Barring any knowledge about which MacOS you’re currently running, or on what hardware, my notes from all the other threads in the forum about the issue say that you should  authorize the “Sonos Installer” under System Settings > Privacy & Security > App Management.

Bruce, thanks for this. It worked, of course. 

Why Sonos cannot add this simple fix to its troubleshooting section is a mystery to me, unless I’ve missed it. I should have looked for a solution harder than I did. Sometimes frustration gets in my way. 

BTW, I’m running Mac OS Sonoma 14.1.1 on an M1 Pro 2021 MacBook Pro. 

I sent message to CEO recently with OS 13 and got the following reply which is so sad.

Hello Edgar,

I'm a supervisor here at Sonos Customer Support, and Patrick forwarded me your email. We are aware of the issue where the Sonos application running on macOS 13 is not able to be updated. This is because we do not fully support macOS 13 at this time. However, we are working on full support which should also resolve this issue. Currently we do not have a timeframe to share on this. In the mean time, you can continue to install the latest Sonos Controller by downloading the software from our support site.

Regards,

Jordan B
Sonos   |   Supervisor   |   Contact Us
Ask questions, find answers, and share your thoughts on the Sonos Community.

If you have permanently listed Sonos as an app with permission to update (turning on the permissions button Blue) you shouldn’t have any further issues.

It’s revealing that a company is so stuck in its processes that it has (for years) been unable or unwilling to make the minor changes needed by its MacOS installer. “We are working on full support” and “do not have a timeframe” are code for “not gonna do it, probably”.

The fix, once one knows what it is, is so simple that it should be posted, by Sonos, on their MacOS update troubleshooting section. Makes me wonder how well other Sonos stuff is thought-out. Many Sonos owners would not think to reach out to the user community so if problems arise and solutions are not intuitive, I think customers will just get frustrated. 

Long ago, at least several years, Sonos said that be they were stopping development on desktop clients, both Windows and Mac. I would be surprised if they consider this an urgent ‘bug’ that needs fixing, with an already posted ‘fix’ which has appeared in many threads, and actually solves the issue. 

Hi @Qballl 

In defense of Sonos; Apple has a strict policy regarding app availability in the App Store. If you notice the Sonos app for Mac is not shown in the App Store which means Sonos has decided not to go through the vetting process for unrestricted download. On the other hand the iOS version is readily available through the App Store. By way of explanation just because an app if vetted for iOS doesn’t make it so for Mac and vise versa.

All things considered the fact that the Mac version of the Sonos app is not fully vetted makes sense as Sonos removed much of the functionality for computers (Mac and Windows) several years ago. For the most part it’s just a music player. The iOS version is where the full functionality is concentrated and relieves Sonos from having to fully support two versions for full Apple vetting. 

In case you didn’t know app developers have to re-certify there apps for download via the App Store on a regular basis. Not sure about the time interval.

Edit: Kind of a longer rehash of what @Airgetlam posted 

Thanks folks for the context….it’s helpful. I’ve been with Sonos from Day 1 and I do still think it’s the best whole-house wireless solution. Sometimes I scratch my head though. I had a ROAM die on me just a few months after warranty. A few times a year my system seems to forget all the speakers and then magically remembers them at future undetermined time. Mostly though, it just works.

I guess it makes sense for them to put their eggs into the “app” box since I’m sure mobile is the main control modality for Sonos. 

So you folks have collectively lowered my blood pressure and increased my Sonos knowledge! Thank you for that.

Thanks. Finally, after over a year of experiencing this problem I found the solution. 

The approval of “Sonos” in my app management still doesn’t solve the problem. I can’t locate a “sonos installer” app. I have never successfully updated the controller on my app. The phone app is so spotty and sometimes at the office I need to quickly stop or change music. Before I needed to update the desktop mac app, it worked great, but since the update was required, I’ve never been able to use it again. It can be really frustrating and sometimes I just have to endure silence rather than the same music I just played that finished while I wait for my phone app to try and find the system. 

How else can I fix the mac os controller? Despite giving the permission in app management, it always finishes the update by saying “an unexpected error occurred.” I can’t open the app without the update. 

Lametown above -- I went through all same things, and tried all the suggestions, etc… nothing worked. (got same error messages, even after resetting etc etc) (on my MacBook Pro, 2021 16in)

Then, I just went to Sonos website to see about “Sonos 2” -- 

>  https://www.sonos.com/en-us/controller-app

At bottom was link to download it to Mac… so, I dowloaded (the .dmg file), opened it, and “replaced” the old one. 
Worked in just seconds!