New Sonos App and Accessibility

Ok, I managed to manually upgrade.

🤔 Why?

Let us know what you think of it.

Read pretty much every post since release.

Accessibility options worse and a hell of a lot of core functionality removed.

So many bad review, I wonder affect the sound quality this time. ? Really want to avoid those days 

It is a pity that some have hijacked this thread with general discussions about the new app when this thread is about accessibility, but I’d like to bring it back on topic.

I wrote a blog post a few days ago based on good information, warning blind people that they may wish not to update because the state of the new app was a significant regression for those of us who use VoiceOver on iPhone or Talkback on Android.

Elsewhere in this community, the only response we got from a Sonos staff member was what I can only describe as petulant obfuscation. He said that people could not talk about beta software because those who were testing were subject to NDA, and that it was unfair to use the quality of a beta build to judge the final release. Yet as it turns out, the first release is every bit as bad as my source told me it was.

Like many blind customers, I am not just disappointed, but angry. The announcement at the top of this thread translated into plain speaking, is “yeah we know it’s rough, but we’re getting there. Be patient, hurry up and wait.” To describe the new app as having “basic accessibility” is a serious overstatement, and that’s me trying to be polite. Another word beginning with l is more like it. I don’t believe that any blind person with a modicum of accessibility competency would describe the app as having “basic accessibility”. They would describe it as having significant accessibility issues and would urge people to avoid it, as I have done in my blog post.

So, who determined that the term “basic accessibility” was the correct one? Are a bunch of uninformed sighted people now claiming to know what is best for blind people? Do they actually understand how a VoiceOver or Talkback user interacts with a mobile app and what is necessary to create an acceptable experience? Because acceptable this most certainly is not. Was it a PR decision in the hope that most people would consider blind people whose systems are now barely useable as whiners because Sonos says it’s OK?

There are laws around accessibility in many countries where Sonos sells products, and there is a very strong case that with this release, Sonos just broke a lot of them. This despite my writing to the CEO and warning him that this seemed to be about to happen.

I have been a huge Sonos fan, and I have the credit card statements and robust debates with my wife to prove it. I am also a very minor stockholder. I am so upset by this disreputable, dishonest, discriminatory conduct that I am looking into other options despite my long-term use and considerable investment.

The opening sentence in the post that started this thread is absolutely laughable. No company that cared about accessibility would release a product so broken and so contemptuous.

I want to see the CEO of Sonos apologising with genuine humility to the blind community. Otherwise, we have options, some legal, some involving alternatives.

This is a very sad day.

The Sonos Mac app has never been accessible despite various posts on these forums. And I've never managed to get an answer from the accessibility email address. So I'm not sure I agree with the statement that Sonos takes accessibility so seriously.

This plus obviously deciding that blind people are second class citizens and it's OK for the app to be broken for them for a while.

However, I appreciate that you have at least acknowledged it and are committing to fixing the issues. I will not be intentionally upgrading the app until this is done.
 

Using Radio Paradise there are no longer album covers 😫

My first impressions off the App are positive. Yes, there are capabilities I’d like to see added , but the overall usabilty is an improvement. 

I hope we’ll see

1.  Return of ‘play next’, so I can queue up tracks
2. I like ‘Your Services’, but would like to be able to chose the sequence. I can set the first, but the others are alphabetical
3. I do tend to refer to ‘Sonos System Info’ frequently ,to ensure I have Atmos, or other surround playing. It’s more hidden now, that it used to be

But overall, it's an improvement

Hi All

This thread is related to Accessibility functionality of the new app. Any further off-topic comments will be removed. 

There are plenty of other threads relating to the new app that are not about Accessibility - please feel free to post to them instead.