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Sonos Favorites in the new app

  • 18 May 2024
  • 7 replies
  • 1056 views

I'm curious what others feel about Sonos favorites in the new (v80) app. I'm sure people have provided feedback previously but a lot of this feedback is probably buried in the massive general feedback threads. I think it would be interesting to have a dedicated thread on Sonos favorites. Please add your thoughts.

Here are my thoughts...

I'm not particularly fond of the way favorites has been implemented in the new app. In the old (v16) app different favorite sections were placed on the My Sonos tab and if I remember correctly I could re-arrange the order of the different sections to my personal preference. In the new app its not possible to arrange the order of favorite sections within the main favorites screen, and the favorites we see on the home screen are not under our control. It seems to me that recently added favorites are shown on the home screen. This isn't the favorites section that I want on the home screen, and so for me is just a waste of space, even more so since it occupies two rows instead of one.

Here are my suggestions for favorites….

1. On the Home screen, the link to the main Sonos Favorites page should just be a simple small link (like the link to Music library). It does not need to be accompanied by 2 rows of recently added favourites beneath it (or anything Sonos assumes we want to see). Those who do want to see recently added favorites on their home screen could be catered for by implementing suggestion # 2 below.

2. We should be able to pin favourite sections to the home screen, so if I want to see my favourite stations, albums (or whatever) on the home screen I could and I would have control over which sections are added. Those who want to see recently added favorites on the home screen could obviously choose to pin that section. 

3. We should be able to re-arrange the order of the sections within the favorites screen (like we can re-arrange the order of sections on the home screen). Although for me the need for this would be lessened if we could pin favorite sections to the home screen as per suggestion 2.

7 replies

A
Userlevel 1

Absolute rubbish that you can't change the order of favourites. Even having them in alphabetical order as before was better than having them in (I think) order added. The only way to reorder seems to be to delete them, then re-add in the opposite order of the order you want. Really hard to see how anyone thought this was a good idea.

Also, they seem to be shown in rows of 3. Fine on a phone, but not on an ipad, where 2/3 of the screen width is wasted.

O
Userlevel 6
Badge +8

Absolute rubbish that you can't change the order of favourites. Even having them in alphabetical order as before was better than having them in (I think) order added. The only way to reorder seems to be to delete them, then re-add in the opposite order of the order you want. Really hard to see how anyone thought this was a good idea.

Also, they seem to be shown in rows of 3. Fine on a phone, but not on an ipad, where 2/3 of the screen width is wasted.

They’re in alphabetical order when you browse inside favourite subsection lists, e.g. Sonos Favourites View All > Stations View All (at least they are for me). However I think you’re right that the shortcuts on homescreen and on top level favourites screen are presented in reverse date added order. I also dislike this and I’d probably most like those top level shortcuts to be in recently played order. But if we could pin the favourites subsections to the homescreen (suggestion 2 in OP) we’d only be one tap away from alphabetical lists regardless of how Sonos orders the shortcuts.  

D
Userlevel 4
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1. On the Home screen, the link to the main Sonos Favorites page should just be a simple small link (like the link to Music library). It does not need to be accompanied by 2 rows of recently added favorites beneath it (or anything Sonos assumes we want to see). Those who do want to see recently added favorites on their home screen could be catered for by implementing suggestion # 2 below.

 

I agree as in “who cares what SONOS thinks my favorites are”. After all, I am a human with a brain and can define my own favorites. In fact, I have denied SONOS from collecting my usage data for exactly that reason. It is simply not up to SONOS to look into my bedroom and living room and track how and when I use the hardware I have purchased.

So I do not need the SONOS favorites and would gladly get rid of them in my UI via a configuration switch.

 

2. We should be able to pin favourite sections to the home screen, so if I want to see my favorite stations, albums (or whatever) on the home screen I could and I would have control over which sections are added. Those who want to see recently added favorites on the home screen could obviously choose to pin that section.

 

I agree as well. I want to be able to setup my screen and that setup has to stay that way until I tell the system to change it. Personally, I do navigate the UI by pattern. When ever graphics / pattern changes, I do have to change my navigational behavior. And for me the SONOS app is simply an extension to a physical hardware. I must be able to use this blindly with my muscle memory. Having SONOS toss the UI around now and then trying to sell me different artists (products of the media industry) messes this up extremely. Again, a good reason for me why I have disabled the SONOS “snoop my usage data” function.

 

 

 

 

E
Userlevel 2
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Like you, I’m disgusted by the new app.  I have two android phones and after uninstalling the new app on both, I keep one of them on the old app, and the other on the new one for comparison purposes. I agree with your assessment of the new Favorites home screen.  It doesn’t have the ability to move preferred sections like the My Sonos home screen could do under “Edit My Sonos.”  

The new app’s Favorites doesn’t allow editing of the layout, and in my case it puts “Recently Added” at the top, followed by Playlists,  Albums, and Stations.

I listen to a lot of radio stations.  As a result, I used the “Edit My Sonos” function to contour my preferences, and put stations at the top.

My phone with the old app has “Recently Played” at the top, followed by Stations, Albums, Playlists, and Sonos Radio Favorites.  This is how I like it and how I use Sonos.  

Particularly annoying is how the new “Stations” section compares to the old one.  I can’t discern how it sorts my saved stations.  It’s not alpha/numeric.  It’s not by date added.  I just cannot understand what it’s doing. 

The old app displays all 63 of my saved stations.  The new app displays about half greyed out, meaning they’re inaccessible.  

The old app displays station titles in alpha/numeric order, AND it allowed editing of individual names so that I could group them.  (for example, Jazz - WGBH Boston, Rock- WBRU Providence, Classical - ABC Sydney)  The new app doesn’t allow editing of names, and the sort order is a hot mess.

I would LOVE to give feedback to Sonos on comparing both apps’ radio station functionality,  but I can only guess how much blowback they’re getting from people who are upset about sleep timers, etc.

U

this new app SUCKS.  I work in UX and this is insane.  it was never perfect before but this is ridiculous,  for some reason, the radio stations I listen to constantly have disappeared.  I still don’t understand how I  can click on a speaker (I have several) and then choose what I want to hear on it, as I always have.  this seems so clunky and time consuming to listen now.  ????

W

I use with Crestron interface. In addition to breaking the Tunein link the ability not display stations in my preferred order is infuriating. 

V
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In the Windows interface you can manage the list by renaming or numbering however it doesn’t appear to affect the phone’s list.

Audio Video Professional

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