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Question

Return to S1 to avoid the new Sonos app?

  • 26 May 2024
  • 8 replies
  • 397 views

I have a Play1 stereo pair, an Era 100 stereo pair; a Play5 2nd gen stereo pair with a gen1 SUB. 

As a result of the ‘upgrade’ to the new Sonos app, I have lost virtually all familiar functions. No playlists, no saved albums, lost access to my napster streaming account. Pretty much dead in the water.

I still have a pair of Play1 speakers I stuffed in storage when I bought the Era 100 pair. 

Could I pull the Era 100 pair out of my network, reconnect the old Play1 pair and go back to the S1? I don’t use any of the buzzers and bells in S2 and sure don’t need any of the junk in the new app. No ‘alexa,’ no alarms, none of it matters to me. I just wanna play music, period; and I can tackle picking up a tablet or phone to control my playback. I do not want or need voice control.

Would I be able to revert to S1 on my tablet (which now has the new app, totally nonfunctional) and my phone (running S2, but unable to access some streaming content, and unable to change system settings)?

Since Sonos seems unable to restore basic functionality to my system, I’d be happy if this would be a solution.

Has anyone tried to go back to S1 and had success?

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8 replies

N
Userlevel 5
Badge +10

I have a Boost two Play5 2nd Gen and seven Play 1 and a Connect 2nd Gen and reverted them all to S1 last week. I have a Roam which I will now just use as a Bluetooth speaker with my phone - this cannot use S1.

I don't stream anything other than radio and all my music is on my library (external HDD connected to router).

 

Using the S2 app you can downgrade each speaker one at a time by hard resetting each unit and then add it to the S1 app. I had some issues which were cured by hard wiring one or two of the speakers to the router.

You get a nag for a while about upgrading to S2 but this goes away after opening the App a number of times.

The Windows version of S1 can be sourced on the Sonos Website.

I turned of Automatic Updates on the App, Play Store and Windows and added these to my URL Blacklist on my Routers Firewall:

update.sonos.com

update-firmware.sonos.com

busy trying to edit the queue
C
Userlevel 6
Badge +6

Thanks. When I’m feeling motivated and like adventuring into techdom, I’ll give this a shot. I hope it works!

Sonos sold their system as digital music for dummies… a truly plug and play system. It basically was as advertised until this latest fiasco. I hadn’t anticipated having to go back to square one in an effort to defeat sonos ‘upgrades,’ but it seems that may be the only solution.

It’s still incomprehensible that sonos would unleash this ‘update’ on sonos users without making absolutely certain it would be seamless; or at least providing simple workarounds for those who experience problems. 

rvk
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

I turned of Automatic Updates on the App, Play Store and Windows and added these to my URL Blacklist on my Routers Firewall:

update.sonos.com

update-firmware.sonos.com

Which version of the App did you use for downgrading? Android? The 16.1?

The newer v80 app doesn’t include downgrading.

And the Android 16.1 version asks to be updated before trying the downgrade.

 

So did you block those domains before trying to downgrade?

I tried to block update.sonos.com but that doesn't work, it complains that it can’t check for new version.

 

C
Userlevel 6
Badge +6

Thankfully I still have sonos OS version 16.1 on my iphone, which did not auto-update. I suppose if I’d updated, I’d be screwed and could not turn back.

It does strike me as odd — and more than a little annoying — that because sonos has tried to cram its new app down our throats, I may have to ditch the new Era 100 stereo pair I bought for my kitchen recently and revert to my old gen 1 Play1 pair so I will be able to roll back to the S1 app… all so I can simply have the basic functionality I had before this whole unnecessary mess began.

This is one of the most flagrant customer relations eff ups in recent history. Reading the arrogant responses to customer complaints issuing from sonos upper management just made my blood boil.

rvk
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

They probably laid off some key people in the development department during the last two rounds of layoffs (2022/2023). And believe me, that can really matter.

With the new app they are going a way which I really don’t like. Easy (portable and crippled) app and everything online. Especially the fact that everything goes through the internet now (including volume?) is reason for me to try to go back to S1. Just basic local access. And no new SONOS devices for me. I only have two Play:3 (which run fine in legacy mode) so I’m ‘lucky’. Others are far more entangled into the Sonos eco-system and can’t downgrade.

I hope downgrade becomes possible again in the new app. Otherwise, people with legacy products can’t even buy second hand devices to include in their network (which is now blocked at the moment).

C
Userlevel 6
Badge +6

Indeed, this pretty much kills my interest in sonos going forward. I’ve been looking at more ‘audiophile’ oriented alternatives (KEF, B&W, Arcam, Cambridge Audio, NAD and so on) that don’t rely on a closed system and that will deliver considerably better sound. Pricier no doubt, but my sonos investment hasn’t been much less and it has turned out to be a dead end.

It appears that in short order sonos management will turn powered speakers that cost me a few thousand bucks into expensive doorstops. Unless I’m given good reason to believe otherwise, my decade long allegiance to sonos will be over.

I’m probably just one of thousands or tens of thousands of soon to be former sonos clients who have reached the same conclusion. It was fun while it lasted.

TadM
Badge

I turned of Automatic Updates on the App, Play Store and Windows and added these to my URL Blacklist on my Routers Firewall:

update.sonos.com

update-firmware.sonos.com

Which version of the App did you use for downgrading? Android? The 16.1?

The newer v80 app doesn’t include downgrading.

And the Android 16.1 version asks to be updated before trying the downgrade.

 

So did you block those domains before trying to downgrade?

I tried to block update.sonos.com but that doesn't work, it complains that it can’t check for new version.

 

I have the same irritating issue: Android S2 16.1 won't let me get past updating the app to the dreaded v80 first, when trying to downgrade a brand new Port to S1. Blocking the domains just returns that Sonos can't check for updates.

 

So, I have a very expensive door stop for now. Caveat Emptor!

C
Userlevel 6
Badge +6

Yet Sonos keeps bombarding my inbox and social media feed with their sales pitch for expensive headphones. Fat chance I’ll spend another dime on Sonos products unless this mess is straightened out fast.

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