Using S1 and S2 components simultaneously

Hi ​@Glyntwin 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

Sorry to hear of this issue you are having with your S1 app asking for an upgrade to be performed.

It sounds like your S1 app is not finding your S1 system with the Connect, and then finds the S2 system and complains.

To resolve this, we will need to get your S1 app reconnected to your S1 system. To do this, please first turn off all your S2 speakers, by either unplugging them, or removing portable speakers from charge and holding the power button down for a few seconds.

With the S2 system off, you should have better luck getting the S1 app connected. I can’t see if your Connect is online or not (I suspect it is registered to another email address), so please ensure it is plugged in and powered on.

Once the S1 app is connected to your S1 system, you can power-up your S2 system once more.

If you have any issues with reconnecting your S1 system, I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and what it reports.

I hope this helps.

Thanks for the suggested fix, which worked in the first instance. However, it keeps coming back and is really frustrating. I really don’t want to have to turn my S2 system off every time I want to use my S1 component. It shouldn’t be working this way.

Whilst I accept that part of the problem might be that my Connect is at times loosing connection with the network and that is why the S2 app kicks in and appears on my phone screen, why is is necessary for your S2 app to do this? My S1 Connect isn’t compatible with it so why has the S2 app been programmed to do it?

There is an easy fix for this and that is for Sonos to reprogramme the S2 app to not automatically pop up in such a scenario. If I need the S2 app, I can simply open it myself on my phone.

I have spent a lot of money on Sonos products over more than 15 years. The system is fantastic but the app needs fixing. Please sort it out so the S2 app doesn’t automatically pop up and block me from using the S1 app.

This is a mes, I get these problems a lot on both of my split S1/S2 systems. I can usually get the S1 app back after resetting the app then re-joining an existing system, but I have to get off my ass to press buttons in order to the pairing. Plus it happens often, which makes no sense.

I recommend using third party apps that will never try and update any of your devices, and support both S1 and S2 systems in the same app.

The only third party app I have tried is Macronos. Which apps would you recommend?

Oh, Android doesn’t have any real options, though my app will be out soon for Android I hope. It supports split systems simultaneously.

Hi ​@Glyntwin 

Thanks for the update - I have reported this behaviour.

Currently, my only advice can be to try to ensure that the S1 app always connects - you’d need to get back in touch with our technical support team to determine the best course of action for this.

Please be aware, however, that it is not the S2 app that is doing this. The S1 app is loading, trying to find a S1 system, but presumably cannot. What it can find is an S2 system, so it recommends that you use the S2 app from that point. It is trying to help you to use the “correct” app, but in this case is getting it wrong.

Have you tried rebooting the router by switching it off for at least 30 seconds, and your networked devices afterwards? It is worth trying. Also, reserving IP addresses for your Sonos devices and other commonly connected devices in your router’s settings could also help - if there were an IP conflict with your Connect, it would certainly prevent the S1 app from finding it reliably. You’ll need to consult your router’s manual or your ISP on how to do this.

I hope this helps.

Thanks Corry your advice is appreciated and I will try the recommendation with the router and IP addresses however despite what you say, it is one or other of Sonos' apps that is bringing up the offending and unnecessary screen that prevents me using the S1 app. It helps no-one and I just cannot see why it has been programmed that way. 

I don't wish to offend but in reality it is Sonos who should contact their own technical support team and their software developers and get them to sort this issue out. You shouldn't be asking paying customers to do it! Your own CEO admitted and sent out an email apologising for the shoddy release of substandard software only a few months ago! I  find that shocking from a high end systems manufacturer. Please get the app to stop this wholly unnecessary pop up message. I look forward to a fix asap.

Hi ​@Glyntwin 

I have to disagree that it does not help anyone - it would clearly help someone who is actually using the incorrect app to connect to their Sonos system. Whether this number is higher or lower than the number of people with both S1 and S2 systems, I do not know, but certainly if it is lower then it would make sense for us to change the behaviour (which is a round-about way of saying I agree with you that it should be changed, if that were the case).

Any statement along those lines was made in relation to the S2 software, so it technically does not apply here. If, as I suspect, that the issue is actually due to your network, then any attempt by us to change the app behaviour would be pointless - if the S1 app cannot communicate with your Connect, changing the error message displayed will not help it connect. I do agree, however, that if the S1 app should actually find the S1 system again, it should no longer display that message, though it is not entirely clear whether that is what is happening or not. I asked a colleague to test this behaviour, and they found that once the S1 system became available again, the S1 app did not reconnect to it automatically - it was this behaviour that I reported, as I can see no good reason for it.

For your information, my colleague did not need to power-off their S2 system to reconnect the S1 system - they just needed to reset the S1 app and opt to Connect to an Existing System: Settings » App Preferences » Reset App. I realise this is still not a fix, but it should hopefully help a bit the next time this happens, making it easier to reconnect.

I hope this helps.

But it is not that the S1 can't find the Connect. It is the pop up from the S2 that is preventing me using it and not because it's not connected. I can go straight to the Macronos third party app and get the Connect to play immediately after I close the S1 down. 

As for being helpful, it is doing the opposite. Do users really need the pop up to tell them that they should be using the S2 app when the system they are trying to connect to is an S1 and isn't compatible, such as the S1 Connect? It doesn't make sense to me.

On your last suggestion to go into the settings to change app preferences, how do I do that when I can't even open the S1 app without the annoying pop up appearing?

How difficult can it possibly be for your programmers to turn off the pop up? Hands up anyone who will miss it!

Hi ​@Glyntwin 

I no longer have access to the S1 app. Please share a screenshot of what the app shows you when you open it, and I will show you where to go in it (though I do think that the above instructions should be enough, but perhaps there is something I am not considering).

​@controlav , that's great news.

Will it support Sonos playlist transfer etc. too?

This is the pop up.

Hi ​@Glyntwin 

Thanks! There should be some settings in More Options that will allow you to reset the app, and thus reconnect without needing to unplug your other speakers.

I hope this helps.

It will not have all the features of Phonos Plus today, such as playlist transfer or cross play between S1 and S2, although underneath its actually based on the same codebase (with a very different UX layer). The priority is to get Android users a reliable app for mainline playback scenarios, I will expose the unique features of Phonos Plus over time (UX always takes me ages and I am new to Android).