There is a difference between a ‘player’ on iOS, and a ‘remote control, which tells something else to play’, unfortunately. 

Disappointing. Missing the simplicity of hardware control since the update.
The onscreen volume is nowhere near precise enough to be a substitute. 

Simply pointing at Apple does not solve the problem Sonos. It needs an intuitive solution.

Improve the in-App Volume control to allow higher fidelity interaction and subtle volume modulation. 

It has this.  Tapping on either side of the slider increments/decrements the volume one click. 

True.. good tip. 
Still miss the hardware option though. 

Will definitely check it out

They’ll think that through and ‘not do that’ ..actually you’re probably right, anyone that wants a compatible phone case would need to buy the official apple product for a 1/3rd of the value of their handset

What a joke. I’ve not read the IOS developer rules, is there a way that Sonos can implement a way to toggle on or off volume control via the phone hardware? I did find on google that ‘app settings’ had this as an option on a previous version (maybe 15.5) like ‘when sonos is in use, phone hardware controls Sonos’ same for Lock Screen? It’s almost like.. functional design

I’m guessing if you’ve a HomePod you can control that from the side buttons of your handset and the Lock Screen still?

Dear Sonos, I’d like an official ‘basic remote control’ if poss please  

volume

play/pause

Back/skip

As mentioned earlier if you play audio to a Sonos speaker in the same way you play music to a HomePod (ie using Airplay and any iOS music player), then you can control the volume/play/pause etc; from the Lock Screen and the mobile volume buttons. The reason the Sonos App no longer has this option is it is not a ‘player’ the App is a ‘remote’ control only and everything (including playback) happens direct on the Sonos speaker(s), so the phone can no longer control that from the Lock Screen. You can use the controls in the Sonos App or a 3rd-Party ‘widget’ instead (see attached) when playback is started via the Sonos App remote.

I don’t know why you wouldn’t use a native App if its available vs using the equivalent Sonos Music Service.

To me, using the Apple Music Sonos service is similar to talking to a friend over the phone in a record shop, you can ask him what’s available, but its not the same as being there.

Using the Apple Music native App and Airplay to Sonos is like being at the record shop in person, a better experience, and your hard buttons still work 

If the side buttons work on Android why not on iPhone iOS? Also, the side buttons work for volume when I use Spotify and Pandora separate from Sonos. This is a serious downgrade of the app. Solve it Sonos.

Just came here to add this is a joke and a disaster from Sonos apple induced or not. Need a solution fast. Is this a reason theyve added sonos voice? And now expect people to control volume skips songs etc using “hey sonos”

Because Apple rules say the side buttons can only be used for Apps that control audio coming from the device, such as the phone speaker or a connected Bluetooth device.  The Sonos app controls the volume on 3rd party hardware, and in no way does the volume on the phone correspond to the volume on that 3rd party hardware. 

Sonos Voice Control (SVC) was created so people who want to control by voice can do so without using Alexa or Google.  They have better control that’s catered to Sonos specifically and won’t have their voice recording sent to the cloud.

Your other options for controlling volume, besides the Sonos app, are…

the hard buttons on the speaker themselves

a 3rd party remote, like what’s provided by ikea and lutron

if a home theatre setup, your TVs remote

Not really applicable to the typical use case, but various smart home integrations.

I’m fed up with Sonos. First, they work with TuneIn to force intrusive and annoying pre-roll ads on both TuneIn and Sonos Radio whenever you listen to any station from these services. Now the hardware volume controls on my iPhone and iPad are gone and we are left with the slider option which is a pain to use. 
 

So much for their “premium” experience. 
 

I think the preroll ads disappear when you pay for your radio experience. The money to drive TuneIn must come from somewhere…….

And I really can’t understand what’s wrong with the slider. You can slide it or tap it to change the volume.

If you really can’t work with the Sonos app, you could try the Ikea Dirigera remote.

My solution to this issue is to use my Apple Watch running Lyd to control the Sonos volume.  It’s actually better than using the Sonos app.

Well, I had previously paid for TuneIn Radio’s  “Pro” apps (not “Premium” which is a subscription service for additional content and commercial free music from Tunein’s own curated stations) on both the iOS and Android platforms. TuneIn “Pro” was advertised and sold as an upgrade to regular TuneIn via the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store which does not serve pre-roll ads. 
 

When I sign in with my credentials to either the “new” TuneIn service or the “legacy” one (which is going away) on Sonos, I still get served pre-roll ads with EVERY station that I play that accesses either TuneIn or Sonos Radio. So I feel it’s a money grab by Sonos and TuneIn. I refuse to pay for Tunein’s “Premium” monthly subscription just to get rid of the pre-roll ads I already paid twice to do via their IOS and Android apps.

Sure, I can use Airplay with the iOS TuneIn pro app as a workaround, but that eats battery life and I might as well use another speaker that supports Airplay if I want that.

Regarding the IKEA remote/hub, I don’t think it’s reasonable to have to buy additional hardware for almost $100 just to get back a feature (hardware buttons controlling volume) that was working properly on my iPhone and iPad. 

Just discovered this myself. You beat me to the post . Now to discover how to keep the Lyd app up front on the watch so I don’t have to move past the watch face and app selection after a pause. 

I have some musician friends with a slightly different view of “free” music. They pay quite a lot of money to the recording studio for quality production. The musicians enjoy playing music and are not expecting to get rich, but some cash must somehow come in. Think about a restaurant where the employees love to cook and present food. Should this food be presented free to the public?

Apple have stopped the Lock Screen volume buttons, not when the phone is open and unlocked! This feature still works with Spotify when connected to Sonos.

someone is telling big massive lies!!! Ridiculous!

This is a huge retrograde step backwards. This was a great feature to control the volume easily and quickly without unlocking the phone and fiddling about.
 

I’m sure if it was up to Sonos they would respond to customer feedback.  Not quite sure the same applies to Apple. Sonos you need to lobby Apple and push for your customer feedback. 

On the Sonos homepage there is a possibility to email the CEO of Sonos.

Let him know what you think about this :)

patrick.spence@sonos.com

Not a very good record shop because AirPlay doesn't offer the same hi-res quality as the S2 app. That's the main reason I use it.

The buttons also stopped working in the sonos app?!

still works in the IKEA app though?

As above, the volume buttons no longer work in the Sonos app either.
Also as mentioned elsewhere, the volume buttons always were a bit unreliable for me.  I’m very invested in the Sonos ecosystem but I’ve never found it a particularly robust platform. (Nothing’s ever Sonos’ fault )

In terms of better control, I use Apple Music and can go over airplay - but not all my Sonos speakers are compatible - so I have to group in Sonos to get from Apple Music to my non-airplay speakers.  
Spotify does handle this much better (ALL the Sonos devices are available straight from the Spotify app) so I have considered ditching the Sonos app and going to Spotify and just using the Spotify app.