Same issue here.

I can look for artists on the App, but each time I try to search on stations or podcasts, the sonos s1 app crashes.

Fortunately, I can do the same from the Mac OS app, but this is a really expensive system that should not have this kind of problems

Hi folks,

Thank you for reaching us in the Sonos Community. We appreciate for letting us know about your concern. Your feedback is important to us.

In this specific scenario, we are still awaiting an update from our engineers for the development but as of this writing, we haven't received any to share with you. Please bear with us while our team is working towards a resolution for this.

You can do the following options:
1. Use an iOS controller to perform the desired action - if available.
2. Browse or Search for the respective content without using either the "Podcasts & Shows" or "Stations" filter.

If you need help with any other information, please be sure to let us know.

The Sonos Community is always here to help.
​

I have the same issue on my Galaxy S9+ -- immediate crash upon initiating a search.  Pending an update/fix from Sonos, Is there some website where an earlier version of the Sonos controller is available?  Thanks

Note to group: 

Older versions of the S1 Controller can be found here:

https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/sonos-inc/

I installed a version from August and search works … 

How much longer am I expected to wait for an update to solve this problem? Most of us have spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars for your equipment. This problem has been ongoing for over 6 weeks. The solution of upgrading to S2 compatible equipment is unacceptable. Please advise.

I tried that and the old app won't let you proceed without updating to the new version. 

Is someone from Sonos gonna reply to this? Can I get a response please?

Same here. App S1 crashes when searching stations. Can't Update to S2 because I use two Play:5 speakers.

Hi folks,

Thank you for reaching out to the Sonos community. 

We really appreciate your time and effort in working on this. I understand that an issue must be resolved as soon as possible. In this specific scenario, we are still awaiting an update from our engineers for the development but as of this writing, we haven't received any.

Our engineers are actively working to resolve this. Please bear with us while our team is working towards a resolution. It will be resolved in a future software update but we don't have any time frames to share right now. 

If you need help with any other information, please feel free to reach out. The Sonos community is always here to help.

It’s almost like the corporate strategy is to make legacy owners get fed up with their perfectly working home set-up and buy wholly un-necessary expensive upgrades that offer nothing new in functionality in any way whatsoever except allowing Dolby Atmos on the Arc sound bar.

Well that just isn’t happening and it is an obvious nonsense that a system with a technical bolt-on just isn’t possible within a networked infrastructure; that is quite clearly aggressively obtuse software design to force obsolescence.

The fact that even the older kit can handle FLAC means that it’s not a bandwidth issue.  I have yet to see *any* explanation that can account for the in-abilty for existing Sonos satellite speakers to not receive the decoded Dolby Atmos surround audio as they currently do with Dolby DTS.  DTS even has a higher potential bit rate than Atmos so it’s certainly not a processing restriction.  The Sonos soundbars decode the codec at source and then send what is left onwards to surrounds in a current Sonos 5.1 set-up, the satellite speakers just receive what they need.  I can currently stream to 8 simultaneous devices around my home without a problem and yet a Dolby Atmos 7.1 can’t be done on the existing system without junking half of it?  Give me a break.

None of the dual app smokescreen that is being pointlessly foist upon us is of any use to customer satisfaction or can possibly serve to keep previously happy investors in home systems investing any further in a willingly future-disproved system.

Please, please explain it to us.  Be as technical as you can or need to be.  Persuade me and I’ll be gladly evangelical as to the new way; I shall shout it with great gladness from every peak and rooftop.  Until then, you just are not going to get any more money out of us.

Hi @Earquake, thanks for sharing this with us. We truly value your feedback and we’re sorry your experience didn’t match your expectations.

Most Sonos products are compatible with S2. Some of our oldest products (previously referred to as “legacy” products) will not support the advances of S2 due to their memory and processing power. If you own any of these products, You can still use older products with the S1 Controller app. The S1 Controller app will receive bug fixes and security patches, but it will not receive future software features.

Streaming with Sonos requires a stable internet connection to be able to communicate to the music service cloud to play with your Sonos speakers. If the system requirements will not be met, audio interruptions may be experienced.

Updating the Sonos software will provide an opportunity to download and install new updates, and bug fixes in the system to work with other applications and 3rd party devices connected to Sonos. It will not only fix bugs in the system but it will also give away for feature enhancements and future development. We will continue to provide technical support for our older products.

Sonos Arc is the next-generation of home theater products in our line-up, bringing an immersive and 3D sound experience with Dolby Atmos, and powered by the new Sonos S2 platform. Arc features 6 front-firing woofers, 2 up-firing woofers, and 3 tweeters for a total of 11 speakers, which use enhanced Trueplay and vertical channels to bring cinema-quality sound into your home. You can also enjoy listening to your music in this setup. Adding surrounds and Sub will create a more realistic sound effect.

The Arc itself is a 5.0.2 soundbar. A 5.1 setup with surround speakers and sub would be a 5.1.2 system. It supports the latest high-bitrate audio formats up to 192kHZ, 24-bit, uncompressed 5.1 and 7.1, and 32-channel uncompressed audio. With HDMI eARC it supports the latest, high-bitrate home theater audio formats such as Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital Plus, and Dolby TrueHD.

If you need help with any other information, please feel free to reach out. The Sonos community is always here to help.

Thank you for engaging Rowena.  I appreciate that your hands are tied and that you certainly wouldn’t be allowed to venture an opinion on what I posited above as to currently nefarious corporate designs.

