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Workaround(ish): Android App Crashing with Firmware v16.3

Those Android users unfortunate enough to have installed the v16.3 firmware released on 17 July may have encountered a nasty bug that crashes the app over and over. Thanks to an intrepid detective on Reddit, we’ve narrowed down the bug and identified a weak workaround.

The bug causing the crash seems to be triggered by local library music. And the local library music does not need to playing, it simply needs to be in the queue of the currently selected Sonos device.

So if you are encountering this bug and your Android app is stuck crashing ...

  • Using a functioning controller* clear the queuesⵜ on all Sonos devices
  • Start Android app, everything works!
  • Play streaming source, everything works!
  • Play local library music, BOOM CRASH BOOM

… hence “weak workaround” as local library music in your queue will continue to crash the app.

* Desktop app and Web app work particularly well
ⵜ or replace the queues with streaming music

Side note: this bug is not limited to Samsung devices, tho’ it may not impact all Android devices. Samsung devices happen to display the Android OS error message shown below, while other Android devices opt to log the error without a pop-up.

 

98 replies

R
Userlevel 7
Badge +15

How do I  clear the queue when I can't get the app to open?  If I turn off the WiFi connection on my phone the app will open, but it can't see the system therefore no queue to clear.  I only run sonos on my android phone.

Like most on here I bought the speakers to listen to my local library - first time user just a couple of months ago.  Talk about bad timing!  What a nightmare, sinking all that money into two Fives, with stands, and a Roam.  Why do they despise their customers so much that they would do this to us....?

You can use a web browser on your phone and log into the website to access your system remotely: 

https://play.sonos.com/en-us/web-app

*Note: If on your phone, you may need to switch to “desktop site” (in Firefox or Chrome). 

 

You can also download the desktop “app” for Windows or Mac (download from Sonos website).  This will  allow you to continue using your music library, playlists, etc. - as they haven’t broken it on these apps… yet. 

 

However, even if you clear the queue, as soon as you create a new queue, this will crash your phone app again.  So, if you’re only trying to access your music library, and not streaming, then the phone app is pretty much dead in the water right now. 

 

Yes, it was some bad timing… but, I encourage you to stick with it.  Sonos seems to “overhaul” their app every few years and royally screws things up… but they do eventually get their heads out of the collective butts and fix things… just takes time.  At least that’s the pattern I’ve noticed since starting my system 10+ years ago.  I know that’s not comforting to hear when you’ve just sunk a bunch of money into a new system, but trying to find the silver lining for you.  😉

Thanks guys.   I’ll try the web version and keep checking.  

And the desktop version (which is different)!

M
Badge

Easier IMO to just make Sonos playlists of the local music you want ("save queue" from the PC app), that will just let you listen to local music from any of the apps, with no crashing.... Direct local music from any app crashes the Android app, local music via Sonos playlists doesn't.

S
Userlevel 2

Here is another work around that will allow you play your library on your Android device:
 

Use the web app
https://play.sonos.com/

It seems to run faster than the android app.

HTH

 

 

Nope. Screen size not supported 

R
Userlevel 7
Badge +15

Here is another work around that will allow you play your library on your Android device:
 

Use the web app
https://play.sonos.com/

It seems to run faster than the android app.

HTH

 

 

Nope. Screen size not supported 

Try the site in ‘desktop mode’ instead. (I believe Firefox in ‘desktop mode’ works.)

robin19
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As this month is meant to be the one when "Local music library search and playback" make a delayed return to the app, it's quite an, umm, achievement to so comprehensively break local library playback in the process. And even more annoying that they've blocked access from older versions of the app at the same time and make it difficult to access the web version of the app on a mobile device. Enjoying my music collection has never been so unenjoyable.

R
Userlevel 7
Badge +15

Music library search and playback is meant to return today in their latest app update.

S
Userlevel 2

Hmmm… Changed to Firefox but now its incredibly hard to read, and the popups dont seem to work correctly. I guess thats a problem with Firefox on Android rather than Sonos but still.

 

For now I will just listen to music from Spotify using the app, although a little bit annoyed that Sonos have effectively made my carefully curated over many decades investment in a few thousand CDs which I have ripped onto my NAS worthless.

 

Sonos, please just fix this mess!

R
Userlevel 7
Badge +15

Hmmm… Changed to Firefox but now its incredibly hard to read, and the popups dont seem to work correctly. I guess thats a problem with Firefox on Android rather than Sonos but still.

 

For now I will just listen to music from Spotify using the app, although a little bit annoyed that Sonos have effectively made my carefully curated over many decades investment in a few thousand CDs which I have ripped onto my NAS worthless.

 

Sonos, please just fix this mess!

 

Did you see my post above your latest one? 

M

While I appreciate letting us know what causes those crashes and how to work around them, it is not really an option for me. I specifically got the my Sonos devices because I wanted to stream my local music library. That’s the one reason I got them.

When their new app hit, I updated and didn’t like it. But I figured while it would have been nice to release it for voluntary use as a beta version or something, things would improve over time as they went back to fix bugs and re-introduce features that were removed. Then I found out that I could roll back to an older version and noticed just how big the differences were and how much better the older version was running. For a while I was content. I had to deactivate automatic updates and take great care not to accidentally update the Sonos app, but that was a small price to pay for being able to use it to stream my local music library again.


