The New Sonos App and Future Feature Updates

I have a system I cannot use. The app doesnt recognise my system.  Bring back the old app while fixing the broken one.  It’s quite a simple fix. 

Apologies if I’ve missed this in earlier posts here. 
 

I would suggest disabling automatic device firmware updates in the controller app for the time being. I wouldn’t put it past Sonos to push out an update that would block us from using the S2 versions. This would give them perfect cover for saying no, we can’t re-publish the old versions. 
 

 

Have now read this thread up to page 6 and am so glad I took an earlier hint and did what this post is suggesting. I hope resolution comes soon for those affected. For now I’ll stick with 16.1

SInce this new app+ additional update the system intermittently says it is not connected.

This didn't happen on the old app

Remember Abercrombie & Fitch?

From a “proud & brag” product to “a brand I do not wanna be seen with” in short time. Could be Sonos’ future, in case they do not get serious about user requests.

• Make downgrade to last pre-80 version possible (iPhone!).
• Pause forced upgrades on all. systems for a while.
• Organize a user poll to identify a most used/most wanted feature Top 20.
• Launch a mature product upgrade when you are ready. Take your time. Allow beta testing.
• Commit yourself to a max 1-year-upgrade interval for new functions. Bug fixes & security if required.

Just my 2 cent.

Or take the mobile phone industry as a role model for a dual business model:

1 - Sponsored hardware: Cheap, but with a long-term paid service contract.

2 - Real price hardware: Expensive, but leaving the customer with free choices.

With 1, You (Sonos) can do what you want and customers have to accept service restrictions and a one-sided balance of power. Since they can save money and are happy with what you offer.

With 2, You make money just with your cool hardware but allow an open app concept. Speakers might become even more expensive than now, but in exchange, customers have freedom of choice regarding services and “all-you-can-eat” app functionality. Simply as powerful and user friendly the engineers can design it. Broad user base will provide enough input, for sure, to make it a brilliant product. Open your hardware even up to 3rd party app developers.

Another 2 cent, makes it 4.

OMG they’ve done it again!  On the 13th they updated & dropped support for SMB1 - yes I know its old & unsafe but its what my old NAS uses.  So I now can’t see my music library at all.  Royally F*!cked!  I have no words

I made the mistake of downloading your new app this morning and am now no longer able to listen to ANY of my music via Sonos. Since my only use of Sonos is to listen to my local music library, your hardware has overnight become useless.  I have painstakingly digitalised a substantial CD collection (1,300+ CDs) into FLAC format that I store in the D drive of my Windows-based desktop computer.  I am not able to add that shared folder to a Sonos music library (error code 913) and, when I try to play individual files, I get the message “FLAC file denied”.  Your UK customer service has a 2h wait time - unacceptable in itself.  Your message to users of the new app suggests I should subscribe to iTunes or ApplePlay but both of those have a cost and I want to continue listening to my local library digitalised CDs via Sonos as per hitherto.  If renewed access to local music library search and playback won’t be available until mid-June (as per Keith N’s message - and I’m not counting any chickens about that) why was the new app rolled out in April/May?  

So...how to make bad worse? On Android, gone are the mini controls in the notification area (when you swipe down the screen). Gone are the widgets....

People at Sonos. Why do you launch an app that is unfinished to the extend of lacking quite basic functionality of the previous version, while at the same time saying a downgrade is not recommendable - trapping you customers in a worse product experience? 

Have you not learned from all the frustration raised when companies release unfinished stuff? Have you not learned from the abysmal app ratings your apps got so far? It's really not that difficult to make a half decent app - just be honest when testing internally. Listen to input. Listen to criticism. If you don't, external criticism will be twice as harsh. Your speakers are expensive, your aspiration premium, your software does not live up to this, at all, not in the slightest. And you just made it worse… why? 

(And I am sure you will have an empty marketing speech or entirely internally focussed strategic reply for me now.)

You know, you may sit in meeting rooms and discuss software strategies, brand identity and other super cool corporate stuff. Your customers don't care, they want a functioning product. Not a "but we are working towards our new xyz strategy to position ourselves 123" kind of non-answer replies. From my outside perspective, it sure seems like you are too focussed on things that seem important to you but are irrelevant to your customers. 

Just talk with your customers like normal people. We're not idiots you can park in a corner while you finish developing an app, as part of whatever strategy...

I am trying to add a SONOS Roam to my existing system. It has worked fine for some time but now won’t. I have connected it to the new IOS app but it keeps asking to register the unit. This fails continually. Is this all connected to the launch of the new app?? I am keen not to reboot the system etc or do anything else drastic given all the comments above! TIA.

This is clearly a major failure and a lesson in how not to implement an update. I’ve never seen an app with so many one star reviews on Play Store before!