Whilst you have helpfully laid out what the Arc soundbar is technically capable of, it doesn’t negate my assertions that even Sonos legacy products, long capable of processing larger FLAC lossless sized audio, *could* work with it.  I would delight in a chin wag with a Sonos engineer who might give an exacting answer, and I’m sure many others might find it absorbing.   If this question could be tackled it would be an enlightening start:

The Arc does the heavy lifting regarding the processing and decoding of the HDMI sent Dolby encoded audio packet, the satellite Sonos devices don’t need to process 32 channels of anything, they just receive the one discreet channel they need to play out in their assigned position.  Why does that suddenly cause an unmanageable bandwidth of data in the satellite positions?  I just can’t see it.  It is also not what Atmos is about.

In the same way that THX was only ever really an accreditation of recessed into a wall speaker design and base level of quality, Dolby Atmos is only really down to creating height visualisation.  This is achieved in cinemas with ceiling mounted speakers and mimicked in home set-ups with upwards firing tweeters.  It’s not about bandwith, or processing power, it is about intended effect and seeing as for over three years now since update 7.2 all Sonos has been able to play 24bit/48k FLAC and downsample on the fly, and domestic Atmos 24b/48k signals (which most are) just aren’t going to crack that, I still can’t grasp why it’s being proposed that swathes of the system need to be replaced.

Sorry for waffling on.  I really am interested.

I have only just come across this issue and it is a real pain, I just wanted to put on a podcast before going to sleep last night and ended up fighting with the system and the app to no avail.

“”1. Use an iOS controller to perform the desired action - if available.

2. Browse or Search for the respective content without using either the "Podcasts & Shows" or "Stations" filter.””

I do not have an iOS device and step 2 did not help me.  I even added the podcast I wanted to a playlist so that I could easily browse to it but playback was ‘denied’ and the podcast was greyed out.

I also tried playing directly from the Spotify app using ‘available devices’ but every Sonos device is greyed out and says ‘Can’t play this right now’

I could split my system into 2 and use S2 but the single legacy Sonos device I have is in my bedroom which is where I wanted to listen.

Hmmmmmm, just tried a different podcast and it worked - are some podcasts just not allowed on Sonos?

Either way, the app crashing is a real pain.

Depending where you are you may get different results.  If you’re in the UK then the TuneIn service went as good as useless except for BBC channels after a copyright law suit was thrown on them last year so much of their content has gone.  Switch your searches to be via “myTuner Radio” instead and that will open up the list again.

If you can do it via the PC app you may find it the easiest way to do it.

I hope that solves at least part of the problem.

Hi folks, 

Thank you for reaching out to the Sonos community. 

We really appreciate your time and effort in working on this. I understand that an issue must be resolved as soon as possible. In this specific scenario, we are still awaiting an update from our engineers for the development but as of this writing, we haven't received any.

Our engineers are actively working to resolve this. Please bear with us while our team is working towards a resolution. It will be resolved in a future software update but we don't have any time frames to share right now. 

If you need help with any other information, please feel free to reach out. The Sonos community is always here to help.

Thanks Echas1000 for the link

It s fixed for me with an older Version of S1. 

I have had the same issue for several months now. The app crashes whenever I search Playlists, Genres, or Podcasts & Shows. It does not seem to crash when I search Artists, Songs, or Albums. But I search Playlists often, so this is a huge problem. I have a Samsung S10 with Android 10. I have Sonos S1 version 11.2.3. Upgrading to S2 is not an option as the Sonos system I have is not compatible.

Thanks Echas! I uninstalled 11.2.3 and installed 11.2.2 from the link above. Search works great now. Hint: Disable automatic system updates in Sonos Settings.

@Rowena B.

Hi - it’s been more than a month since I originally posted this, and I see there’s been zero progress, which is very disappointing.  It’s Christmas season.  Every year I get 2-3 friends who call or text with “you’ve got a sonos speaker - are they any good”.  And I always explain the system and give it a thumbs up - it’s very solid if not highend, but it’s so user friendly, that makes up for it.

Now, after seeing the words:

In this specific scenario, we are still awaiting an update from our engineers for the development but as of this writing, we haven't received any.

for the umpteenth time, I am just entirely frustrated - I’ve already told someone to buy a Naim Muso.  This seems to be the most simple fix on earth - someone updated an app and it glitched.  Roll back the update, and solve it in the lab before rolling out the newer app version again.  Rather than just doing whatever it is they are doing.  Is this even a priority?  Are there people actually working exclusively on this problem, or is it on the “gosh maybe look at this later” list?

Can you please provide an update which has details as to when this will be resolved?  Many thanks.

Sonos, ARE YOU THERE? ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION TO YOUR CUSTOMER BASE? WE ARE THE GROUP THAT LAUNCHED SONOS IN ITS EARLY DAYS AND NOW YOU ARE IGNORING US? NOT A VERY SOUND BUSINESS MODEL. 

Hi folks. Thanks for reaching out here in the community. I understand where you all coming from and this is being worked on by our engineers. We apologize for the inconvenience and we greatly appreciate your patience. We'll keep you posted here once an update is available for the fix using S1 app controllers.

same here - SONOS app crashes on Android when searching for radio station; no iOS available, very annoying, sent in diagnostics multiple times since 4 or 5 weeks now.  I’d be happy to listen to the radio again.  ID = 112225684

Will Sonos ever proritize this poorly functioning software?? It has been an issue for more than a month now. 

I have the same issue on 2 devices, both Android but different OS versions and different makers. One new and one old. 

I will not downgrade Sonos app as it will most likely expose security risk to my network. 

Switching to S2 will require my to spend a lot of money on hardware upgrades. If I take that step I will certainly swith to Bowers&Wilkins and avoid the Sonos support dead ends. 

Why it take so long, to fix a so evident bug ? 2 months. By experience, a so evident bug is usually fix in a couple of hours.  

We speak about 2 months for fix and publish a fix. 

We doesn’t want any new feature, just search a radio station like we do during the past years.