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Unable to downgrade sonos one (g2) to s1 compatible


I have just been hung up on by a support person whilst in the middle of an online chat.. I am losing my mind here trying to downgrade a factory reset sonos one (2nd gen) to use with my existing s1 system. I already have one of these speakers on the system but it won’t let me add this one.. This article https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/downgrade-a-sonos-product-to-s1 keeps refers to things which just don’t appear as options anymore. I have tried ‘adding a missing product’ I have tried for hours to downgrade the speaker but it just doesn’t seen possible. Please help

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I would like to be notified when downgrading to S1 is available in the app again. Our office has a number of Sonos speakers and a Connect, all bought around the same time. But for some reason, half the devices cannot be upgraded to s2 and half can. I’d like to downgrade everything back to s1 to be on a single network again. 

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Returned the new Amp (S2) I bought, to connect floor speakers to TV. Was going to get a Sonos sub, too. For those thinking they still want to upgrade S1 to S2 if they can, check out the Sonos APP reviews on APP store or google play. It is eye opening. All reviews one star for the past two months. Scroll through hundreds of different issues, from the May 7  “ completely new from the ground up” APP. It is unprecedented. 10 weeks, and no fix of connectivity issues. Might happen, got my money back, just in case, as tech support is not reassuring, just acknowledging there is currently no fix. I will move forward with a different brand TV sound system. Keep my 3 Play 5 gen2 speakers, isolated, no updates. Adios.

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Returned the new Amp (S2) I bought, to connect floor speakers to TV. Was going to get a Sonos sub, too. For those thinking they still want to upgrade S1 to S2 if they can, check out the Sonos APP reviews on APP store or google play. It is eye opening. All reviews one star for the past two months. Scroll through hundreds of different issues, from the May 7  “ completely new from the ground up” APP. It is unprecedented. 10 weeks, and no fix of connectivity issues. Might happen, got my money back, just in case, as tech support is not reassuring, just acknowledging there is currently no fix. I will move forward with a different brand TV sound system. Keep my 3 Play 5 gen2 speakers, isolated, no updates. Adios.

I did buy a Denon’s home 150 for in the kitchen and it sounds incredible, much better as a Sonos one. Only downside is that there is nu Google Assistant. I’m thinking to replace all my speakers if they don’t make it possible to downgrade. 

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Was thinking of buing a new Sonos unit to my “old” (S1) system and find this. This company is really an amazing one. Things like this keeps on happening, it never ends.

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Was thinking of buing a new Sonos unit to my “old” (S1) system and find this. This company is really an amazing one. Things like this keeps on happening, it never ends.

I not gonna buy anything from Sonos until they make the backward compatible option possible again. My brother works at a really big retailer and Sonos was one of the top brands they sell, but not anymore. People ain’t buying it cos of this problem and Denon sells like crazy at the moment.  

I have been trying for over a week. I can't even chat as they seem your question and never answer.

It appears downgrading means having to connect to Sonos to download the S1 firmware onto the speaker/device.

I tried with older s2 android apps and when you get the point of downgrading it insists you have to upgrade to latest app. (Now called just Sonos)

It's the firmware in the speaker that needs downgrading not just the app?

Very po'd with Sonos right now seeing as this is all because it seemed to upgrade my speaker by itself?!

I have spent enough money on my system. I'm not buying more. And whole selling point was it being future proof.

I can't even cast to it using bubbleupnp!!

Dan 

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I have been trying for over a week. I can't even chat as they seem your question and never answer.

It appears downgrading means having to connect to Sonos to download the S1 firmware onto the speaker/device.

I tried with older s2 android apps and when you get the point of downgrading it insists you have to upgrade to latest app. (Now called just Sonos)

It's the firmware in the speaker that needs downgrading not just the app?

Very po'd with Sonos right now seeing as this is all because it seemed to upgrade my speaker by itself?!

I have spent enough money on my system. I'm not buying more. And whole selling point was it being future proof.

I can't even cast to it using bubbleupnp!!

Dan 

I did mail the CEO directly, patrick.spence@sonos.com  Support can’t or won’t help and i seems that they have the answers on the screen when you call them. They tell you only that in a future update it will come back. But there were a few updates now, but whitout the downgrade option. The software in the speaker and app must be able to make the downgrade possible or otherwise it will not succeed. 

i thing everyone must mail de CEO whit a complaint, maybe it helps?

Just awful service. Awful support. Everything about this company is awful.   And i invested so much money. Yes I have an S1 system. I have 7amps . I tried to add a move2 for outdoors and I can’t do it. They told me to order the original move. I order it. You can’t downgrade it.  
they lied to me directly, knowing that it would not work. And they deliberately try to confuse you to get you to use an S2 controller.  Just awful, awful awful service.

Sonos app version 80.0
The ability to downgrade a Sonos product to S1 is temporarily unavailable, but will return in a future update.
 

lies lies lies

Using the S2 app on the old iPad allowed me to complete the downgrade successfully, and now my Sonos One G2 works perfectly with my S1 system. I hope this helps others who are facing the same issue!

