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Feature request: Schedule option

O
Hello!

I would like to see an schedule option for the Sonos controller. A development of the alarm function. I would love to be able to, for example, set my bathroom speaker to play between 7 AM-10 PM everyday or split it up to play between 7 AM-9AM and then start again between 4PM-10PM. I know some of it can be done with the alarm but thats not what I want. In my world its two difderent things.

This should be an easy fix and falls perfectly in line with our new smart homes nowadays! And I can see this too be an much wanted function for both private and business who wants their speakers to play automatically on different times during the day!

Best regards!
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Best answer by ratty 29 May 2018, 14:00

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18 replies

melvimbe

This should be an easy fix..

Taking a aside here, and nothing personal at all, but this has to be one of my least favorite terms.

First off, it's not broken, so it can't be fixed.

Second, often times when we look at a block box from the outside, we think we know how things work in the box. Often times, we are absolutely wrong. We assume it's built a certain way, so changing things are easy. If it were a house, it's like painting a room. Same thing, different color. The reality is that seemly small changes often require big changes inside the box. It's not painting a room, it's taking down a load bearing wall. Sure it would be easy if the system were built the way you imagine it is, but it was built differently.

Third, sometimes you can cheat and add a feature by sorting of patching it up. In other words, you add the feature by just taking it on in a slightly odd way. You would never do it this way if you were adding the feature from the start, but you have to do it this way as it's the only way you can do it without a rebuild. So you end up adding a mudroom off the masterbed room instead of off the laundry or kitchen like it should be (or whatever, I don't have one).

Fourth, changes introduce bugs. So you replaced the perfectly functioning window with a new fancier one...that leaks a bit in heavy rain. This is the whole reason for the quote "If it's not broken, don't fix it"

Last, for every new feature you add, you're opening up a can of worms. You'll have people who believe you should have done it a different way. You'll have people who say it never should have been done at all. Even if the features doesn't change any of the old stuff at all, people will complain that it's not as simple, and they don't understand the difference between 'alarm' and 'schedule'.

So...not really that simple.
Danny
melvimbe
Well, luckily it isnt you who will make this happen! Guess we still wouldnt have had TV if things were up to you. Strange mankind haven't been eaten by a hugh wormhole with all new functions we get every day.

And for the record. I switched windows a couple of years ago. Still not a singel drop of water on the inside! Stop worrie and be happy m8.

Request still remain.

You missed the point entirely, and again not about you. I'm not saying things should never change, progress is bad or anything like that. I'm just saying that change isn't always as easy as it looks like from the outside.

And I work in IT myself, and yes somethings take a lot longer than my clients think it should. Other things happen a lot faster than they expect.

No issue with your request.
Danny
ratty
I would love to be able to, for example, set my bathroom speaker to play between 7 AM-10 PM everyday or split it up to play between 7 AM-9AM and then start again between 4PM-10PM. I know some of it can be done with the alarm but thats not what I want.
Why not? Alarms can do all of the above, not just some of it.
O
The answer to your question can be found in the first post and you basically answered it yourself.

And creating a bunch of different alarms aint the smoothest way to go. In the end alarm is alarm,
ratty
I must be missing something. You're happy with the current functionality but you'd rather it was labelled 'schedule' instead of 'alarms'??
O
No. The alarm is good.

But please, tell me how to create 1(one) alarm where i can tell it to start play at 7am, stop at 9am. Then start again at 12am-1pm and then 4pm-10pm. Without creating 3 different alarms. With a proper schedule function this could be made at once.

Then if i have 3 rooms where i want different settings I would end up with 9 different alarms. Also on top of that I have my normal alarms....kinda messy m8.
MikeV
Userlevel 7
Badge +21
You create an alarm that starts at 7:00a and plays for 2 hours (7:00a-9:00a).
You create an alarm that starts at 12:00p and plays for 1 hour (12:00p-1:00p).
You create an alarm that starts playing at 4:00p with an indefinite length (since the longest alarm time isn't as long as you want here), then create another alarm at 10:00p that plays for 5 minutes at 0 volume to turn it off... or set an alarm at 9:30p for 30 minutes... or however you want to set it up.

