Sonos Staff

The New Sonos App and Future Feature Updates

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
May 11, 2024
2256 replies
156698 views

Hey all, today we're sharing a message from our chief innovation officer, Nick Millington in the announcement here. Going forwards we will update that topic and we therefore close this one for further replies.

We set out to create a more personalized and effortless listening experience with the updated Sonos app. It was rebuilt from the ground up to ensure it could support future innovation in the years to come. For its initial rollout, we focused on how we could answer some of the most common requests from our customers, including increased reliability, performance, and faster access to music.

Many of you have shared valuable feedback on both the improvements that have made your experience better, as well as the areas where we fell short. We are listening to all of your comments and working to address them as quickly as possible. Over the coming weeks, we will reintroduce the below features, while fixing bugs and performance issues. Thank you for your engagement and we look forward to building upon this first step to create a listening experience that meets everyone’s needs.

Available now

To access these changes, check for updates in the iOS / Android app store to download the latest version of the Sonos app. Make sure your Sonos products are also up to date.

Last updated: Oct 28, 2024. See release notes.

The update has the following version numbers:

80.11.38 - iOS
80.11.32 - Android

In this update:

Support for the all-new Arc Ultra soundbar and Sub 4
Music library improvements*
Improvements to product setup
Improved performance when browsing content in Home and in Browse on Android
Improvements to multi-system support on iOS
Fixes for multiple settings including Bluetooth display, EQ, and Sub bonding on iOS
The ability to schedule System Updates on iOS
Continued Voiceover improvements on iOS

* Requires player update - 81.1-58074 (or higher)

You can also follow along with updates in this article:

New Sonos App Update!

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

Show previous replies

MoPac

Headliner III

Yes the app works but you have to get used to all the errors that pop up saying “I’m not gonna’ do this for you!!!!” Then I gets done anyway. How many people just give up after seeing those errors because of the time it takes for the operation to finally complete.

Ken_Griffiths

The attached was recorded just a few moments ago (I reside in the UK - if you wish to check the time/date) -it’s a recording of the Sonos App on my iPad …and is a search for ‘Kumar’ and a playback of a chosen random track - I’m just doing my best here to show the App can and does work for some users.

The App has always worked for my Home system, which is certainly above average size compared to some systems I’ve seen mentioned here in the community.

All I can add is that it’s the exact same App that everyone else is using (assuming folk have installed the latest updates). So I do have trouble understanding why the new App is not working for some users, but I accept Sonos have acknowledged the issues and that their developers are working at trying to fix these things with fortnightly updates in the next few months.

Anyhow this has been my own user experience with the new App and it’s mostly always worked in this way since its release in May.

MoPac

Headliner III

I get no errors when I search.

Ken_Griffiths

Even room/group ‘volume control’ that some community users seem to complain about has not been an issue here with the new Sonos App either.

Here’s a previous recording (attached) that I made for that issue, which I chose to keep - that’s another issue Sonos has acknowledged too by the way, but it has been fine for my Home system.

Initially, I did notice some minor lag in this area, but I was able to resolve this matter myself by improving the Sonos device SNR levels as mentioned here…

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/understanding-the-network-details-section-in-the-sonos-app

I ‘steered’ my Sonos devices (where available/practicable) onto the 5Ghz WiFi band, as that is a faster connection compared to a 2.4Ghz WiFi, or SonosNet, link …and I ensured the SNR reading in every case shown in the Sonos App was 45dB or higher. That certainly assisted the Sonos setup here, so it’s perhaps worth considering trying that, perhaps?

Ken_Griffiths

Yes the app works but you have to get used to all the errors that pop up saying “I’m not gonna’ do this for you!!!!” Then I gets done anyway. How many people just give up after seeing those errors because of the time it takes for the operation to finally complete.

Can you perhaps give an example of the errors you see? It’s always worth submitting a diagnostic report when you see an error and post back the details of the error here in the community - do not include the diagnostic reference, but mention that you submitted a diagnostic report.

It may perhaps help to get some things fixed.

C

craigski

Local Superstar

I can’t answer that @Kumar as I have not seen the Sonos user-data to truly comment - I’m just commenting on my own experience and personal use here and what I’ve seen at the Homes of family and friends too.

I don’t think it’s all bad news as some might have us believe.

Spence disagrees with you, Ken, vehemently. Read all he has confessed to in the investor call in the first week of August, it is a laundry list of serious consequences.

And then see what he is spouting on Reddit thereafter. In conversations with members on that forum.

Out of curiosity, I had a quick scan through Reddit the other day, and there was an installer who claims to have installed 100 systems, and received one call about the update. That could be true, or misinformation, I don’t know. Its hard to filter what we read online, unless we know/trust the person posting.

I know Sonos will have extensive data about usage of their 15,000,000 households, what products and functions users are using, some information about their networks, eg when you submit a diagnostic. I would expect they are getting extra telemetry from the new mobile App and web App.

From my personal experience, I am lucky, as I am not using local music library, or Sonos playlists/queues, so I am not seeing the loss of functionality that many users have experienced or are experiencing at the moment.

In the real world, I also personally know of other Sonos users that don’t use the App, they just use their TV remote for their Sonos HT system and AirPlay for Music, who are totally unaware of the new App. I doubt they know what Reddit is and definitely wont have a Reddit account.

Without doubt there is a loss of functionality, as per release notes, affecting many users, and its highly probable those users are the most vocal?

K

Kumar

Without doubt there is a loss of functionality, as per release notes, affecting many users, and its highly probable those users are the most vocal?

The one irrefutable data point we now have is Spence saying that Sonos will have to spend up to 30 million dollars to fix the problem and have to postpone new product roll outs till this problem is fixed.

And also saying that he takes responsibility for this major hiccup.

In my book that should conclude the ongoing speculation about how many or how few people have been affected by this issue.

C

craigski

Local Superstar

The one irrefutable data point we now have is Spence saying that Sonos will have to spend up to 30 million dollars to fix the problem and have to postpone new product roll outs till this problem is fixed.

Another datapoint: $30 million dollars spent on fixing an issue for 15 million Sonos households, on average equates to $2 per household.

I

Ian_S

Prodigy III

IF they are unaware of the new app, and don’t use it, then it’s also likely they don’t update, and probably haven’t updated either, so they will be on the older S2 code which will continue to keep working for them, so to be fair, aren’t using the new code yet…

K

Kumar

The one irrefutable data point we now have is Spence saying that Sonos will have to spend up to 30 million dollars to fix the problem and have to postpone new product roll outs till this problem is fixed.

Another datapoint: $30 million dollars spent on fixing an issue for 15 million Sonos households, on average equates to $2 per household.

And here is another that is more relevant, IMO: USD 30 million unbudgeted spend for a company whose net income in 2023 was negative USD 10 million.

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