Controller update 8.0

  • 12 October 2017
  • 24 replies
  • 1018 views

Userlevel 3
Badge +3
Worst update ever despise the control bar at bottom for setting speakers. My speaker settings usually don't change and going into the setting menu is quick and easy.

The favorite stations list, I prefer a list view not the icons. Too bad I can set and lock that preference.

Music I purchase din Google play does not show up even though I am logged into the account.

List of stations do not update in alphabetical order

This update is a mess and I will be using my Sons system far less. Heck I may even sell it on ebay or craigslist.

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24 replies

Userlevel 5
Badge +3
Yeah, not being able to have a list view is completely moronic.
Userlevel 4
Badge +3
It's appalling, the worst ever!
Userlevel 5
Badge +10
Absolutely horrible update-who thought this garbage was a step forward???
Userlevel 2
Badge +2
Agreed. Can't switch between zones. Setting you click on 'don't take'. You must select the radio dial zones several times. Very frustrating. Hate all the white!
Userlevel 2
[Paste]
Agree, this latest update feels like a real step backwards in user friendliness.
The 'MY SONOS' tab... Use far too much space displaying content, I always have to press 'show all' button to see what I need to, so why bother with the new BIG look?!
The 'ROOMS' tab. Again, the new layout uses to much space and makes it much more difficult to see what's playing in each room at a glance (which is surely the point?) Now only shows 3 rooms on screen, a completely unnecessary waste of space when the old layout showed much more. I would like to be able to see many more rooms/speakers.
'SEARCH' & 'BROWSE' tabs - why are there two tabs for an almost identical function?!

Another slight annoyance is when on the expanded playing screen... The new tabs across the bottom VANISH (on my phone) so there's barely any point having them if they're supposed to be short cuts... I still have to hit the tiny arrow in the top left corner to get anywhere!
On a plus, the quick grouping of rooms does seems slicker/better, but overall I'm pretty unimpressed!
This is less of an update and more of a major step backwards. I have SONOS products in 7 zones. Accessing and controlling individual zones has become a royal pain. Unable to select zones, having to group them with accessible zones, then remove the zones I don’t want playing... PAINFUL!

Major misses like this, and the painful Alexa integration is leaving the door wide open for Apples new speakers which will just work. Please fix this fast, or the whole lots goes on eBay/CraigsList and I will order the new Apple speaker for every room.
Userlevel 2
Badge +2
Air didn't just work. That ship sailed years ago. Good luck if you choose Apple over Sonos.
Userlevel 1
Sorry for your pain but glad it's not just me.
Absolute disaster. Fails to connect. Drops out. Can't find anything. Starts playing an album then all the controllers decide there's nothing playing and won't connect so have to go round and turn each individual speaker off.
My parents were about to outfit their whole house with sonos, I've told them not to bother. Loved this product until a couple of weeks ago. Now I just want rid of it.
I agree, this update is a huge fail. Please revert back to the last controller. Has anyone heard any response from SONOS on this one?
Dave
I agree, worst update which broke what was working well. Go back to the previous version of the controller, this is a huge fail. Fails to connect half the time and drops out. I hate the new interface. Switching from a room to another doesn’t work. A HUGE FAIL
Pretty bad. My playbar won’t stay grouped now as long as there’s a tv audio feed connected to it. It will play music for a few second then drop out like it’s been switched to TV audio. It’s useless now as part of the system. It’s just a dumb sound bar. Very frustrating.
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Hi everyone, thanks for the feedback. We're sharing all of the suggestions and criticism with the team so they can look into adjusting pain points for the next build. We know there are some big frustrations here and are working on it. This is the first edition of the new app, so there's definitely room to grow, and we're working on that. There are a few things I wanted to clarify based on some of your comments:

This is less of an update and more of a major step backwards. I have SONOS products in 7 zones. Accessing and controlling individual zones has become a royal pain. Unable to select zones, having to group them with accessible zones, then remove the zones I don’t want playing... PAINFUL!
It sounds like you're using the wrong menu to manage your players. There's a red name on the screen, which is the active group. Pressing on that gives you the list of players you have that you can group to that room to play the same thing from.
To change the active room for the controller, slide the Now Playing down and press Rooms. That'll show you your list of all rooms or room groups and you can pick the one that you want to control, leaving the other rooms playing like they normally do.

