Contributor I

Answered

Playing music from iPhone library to Sonos

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
May 16, 2019
47 replies
53365 views

I know there are other threads about this but I have not found any solution. It is impossible to properly play music from my iPhone music library to my Sonos speakers. The songs skip midway through, then skip and skip without even playing, then just stop playing all together.

Yes, I have done everything suggested. I have changed my wireless settings from automatic to channel 1, and I have set auto-lock to never and tried my best to NEVER USE MY IPHONE FOR ANYTHING while using Sonos. But this is ridiculous. Not only does it drain my battery but sometimes while playing music all evening long I need to use my phone - shocking, I know. The moment I open any other app, my songs start skipping.

This is NOT a wireless connectivity issue or other communication with Sonos speakers issue. I can stream Pandora from my Sonos app all day while using 6 different iPhone apps and never have the Sonos app on the screen. This is ONLY an issue when playing from my iPhone library. Again, Sonos, this is only an issue when playing from my iPhone music library.

This should not be an end-user workaround. This is a basic function and should be something that is fixed and explained by Sonos. Where is the solution?

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Best answer by Airgetlam

The solution, as has been explained in many threads, and in the Sonos FAQ on the matter, is to move your music off of the iOS device, and on to either a computer's hard drive, or an NAS of some type.

Yes, it's a pain in the rear. You can thank Apple for forcing this issue to occur, which Sonos has indicated that they're working on finding a solution for with Apple. And if you've ever been a developer working with Apple on anything at all, you'd have some sympathy for Sonos.

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nik9669a

Senior Virtuoso

DennisC, I’m sorry but my post was not a serious one.

The idea of Sonos (or anyone else) designing, developing, building, testing and supporting such a device in the numbers required by just a small handful of Sonos users for $40 retail is, IMHO, ridiculous.

Yes, the new Move speaker can run in Bluetooth or Wi-fi mode. (It will, contrary to your earlier post, also run on battery in Wi-fi mode.) But the hope that because they have developed this hardware they could cost-effectively strip out the relevant parts to create the dongle you want is highly unlikely.

D

DennisC

Contributor I

I appreciate your reply. My thinking is this: using the with the last numbers I have seen, Apple has 900 million iPhones and they estimated 500,000 iPads out there worldwide. That’s 1.4 billion units available to use a wireless speaker. I can use my iPhone or iPad with my wired Harmon Kardon system by adding a Harmon Kardon Bluetooth adapter for $59. I don’t know how many HK systems are out there, nor do I know how many Sonos Wifi speakers are out there, but HK created a reasonably priced option for folks like us to use their big wired home systems with their portable devices, and so I was thinking why upset all those current Apple and potential Apple customers. Sonos stuff was/is some cutting edge stuff so why not come up with a solution for all of us who love the product, plus grab all the market share I could. HK seems to think so anyway. Just my two cents. I’m actually considering writing to Patrick Spence, Sonos CEO and asking him to consider a solution.

jgatie

nik9669a...I agree

jgatie...Not sure what you mean by Sonos running a file server in the background. Bluetooth creates a direct personal area network to a device. There is no server. And as I said Sonos already has a combined bluetooth/wifi solution in one of their latest speakers. I respect disagreement, but not someone who feels a need to be insulting. This site is supposed to be a place to share ideas and solutions. Perhaps you can consider that concept next time you post.

That wasn't me,it was controlav.

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DennisC

Contributor I

Apologies. My mistake!

controlav

Lead Maestro

@DennisC - Sonos speakers expect files to be supplied either by SMBv1 or a custom https server. Please explain to me how to (reliably) run a background process on iOS that that does this. And when you do, kindly share the method to Sonos as they cannot figure this out either (hence the deletion of the feature).

Author of the leading independent Sonos apps for Android, MacOS, iOS, Windows and Xbox.

melvimbe

I don't know that you can re-engineer a radio to work for bluetooth and wifi when it was designed for wifi only. Also not sure on the cost to test the feature as well FCC issues. It also wouldn't satisfy many of the people complaining about the lost feature since it would only provide 'streaming' to a single Sonos speaker, not to the whole Sonos system.

As far as the market share, it doesn't make sense to figure every iphone/ipad user would want Sonos to convert existing speakers to bluetooth or provide a bluetooth dongle. The majority of those Apple folks are not interested in Sonos at all. Those that are, and don't have a Sonos speaker yet, would simply get a speaker that is airplay 2 compatible. The size of the market for this is the people who own Sonos and are depending on playing audio from 'on this phone'. I'd actually say there are more more android users who would benefit from adding bluetooth than Apple, since Apple users already have the airplay option.

Danny

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tedcape

Lyricist III

So the solution to being able to play music to Sonos via my iPhone is to not use my iPhone. Helpful.

I have no patience or sympathy for a company that sells a product intended to perform a service it does not perform. They spend millions on ads featuring people playing music from their iPhones.

I would appreciate constructive answers rather than belittling the question. A Sonos setup is not a small investment and it should work as advertised. Period.

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CC7

Lyricist I

I too am also struggling with not being able to play the music library downloaded on my iPhone. I was told by customer service that they no longer support this; and that if I want to play my personal music, I have to look at uploading it to a music service that I don’t want to subscribe to. Is this for real? If so, Sonos has just disabled a key feature. My friends & I were royally pissed off & disappointed during our holiday get togethers to learn we can’t play our carefully curated (over many yrs) music library. Is this for real????

jgatie

I too am also struggling with not being able to play the music library downloaded on my iPhone. I was told by customer service that they no longer support this; and that if I want to play my personal music, I have to look at uploading it to a music service that I don’t want to subscribe to. Is this for real? If so, Sonos has just disabled a key feature. My friends & I were royally pissed off & disappointed during our holiday get togethers to learn we can’t play our carefully curated (over many yrs) music library. Is this for real????

It is real, and it has been this way for 5 months. How important could the feature be if you haven’t noticed it was gone for 5 months?

Airgetlam

Thanks for breaking our world, Apple. Sure would be nice if you explained why you had to do this to us, as well as the users of BlueSound.

Bruce

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