care that none of the user ‘buttons’; play, stop, FF, work after Play is pushed once. Can’t even stop music without using physical buttons on speakers.
Have deleted app and reinstalled multiple times, nothing! Have rebooted phone, nothing!
Absolutely ZERO customer service! Can’t “chat” with the Sonos idiot bot! Can’t call! No email!
Typical update from a bad company with bad products.
It's 'courageous', according to SONOS. 🤦🏻♂️
I just came across this in The Verge too:
“Redesigning the Sonos app is an ambitious undertaking that represents just how seriously we are committed to invention and re-invention,” said chief product officer Maxime Bouvat-Merlin. “It takes courage to rebuild a brand’s core product from the ground up, and to do so knowing it may require taking a few steps back to ultimately leap into the future.”
I think the issue is an HR one. A systemic HR one.
From the person who thought it was courageous to release an app that downgrades system functionality for months (July is months away) or, worse, believed this was a UAT pass, to the courageous Chief Product Officer who courageously thought this PR disaster might somehow be soothed with this rallying cry to step bravely backwards in the hope of a future… there is a flaw in the recruitment process. You seem to be scoring courage above basic, baseline competency.
When that design decision was made (IMHO a courageously good one) not to burden the hardware with too many fiddly buttons… that was the moment when the App became the main mode of control. If someone takes away features from the App - you BREAK the functionality. It’s like someone came around in the night and removed my Rewind/FastFwd buttons.
Is someone in Sonos courageous enough to fix this (series of) HR mistakes? I suggest that is the first port of call - that and restoring 16.1 to the app stores with no more pandering. (Or do as I did with advice in another thread if you are on Android, and get the 16.1 apk from a mirror site...) Et voila - there are my playlists again, I can rewind mid-track in my audiobooks when “I missed a bit”, and I can queue things to play one after another. It’s like I took a momentous leap forward in time and technology… to 2015.
I’ve talked with their support on 5/7 and warned them that this new app isn’t pretty and good luck in the days ahead…...glad others here are in agreement. I did not get a clear answer on my first call on whether local network capabilities such as “classic search” will ever be added back in. I use streaming services, but have a local server for music that streaming services don’t have (I had to remind them that, yes, this happens!)
After today’s follow up call, the tech told me that this feature will no longer be supported….can others confirm if this is the same response they are getting as well?
At the end of the call, I asked for an address to ship my devices back to...since this is a deal breaker of a new “feature”. The older app worked just fine for searching my local and streaming service libraries….why is this such a big deal now?
Thankfully, some prior Sonos experiences I’ve read online have given me pause to purchase future devices from them…..I’m out three Sonos One SLs and a Sonos Amp…..guess these will be on the used market soon…..joining many others perhaps...
I've tried to summarize my concerns into a single question for the upcoming AMA Sonos flaks will be conducting. I'll paste it in below -- if this matches what you want to hear, please upvote it:
https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/s/Q92N5xpya0
Prior to this release, Sonos assured customers all existing functionality would remain (the exact words were, "Your products, features and services will work as they always have, and all your settings will be saved").
Since that commitment was very obviously NOT honored, I just want to hear someone from Sonos explain, as honestly as possible with a minimum of corporate/marketing jargon, why they deemed it necessary to release this app BEFORE it included numerous features existing customers who've spent thousands of dollars on their hardware consider necessary to making use of that hardware (for me, those are queue editing, play next functionality, and local library search).
The suggestion that it took "courage" to release this app in this state was frankly insulting, so please treat us with respect by answering truthfully. Why couldn't the release wait until it was much closer to parity with existing functionality? Why should any of us believe you have any intention of adding missing functions back based on your actions so far? Are there missing functions you have already determined will no longer be supported, and if so, which ones and why?
Hmmm, so having thought the upgrade had gone ok this morning I can’t switch between my 3 Play 1s.
I change the room, click Apply and the app still shows the previous room.
what I don’t understand is why was it working fine … and then not. Nothing has changed on the network and the app is still on the same version. So what made it go wrong? Weird.
Anyone else experienced the same and found out how to fix it?
I think it’s worse that just those features missing. This is what I found when one of my alarms to play music was sounding the Sonos Chime this morning. Updated the app and that broke just about everything...
Stay away!
I’m having all the same problems plus my Sonos port just says line in disconnected so cannot play anything from my deck, also because of this I cannot play straight from Apple Music directly from my iPhone or radio apps outside of the controller, all of which was so easy and straightforward.
seems unless your purchasing new kit all the time they’re not interested, in whether it works for existing equipment.
The other big question is why can’t we roll the app back and uninstall the update.
seriously considering switching to another system I’ve enough rubbish to deal with without some app geek adding to my stress level
regards
Chris85
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