Sonos app update disaster recovery game plan

Perhaps you’ve seen this FAQ article?

My understanding is that the FAQ article will be updated as needed.

Thanks. I’ve seen the FAQ article. Unfortunately, neither it nor the most recent Sonos app update have resolved any of the issues I listed.

In the mean time try a third party app like SonoPhone or cast music service app by airplay or Spotify connect. I know it’s not the answer you want but it’s what we got. 

wow sonos beta testing with the public again veryvery bad idea was gonna buy 2x new headphones holding off or going apple

Your choices of action are limited in reality. 

1. Use an alternative controller app. 

2. Accept the current app with its limitations.  Wait for fixes. 

3. Stop using Sonos 

Other suggested actions (eg. Class actions, mass mailings of Sonos employees, etc) . are unlikely to prove effective

8 devices, now none working. What a shambles. Absolute disgrace. Premium product not now. Sort it Sonos.

Sonos is has been stated to be an excellent company. Apparently the company is not as good as everyone thought. They can’t ignore the app’s problems. They should make the last controller app available until they fix the new one which is almost worthless.

App is still a disaster.  I’ve got 18 Sonos devices in my house and at all points during the day some of the speakers aren’t playing yet they show they are connected. Started having the connection issues like everyone else right whe I downloaded the new app. They should have just reposted the old app and scrap this one till it’s properly tested.  We all know this is the company that took about 3 years for the loud pop during Dolby atmos playing on a $800 Arc to finally get fixed. Which is embarrassing to the highest level. 

The hardware is excellent and they ruin it with their app. I got a restaurant full of Sonos, app takes ages to connect and then if u wanna change volumes it doesn’t “listen” even if u want to change equalizer settings or change songs. The funny thing is that the first two weeks the new app worked well and I was happy. Then it’s a Mistery what happened and they always reply the same like a robot : disconnect your speakers, check your WiFi … that’s so laughable shit. I installed a last generation mesh months ago so there is plenty of bandwidth in every corner. Who do they take us for ? What an arrogance. Anyone can suggest an alternative ? Bose ?

I don't trust Sonos to fix your problems any time soon, despite their promise to repair some of what they broke by mid-June. So to solve your playlist issues (the same happened to me) I strongly recommend getting Roon. It's a music manager that does what Sonos used to do and more. It will even automatically create a playlist while you're listening, based on the first song you play. It pulls songs of a similar style from your library. Later, you can edit the queue to add, delete or move songs around.  There is a 14-day free trial then it's about $15 a month and you can cancel when you like. That should tide you over until Sonos fixes things... if they ever do!

Useless, totally useless 

Thanks JohnKeating for the Roon suggestion. I will have a look and give it a try. In the meantime, I note that Sonos has released two updates to its badly flawed major app overhaul rollout, neither of which has done anything to resolve the three main flaws I outlined in my previous post. Neither update has changed or improved anything at all, as far as I can see. Long past time to activate Plan B: exit the Sonos environment and leave no forwarding address.

You need a reasonable spec. PC to run the Roon server (windows or Linux).  A preconfigured server (Roon's Nucleus One costs $450) - it's a 1ft square box! 

Is it just me or have the three most recent updates to the seriously flawed Sonos app retooling changed nothing of consequence. These three critical errors remain unresolved:

•it cannot find any of the playlists I trusted it to store for me over the past five years;

•it offers no way to create new playlists;

•it offers no way to save queues to make new playlists, although at this point the thought of investing time to create a new playlist that likely will be lost is too frustrating to contemplate.

Is anyone at Sonos listening? Is anyone home? Does anyone care?

Just tried app again after few days away . Omg this time started ok then volume control did its own thing and then couldn’t switch off sound at all without unplugging . No point in getting angry with you girls and guys at Sonus you already know you have failed big time BUT will you stop sending me marketing bumf for your cans and speakers it really rubs salt into the wounds 

Again, Sonos and its IT team have combined to deliver an update that renders the Sonos app functionally useless.

