songs searched on plex are grayed out and cant be selected

Just got another pointless copy/paste email from them.

Sent angry reply and suggested they do their homework and be on their A game before my call with them on Monday.

Tech YouTubers, AV Magazines, Audio websites etc.. they all need alerting that Sonos are so poor on their customer service/fixes and all the PR crap their managers come out about fixing the app are lies. I don't know anyone who can use their system without bugs, crashes, limitations rendering the speakers pretty useless.

Yes, plex song search absolutely used to work, it’s the primary way I played songs. Used to anyway.

Before May of last year, I used to expose my library using Airsonic because it has better metadata than plex (it allows browsing by genre). The may update killed subsonic provider, it no longer shows up. So I switched to plex. Now plex is broken. This is just a dumpster fire. 😡

I agree. Just speaking to my girlfriend about how much we used Sonos before but since the update, we only use the arc as a basic sound bar and sometime ask Alex a question or to set a timer.

I would love to see the analytics of my used before and after the new app release.

Also, not sure if we should be calling it the new app release as it's been out almost a f-ing YEAR and is still broken. The app is old my tech terms 🤣

**UPDATE** 12/02/25**

So I had my call with Sonos, turns out it wasn’t a level 2 engineer i spoke to, it was a level 2 customer service rep.

He just repeated what i’d already been told. it has been escalated internally. I asked for proof/evidence of this as i don’t believe Sonos anymore. He couldn’t provide any as it has only been discussed in their daily meetings with the engineers. He said all my evidence has been sent to them but there is no date of when they would pick it up and as i am the only customer who is speaking to them pushing this issue, its low priority. If more people called them and reported it, it would become a higher priority.

I asked when will i get updates on my report, he just went silent. I said “do i have to keep calling you every week for updates?” he just kept repeating “i have raised the issue, there’s not much more i can do”.  I said “so you’re not going to track this report, you’re not going to push the engineers for updates and feed this back to me to reassure me its being dealt with and to provide an ETA for completion” … he just went silent and repeated “i have raised it, there’s nothing more i can do”.

I challenged why did they email me asking me to check if plex is accessible outside my network when i had already proven this last week and told them i do not believe they have read my report or seen my evidence. The rep said “the person who emailed me, should not have done said what they said”. i said “he’s a level 2 rep too so it doesn’t fill me with confidence you guys know what you’re doing”

I reiterated every communication/interaction with Sonos leaves me feeling less and less confident you’re interested in trying to resolve issues.

If huge issues with the app have not been resolved after almost a year, i see zero hope the search function in plex ever being fixed if i am the only person banging on their door.

PLEASE CALL SONOS AND REPORT THIS ISSUE!! :)

To end the call, i stated i wanted to start talking about Sonos purchasing my system back from me. I spent thousands of pounds on it and now its just e-waste and it’s their fault so they can give me my money back and set the thing on fire for all i care at this stage. He said if i wanted to raise this, then he will cancel the current plex complaint and i can only have 1 at a time hahahah!!!!

What an awful company Sonos is.

Oh i forgot to add, at the end of the almost 1 hour call, he asked if i would try un-pairing my sub from my Arc as that might fix the problem! I said I've already done all that stuff with the first customer service rep and it didn’t fix anything and i’m shocked that after our 1 hour call and all the evidence i have provided, the fact someone on this thread tried older version of the app and identified when the search feature broke within the app or it doesn’t matter if you’re iPhone, Android, located at all four corners of the plant, people are having this issue, you still think the issue is with MY configuration and not the absolute train wreck of an app. He just let out a sigh and said there’s nothing else he can do. I said don’t take it personally buddy, you’re trying to do your job but the company you work for suck! They created this issue then didn’t give you the training or support needed to deal with the avalanche of issues customers will throw at you.

Well this is depressing. Thanks for your continued persistence. I will try to call them again this weekend.

I am just astonished that their basic release testing process doesn't include a simple run-through of core functionality of all the integrations. Guessing that QA was among the 300 people laid off in the last year. 

Not looking like this is going to get better anytime soon 

The admitted the skipped loads of testing phases and ignored quality reports as they wanted the app launched in time for the launch of their headphones.

I said to the CS rep, they could fix all their issues in 1 click… revert back to the old app. All the problems will go away but every day that goes by is a day they’re actively choosing not to fix it out of stubbornness. 

The solution is just sitting there looking at them in the face.

Fools

I also have this problem.

Since starting using Plex 2 months ago I have NEVER been able to search and play tracks. They always appear greyed out. 

I am using the latest app on android and have over 12 speakers in our house.

I am shocked frustrated and extremely angry at the situation I find us all in. Consider this another example to add to the layers for this thread.

Please call their customer service and log this as a complaint mate.

Their customer support and engineers do not read these threads, the only way they'll escalate this is if more people phone in a log the complaint.

Reporting this right now by phoning up.

Out of interest why is this question and post considered ‘answered’.

This is by no means answered ​@Sotiris C. ?

Okay - they found the same issue you had reported and I got the same answer.

“This ticket has been associated to the same problem, and our engineers are looking into it. We don’t have an ETA for when it will be fixed”.

I also found that using the Desktop Application on either my windows and Mac machines results in the ability to play searched songs. So this is clearly something between the mobile apps (happens for me both on iPhone and android) and the speakers themselves.

Therefore we have a chance ​@NeilMc1983 if we all keep reporting in this form with diagnostics it is adding weight behind the prioritisation of getting this fixed.

Agreed buddy, the only way to get them to pull their finger out is if we phone in and log the issue.

Agreed, ​@Sotiris C. Please change the status of this until it's fixed. It's a serious issue affecting lots of users.

Same issue as everyone else in this thread. No fix in sight. It is amazing to me that a company as upscale as Sonos cannot create an app that just works.

Please call them and report the issue mate.

Just a reminder that this is still broken. It’s now April, it’s been broken since December.

in the February office hours, I brought this up and it was one of the highest voted question.  u/KiethFromSonos said: “We have an internal ticket on that exact problem. I don't have an update on when it'll be fixed but I can tell you that it has work on it as recent as 3 days ago. “

In the January office hours, u/MikeFromSonos actually suggests using Plex as a way to do audio books with Sonos! I mentioned then that it was broken, there was no response.

So 

• Sonos employees apparently use plex
• This issue is tracked and being worked on according to KeithFromSonos
• There has been no update here
• It’s still broken

Not sure what there is to do now. Keep calling them. But taking a half a year to fix such basic functionality -- and not even something that just was broken from the original “app update”, but a new bug since then -- is beyond unacceptable.

I've just emailed them again as they ignored my email from last week asking for an update.

I've just installed the latest Sonos update for the android app and Plex is still broken. Errors and greyed out songs.

I absolutely hate this company now!

Is there any way to find the personal contact details of the CEO and message him?

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

There is an email to reach the CEO on the contacts page. I wouldn’t expect that he reads them, I would bet he delegates it to someone else, and reacts to a summary. I wouldn’t expect him to email you back. 

Iirc Sonos reps commenting on this bug have said it’s low priority due to low volume of complaints. If you haven’t complained by phone or chat I encourage you to do so as it’s not clear if complaints here even get logged (I’m guessing no).