Skip to main content
Question

problems with new Sonos app

The new Sonas app is awful. It typically will not connect to music even when the music is playing, hence I cannot switch the music of,

but worst problem is trying to control the volumes of the various sonas speakers. Even when I adjust the volume in the app it mysteriously changes itself back to the other setting.

trying to adjust volumes is almost impossible and VERY VERY frustrating.

fthis app should not have been released in such a dismal and poor state. It really damages Sonas reputation and brand.

when will these problems be fixed..?

373 replies

L
Userlevel 2

SONOS Team,

I’m writing to urgently address the significant issues with the latest SONOS app update, as detailed in this blog.

The current app is terrible and it’s crucial for the company to respond promptly to these concerns. If these problems are not resolved quickly, you risk losing once-loyal customers, including myself. The lack of action on these issues is already generating negative social media buzz, which could further damage SONOS's reputation. It is imperative that you take immediate steps to rectify these problems.

I look forward to your prompt response and resolution.

 

After 3 weeks of essentially inaction, why do you think your urgent message demanding immediate action will have any impact?  Nobody is listening. Sonos has its timetable and its update strategy.  Nothing you say or do will influence their course of action or inaction. 
 

I feel compelled to keep pushing even though I believe you are right. 
W
Userlevel 1

“Hey, let’s release this new app. But we don’t know if it will work. That’s OK, our loyal Sonos users will help us find all the problems.” 
 

Hard to believe the App got released in this day and age!

M
Userlevel 1
Badge

I feel that Sonos have regressed.....critical to a product is the ability to actually use it, which with the new app, renders it useless....user experience is shockingly poor for a premium brand....I've been a loyal customer for upwards of 10 years, if they don't act soon, I'm looking elsewhere.....It was my son's b'day yesterday & I literally couldn't control anything at his party.....bring back the previous version ASAP, it don't care about how slick the new one may look.....I've lost all of my playlists, have no visibility of my personal Mixcloud playlists built over years, Soundcloud playlists have now been capped at 15 mixes, what's going on ?.....a great lesson in how to maximise brand damage in record time....

K
Userlevel 2
Badge

I found this on the web- link below. (Not scam, googled Sonos problems with app) whether the changes have been applied im not sure as not used the two fixed features. My main issues with the app continue to happen. Seems that Sonos is working on the app… 

https://techissuestoday.com/sonos-responds-to-app-update-backlash-with-fixes-workarounds/

M
Userlevel 1
Badge

Thanks for sharing....i still have the same issues.....absutely nothing so far mentioned by Sonos on supported apps, such as Mixcloud & Soundcloud ?.....as I type this now, I'm trying to play a Mixcloud playlist from my daily feed, it instead plays something completely different ?..... I can't even turn the volume up!

B

Can’t queue tracks, can’t browse artists and add tracks to a queue, can only load one track from an artist top songs not the whole playlist……complete joke to launch a app thats sub standard and the. Say online it will be updated in weeks to come……..go back to old app now ! 

K
Userlevel 2
Badge

Thanks for sharing....i still have the same issues.....absutely nothing so far mentioned by Sonos on supported apps, such as Mixcloud & Soundcloud ?.....as I type this now, I'm trying to play a Mixcloud playlist from my daily feed, it instead plays something completely different ?..... I can't even turn the volume up!

Similar here. After a few dabs on my phone I can adjust the volume on both speakers (third is completely off and not connecting) My favourite stations won’t play. Actually, hardly anything will play. Not usedMixcloud or Sound but Spotify actually works! 
this whole situation seems absurdly bizarre. Unlikely that Sonos is conspiring to p!ss off all their customers and I’m hoping this app revision will eventually get fixed and it’ll be at least as good as the old version. (she types whilst a brand new Tribit Bluetooth speaker is charging ;))

E

They make good speakers…and that is about it.  The app is dreadful, rendering the speaking useless since I simply cannot play music out of them.  To anyone considering buying Sonos speakers…Don’t!  
the customer service is awful and the user interface has always been plagued with issues.  Unfortunately I wish I had never invested in their products.  

M
Userlevel 2

New app is unfit for purpose. The entire system is now unusable. Sonos need to fix this otherwise the game is up! 
 

FIX THIS NOW!

M
Userlevel 1
Badge

Whilst the situation presented to us all is unacceptable & Sonos need to address with urgency, I'm relieved this is a problem shared....I hope Sonos are reading this, are customer centric & do the right thing.....am currently reviewing other brands should Sonos not act....