You have to create multiple entries in a schedule to start and stop things, just like you need to create multiple alarms.
The S in IOT stands for Security.
ratty
A 'proper' schedule function would still require discrete on/off instructions for each period. Which is what exists today, organised by room, by time.

You can set a maximum of 32 alarms in the system as a whole. It seems to me that limit is the only potential issue.
O
Well, please hear me. I know it can be done. As I said. I dont want to create a bunch of different alarms. I want it to be made in ONE step. A schedule function. There is a big difference there. It can be done very easily without all your above instructions...without having to create and trick the system.
ratty
You create an alarm that starts playing at 4:00p with an indefinite length (since the longest alarm time isn't as long as you want here)
The longest alarm time is now 23:55 (23:59 if configured on the Desktop controller).
ratty
It can be done very easily without all your above instructions
A software change which yields no change in functionality, only of terminology? Frankly I can think of more pressing demands on the engineering team. The system can do what you need today.
melvimbe

This should be an easy fix and falls perfectly in line with our new smart homes nowadays! And I can see this too be an much wanted function for both private and business who wants their speakers to play automatically on different times during the day!
Best regards!

Orsla, is there a smart home product you're thinking of that currently does scheduling the way you want Sonos to? I'm not aware of one. You generally have to setup a separate event for every action. Some may allow you to do 'start' and 'stop' in a single event, but often times, they have to be done separately. Arlo cameras do allow you to do a schedule, similar to what I think you're describing. I think some thermostats have schedules like that as well. Is this along the lines of what you we're thinking.

I somewhat agree with the others. Since you can do this with alarms, I can't see it as a high priority. I also don't know that it's going to be as easy to code as you think it will be. The other thing to consider is that a lot of high end users who would want this feature, are also going to have other smart home things in their house, and are going to want to control all of them from a central hub/application like Smartthings. In other words, there is a good chances users who could use such a feature would might opt to do it elsewhere anyways.
Danny
O
It can be done very easily without all your above instructions
A software change which yields no change in functionality, only of terminology? Frankly I can think of more pressing demands on the engineering team. The system can do what you need today.

You dont seem to understand what I write. There is more to it than just change the terminology. As Ive said several of times before, u cant do what I want, the way I want to do it it, with alarms. End of it. If you're happy with how it works today, fine. I'm not and this is a suggestion for future development.

Melvimbe, basically its just a configuration of the alarm function they already have today. It aint that hard honestly. Basically all they have to do is to modify it with a menu where you are able to set start/stop with the possibility to add a new action, start/stop. As many as you want. Then you have a "alarm/schedule" to start/stop as often as you want without having to elaborate with a bunch of different alarms. You have one action instead of a scroll list of different alarms.

Keep alarm and add schedule, or whatever you wantto name it. Or just add it under alarms if that feels better.
jgatie
Not going to happen. Has been requested a couple times before in the 13 years Sonos has been around, and the same answers applied then as now, which is why it hasn't been implemented.
O
Not going to happen. Has been requested a couple times before in the 13 years Sonos has been around, and the same answers applied then as now, which is why it hasn't been implemented.

To bad. Lets hope they can listen this time then 🙂
J
Not going to happen. Has been requested a couple times before in the 13 years Sonos has been around, and the same answers applied then as now, which is why it hasn't been implemented.

To bad. Lets hope they can listen this time then :)And if they listen, let us hope they can figure out what benefit would be obtained.
ratty
And if they listen, let us hope they can figure out what benefit would be obtained.
Two fewer taps, it would seem, to enable/disable a room's 'schedule', assuming there are 3 start/stops therein.

The same amount of effort is required to create each start/stop instruction, whether it be an 'alarm' or in a 'schedule'.
O
Well, luckily it isnt you who will make this happen! Guess we still wouldnt have had TV if things were up to you. Strange mankind haven't been eaten by a hugh wormhole with all new functions we get every day.

And for the record. I switched windows a couple of years ago. Still not a singel drop of water on the inside! Stop worrie and be happy m8.

Request still remain.
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