Restrict access to certain zones

I am organizing a group to address this at the 2014 International CES on January 8, at 2 p.m. in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Sonos will be exhibiting with a booth for this event at the Renaissance Hospitality Suites.  Mark your calendar.  We hope to see you there as well.

Hey guys,

Not sure if any SONOS reps have commented lately but it doesn't appear to be the case.  Wondering if we could get some official SONOS word on this one.

An extra tab in your setup area would do the trick whereby you allocate rights to certain systems and or users.

eg. Play:5 in bedroom 1 is Master Controller only (usually the household owner)
      Play:3 in child's room is User A (and master controller)
      Play:3 in teenager's room is User B (and master controller)
      ZP-90 in Family/Rumpus is All users.

This sort of thing is surely achievable!!!

Hey guys,

Not sure if any SONOS reps have commented lately but it doesn't appear to be the case.  Wondering if we could get some official SONOS word on this one.

An extra tab in your setup area would do the trick whereby you allocate rights to certain systems and or users.

eg. Play:5 in bedroom 1 is Master Controller only (usually the household owner)
      Play:3 in child's room is User A (and master controller)
      Play:3 in teenager's room is User B (and master controller)
      ZP-90 in Family/Rumpus is All users.

This sort of thing is surely achievable!!!


There seems to be a reluctance from SONOS this may be due to the ease of use statements around the web however I believe all we are asking for is an option to limit access. This feature when available( as it will do eventually) does not need to be mandatory. Thank you Marc for you succinct comments.

Hey guys,

Not sure if any SONOS reps have commented lately but it doesn't appear to be the case.  Wondering if we could get some official SONOS word on this one.

An extra tab in your setup area would do the trick whereby you allocate rights to certain systems and or users.

eg. Play:5 in bedroom 1 is Master Controller only (usually the household owner)
      Play:3 in child's room is User A (and master controller)
      Play:3 in teenager's room is User B (and master controller)
      ZP-90 in Family/Rumpus is All users.

This sort of thing is surely achievable!!!


As I've said before I think that the easiest way to implement this would be to add an additional option to the Room Settings list in the controller software, 'Show in this Controller (on)' - e.g. emulate the White Status Indicator Light option. Then in the My Sonos Players list, change the order to show 'non-hidden' players first, and then the 'hidden' ones. I'm hopeful that this kind of change isn't too much work for the team, and could address a number of the issues raised here. 

For me this is about preventing accidental use of rooms. Personally I'd deal with the problem of children changing the settings themselves in other ways ;o) 

This won't of course resolve hijacking by guests but should satisfy a number of other requirements around accidental usage. On the other hand it doesn't require a pin code, or add any real complexity to the product, and can be accommodated by the existing UI. 

I also attend to find Access controll options like users profiles, groups, permissions a VERY wanted.

This should be a fundamental functionality to level up sonos to maintan their state of the art leading solution on the market.

On the same time i understand if this probably was not in the core design from the begining. Meaning that they probably have to rewrite the whole core of the system :-/

Hoping for answers and at least to know if Sonos has any plan for this and if it's possible.

Consider mine one more voice added to the chorus. I'm new to the Sonos community but can see this is an "old" request (at least in tech time). Is there a technical hangup preventing Sonos from implementing admin rights? Surely the company wants to satisfy its paying customers. You'll note a similar theme running through Sonos app reviews on iTunes. 

Clearly the app is smart enough to recognize the unique network it belongs to. Can it be all that difficult to include code that reserves ownership rights so the primary account holder, so that he or she who paid for the device -- or the person to whom the device was presented as a gift or the like -- gets to decide whether to share access or retain control over what is played?

This seems so basic. Frankly I'm surprised and a bit stunned that such functionality is absent, especially considering the rather extensive history of posts on this issue.

I'd be in favor of SONOS adding a new app called "SONOS Pro" that's a paid app.  For $5 or even $10 a pop, SONOS could satisfy hundreds of SONOS users and help offset the software development costs too. 

The average user who just have one or two zones and doesn't need parental or user control or zone-based restrictions could still use the free app from the iTunes or Play Store, etc.  But for the rest of us that want more control, the "Sonos Pro" app could be purchased.  Once a system is tagged with having been configured with the "pro" app, then it would require each any mobile client that wants to touch/control it to use the same "pro" app.  A master admin acct could permit kids to only control a single zone such as their own bedroom; but give them no control over the family room, outdoor, and theater zones, etc.

I'd be in favor of SONOS adding a new app called "SONOS Pro" that's a paid app.  For $5 or even $10 a pop, SONOS could satisfy hundreds of SONOS users and help offset the software development costs too. 

The average user who just have one or two zones and doesn't need parental or user control or zone-based restrictions could still use the free app from the iTunes or Play Store, etc.  But for the rest of us that want more control, the "Sonos Pro" app could be purchased.  Once a system is tagged with having been configured with the "pro" app, then it would require each any mobile client that wants to touch/control it to use the same "pro" app.  A master admin acct could permit kids to only control a single zone such as their own bedroom; but give them no control over the family room, outdoor, and theater zones, etc.
Question for you then... how would you stop people coming to your house and using the standard app... if the "Pro" app is the one that prevents users, then the standard app would have to integrate the same software changes in order to recognise the settings made by the Pro app... essentially costing a hell of a lot more time and money than just keeping it to an extra set of settings for the user.

Additionally, users would be forced to purchase this Pro app for every device in their household which would be extremely unreasonable given that the people who want this improvement are those who have spent upwards of $5000 already on SONOS equipment (I'm well over that myself already).

Those of us who 'need' this change have already paid well and truly for it through our ongoing support of SONOS and purchasing multiple zones.  I think keep it simple, integrate it into the one app.

I'd be in favor of SONOS adding a new app called "SONOS Pro" that's a paid app.  For $5 or even $10 a pop, SONOS could satisfy hundreds of SONOS users and help offset the software development costs too. 

The average user who just have one or two zones and doesn't need parental or user control or zone-based restrictions could still use the free app from the iTunes or Play Store, etc.  But for the rest of us that want more control, the "Sonos Pro" app could be purchased.  Once a system is tagged with having been configured with the "pro" app, then it would require each any mobile client that wants to touch/control it to use the same "pro" app.  A master admin acct could permit kids to only control a single zone such as their own bedroom; but give them no control over the family room, outdoor, and theater zones, etc.
Maybe I'm missing something here. The only way someone could access my Sonos system would be with my wifi password. If your wifi is password protected, only people who have your password could change zones, songs, your queue, etc. If you're trying to limit your kids access, you should try Guided Access on the iPhone and iPad. Guided Access will allow the parent to specify what areas of the Sonos app screen can be accessed and it is password protected. If I'm off base here, please let me know. As I said earlier, maybe I'm missing something here. Thanks!

its all very well all these know all network engineers trying to create admin and system lock outs etc. any device with the app will find the sonos and can take control of the music. sonos have emailed me admitting this and are working on a new version of the app with admin permissions. be patient it is coming