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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
    kpr
    Prodigy I
    June 2, 2024

    <snipped>

    ”Do check out the Sonos guidance at https://en.community.sonos.com/owners-cafe-228997/player-controller-versions-why-update-6894905 to see their self imposed limitations on what you can and can't do with older speaker firmware and controller versions.
    If you have already completed Sonos device firmware updates beyond 78.1-52020, I think you'll be out of luck trying to use the S2 version 16.1 app in any event.”

    Thank you for the explanation how that works  I rolled back with that.

    Regarding the newer firmware vs older 16.1 app:

    my 84-year-old relative’s Play 5’s firmware got recently updated to the latest. They have the 16.1 Sonos app and it worked fine. Then the Play 5 lost power and their iPad also had Bluetooth and location services disabled. I was pleasantly surprised that the older app found the device again without any issues. I was fearing the “you must update” prompt but the 16.1 app didn’t display that. So they got their Play 5 back up and running and can happily use the 16.1 app that works well. 
     

    So at least to some extent the older app and newer firmware can work fine. Obviously if the device needed to be added again then they likely would need to update the app. 
     

    I hope Sonos fixes all the issues and re-introduces the removed features by the time my relative accidentally updates to the newer iPad app.

    I fear they have a learning curve with the new app because the new app seems to rely much more on swiping up and down. The tab UI approach is much better for my relative as iPad (and their iPhone) no longer recognize their finger swiping that well.

    Maybe the 1 % that Patrick referred to are older people and those who prefer to use taps instead of remembering where and how to swipe.

     

    Arcticpollen
    Enthusiast II
    June 2, 2024

    @kpr - thanks for that info, very useful. My work iPhone that’s managed by Intune has the very latest 80.x version of the controller which will no longer connect to my Sonos gear without a “you must update the firmware to continue” type message. 
    Good to know that the current firmware still works with S2 version 16.1 although I will not be updating my speakers for the foreseeable future. 

      Nieszka
      Lyricist II
      June 2, 2024

      This update is useless. Literally. I cant connect to either of my Sonos products. Everything is up to date (which I highly regret) & it’s stuck on an old playlist which is all I can play because I can’t switch any music either from my iPhone or iPad. Yes I have updated with the latest, from today which supposed to be a “bug fix” but it didn’t do anything helpful for me. 

        Bobzilla1960
        Avid Listener
        June 2, 2024

        “We set out to create a more personalized and effortless listening experience with the updated Sonos app.”

        Well, you really missed the boat on that one. Thanks for destroying a brand I’ve been using for a decade. No lessons learned from the CEO’s time at BlackBerry evidently. 

          Tony5
          Contributor I
          June 2, 2024

          I’d love to request fixing the connection for Plex users, have an Apple Watch controller and make the new app faster. Gestures are so slow. For example swiping down to move the current tab is like I'm on a really old iPhone and not a 14 Pro.

          Apple Watch - there’s a 3rd party App called ‘Lyd’ have you tried that?

          used to work very well, not sure after the App update.

          Pacific Jim
          Enthusiast I
          June 2, 2024

          I initially came to this Sonos community website hoping to find how to restore my iTunes songs to my Sonos system. After several weeks of reading the hopeful suggestions, comments and criticism it appears that the Sonos company’s product development has created a mess that will take time and money to correct IF company management thinks the effort is important. Whether or not Sonos makes the repairs needed will depend on if executive management thinks the effort makes profit and loss sense. 

          My strong suggestion music fans with disrupted a Sonos system is to write the chairman of the board with your thoughts. His name and address are below.

          Mr. Julius Genachowski

          Chairman Board of Directors

          Sonos Corporation Inc.

          614 Chapala Street

          Santa Barbara, CA 93101   

            jgatie
            jgatie
            June 2, 2024

            I initially came to this Sonos community website hoping to find how to restore my iTunes songs to my Sonos system. After several weeks of reading the hopeful suggestions, comments and criticism it appears that the Sonos company’s product development has created a mess that will take time and money to correct IF company management thinks the effort is important. Whether or not Sonos makes the repairs needed will depend on if executive management thinks the effort makes profit and loss sense. 

            My strong suggestion music fans with disrupted a Sonos system is to write the chairman of the board with your thoughts. His name and address are below.

            Mr. Julius Genachowski

            Chairman Board of Directors

            Sonos Corporation Inc.

            614 Chapala Street

            Santa Barbara, CA 93101   

             

            That would require writing an actual letter, putting a stamp on it, and mailing it away.  Why do that when you can post endlessly useless tirades and idle threats on here? 

              Pacific Jim
              Enthusiast I
              June 2, 2024

              The Sonos company website boasts that on April 23, 2024 Sonos introduced a new application that “completely reimagined” an user’s experience.

              I agree with this PR statement. I never imagined that a software release could create so many unhappy customers. 

                Gaham
                Headliner I
                June 2, 2024

                I initially came to this Sonos community website hoping to find how to restore my iTunes songs to my Sonos system. After several weeks of reading the hopeful suggestions, comments and criticism it appears that the Sonos company’s product development has created a mess that will take time and money to correct IF company management thinks the effort is important. Whether or not Sonos makes the repairs needed will depend on if executive management thinks the effort makes profit and loss sense. 

                My strong suggestion music fans with disrupted a Sonos system is to write the chairman of the board with your thoughts. His name and address are below.

                Mr. Julius Genachowski

                Chairman Board of Directors

                Sonos Corporation Inc.

                614 Chapala Street

                Santa Barbara, CA 93101   

                My guess is that he already knows about this and does not care. Not worth wasting the stamp.

                  John Guarr
                  John Guarr
                  Enthusiast II
                  June 2, 2024

                  I initially came to this Sonos community website hoping to find how to restore my iTunes songs to my Sonos system. After several weeks of reading the hopeful suggestions, comments and criticism it appears that the Sonos company’s product development has created a mess that will take time and money to correct IF company management thinks the effort is important. Whether or not Sonos makes the repairs needed will depend on if executive management thinks the effort makes profit and loss sense. 

                  My strong suggestion music fans with disrupted a Sonos system is to write the chairman of the board with your thoughts. His name and address are below.

                  Mr. Julius Genachowski

                  Chairman Board of Directors

                  Sonos Corporation Inc.

                  614 Chapala Street

                  Santa Barbara, CA 93101   

                   

                  That would require writing an actual letter, putting a stamp on it, and mailing it away.  Why do that when you can post endlessly useless tirades and idle threats on here? 

                  Oh @jgatie, still the bully in the room after all these years.  If you don’t like the complaints/remarks in most of the forums, just take a break and stop reading them.  

                   

                  That’s funny, I have taken a break for a while but we all need to help each other and that is why I am back. I did work yesterday with a nice Sonos Tech. He helped me on a lot of small issues and got me to understand about the SMB2 protocol and after I got off the phone with him, I was able to move my music library from an older NAS drive onto a Western Digital My Cloud which does support the SMB2 protocol and managed to get most of my music back. Even most of my playlists which I think are stored in memory on most or some of the Sonos devices. The Windows version of the app is called S2 version 16.2 and it is okay, but very slow. The iOS version is very difficult to use and needs some work. I can’t figure out how to tell what version I currently have installed. I just tried chatting with them but got disconnected. There is no menu that I can find in the IOS app. I’ll call Sonos tomorrow. 

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