Contributor I

Android notification and lock screen controls

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
May 14, 2024
68 replies
3170 views

Recent update to Sonos app on Android and now cannot see controls anywhere except within the app itself. No lock screen controls, nothing in notifications bar, physical volume buttons don't control volume. Anyone else experiencing this? Pixel 5 with Android 14.

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mmr

Lyricist III

So why do all of my other music apps have controls on the lock screen then?

Apple rules state that you cannot reassign the functionality of the lock screen and hard button controls. They can only be used to control audio playing on or through the phone. Since Sonos does not play through the phone (in fact, they hacked in a silent file playing in the background to get around the rule), Apple told them to cease using the hack or risk being banned from the app store. So until Apple relaxes its rules, there’s nothing Sonos can do.

Yeah but this topic is not about the iPhone app, is it? So any discussion on why any app can or can’t have certain features on Apple devices is not of interest to this topic. If this would be the same on Android I guess this would be clearly stated by Sonos as the reason to removing this feature. Until then this is nothing but laziness from the product team. Maybe they expect all new audience to just press play on a radio station then leave it running. Thus no need for any extensive interaction with the playback

Fortunately Spotify Connect is now working for me again (no thanks to Sonos or Spotify), so I am not limited to using the crap Sonos App anymore.

jgatie

Yeah but this topic is not about the iPhone app, is it? So any discussion on why any app can or can’t have certain features on Apple devices is not of interest to this topic. If this would be the same on Android I guess this would be clearly stated by Sonos as the reason to removing this feature. Until then this is nothing but laziness from the product team. Maybe they expect all new audience to just press play on a radio station then leave it running. Thus no need for any extensive interaction with the playback

Fortunately Spotify Connect is now working for me again (no thanks to Sonos or Spotify), so I am not limited to using the crap Sonos App anymore.

Since Sonos has never admitted the actual reason why the Apple lock controls were taken away (besides a cryptic “We aren’t blaming anyone. but you can read between the lines” wishy washy PR statement), I highly doubt they are going to “clearly state” anything about Google. Sonos simply doesn’t throw the partners it depends on to distribute their app under the bus.

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mmr

Lyricist III

Yeah but this topic is not about the iPhone app, is it? So any discussion on why any app can or can’t have certain features on Apple devices is not of interest to this topic. If this would be the same on Android I guess this would be clearly stated by Sonos as the reason to removing this feature. Until then this is nothing but laziness from the product team. Maybe they expect all new audience to just press play on a radio station then leave it running. Thus no need for any extensive interaction with the playback

Fortunately Spotify Connect is now working for me again (no thanks to Sonos or Spotify), so I am not limited to using the crap Sonos App anymore.

Since Sonos has never admitted the actual reason why the Apple lock controls were taken away (besides a cryptic “We aren’t blaming anyone. but you can read between the lines” wishy washy PR statement), I highly doubt they are going to “clearly state” anything about Google. Sonos simply doesn’t throw the partners it depends on to distribute their app under the bus.

Well this is once again nothing but laziness and bad customer management. No one is getting thrown under the bus. If the mobile companies have made a certain change then that is up to them, for their reasons. It would be very simple to shut all of these threads down with a “Sorry guys, this is out of hands, we cannot deliver this feature until Apple makes changes to their policies.” end of story.

Well anyway, the credibility of Sonos is gone for me. I have been a Sonos owner for many years, but can no longer recommend the system to friends or family that would ask. Everyone most surely have a feature they miss in the new app. But to me the missing lock screen and notification controls, the lack of limited Spotify playlists and the overall sluggish loading in the app is more than enough. As for the new hardware, the entry level speaker is now way too expensive and there are other options on the market. I will not invest in any more hardware in the near future

buzz

As noted above the SONOS App does not play music through the phone/pad. The SONOS APP simply remote controls the SONOS system to directly access the music source. Once music starts to play through the SONOS system the SONOS App can be shut down or removed from the phone/pad and the music will continue. In the Apple ecosystem an App MUST actually be playing the music before Lock Screen controls are available. The hack that SONOS once used is considered to be a security issue by Apple and Google.

If you have an App that directly plays the music on the phone/pad, AirPlay or (on newer SONOS models) Bluetooth can be used to send that music to SONOS and the Lock Screen controls will be available to the App that is playing the music. Alexa could also be used instead of the Lock Screen controls.

M

mmr

Lyricist III

As noted above the SONOS App does not play music through the phone/pad. The SONOS APP simply remote controls the SONOS system to directly access the music source. Once music starts to play through the SONOS system the SONOS App can be shut down or removed from the phone/pad and the music will continue. In the Apple ecosystem an App MUST actually be playing the music before Lock Screen controls are available. The hack that SONOS once used is considered to be a security issue by Apple and Google.

If you have an App that directly plays the music on the phone/pad, AirPlay or (on newer SONOS models) Bluetooth can be used to send that music to SONOS and the Lock Screen controls will be available to the App that is playing the music. Alexa could also be used instead of the Lock Screen controls.

Spotify connect could also be considered a remote since the music is not playing on the phone. The music service creates a connection from the speaker to the server and the mobile device is nothing more than a remote. The mobile device can be turned off and any other device on the same network can connect and act as a remote AND control the music from the lock screen

And once again. I am only debating Android here.

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Parsnip62

Enthusiast II

So why do all of my other music apps have controls on the lock screen then?

Apple rules state that you cannot reassign the functionality of the lock screen and hard button controls. They can only be used to control audio playing on or through the phone. Since Sonos does not play through the phone (in fact, they hacked in a silent file playing in the background to get around the rule), Apple told them to cease using the hack or risk being banned from the app store. So until Apple relaxes its rules, there’s nothing Sonos can do.

This thread is about Android, as is my question.