Update to 15.4 lost play from 'on this mobile device'

I checked my email and I see nothing from Sonos this year.

The Verge and Tom’s Guide provided only 1 week notice - if you read the articles:

If Sonos can show pop-up ads when I start the app on my phone, they certainly could have issued a pop-up warning for Android users 2 months ago to alert them.

Sonos chose not to do so.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/15/23724054/sonos-android-on-this-device-shutting-down

https://www.tomsguide.com/news/sonos-speakers-are-getting-a-surprise-downgrade-for-android-users-heres-3-ways-to-get-around-it

I’ve found a solution that suits me:

I cast the music that is  on my mobile towards my tv( I use poweramp  android app) ,the sound comes out my Sonos Beam2

I disable the tv screen 

Hope that will help some of you

The only solution to this is to never buy Sonos again.

The service is deteriorating badly. First there is the New Search which searches everywhere except your NAS or device and this latest downgrade where you can't play music stored on an Android device. One of the solutions provided is to buy the latest Sonos Bluetooth enabled speakers. The reason I invested in Sonos was to ditch inferior Bluetooth playback

How long until the announcement that the function to play music on a NAS is disabled?

Obviously the usual suspects are handing out virtual  high-fives and promoting this is as some sort of progression, but this is yet another backwards step and another reason why I'll never spend a penny more on this shoddy outfit.

I’d hardly say that “never buy Sonos again” is a solution. It’s a reaction, but certainly not a solution. In fact, several solutions have been put forward, some of which are free and certainly don’t involve buying more kit or resorting to “inferior Bluetooth playback”. 
 

I get that you’re upset, but at least be accurate in your rant. 

There is nothing inaccurate in my post. New Search does not show music stored on my NAS and I'm unable to play music stored on my Android devices. These are facts.

The "solutions" put forward are workarounds, not solutions. I have not invested money in Sonos to use workarounds for now removed features they were promoting when they sold me their speakers.

I get that you're a fanboy, but please do not accuse people who are stating facts of being inaccurate.

Play stored music from a £20 USB stick plugged into your router without turning your PC on or buying and configuring an expensive NAS.

This is my solution using a Windows 10 PC and the latest Sonos app on an Android mobile phone in the UK. It is not perfect, but it works for me. When I had finished, the settings automatically updated in the app on my iPad so I can control it from there as well.

I have 2 Sonos One SLs, a Sub mini and a Beam Gen 2. All are wired via ethernet cable to my router, but there is no reason why this should not work via WiFi. I have a BT Smart Hub 2 router, with fibre to the premises, that has a USB port.

I put all my stored music on a 128 GB USB 3.0 stick formatted as NTFS. I tried FAT32 and some of the music would not copy over. The music is stored in folders named for each artist, with each album in a folder named for that album.

Plug the USB stick into the router.

In the Sonos app click the settings icon and choose “System” then “Music Library”, then “Music Library Setup”, then “Add Shared Music Folder”.

In “Add New Share” type the address and name of the USB port. For me it is \\192.168.1.254\usb1 where 192.168.1.254 is the address of the router and usb1 is the name of the port. It takes a few minutes to configure itself, do not click anything until it has finished. If it doesn’t work, try again, you may have mistyped the address. I did, several times.

This is the usual address for BT routers, but the address and the name of the port may be different for other routers. Do not put sensitive information on the USB stick as it can be seen by anyone who has access to your network.

Access the music on the android app by clicking the music icon, which takes you to “Browse”, choose “Music Library”. Choose “Folders” then “\\192.168.1.254\usb1” (or the address you used). This takes you to the named artist folders, with the albums inside each. All the other options in Music Library are pants.

I am an old, old-school music enthusiast, not a techie, so this is all at the extreme limit of my abilities with networking and apps. What help I needed came from Google and experimenting, I do not have the knowledge to help with other configurations and I will never buy another piece of Sonos kit ever again.

This won’t work on all routers, but for people having those that it does work on it is a great solution. What router do you own?

'Let us know what you think, we value your contribution '

Clearly not the case with Sonos. Like most others posting under this topic, I received no notification at all that this functionality was to be removed. I do have all my music on a NAS server but do not have it on all the time (none of my electrical is on permanently), so it was convenient to play from a local device. The ability to do so was a selling point for deciding to buy various Sonos speakers. 

I won't rant like some others, although I do feel like doing so. I doubt Sonos will take any notice,  but like others, I will never buy Sonos products again. 

You made your argument calmly and reasonably, and I can understand your anger and frustration at losing a facility you used a lot.  But valuing a contribution doesn’t mean you have to do everything suggested by every user, even if that were possible.

Sadly, you will be the loser here.

FWIW, a bit of history.  Playing from the device has never fitted well with Sonos’ system design, in which the app is just a controller, not a music player.  It was added as a free upgrade many years after Sonos launched its system.  It has always been the least stable way to play music, although presumably you didn’t have problems.

It became impossible to sustain on iOS devices some years ago, and now Sonos has judged that it is not worth trying to continue on Android.  I suspect that very few users use it now.  

The world has moved on since Sonos added this feature for iOS and android.  Airplay has been added to many speakers, Bluetooth is now a feature of some speakers.  NAS is a better solution.  And of course, streaming now dominates music listening.

So I sympathise with you for the loss of a feature you valued, but I understand why Sonos have dropped it.