Contributor I

Question

Why does Sonos insist on 'breaking' the controller app on unsupported OS?

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
November 6, 2019
14 replies
837 views

Ok, this is question that has appear regularly in the forum ever since I first started using sonos. Search the forum for ‘greyed out’ and it comes up over and over with the same problem in various guises, but in all those I’ve never seen a satisfactory answer.

I’ve got an iPad 4 running iOS 10.3.3, yes I know it’s ancient, it must be all of 6 years old (Apple discontinued the 4 back in Oct 2014) so by Apple standards it’s a museum piece. Apple make a lot of money by bring out new H/W and persuading users to land fill ‘old’ devices. iOS 10.3.3 is the last upgrade available for iPad 4’s.

So yes I know there may be new apps and functionality I can’t have because my iPad is not supported (apple blur the distinction between ‘out of support’ and ‘not supported’). However I’m happy with my iPad, it does, or at least did do, all i need and more. I neither want, or currently, need a new iPad.

So why, when I was forced to install a sonos update, did it grey out some functionality, i.e. from my perspective, break my app? I store all my music on a WD NAS. I add new music regularly. Which, up until a short while ago, worked fine but, along with other options, is now greyed out. I didn’t get a choice regarding the upgrade. If I try to start up the app my wife's iPad (sonos not upgraded for a few months) the app says I have to upgrade and will not proceed until I do, so basically I’m stuffed.

I spoke to sonos customer care who were, as always, helpful in providing the explanation. An explanation that, from previous experience, I expected, which sonos engineering/mgmt have forced them into the corner with, fending off annoyed users. You can not roll back an update, you can not avoid an update, your OS is ‘old’, basically…. ‘resistance is futile’. Given the situation the best/cheapest suggestion that they had to offer was to buy a supported kindle device. It’s relatively cheap and will probably last a while until that is also no longer supported. Most worrying of all was an indication that it won’t be much longer before iOS 10.3.3 falls right off the sonos compatibility matrix and it will stop working entirely. I’ve disabled sonos automatic updates to put this off as long as possible.

I have an old windows machine that is only capable of running XP, I understand the limitations that brings I know it could be viewed as a security risk, it’s isolated from my main network and should it get infected I can erase it and reinstall and restore back ups. I know the risks and I’m happy the benefits of the limited use I make of it are worth taking.

So my question and point is, if the OS is unsupported why not allow the user the option to not upgraded? Let them know what they will be missing by all means, but equally tell them what will stop working if they install the upgrade. If it’s unsupported the user can be told they are on their own and they have to make that decision. When apple ‘stopped supporting’ the iPad4 I didn’t expect them to upgrade to the next OS version and leave me to find out what they’d removed or stopped working and I wouldn’t expect sonos to do that either.

Additionally, should I really expect sonos on my iPad to stop working entirely after some enforced future release?

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A

alastair hAuthor

Contributor I

Locking out auto updates doesn’t work for the desktop apps, or for the CR200. Could someone post the ‘hidden’ document describing how to do this at the router level?

I’m happy to put it up somewhere. I’m afraid that I can’t ask the authors permission, though, as their name isn’t on the document and I can’t remember who wrote it. Back soon….

My belief is that the original author was kind enough to help other Sonos users, so would probably not object to further distribution of this helpful document. If I’m wrong, then I’ll take it down without question.

This is the main document :-

http://www.amun.org.uk/Sonos/Sonos%20Lock%20Down%20Procedures.pdf

and this is a list of ports that Sonos uses - or did when it was published :-

http://www.amun.org.uk/Sonos/Sonos%20ports.txt

The main document refers to locking down at v8.4, to avoid bricking CR100 controllers, but the same principles apply to later versions - e.g. I was locked down at v9.1 and now again at v10.4

Some routers do not support all of the necessary security features. As I don’t use the radio or streaming facilities - and just want to carry on playing my own music from a NAS - I’ve locked down the update port (4444) on all devices on my network, and locked off all access to the internet on all Sonos players.

Thanks Amun, a nicely written and very useful doc, it should save a lot of pain in the future.

A

amun

@alastair h

I just wish I could remember who wrote it, to thank them….

C

castalla

Local Superstar

Thanks!

There’s loads of info on web for opening ports for the tp-link Archer C8 router, but nothing on closing ports! Grrr! The Firewall settings are simply on or off! Grrrr.

I’ve managed to block the websites, but can’t find any way to block the port alone. Grrr.

It's the courageous bee's knees - all 6 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝. - - - - - Make Sonos Great Again - - - - -

A

amun

Thanks!

There’s loads of info on web for opening ports for the tp-link Archer C8 router, but nothing on closing ports! Grrr! The Firewall settings are simply on or off! Grrrr.

I’ve managed to block the websites, but can’t find any way to block the port alone. Grrr.

If you don’t use the internet facilities (e.g. radio) then most routers will let you black-list devices. Before I managed to find a router that did all that was needed, I got everything working and then black-listed all sonos players and bridge - so that they couldn’t access anything. A very OTT solution, but it kept my system safe for a while.

As I still don’t use the radio side, I now simply lock off all Sonos devices from all ports - slightly more subtle that the above, and more easily switched off if I need to.

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