Sonos Controller Update Failed. An Unexpected Error Occurred. Please Try Again

Same Problem here both on Mac Book Pro 13-inch, 2018, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports and Imac

Unfortunately you’ll need to Uninstall and re-install the Sonos app from here: https://support.sonos.com/en-us/downloads

To Uninstall, launch the Sonos app and then choose Uninstall from the Sonos menu in the menubar.  Once uninstalled, you can install the version you downloaded from the link above.  Just choose “Join an Existing System” when you launch for the first time, and you’ll be right back where you left off.

I believe this has to do with some of the security restrictions in macOS Ventura, but that’s really for the Sonos developers to investigate.

Which, based on my conversations with Customer Support, they are both aware, and working on a fix. 

Indeed - just takes some time for them to re-engineer due to how the updater works.  They are aware, and frankly, the above workaround is pretty simple, so it’s not a catastrophic issue.

Basically, for the geeks among us, macOS Ventura doesn’t allow one app to update another, without being added to a ‘whitellist’ in System Preferences.

The problem seems to be that it’s not the Sonos app itself doing the updater, it’s a second app it downloads called “Sonos Updater” - so because it’s downloaded on-the-fly, it can’t be pre-added to the whitelist, hence you get into this catch-22 position where you can’t preauthorize the updater app the Sonos app downloads to update itself …

Not necessary to uninstall, just download the app from https://support.sonos.com/en-us/downloads as suggested above. Close current app if open. Open the .dmg downloaded and drag into applications as instructed and “replace” current app. No set up then involved.

See:

Having the same update error for past few days.

I Uninstalled the MAC OS version on my iMac, downloaded and installed.

Now the app on my iMac cannot find the Sonos network.

On the same wifi network.

Arrggghhhhh!!!

Your issue is different than those above.

And unfortunately there’s not enough information to make a real judgement about what is going on, but I’d certainly suggest trying adding an Ethernet cable between your router and one of your Sonos devices, waiting a few minutes for things to settle down, then trying again.

If that doesn’t work, please give us more information about your system. 

I updated the App via the Update function, restarted twice and then on the 3rd go it asked to Join the Existing system.

All working fine now.

 

Worked for me like a charm.

Macbook Pro Apple M2
macOS Ventura 13.0.1

I did the reinstall but checked the update available and same issue. There is still an update available, not able to install. Got a message telling me that MacOS prevented one app from updating another.

@chucklin72 Is there an update for the controller, or for your speakers?

What version of the Mac controller do you have installed? There’s often a two step process, one being the controller, the other being the software/firmware update on the speakers. 

One’s easier to “fix” than the other, but if your speakers are being blocked from reaching the update servers, we’ve been leading you down the wrong path. Probably because there’s an issue right now with updating the Mac controller, so we’ve been assuming that’s what you were running in to. 

Having the same problem on Macbook Pro and Mac Mini

exactly…….fine to do the download over the top of the old one but there are then other updates waiting and they fail exactly the same as before? so are some people missing something????????

This update problem still exists. I did the above items to do an update (to version 14.19) a month ago. Now the Sonos app is saying an update is ready, again. When I try to do it on my MacBook Pro I get the same message during the uupdate process: “Update Failed. An Unexpected Error Occurred. Please Try Again.” I am running Ventura 13.1 on my MacBook Pro.

Also, twice in the last month the Sonos app has disconnected from Apple Music, so a reconnect process must be done to access it.

What’s going on? I have had five years of reliable service from my Play 5 and two Play 1’s, using both my MacBook and iPhone or iPad Sonos apps, with no problems for months on end. Now, things are wonky. Is there a disconnect between Sonos and Apple that didn’t exist before?

Delete your install of the Sonos controller on the Mac.

Go to Sonos’ website, install the new controller from there. When prompted, “Join existing system”. 

And yes, Apple made a change to the install process (and approvals needed to run that software) and Sonos has yet to catch up with that change.

Thanks for your helpful response. 
 

I wonder why such a prominent player as Sonos would take so long to fix an annoying problem like this? Makes me feel like my question on this thread was valid. 

I want to jump in here as well. This is highly annoying. I have been replacing the app on every updated controller. I’d also like to add that I cannot see why Sonos makes it so hard to find the controller app link as well. It should have its own download page that is easy to find from the main page rather than having to navigate so deep into the site to find it. Poor form, Sonos.

I’ve had zero issues for the last three updates in using the “Check for updates….” in my Mac controller, using a 15 inch 2019 MacBook Pro, running the latest version of the OS (there’s been more than one in the time under discussion).

Yes, for several releases, Sonos didn’t work for updating properly, but that’s been resolved on my machine, so I’m not sure what issue you’re running in to. 

this doesnt work for me. even deleting and re-installing app isnt working. still always prompts to update controller and it doesnt work 

I get this issue every time there is an update. I’ve now bookmarked the downloads page since it’s so hard to find… it would help if the app was a proper Mac app rather than the multi-platform kludge it is. 

Just ran into this as well, hoped that last time was the last, but guess not...

try going to your mac system settings, privacy and security and then app management, then sonos and allow sonos installer, …...worked for me after trying loads different things

I have been uninstalling and re-installing S2 desktop app for MacBook Pro (Ventura 13.3.1). However not working with today’s update. When I try to open the newest download (Sonos_72.2-39150.dmg) or drag into Applications folder, nothing happens. Sonos & Sonos Installer are included in “app management” in system settings. Any suggestions? Thank you

I’ve not had time to test 15.3 yet on my M1 Mac. Have you tried deleting the old one, emptying the trash, then a reboot before installing (or attempting to install) the new version?