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press250
press250
Prodigy III
July 17, 2024

Workaround(ish): Android App Crashing with Firmware v16.3

  • July 17, 2024
  • 99 replies
  • 6394 views

Those Android users unfortunate enough to have installed the v16.3 firmware released on 17 July may have encountered a nasty bug that crashes the app over and over. Thanks to an intrepid detective on Reddit, we’ve narrowed down the bug and identified a weak workaround.

The bug causing the crash seems to be triggered by local library music. And the local library music does not need to playing, it simply needs to be in the queue of the currently selected Sonos device.

So if you are encountering this bug and your Android app is stuck crashing ...

  • Using a functioning controller* clear the queuesⵜ on all Sonos devices
  • Start Android app, everything works!
  • Play streaming source, everything works!
  • Play local library music, BOOM CRASH BOOM

… hence “weak workaround” as local library music in your queue will continue to crash the app.

* Desktop app and Web app work particularly well
ⵜ or replace the queues with streaming music

Side note: this bug is not limited to Samsung devices, tho’ it may not impact all Android devices. Samsung devices happen to display the Android OS error message shown below, while other Android devices opt to log the error without a pop-up.

 

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    Pinned Reply By MiniMe

    Pro-Tip: briefly unpower the speaker(s) that have the track from the LAN library in their playlist. When a speaker reboots it forgets its playlist. Like this you can also recover from the Android app crashing if you don't have another working controller.

    99 replies

    Show previous replies
    mpbl
    Contributor I
    July 20, 2024

    I just upgraded to 16.3 on my computer, uninstalled the sonos app from my Pixel 7, then reinstalled it. Cleared all my queues so there was nothing from my Music Library. Then brought app up and was able to run Tidal in one room. Switched to another room and ran music from my library there. Ran beautifully. But Sonos app crashed again on my Pixel. 16.3 has not fixed the problem!

    Come on, Sonos, get  your act together!

    LowFatMayo
    Lyricist I
    July 20, 2024

    When did having a cup of coffee and listening to a piece of music become something I had to plan in advance?

     

     

    And as if to rub salt into the wound, when I open the App today they are running a marketing add titled "Effortless Listening"... someone in marketing has a wicked sense of humour!

      Stusurrey
      Trending Lyricist I
      July 20, 2024

      just when you think the idiot morons responsible for Sonos software cant make it worse, they do.   They have no interest in supporting local libraries as they don't make money from it.   Software is pathetic. 

        MusicEvokesEmotion
        Enthusiast I
        July 20, 2024

        Here is another work around that will allow you play your library on your Android device:
         

        Use the web app
        https://play.sonos.com/

        It seems to run faster than the android app.

        HTH

         

         

        I tried this on my Android phone (Google Pixel 6a), but it tells me it doesn’t support my screen size.  It works on my Windows Laptop, but the Sonos app actually already works there, so not much use for it. 

        ravens
        Lyricist II
        July 20, 2024

        Here is another work around that will allow you play your library on your Android device:
         

        Use the web app
        https://play.sonos.com/

        It seems to run faster than the android app.

        HTH

         

         

        I tried this on my Android phone (Google Pixel 6a), but it tells me it doesn’t support my screen size.  It works on my Windows Laptop, but the Sonos app actually already works there, so not much use for it. 

        If you're using Chrome you can choose to see the Desktop site, then it works. 

          mshanaman
          Lyricist II
          July 20, 2024

          Good Lord how friggin horrible are the Sonos devs? They systematically break everything about local libraries, you know, the only real reason people would bother getting high performance speakers. I could have my intern program their whole system for them in a day or two. Are they hiring 6th graders? I think the 7th graders might be able to pull it off better.

            Seedy2
            Trending Lyricist I
            July 21, 2024

            Good Lord how friggin horrible are the Sonos devs? They systematically break everything about local libraries, you know, the only real reason people would bother getting high performance speakers. I could have my intern program their whole system for them in a day or two. Are they hiring 6th graders? I think the 7th graders might be able to pull it off better.

            Hey, don’t blame the poor devs, they’re just bashing out code. Blame their managers, and their managers. You know, the one who won’t pay coders to fix existing problems, only to create new features.

              mshanaman
              Lyricist II
              July 21, 2024

              Good Lord how friggin horrible are the Sonos devs? They systematically break everything about local libraries, you know, the only real reason people would bother getting high performance speakers. I could have my intern program their whole system for them in a day or two. Are they hiring 6th graders? I think the 7th graders might be able to pull it off better.

              Hey, don’t blame the poor devs, they’re just bashing out code. Blame their managers, and their managers. You know, the one who won’t pay coders to fix existing problems, only to create new features.

              What new features? They've only removed features.

                kallagh
                Trending Lyricist I
                July 21, 2024

                Here is another work around that will allow you play your library on your Android device:
                 

                Use the web app
                https://play.sonos.com/

                It seems to run faster than the android app.

                HTH

                 

                 

                I tried this on my Android phone (Google Pixel 6a), but it tells me it doesn’t support my screen size.  It works on my Windows Laptop, but the Sonos app actually already works there, so not much use for it. 

                Firefox for Android option to run “Desktop Site” enables this link but interface is fiddly and requires zooming in and out.

                  Audiophile Phil
                  Lyricist II
                  July 21, 2024

                  Good Lord how friggin horrible are the Sonos devs? They systematically break everything about local libraries, you know, the only real reason people would bother getting high performance speakers. I could have my intern program their whole system for them in a day or two. Are they hiring 6th graders? I think the 7th graders might be able to pull it off better.

                  Hey, don’t blame the poor devs, they’re just bashing out code. Blame their managers, and their managers. You know, the one who won’t pay coders to fix existing problems, only to create new features.

                   

                  If it's that bad, why even pretend to support it and waste time on shitty developments?

                  It's obvious now that none of them tests the release with android and the local music library. Otherwise they would have noticed this bug before. This combination is dying. They should better drop support completely now like they did with local files on android and leave it to third party apps like plex. 

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