It’s time to stop adding minutiae to the Sonos app issues

‘When you hear the sound of hooves, think horses, not zebras.’

Something to consider is that Sonos made major changes under the hood in the way things are done. Some of the changes could expose local issues that weren’t apparent before as Sonos wasn’t using the services.

That said I’m not a big fan of the new app as I’m seeing a lot of the same problems others are reporting, but for me most are transient or just aggravations still letting me use my Sonos for hours of daily listening.

Many issues but the Sonos folks seem to have decided to keep from digging the hole deeper and prioritize getting folks back to fully functioning and less frustrating systems.

Could they do more? Maybe but as a software developer I can assure you abusing the programmers with overtime and pressure is a sure route to two things, loss of productivity and the printer spitting out resumes every time the boss looks away. Been there, done that, gave my 2 weeks and took my accrued vacation after my new job interview.

They are in a corner and need an escape route that works, hope they find something.

True. But zebras still exist.

As a ‘normal’ user, untutored and unskilled in software development and any other relevant field, it’s pretty much futile for me to spend a lot of time digging around looking for some minute anomaly in my home network.

The fact remains it all worked perfectly well before May 7; it all went caca after May 7. 

And so long as the app is a moving target, riddled with ‘known issues’ and other issues yet to be discovered — or newly created issues that result from the ongoing changes being made to the app — patience is the only viable option.

It’s virtually impossible for someone like me to figure out if problems I experience with the app are ‘my fault,’ or a problem with the app. All I can do — and all the countless users like me can do without wasting a lot of time in what is likely going to be a futile effort — is wait for Sonos to tell us they’ve done everything they can at their end; the app is a finished product; and then download the latest software and firmware updates and see what happens.

Taking Sonos at its word, that’s probably going to be October. It’s a long wait, but there is no viable alternative, unless you’re in the mood to abandon ship and replace your Sonos system with something else.

IMHO, while SONOS might like to believe the wings it hears flapping belong to a bluebird, they’d be well-advised to think albatross.

Yeah…. Not sure where this is all going. Cheerio for now.

‘True. But zebras still exist.’

Indeed they do. But I’m virtually certain the nearest zebra — other than one that might be in a zoo — is thousands of miles away from where I’m sitting. Horses, on the other hand, are pastured nearby.

A policy that I recommend to a lot of folks in the “Please just let it just keep working.” camp is to disable automatic app updates on your controller and to disable automatic firmware updates for your Sonos gear.

Come by the forums and check to see if the latest release is getting a good reception and update, if not walk away for a month and check again.

You can use the Sonos desktop app and/or Sonos web app. If your problems persist in those it is most likely network or Sonos account/system related, if not it is most likely mobile device or Sonos app related.

This is really amazing that people are “Trolling” (yes, I said trolling) the community for posts to pick apart (if possible). I penned the original of this post over two months ago! Geeze!!

I still stand by original post that a lot of problems outside of missing features are network related or possible device OS incompatibility. I’ve added device OS incompatibility as although I’m an iOS user I recently purchased an Android device for testing. I’ve found that Android is a bit more finicky with the Sonos app. So IMO it’s still a work in progress before it reaches the level of usability (UI experience) as I have found in iOS. However, the overall UI experience in Android is comparable to that I find in iOS.

That said I’ve posted another video (recorded 08/16/24) of my UI experience with the Sonos app on my iOS device. Please note that in the video (at about 00:20 seconds) you will see “Sonos Ace White Not Connected”. That I hope is enough proof that the Sonos App shown in the video is current since after the Ace release. BTW….Audio Swap which is an Ace feature works as promised by Sonos.

I’ll not drag this out with a lot of explanation as I believe (after viewing the video) you’re intelligent enough to figure-out why I posted it and what it siginfies. Is there still work to be done on the app before it’s ready for “prime time”...you bet your “bippy” there is. However, for me the Sonos App works as a useable interface.