I have just successfully downgraded the last of 4 homes from S2 back to S1, for anybody interested here is what you need to do:

  1. You need an iOS device that can run iOS 15 / iPadOS 15 as the final version (iPhone 6s or 6s plus, iPhone 7 or 7 plus, iPhone SE (1st gen), iPad Air 2 or iPad mini 4.
  2. Make sure it is updated to the latest version (iOS 15.8.2)
  3. Remove the Sonos App if installed. Download it again, on a device in the list above it will only download the old gold 16.1 version since they do not support any newer versions.
  4. Factory reset your S1 compatible player / component (for a full compatibility list see Sonos support document).
  5. Use the S2 16.1 App to initiate the downgrade process (see Sonos support document for instructions)
  6. On your regular controller install the Sonos S1 Controller App.
  7. I recommend creating a new Sonos account to keep the two systems separate during the process.
  8. Create a new system starting with the first factory reset player using the S1 App with the new Sonos account. I found some players require to be connected via LAN to the router / mesh for the registration.
  9. Repeat with the rest of your equipment and then add your services and music library (even SMB V1 will work).
  10. Delete the new Sonos CrApp, disable automatic firmware updates in the Sonos S1 App and disable automatic update of the S1  Controller App in the iOS App Store settings.
  11. Now simply enjoy your music again like before and  no matter if Sonos goes belly up or not you can continue to do so.

 

Same problem here. I have talked to a employee from SONOS and she have noted that I have that problem. If many other users of SONOS, have that issue and we all, that have that issue, contact them. Maybe they have to do something about or make another decision.

Nice one 'Loyal Customer'!

Did the same thing with the following additional notes:

iOS version went to 15.8.4 when updating a disused iPhone 6s.

The App Store showed the black Sonos icon and indicated that it had a higher iOS version. Persist, and it'll offer you the functional gold version.

The S1 app prompted me to update but then concluded that we were using the latest version possible. Don't be dispirited.

I had to reinstate the music library which in turn required me to enable SMB1 as lower version on my NAS.

 

Why Sonos have inflicted this death march on previously loyal customers, I don't know. However, some of those customers appear to have more technical ability and resourcefulness than Sonos's management team. Good luck finishing off the S2 app. I'll be enjoying my music on my expensive audio equipment S1 until you finally finish and test it.

 

I have just successfully downgraded the last of 4 homes from S2 back to S1, for anybody interested here is what you need to do:

  1. You need an iOS device that can run iOS 15 / iPadOS 15 as the final version (iPhone 6s or 6s plus, iPhone 7 or 7 plus, iPhone SE (1st gen), iPad Air 2 or iPad mini 4.
  2. Make sure it is updated to the latest version (iOS 15.8.2)
  3. Remove the Sonos App if installed. Download it again, on a device in the list above it will only download the old gold 16.1 version since they do not support any newer versions.
  4. Factory reset your S1 compatible player / component (for a full compatibility list see Sonos support document).
  5. Use the S2 16.1 App to initiate the downgrade process (see Sonos support document for instructions)
  6. On your regular controller install the Sonos S1 Controller App.
  7. I recommend creating a new Sonos account to keep the two systems separate during the process.
  8. Create a new system starting with the first factory reset player using the S1 App with the new Sonos account. I found some players require to be connected via LAN to the router / mesh for the registration.
  9. Repeat with the rest of your equipment and then add your services and music library (even SMB V1 will work).
  10. Delete the new Sonos CrApp, disable automatic firmware updates in the Sonos S1 App and disable automatic update of the S1  Controller App in the iOS App Store settings.
  11. Now simply enjoy your music again like before and  no matter if Sonos goes belly up or not you can continue to do so.

 

You are a hero among humans!! That worked for me, downgrading two brand new Move 1s (that I purchased over the 2s because they are advertised as being compatible with S1!). One addition here: using the antique iOS device one must be logged into the App Store with an account that has the new Sonos app on a different device when downloading the bronze app, or it won’t work. In my case the mini 4 was logged in to my wife’s iTunes account and she did not have the new Sonos app. I got an error, went to her new phone and downloaded new app, then back to mini 4 and was able to download the bronze app. From there, I was golden. 

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There is a update for the Apple app and it now does say “Added S2 to S1 downgrade took”. So i going to try it, but i can find how it’s done? I think it’s the know way on the Sonos page. But i going to find out. 

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It’s now possible to downgrade, but i have no succes so link the speaker to the S1 app. It always asks to update the app when i want to add a new speaker and that’s the S2 app. So there is no way you can add the speaker to the S1 app, maybe i’m doing something wrong, but i don’t know what?

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SUCCES!!! 
After downgrading through the S2 app, you must remove the Sonos S1 app. You cannot install the downgraded speaker to the S1 app like it does say in the S2 app after you downgraded. So, delete all apps from Sonos, install the S1 app and you can add the speaker as a new product. Only problem is, that all the speakers must be reset and added like new products. 

