Sonos Staff

New Sonos App and Accessibility

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
May 6, 2024
55 replies
10255 views

At Sonos, we take accessibility seriously and aim to build listening experiences that everyone can enjoy.

The redesigned Sonos app was built from the ground up to support both modern and future Sonos experiences, and as part of that, we’ll be implementing ongoing improvements and enhancements over time. On May 7, the app will have basic support for screen readers, allowing you to swipe through and read through all items on the screen. Following launch, ongoing improvements to the accessibility of the updated mobile app will remain a top priority. A software release available May 21 will improve screen readers so you can select items on screen in any order. Further improvement will be added to the experience regularly until we reach parity with the S2 app by late June.

In the meantime, the Sonos Windows and Mac applications will continue to operate as normal until our new web app has met our accessibility standards.

Thank you for your patience as we continuously improve the accessibility of the Sonos app.

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Pinned Reply By Corry P

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.

Show previous replies

K

Kladdeman

Lyricist I

It's disheartening to hear that the latest update to the Sonos app has resulted in decreased accessibility. Updates should aim to enhance user experience, not hinder it, especially for those who rely on accessible features. I hope Sonos takes this feedback seriously and works promptly to address these issues in upcoming versions. It's essential for all users to have equitable access to technology, and I encourage Sonos to prioritize restoring and improving the accessibility features in their app.

J

jmosen

Trending Lyricist I

Hi all, we have a real situation here I’m afraid.

There is obviously a lot going on server-side. I am running the inaccessible Sonos app on a test device but keeping the accessible one on my primary device.

Apple Music is my streaming service of choice. This morning on the accessible Sonos app I had to Reauthorise Sonos for Apple Music. After doing so, Apple Music via Sonos is now completely inaccessible, even on the old app.

What I don’t know is whether only those of us who have the inaccessible and accessible apps on two different devices are experiencing this, or whether even those who stick to the old app exclusively have now lost access to Apple Music and possibly other services.

Bumper

Hi all, we have a real situation here I’m afraid.

There is obviously a lot going on server-side. I am running the inaccessible Sonos app on a test device but keeping the accessible one on my primary device.

Apple Music is my streaming service of choice. This morning on the accessible Sonos app I had to Reauthorise Sonos for Apple Music. After doing so, Apple Music via Sonos is now completely inaccessible, even on the old app.

What I don’t know is whether only those of us who have the inaccessible and accessible apps on two different devices are experiencing this, or whether even those who stick to the old app exclusively have now lost access to Apple Music and possibly other services.

Do you have more than one Apple music account set up in Sonos?

J

jmosen

Trending Lyricist I

Hi all, we have a real situation here I’m afraid.

There is obviously a lot going on server-side. I am running the inaccessible Sonos app on a test device but keeping the accessible one on my primary device.

Apple Music is my streaming service of choice. This morning on the accessible Sonos app I had to Reauthorise Sonos for Apple Music. After doing so, Apple Music via Sonos is now completely inaccessible, even on the old app.

What I don’t know is whether only those of us who have the inaccessible and accessible apps on two different devices are experiencing this, or whether even those who stick to the old app exclusively have now lost access to Apple Music and possibly other services.

Do you have more than one Apple music account set up in Sonos?

I do, yes, as family members use our Sonos system.

Bumper

Hi all, we have a real situation here I’m afraid.

There is obviously a lot going on server-side. I am running the inaccessible Sonos app on a test device but keeping the accessible one on my primary device.

Apple Music is my streaming service of choice. This morning on the accessible Sonos app I had to Reauthorise Sonos for Apple Music. After doing so, Apple Music via Sonos is now completely inaccessible, even on the old app.

What I don’t know is whether only those of us who have the inaccessible and accessible apps on two different devices are experiencing this, or whether even those who stick to the old app exclusively have now lost access to Apple Music and possibly other services.

Do you have more than one Apple music account set up in Sonos?

I do, yes, as family members use our Sonos system.

If a family member’s account is somehow active in your app, you won’t be able to reauthorize Apple music on your device. In the new app, it actually picked my kid’s account as the primary account with apple music and I needed to get in to the apple music settings and choose my account as the primary account.

It will take a lot of swipes, but I was able to change this with voiceover. Start from the main app page, swipe until you hear manage, then swipe down to Connected Services, then Apple Music, then connected accounts. Double tap on your account, then swipe down to set as primary account.

This may be the issue with the S2 app not authorizing as well.

J

jmosen

Trending Lyricist I

It is reauthorised fine. My issue is that after authorisation, it’s no longer accessible. Specifically, if I swipe through the list of playlists, VoiceOver is completely silent. Trying to find tracks, I am getting unlabelled graphics and no track names. It is completely unusable now. Someone else on mastodon is confirming the experience too.

Bumper

It is reauthorised fine. My issue is that after authorisation, it’s no longer accessible. Specifically, if I swipe through the list of playlists, VoiceOver is completely silent. Trying to find tracks, I am getting unlabelled graphics and no track names. It is completely unusable now. Someone else on mastodon is confirming the experience too.

Voiceover is reading tracks, playlists, albums and artists as I swipe through them from my library in Apple Music. It is also reading Top Picks and other content from Apple Music in the Sonos App. I’m using version 80.00.04 of the app.

J

jmosen

Trending Lyricist I

And have you associated the new Sonos app with your Sonos account? I think this may be the issue.

Bumper

And have you associated the new Sonos app with your Sonos account? I think this may be the issue.

Yes I have.

J

jmosen

Trending Lyricist I

OK, that rules out that theory then. :)

I’m not sure what’s going on, but it is broken for more than just me. Very intriguing and frustrating.