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Keith N
Keith N
Sonos Staff
May 11, 2024

The New Sonos App and Future Feature Updates

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: 

 

    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.

    2256 replies

    Show previous replies
    PrestonGarvery
    Lyricist III
    May 23, 2024

    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: May 21, 2024. See release notes.

    • VoiceOver on iOS now properly interacts with individual elements of the Sonos app's home screen - and now adds improved VoiceOver support for allowing for navigating and controlling the Now Playing Screen, System View, Output Selector, Queue, Volume Sliders, and Add Product
    • Improved TalkBack support for the Now Playing Screen, System View, and Add Product
    • Improved Local Music Library playback of folders
    • Adding and editing alarms with the ability to Search for content


     

    Coming soon

    • Continued improvements to navigation for visually-impaired customers: mid-June
    • Adding to queue and playing next: early June
    • Sleep timer: mid-June
    • Local music library search and playback: mid-June
    • Update WiFi settings: mid-June
    • Snooze alarms: TBD



     

    Known issues and workarounds


    "Sign in as the System Owner" error while updating products during setup

    • Workaround: No workaround currently available.

     

    Our latest update resolves some of the most critical known issues, but know we have more to do. We hear your feedback and are working hard to deliver the experience you expect and deserve.

    Can you not employ your own software testers instead of making the customers do it? Wait until June for a sleep timer that was in the last version. What are the positives of this ‘update’ beyond vague ‘future functionality’? Since the s2 release features are consistently being removed where are these new features? 

      Turtle1234
      Contributor II
      May 23, 2024

      I do wonder if SONOS have any idea how many people solely use the system for playing their own library.

      Others have commented on the madness of not being able to access your own music and have ripped many,many CDs for their library.

      I have a load of old vinyl which has been digitised(playing at 1:1),edited in Audacity, loaded into Music Bee to add artwork and saved on an external ssd and played via Sonos. A slow process but these are old records. I am not interested in streaming or paying for something I already own.

      Like others I had assumed the new headphones would allow me to listen on Sonos to my own library but apparently they are only Bluetooth. So no purchase until The headphones can attach to the main Sonos system -- then I would buy.

        Dirk55
        Enthusiast I
        May 23, 2024

        It has been mentioned in this thread before - the public rollout of this failed new application was most likely a management decision. And if not it still is the managements responsibility.

        That triggers some interesting questions:

        • What were the drivers for management to take this risk? What is so important (to top management) that they risked the release of this obvious banana software?
           
        • What does SONOS management think of us end users? Obviously some thing like “they will scream, they will yell but at the end they keep on using our products”.
           
        • Where is all of this going? Improving the old S2 app is obviously just a marketing ruse. That could have been done easier and quicker. There are much larger changes in the background. e.g. enforcing system updates. But why? My SONOS was working fine. Looks like a move to an all cloud strategy to collect data, sell data and add some services nobody needs for extra coin.
          User821893
          Contributor I
          May 23, 2024

          The new app on my android phone keeps losing my system. I find the Spotify and Tidal apps more useful at the moment to drive my Sonos speakers compared to the new Sonos app. I have never felt so much buyers remorse considering the amount of money I have spent on Sonos speakers. I feel lied to by the Management of Sonos when they say they have been using a beta version of this app for months, because the lack of song queue playlists options are evedent in the first few minutes of use. I was looking forward to buying Sonos headphones but will definitely not be adding to my system until it is as it was with the S2 app.

            BVRBVR
            Contributor I
            May 23, 2024

            It has been mentioned in this thread before - the public rollout of this failed new application was most likely a management decision. And if not it still is the managements responsibility.

            That triggers some interesting questions:

            • What were the drivers for management to take this risk? What is so important (to top management) that they risked the release of this obvious banana software?
               
            • What does SONOS management think of us end users? Obviously some thing like “they will scream, they will yell but at the end they keep on using our products”.
               
            • Where is all of this going? Improving the old S2 app is obviously just a marketing ruse. That could have been done easier and quicker. There are much larger changes in the background. e.g. enforcing system updates. But why? My SONOS was working fine. Looks like a move to an all cloud strategy to collect data, sell data and add some services nobody needs for extra coin.

            Maybe it’s a lesson in “How to turn a one time sale into recurring revenue.”

              kingp0dd
              Trending Lyricist I
              May 23, 2024

              Unable to add Alexa voice assistant with the latest app 

                JO091715
                Lyricist II
                May 23, 2024

                Courage would be you admit ya done f’d up!!

                  Dirk55
                  Enthusiast I
                  May 23, 2024

                  ...

                  You might be willing to wait patiently for app updates, but if the company goes belly up in the process there won't be any...

                  I agree - it makes me very nervous with SONOS trying to make everything depend on their cloud. In case SONOS goes belly up, I can toss my hardware. Not the first time, people have to ditch hardware due to the company operating the needed cloud services goes down.

                  And I see everything points to SONOS moving to full cloud dependency and on top messing up their journey to cloud in the process.

                    Zapdog
                    Listener
                    May 23, 2024

                    WTF! This new app sucks.

                    I rolled back to 16.1 manually (android) - sooooooo much better. Only downside is I can’t hit “update all” in Google play, cuz then Sonos will update to the new broken version.

                    Sonos - do the right thing (as other have said): Rename the new 80.0 app S3 and release v16.1 as S2. Then users can pick easily.

                      ChooChooStu
                      Trending Lyricist I
                      May 23, 2024

                      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: May 21, 2024. See release notes.

                      • VoiceOver on iOS now properly interacts with individual elements of the Sonos app's home screen - and now adds improved VoiceOver support for allowing for navigating and controlling the Now Playing Screen, System View, Output Selector, Queue, Volume Sliders, and Add Product
                      • Improved TalkBack support for the Now Playing Screen, System View, and Add Product
                      • Improved Local Music Library playback of folders
                      • Adding and editing alarms with the ability to Search for content


                       

                      Coming soon

                      • Continued improvements to navigation for visually-impaired customers: mid-June
                      • Adding to queue and playing next: early June
                      • Sleep timer: mid-June
                      • Local music library search and playback: mid-June
                      • Update WiFi settings: mid-June
                      • Snooze alarms: TBD



                       

                      Known issues and workarounds


                      "Sign in as the System Owner" error while updating products during setup

                      • Workaround: No workaround currently available.

                       

                      Our latest update resolves some of the most critical known issues, but know we have more to do. We hear your feedback and are working hard to deliver the experience you expect and deserve.

                      Sonos. You’ve forced this his new app upon me and it’s absolutely trash. It’s doesn’t respond. I was so happy with the previous version. What on earth are you playing at. You’ve shown yourself to be a bunch of amateurs.

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