The sound is so much better on the Sonos One in Stereo setup whit the S1 software. Now i going to enjoy them like before. I made sure that the auto update is off and i hope never to encounter this problem again.  

Downgrade now possible but annoying to do. I found that you had to switch off all S2 app products apart from the one you were downgrading to get it to work and add to S1 app

once all done you also need to disable and then re-enable the Alexa Sonos skill to get it to play music on voice commands 

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Downgrade now possible but annoying to do. I found that you had to switch off all S2 app products apart from the one you were downgrading to get it to work and add to S1 app

once all done you also need to disable and then re-enable the Alexa Sonos skill to get it to play music on voice commands 

The old way through the S1 app was easier. I hat to reset all the speakers even the one that hat the S1 software to get them all connected to the S1 app. But it was worth doing all the work for it. All the people that visit meanwhile did hear the change when i played music. It’s much warmer and more detailed. 

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Hi all.

I’ve been reading all your comments above and looking at trying this myself.

Firstly I found an old phone that’s got the old S1 app….but its a Samsung S6 so not sure if that’s usable device for this?

Before I read your comments I tried downgrading through the S2 app but after resetting and finding my Playbar during the reset it just constantly said ‘your mobile device couldn't connect’ so I gave up.

I know there’s instructions above as to how to downgrade but is there any one who can advise me in “old man” steps?!?

Many thanks

Paul

 

 

 

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Hi all.

I’ve been reading all your comments above and looking at trying this myself.

Firstly I found an old phone that’s got the old S1 app….but its a Samsung S6 so not sure if that’s usable device for this?

Before I read your comments I tried downgrading through the S2 app but after resetting and finding my Playbar during the reset it just constantly said ‘your mobile device couldn't connect’ so I gave up.

I know there’s instructions above as to how to downgrade but is there any one who can advise me in “old man” steps?!?

Many thanks

Paul

 

 

 

Hi Paul,

 

it does not work whit the iPhone 6s, i did try it a couple of times and you really need the S2 app. But whit the S2 app you can downgrade to S1, just reset your speaker to the factory settings. Downgrade the speaker and after that you need to remove the S1 and S2 app. Download the S1 app and you see the speaker you downgrades. BUT, you wil not see the other speakers. The problem is, that Sonos thinks that the other speakers are connected to a other system and that’s why you cannot see the other speakers. You have to reset all other speakers and then just do the steps to add them to the S1 app. I did do the same and all my speakers are now added to the S1 app and all works great.  

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Many thanks for the reply.

Is your suggested setup the same as what I tried earlier:

Before I read your comments I tried downgrading through the S2 app but after resetting and finding my Playbar during the reset it just constantly said ‘your mobile device couldn't connect’ so I gave up

Any ideas why my mobile device couldn't connect because I obviously can't continue until this is resolved. 

Dumb question no1: Would connecting an ethernet cable between the PlayBar and my router help?

Thanks

 

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Many thanks for the reply.

Is your suggested setup the same as what I tried earlier:

Before I read your comments I tried downgrading through the S2 app but after resetting and finding my Playbar during the reset it just constantly said ‘your mobile device couldn't connect’ so I gave up

Any ideas why my mobile device couldn't connect because I obviously can't continue until this is resolved. 

Dumb question no1: Would connecting an ethernet cable between the PlayBar and my router help?

Thanks

 

Before it was possible again to downgrade i did try every possible way i could find and all the steps others did say, nothing did work. Also after the downgrade was possible again i did encounter problems. First step is downgrade the speakers that you want from the S2 to S1, reset them to factory settings. You really need to reset all speakers to factory settings or else you encounter problems that speakers wil not be seen in the app. And before you go en setup the speakers, uninstall the apps, both S2 and S1. And then download the S1 app only and one by one install the speakers. That was the way that i could get all speakers connected to the S1 app again. I really don’t understand why these are the steps and why Sonos themselves don’t know the steps, but they did work for me.  
Connecting to a ethernet cable is always better. It makes it easier to connect the speakers to the app. 

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Thanks again.

I’ll give it a go again later and let you know how I get on.

Couple of questions though……….

I’m guessing you did the downgrade using your mobile phone, correct?

Where can you get the S1 app from? My mobile is a Samsung Galaxy Note 10 so wouldn't that only download the S2 app when reinstall? 

Many thanks

Paul

 

 

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Thanks again.

I’ll give it a go again later and let you know how I get on.

Couple of questions though……….

I’m guessing you did the downgrade using your mobile phone, correct?

Where can you get the S1 app from? My mobile is a Samsung Galaxy Note 10 so wouldn't that only download the S2 app when reinstall? 

Many thanks

Paul

 

 

I did use my iPhone 12. You must use both S1 and S2 or else it will not work. 
but older model iPhone’s must work also, aslong you have both apps.