Pretty bad. My playbar won’t stay grouped now as long as there’s a tv audio feed connected to it. It will play music for a few second then drop out like it’s been switched to TV audio. It’s useless now as part of the system. It’s just a dumb sound bar. Very frustrating.
There is an issue that we're looking into right now with player grouped to the PLAYBAR, playing TV audio, where they have cutouts from time to time. We're on it, so if you're running into this issue, it's being investigated. To make sure, I'd suggest you give us a call on our support line.

Fails to connect half the time and drops out. I hate the new interface. Switching from a room to another doesn’t work.
Failing to connect isn't likely related to the software itself, but something locally that the support team can help you with. I'd suggest that you give us a call on our support line. As to the room switching, you might be using the wrong menu, as suggested above.
Userlevel 2
Badge +2
Only the current zone shows. I'm now having to unplug a zone and plug it back in for my zones to show.

I certainly hope the software engineers are staying at the office each weekend to fix this cluster f@ck!
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Hi Rick, if you tap on the arrow at the top of the Now Playing screen, do you see the other rooms listed?

If not, it sounds like some trouble we can help with. I'd suggest you give us a call on our support line to take a look like with a technician.
Userlevel 3
Its like we are being punished for owning Sonos with this new update please fix this make it simple again please
Its like we are being punished for owning Sonos with this new update please fix this make it simple again please

Stop it. Posting the same thing to multiple threads is Spam. It does nothing but annoy. Sonos knows your opinion.
Userlevel 2
Badge +1
I hate to jump on the “me too” bandwagon but wow, this overhaul is terrible. What’s a head scratcher for me is lots of UX 101 has been completely ignored and I’d think Sonos would be far enough along in their maturity to recognize the basics.

Biggest complaint in our house is the interface is no longer intuitive. Before, a novice could pick it up and generally navigate it. It had gotten more cumbersome over the years as features became more plentiful yet still manageable. Now, even I find myself jacking with it for much longer than necessary just to change rooms or change a source.

I appreciate that Sonos is trying to stay current but please please please don’t reinvent the wheel without consulting with professional UI/UX developers since you clearly don’t staff them internally.
Userlevel 6
Badge +1
please please please don’t reinvent the wheel without consulting with professional UI/UX developers since you clearly don’t staff them internally.

I hadn't considered sonos not having internal ux staff but that would explain a lot. From the obvious lack of user testing, over the bandwagonesque designs, to the apparent cluelessness of how people actually use sonos, it suddenly makes sense.

As someone said earlier, is as if the app was designed by someone with a single sonos speaker, who hardly changes what they're listening to.
The new app is hard work..... OMG why mess with a great product, please Sonos get this massive problem sorted.
I coundn't agree more - I'm finding myself turning on the TV now, rather than bother with the app

Big "icons", hard to get an overview, strange bar at the bottom....PLEASE give me back the good old app - why change something which is nearly perfect ??

My wife - she is very sweet, but not very technical - but she USED to love Sonos - now she won't use it ......and worst of all, she starts singing when there is no music 🙂
Thiugh i would argue that the previous version of software was anything but oetfrct but the latest is even more messed-up. Your designers need their heads examined. Why doesn't anybody on your software design team look at software state diagrams? If they did, they'd see the mess they've created. For instance, look at the shinanigans (number of touches & a secret pull-down) your customers have to go through when listening to music (when in the state where the screen is covered by the radio station logo) and try to set an alarm. It's a giant Sonos Secret ... ABSOLUTELY non-intuitive.

A software UI truism: if you have a menu item titled "more", or "other", then you do not have a well designed UI. Hint: A timer is a timer. Some timers fade out, others fade in.
The thing that was essential when we choosed Sonos, was the absolutly easy way it was controlled - my wife is the best, but she is not very "technical minded" - but she loved it !

She hasn't been using the system for months now due to this new design, hidden menus etc

This is SO sad, since Sonos was SO easy to use - no need to read any instructions and so on - very intuitive !

But now - it's useless, feels like a waste of money

If you dare - make a survey - how many wants the old app back ? Lets see 😉
Userlevel 7
Badge +21
Sonos have announced changes are coming, let's hope it's soon.
Badge
Ive had sonos for a while but only just joined the community(as i have just bought a play 5 to add to my 2x1's).
Glad its not just me that isnt a fan of the "new" app, i thought maybe it would take a while to get used to but no, just not keen on it. Most of my listening comes from Spotify so i tend to just use their app most of the time now.

Good to hear that there are changes coming.