Sonos iOS update is shockingly bad - first impressions

Have to agree with all of the above posts. This iPhone update is terrible. I am a savvy tech user, but tech anxiety goes up every time I pick up the app to change rooms, etc. "Will I get it right this time? Or will I just end up switching my station to another room? Or will I find my Favorites? And how $%%^&%$# do I switch rooms? And why are the room buttons so hard to see on the white background? And groups? I don't even dare". I have told many people over years to buy Sonos (and have bought several for my self and as gifts), but am rethinking this.

On the other hand, maybe the terrible App is a marketing strategy to get people to move to voice activated Sonos One? How is that going to go?

Do you mean the great big room icons on the rooms tab? Or do you mean the tiny room ids at the bottom on the browse tab? Please do look at all the tabs and everything on screens. Then you will see that it really is quite intuitive. The update has drawn together common items into groups. It’s not perfect but hey ho.
Meanwhile, you are perfectly happy about the queue behaviour? Getting that very basic functionality better is at the top of my list rather than icons having moved somewhere else.

I can deal with the not-so-great changes that were made to the app, but as I've said in another thread, what I cannot get passed is the awful UI design. If Sonos would just add an option to change the white theme to a nice (and slightly transparent) gray/dark theme and bring back that cool (and tastefully done) artwork overlay effect blurred the background, I would be very happy. Options would make most people happy, actually. There is no sleekness or character in this version. Nothing about the UI tells me that this app is the front-end controller/player to a high-end music system. It has altered my Sonos experience as a whole.

I can deal with the not-so-great changes that were made to the app, but as I've said in another thread, what I cannot get passed is the awful UI design. If Sonos would just add an option to change the white theme to a nice (and slightly transparent) gray/dark theme and bring back that cool (and tastefully done) artwork overlay effect blurred the background, I would be very happy. Options would make most people happy, actually. There is no sleekness or character in this version. Nothing about the UI tells me that this app is the front-end controller/player to a high-end music system. It has altered my Sonos experience as a whole.

Actually, I like the aesthetics of the design, but that's subjective. It's the awful unintuitive inconsistent user experience I can't stand. But... there is, sadly little incentive for Sonos to improve things at the moment because they're selling the speaker experience, not the required software UI. The rule is that if you're building a free/cheap app or website that users can abandon in seconds, the UI/UX has to be first rate. If you've sunk hundreds of pounds into nice hardware, how quickly will you sell it if the software is annoying?

I agree that the Sonos app design aesthetic is subjective, that's why there should be user option/choices between white and dark themes. However, I don't see the Sonos app as being free, I see it as a necessary accessory to the Sonos hardware that had to be downloaded instead of included in the box, and the price for this necessary accessory is certainly baked into their hardware costs. I am sure Sonos enjoys beefy profit margins, and good for them, they should. But since the Sonos app is the face and/or front-end to Sonos hardware, I certainly do expect the UI/UX to be first rate. I purchased many Sonos speakers and subs because I was impressed with the Sonos experience, which encompasses both the hardware and the software.

I certainly do expect the UI/UX to be first rate. I purchased many Sonos speakers and subs because I was impressed with the Sonos experience, which encompasses both the hardware and the software.

To clarify, I also expect the UI/UX of a premium hi-fi product to be first rate (as it was when I originally purchased my system, and then it got better, and then it got a lot worse). But hey, I own Sony products, so I'm used to the "buy for the awesome performance, deal with the poor UI" mindset. Some of the Sonos design/implementation decisions (or "bugs", but I don't think Sonos would choose to classify them as such) are inexcusable. What they're tying to do is awesome. When the key software features (queue, playing, navigation, favourites etc) are in a more "complete" state, Sonos will be awesome. I even sort of support their "no user customisation" mantra. But it just feels like Sonos have given up on their core product while they chase shiny external systems integration.

I think you are missing the point. Nobody cares about “great new features” when they cannot do the basics. You personally think the app is “easy to use” but as you can see from these multiple threads - that is not the consensus. They took something that was intuitive and made it complex and/or buggy. Right now I am unclear if this sh@t does not work because I am doing it wrong or because it is buggy - but either way this means it is “broken”.

Like everyone else here, I am not worried about “being left behind”.......left behind because of what exactly? I don’t need new features that screw the easy experience.....really I don’t. I just want to easily play my music across multiple rooms......I had that and now I do not

Yet the exact same accusations of non-intuitiveness and "a huge step backward", the exact same claims of poor UI design, the exact same types of rants, the exact same "I'm going to make yet another thread about the new app because the other 12 aren't enough" hyperbolic postings, and the exact same "Let us revert to the old app or the bunny gets it" posts were all present after the last major UI change (some by the exact same people posting now, you know who you are!).

Is it not ironic that the formerly terrible, useless, non-intuitive, slower, poorly designed UI, huge step backward, too dark, too blue, too many clicks, too many complaints interface is now considered a model of perfection that Sonos should immediately return to? Could it possibly be just a case of familiarity and muscle memory instead of poor UI design?

Be honest.

I have never claimed the app has great new features. I hope you are not mistaking me for a Sonos employee. I have attempted to help at the following thread.

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/user-guide-for-v8-app-6792817/index1.html#post16159012

I think the people who are posting their disquiet with V8 are trying to let Sonos know their opinions. I don’t think they are trying to persuade others (who might be getting along with it just fine) how bad it is.

I’m not quite sure why those who are ‘pro’ V8 are so determined To persuade the rest of us how wrong we are.

Everyone’s opinion is perfectly valid for them. Equally, everyone can tell Sonos what they think, and don’t need to be told by others they are wrong.

And in that vein, I will post my opinion here (and yes I have posted it elsewhere). I have used every version since 2009. Inheritently, I am an idle so and so and wouldn’t have felt moved to post on here even if I was unhappy (I wasn’t). But now I am unhappy, and I want Sonos to know it — I don’t want to be told I am wrong. My opinion ?? Version 8 is crude in its execution and amateur in its appearance.

We are all entitled to our opinion.
Andrew