M
Userlevel 2

Can’t even reinstall the old (working) App. 🤷🏼‍♂️

K
Userlevel 2
Badge

Can’t even reinstall the old (working) App. 🤷🏼‍♂️

I can’t either. iPhone version of the app doesn’t seem to work. Tried doing it on my windows laptop too with no joy so far. >:o

M

My Sonos needs have never been complex. I have a NAS with over 1000 cd’s all ripped to FLAC which I play usually every day. I bought Sonos as it was at the time slick and easy to use. Somehow ,Sonos with this so called update, have totally screwed up. I can no longer search my NAS or update with new music, the volume control is useless as it’s hideously slow and all my playlists have disappeared. For the  first time in my long IT career I’ve witnessed an update that takes out a working piece of software and does not improve or replace it. The arrogance of the Sonos hierarchy defies belief. What on earth were they thinking allowing this piece of rubbish to be issued. The cure for me? I’m lucky enough to have a MacBook Air with the old and working software on it. I’ve bought from the App Store SONOPHONE ,which took about 10 seconds to get working and it does the job very well. I can access all that I need including my NAS and Spotify, and it does it very rapidly. Incidentally it is only 10MB in size compared to the Sonos app which is about 175MB. It’ll do until I decide what to replace the Sonos with. 

K
Userlevel 2
Badge

Is the Sonophone free for you good people? My App Store wants £2.99 for it. 

A
Userlevel 1

It's not free.

It works!

It's very welcome.

 

 

Bumper

Is the Sonophone free for you good people? My App Store wants £2.99 for it. 

It is not free, paid $2.99

M
Userlevel 1
Badge

It's a sad day when loyal customers have to find workarounds to use a product....Hopefully Sonos now realise they can no longer take their customer base for granted....

J

This application “update” has stripped much of the value out of the app and, as a result, much of the value out of the hardware we have spent much money acquiring. The hardware has no value without the app and the app is much degraded. It is a remarkably incompetent piece of work totally untethered from user value. Putting aside the top-heavy design that makes it very, very slow to load on Android, even when it works it has little value compared to the “old” version. My advice to Sonos: Never leave your application developers alone, unattended by adults -- they will inevitably want to change something, maybe everything, just because they can.

G

The new Sonas app is awful. It typically will not connect to music even when the music is playing, hence I cannot switch the music of,

but worst problem is trying to control the volumes of the various sonas speakers. Even when I adjust the volume in the app it mysteriously changes itself back to the other setting.

trying to adjust volumes is almost impossible and VERY VERY frustrating.

fthis app should not have been released in such a dismal and poor state. It really damages Sonas reputation and brand.

when will these problems be fixed..?

  
 

yes it's really * !!!! Terrible 

*Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.*

1

Every time I open the app , yes I can force stop it to fix but shouldn't need to !!!

+1

T
Userlevel 4
Badge

Honestly- this updated app is awful and massively frustrating. I have 4 x play ones, a beam, and era300 and a play 3. Ever since I updated the app, it doesn’t recognise which speaker is which. It also defaults to a speaker in my bedroom of which I definitely do not want: “What have you done Sonos?” - I listen to music constantly, and I loved Sonos because of the sound and usability. I absolutely hate this app. 

T
Userlevel 4
Badge

Just finished typing the above message and honestly- it’s getting worse. It’s playing in my living room but it’s saying it’s playing upstairs. The stereo pairs keep dropping. The beam is intermittent - it’s rubbish Sonos - I think you will be losing a lot of loyal clients over this app change

R
Userlevel 1

How did you roll back to the old version? I have an iPhone.
The app is a step backwards. The issues are too many to describe, and they are not cosmetic issues, but functional ones that impact its usability. Makes me wonder what quality checks were performed before releasing it.  

S

New app is non workable - what good are all these speakers we have all invested in if the controller is useless? This bonehead move by this (formerly?) great company is so disappointing. They have let down so many of us a loyal customers. Can barely get the thing to play, so life is pretty crappy at the moment. Hope it gets resolved soon - we need our music back!

B

I have to mirror the other comments, the new app is clunky and unintuitive, I don’t like how much swiping up vs tapping is required to get the systems grouped and I’m always opening the now playing window instead of swiping to see each speaker - It’s just such a strange way to do it since the old method worked perfectly and just made sense, the volume control takes more clicks to get to manage volume… It’s really shitty UX and needs to be fixed, at least give us the option to opt out of this new app while you fix these issues.

The biggest gripe I have though is it’s much more flakey and unresponsive… I don’t know what extra things this app is trying to do in the background but it’s much more unstable, I have to reboot some of my speakers because they just become unmanageable and unresponsive, they show as not having anything playing or no queue, I walk over to they and they will not even respond to the touch controls - This has never happened before and now it’s happened to multiple speakers in the last week of having this heap of s*** app… 

This kind of thing is what will make me hold off on the Ace headphones I’ve been wanting for the last few years… I’m losing faith in the company and the lack of  response to these problems doesn’t help your case.

Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.

Reply


Terms & ConditionsCookie settings