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Removal of lock screen and volume control iOS 2023

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
July 27, 2023
41 replies
9910 views

How does Sonos plan to solve the issue of accessing lock screen controls and device hardware button on iOS? Removing that functionality with release 15.6 on July 25, 2023 is a significant impact on the user experience. Our phones are the primary way we control the product so is there a solution other than having to unlock the phone every time we want to control the volume, change a track or turn the system off? Please clarify your plans or provide alternate solutions. Note: I do not use voice controls with my products, so that is not an alternative. Thanks.

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Best answer by melvimbe

Here’s the release notes about the change.

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/release-notes-for-sonos-s2

We’ve removed the ability to control the Sonos app for iOS using lock screen controls and device hardware buttons. The way these features were architected do not meet Apple’s experience guidelines for developers and no longer offer a reliable control experience.

The alternatives to controlling volume, mute, tracks that I’m aware of are:

Voice control (acknowledging OP rejects this option)
Opening up app on phone (again, acknowledging rejection)
‘hard buttons’ on the speakers themselves.
For home theatre room, TV remote controls will control volume and mute
Various third party smart home remotes
Using a different device (tablet, iPad, Mac, PC) that does not lock to control Sonos.

Are there any other methods I missed? What other method would you want Sonos to create (either a device or software solution) for controls?

edit: Airplay would likely work. If you initiated playback on Sonos via airplay, then Apple would surely let you control volume via the lock screen.

Airgetlam

There is already a thread about this here:

Bruce

melvimbeAnswer

Here’s the release notes about the change.

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/release-notes-for-sonos-s2

We’ve removed the ability to control the Sonos app for iOS using lock screen controls and device hardware buttons. The way these features were architected do not meet Apple’s experience guidelines for developers and no longer offer a reliable control experience.

The alternatives to controlling volume, mute, tracks that I’m aware of are:

Voice control (acknowledging OP rejects this option)
Opening up app on phone (again, acknowledging rejection)
‘hard buttons’ on the speakers themselves.
For home theatre room, TV remote controls will control volume and mute
Various third party smart home remotes
Using a different device (tablet, iPad, Mac, PC) that does not lock to control Sonos.

Are there any other methods I missed? What other method would you want Sonos to create (either a device or software solution) for controls?

edit: Airplay would likely work. If you initiated playback on Sonos via airplay, then Apple would surely let you control volume via the lock screen.

Danny

K

kdotsey

Avid Contributor I

I ask a question and of course get everything except for what I inquired about Technology gone wrong again Q&A August 2nd 11:00 PT trying to make sure I can tune in or interact with this broadcast

106rallye

I thought the last four bullits in @melvimbe ’s post are answers to your question, which is “is there a solution other than having to unlock the phone every time we want to control the volume, change a track or turn the system off?”

Maybe it’s not what you want to hear, but these are the only solutions, especially since you do not want to use voice control (not even SVC? Why?).

melvimbe

I ask a question and of course get everything except for what I inquired about Technology gone wrong again Q&A August 2nd 11:00 PT trying to make sure I can tune in or interact with this broadcast

I attempted to answer OPs questions as a fellow user. You aren’t OP and didn’t post any questions in this thread, so I’m not sure what questions you are expecting answers for.

Danny

S

SamanthaPAuthor

Contributor I

Thanks for feedback @Airgetlam and @melvimbe. Of my 8 speakers, only 1 has SVC, so that’s why that’s not a viable option.

On the remote, which seems to be most viable solution, do you know of one that will control a group? I’ve read Reddit thread that Lutron Pico will only control one speaker or bonded speakers, which I think are similar to home theater option. I don’t have an arc, playbar or beam, so no home theater to leverage.

My use case is that I can’t turn down music (streaming from Sirius) before answering my phone if I can’t access controls from a locked screen.

melvimbe

Thanks for feedback @Airgetlam and @melvimbe. Of my 8 speakers, only 1 has SVC, so that’s why that’s not a viable option.

Makes sense.

On the remote, which seems to be most viable solution, do you know of one that will control a group? I’ve read Reddit thread that Lutron Pico will only control one speaker or bonded speakers, which I think are similar to home theater option. I don’t have an arc, playbar or beam, so no home theater to leverage.

I believe that is correct for Lutron. I do have a couple remotes (I have the lutron light switches) and they are all tied to single rooms. I also use Lutron to turn on/off lights and music in the morning when I wake up.

I also have the ikea remotes, but I don’t know if they can control a group or not. I don’t use it that way.

My use case is that I can’t turn down music (streaming from Sirius) before answering my phone if I can’t access controls from a locked screen.

I do not use it anymore, but there is/was an app called Yonomi where you could set an automation to automatically mute your Sonos whenever you receive a phone call. I don’t get a ton of phone calls so didn’t have much use for it, but perhaps it works for you? It would also do things like turn on/off Sonos when your phone leaves WiFi range, if I remember correctly. There are probably other apps or Apply Home that you can setup these sort of automations.

Danny

Ken_Griffiths

You could ‘perhaps’ just slide the iOS Lock Screen right to show a 3rd-Party Home Screen ‘widget’ and control any Sonos player/group volume/play/pause/skip controls, rather than opening the Sonos App. See attached example.

R

rclough

Trending Lyricist I

Brutally disappointed that this functionality has been removed. While voice controls do work, it was so simple to be able to control from iPhone or iPad without having to unlock the screen. Hard to understand why Apple standards suddenly matter after having this functionality for years.

melvimbe

Brutally disappointed that this functionality has been removed. While voice controls do work, it was so simple to be able to control from iPhone or iPad without having to unlock the screen. Hard to understand why Apple standards suddenly matter after having this functionality for years.

Doesn’t Apple review every app in the App store? Can’t they just decide that if you don’t remove this function, we’re going to remove your app?

Danny

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