•It cannot find playlists that once-faithful users have spent years creating;

•It offers no way to create new playlists;

*It offers no way to save song queues as new playlists; and

*While it allows users to save songs to Sonos Favorites, the collection of favourites can only be played one song at a time.

So, what is the point of trying to use the app? To be fair, it does excel at two things: frustrating users and wasting their time.

Meanwhile, there is no indication from the Sonos braintrust that any of the app’s shortcomings will be fixed anytime soon.

The last time I spent 90 minutes waiting to chat with a Sonos tech person, I was told an update would address the problems I outlined. But no details on when; no details on which would be addressed first; no explanation as to how a much-ballyhooed major app update could swing and miss so badly.

This is like dealing with a tone-deaf  government bureaucracy when things go wrong: mistakes were made but no one is to blame.

And the taxpayer is stuck with the bill and handed a broom and dustpan to clean up the mess.

Totally agree, what a joke with this new app!! 

I note that the Sonos robot keeps advising anyone who has not replaced their app with the new monumentally flawed Sonos update to do so now or risk losing some of their operational features.

Were there any truth in advertising, the update prompt would require notifications along these lines:

Sonos advises its customer base to update now to the new super great Sonos app.

With it, subscribers and Sonos customers will:

•lose connection with all their playlists compiled over months and years of use;

•lose the ability to create new playlists;

*lose the ability to save imported queues as new playlists;

*lose the ability do anything of value aside from add songs to Sonos Favorites, which it turns out can be played only one song at a time; and

*lose any reliable connection to whatever Sonos features that have been left standing.

In short, you will have a new, updated and virtually useless Sonos app with next to no redeeming qualities, thereby devaluing all your investments in Sonos hardware.

So, what are you waiting for?

Act now, and replace your working Sonos app with one that has none of the features that make your current Sonos app a useful and versatile music collection, co-ordination and collaboration technology.

Cheers and hugs from

Your inaccessible, unavailable and unaccountable Sonos management and IT Team.

¾ of the time, the new app won’t even let us play the music we want - it defaults to algorithmic lists that we actively do not want to hear. The play & pause buttons, and playing and paused states, are inconsistent. It’s slow as hell. I’ve contacted sonos support multiple times and received no assistance whatsoever.

I’m going to be unplugging all my sonos speakers this week and boxing them up until Sonos rolls back the app update and gives us something usable again. I’ll be switching to something else, probably Denon.

Hi @somanyrobots, I feel your frustration! I looked into Denon HEOS last year and my research left me with a strong sense of déjà vu: fabulous hardware that depends on a vendor-specific app. I also discovered that Denon is owned by private equity, and they’re not exactly known for long term customer-centric thinking. Just sharing my two bits so you don’t end up jumping from this frying pan into, well, a different frying pan.

For your consideration: look at something like the WiiM devices for wireless functionality paired with high-quality non-wireless speakers.

I thought perhaps I am outlier: a single disgruntled user.  But I see now, even the New York Times advises avoiding the App.  The actual recommendation is do not update.  To late in my case.

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/sonos-player/

I note that Sonos keeps issuing updates to its fundamentally flawed app overhaul, but none of the updates has resolved any of its major failings, such as:

•the app’s inability to find any of the playlists created using the previous version;

•the absence of an option to create new playlists; 

•the absence of an option to save a song queue as a new playlist; and

•a Sonos favourites option that creates an archive of favourites that cannot be played as a list.

What is the point of issuing updates that do not address these fundamental flaws?

It is a question asked by the greatest philosophers of our time. It may be that, like the mysteries of the deep universe, it is simply beyond our earthly understanding.

By now, the odds of Sonos fixing any of the major flaws in its new app are slim and none.

The company apparently does not care that users cannot retrieve all the playlists lost when they trusted Sonos hype and updated to the Black Sonos app. Neither does its IT brain trust appear to think it is important for users to be able to create new playlists with Black Sonos.

So, it is time to enter the Sonos departure lounge and switch to reliable alternatives.

Aside from investing in Apple HomePod technology, what are some of the best Sonos options?

Some people have so little patience these days.

I get it’s frustrating, but to just jack it all in?