Then, a couple of days ago, the forced update to the new version again. And to add insult to injury, it turns out that this version of the app isn’t working with the local music library anymore at all. It feels borderline petty to disallow the old version (which obviously still worked fine with the hardware).

I wonder if there are legal steps I could take since I bought (not rented!) the hardware with a given feature-set that isn’t working as advertised anymore. And I get it, software gets updated and sometimes some features change over time to a certain degree. I’m not usually someone who sues quickly about anything (in fact, this would be the first time I did for anything) but updating the software and at the very same time adding a hard block to using the old software fully knowing that it’s badly broken in parts feels conscious, almost petty. Like they’re offended that we don’t want to use their shiny new version and so they’ll force us to use it whether we like it or not.

On that note: Does anyone here know another manufacturer who sells speakers that can be attached to a PC (or other sound source) and ethernet to play music from a NAS or whatever source is directly connected to them?

R
Userlevel 7
Badge +15

While I appreciate letting us know what causes those crashes and how to work around them, it is not really an option for me. I specifically got the my Sonos devices because I wanted to stream my local music library. That’s the one reason I got them.

When their new app hit, I updated and didn’t like it. But I figured while it would have been nice to release it for voluntary use as a beta version or something, things would improve over time as they went back to fix bugs and re-introduce features that were removed. Then I found out that I could roll back to an older version and noticed just how big the differences were and how much better the older version was running. For a while I was content. I had to deactivate automatic updates and take great care not to accidentally update the Sonos app, but that was a small price to pay for being able to use it to stream my local music library again.


Then, a couple of days ago, the forced update to the new version again. And to add insult to injury, it turns out that this version of the app isn’t working with the local music library anymore at all. It feels borderline petty to disallow the old version (which obviously still worked fine with the hardware).

I wonder if there are legal steps I could take since I bought (not rented!) the hardware with a given feature-set that isn’t working as advertised anymore. And I get it, software gets updated and sometimes some features change over time to a certain degree. I’m not usually someone who sues quickly about anything (in fact, this would be the first time I did for anything) but updating the software and at the very same time adding a hard block to using the old software fully knowing that it’s badly broken in parts feels conscious, almost petty. Like they’re offended that we don’t want to use their shiny new version and so they’ll force us to use it whether we like it or not.

On that note: Does anyone here know another manufacturer who sells speakers that can be attached to a PC (or other sound source) and ethernet to play music from a NAS or whatever source is directly connected to them?

 

Did you not read my post a couple above yours, about today’s app update??

M

Did you not read my post a couple above yours, about today’s app update??

I’ll be happy to be proven wrong today, but somehow I’m not holding my breath. We’ll see.

robin19
Badge

Just downloaded today's app release. Here's hoping it works. 🤞🏻

R
Userlevel 7
Badge +15

Did you not read my post a couple above yours, about today’s app update??

I’ll be happy to be proven wrong today, but somehow I’m not holding my breath. We’ll see.

 

There are positive early reports from those who have installed it...

A

I've installed it - it works AND the search function works with my music library!  No alphabet bar at the side yet.

I still can't use imported playlists, which is the main reason I bought the hardware. I'll retry importing them.

So, they've brought it back from unusable to disappointing.  But it looks like they are trying.

press250
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Woo. Hoo. Today’s version 80.05.06 of the Android app no longer crashes playing local library music.

M
Userlevel 1
Badge

Woo. Hoo. Today’s version 80.05.06 of the Android app no longer crashes playing local library music.

Working for me - including the search.

Now if only the thumbnails would show up again….

M
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

FYI - They released an update to the app (at least I can confirm for Android) that fixes the app crashing at load/startup.  It’s finally working for me again, and I can get to my library.  None of the issues from my original post (below) have been resolved, but at least the thing freaking works again. 

 

 

I

No crashes when playing library: +1

Unable to add to end of queue: -1

“Something went wrong” when restoring app from background: -1

Indexing compilation albums screwed: -1

So one small step forward (which seems more like a little step backwards)

robin19
Badge

Woo. Hoo. Today’s version 80.05.06 of the Android app no longer crashes playing local library music.

Yes, it seems to have fixed those specific issues, as well as adding some local library functionality (though not local album art). Can confirm it's possible to (a) play music from a local library without the app crashing, and (b) open the app if a device has a queue with music from a local library without the app crashing on launch.

 

Received an invite to a Sonos customer satisfaction survey today. Can't recall ever giving so many zero-out-of-ten responses to such a survey from any business before.

M
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

No crashes when playing library: +1

Unable to add to end of queue: -1

“Something went wrong” when restoring app from background: -1

Indexing compilation albums screwed: -1

So one small step forward (which seems more like a little step backwards)

Agreed.  They took so many steps backward, and are barely starting to move forward.  Kinda sad when we’re all “excited” just to have a semi-functioning app again. 

B
Userlevel 3
Badge +3

Update 80.05.xx

Cannot queue albums of songs from music services (Amazon) on either iphone of android now!

 

M

Here is another work around that will allow you play your library on your Android device:
 

Use the web app
https://play.sonos.com/

It seems to run faster than the android app.

HTH

 

 

Thank you the web app is much much faster than the Android or iOs app, which is just insane! One tiny problem I have to switch to the desktop view as "screen size is unsupported" . All this would be hilarious if I had not invested sooo much money in my Sonos system.

P

Wow, glad I didn't spend a bunch of money on a system that would be completely broken for my use case in 6 months. ☹️

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