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SamanthaP
Contributor I
July 27, 2023
Answered

Removal of lock screen and volume control iOS 2023

  • 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.

    41 replies

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    Airgetlam
    Airgetlam
    October 18, 2023

    It should be working for applications that stream via AirPlay 2 or Bluetooth , but not for the Sonos application, which isn’t a media player, but a remote control to a media player that exists on an outside device. 

    Bruce
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