Feedback on new app

  • 20 October 2017
  • 74 replies
  • 3323 views

Userlevel 4
I would like to issue my feedback:

Oh my gosh the new app, sonos website + forum are very complex!

I could easily list a number of fundamental user interface rules that are broken, and many interfaces that are just so complex that it beggars belief.

Many folks that I know personally who have purchased on my sonos recommendation are similarly expressing their frustrations with such a massive UI change, to make matters worse, without warning.

Michael Lee - 20 years software development professional.

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74 replies

Userlevel 5
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Can I just add my user experience of the new app. It is flawed, makes no sense to any of my users (we are a SONOS delaer) and needs to change.

From the Rooms menu, I can do nothing. I have to select the room, which logically would expect you to access the room "options", but no, you then have select a different nav bar icon, which is counter intuitive - wy can I not access rooms, then select music, without jumping between nav bar items?

If I double click the room I go to a full screen "Now Playing" view which allows me to do - well not very much really.

I cannot select music from the now playing screen - it seems to be an enormous waste of space when they could easily give you more usable features.

Frankly, there are too many "ways" of getting to the end result.

Swipe, select from Nav, select room, then access nav bar again, then search - wow - so many different styles of UI to get music playing.

It could be so, so, so much simpler.

This app makes NO SENSE whatsoever. Even after using it for hours I find it frustratingly useless as a UI

Nothing is logical. The thing you want to do you need to approach from the wrong direction.

I would actually pay money to get a better app.

SONOS need to admit that they have failed badly on this one - the product is outstanding -this app UI is a car crash, a complete disaster of a user experience.


Your comments suggest that you have not explored the app properly to find out what happens where.
Select room. Then select music. Sounds logical to me. It’s different but more logical.

Now playing screen. What do you mean can’t select music? Does Show Queue not work for you?

Does selecting the room in My Music not work for you?
Userlevel 6
Badge +1
Did you not read the bits where I said i have never claimed the new app was better than the old?

That's exactly what you do every-time you call the app quick, easy and logical in response to someone complaining about it. Why you say? Well because in comparison it isn't, and by side-stepping that fact, your pretending it isn't the case.

There's huge difference between telling someone the new app indeed is a big step backwards, but if you follow these steps it'll be easier to deal that, and telling them what those steps are and questioning their intelligence by asking how that doesn't work for them (BoredofBalham's post immediately above this is a perfect example).

I ask you what is illogical about a simple set of steps in the app .
I already pointed tout that the way the rooms dropdown on now playing does not allow to switch rooms is illogical.It's no coincidence that remark pops up in most of the critiques and complaints. But it doesn't stop there. The usage of big icons making list extra long, or only being able to see 2 rooms at a time on the rooms screens is illogical. The way my sonos only shows 5 items in the overview is illogical, etc.

But can I get the music I want playing in the room I want in a few seconds without difficulty? Yes. That is all I am claiming.

It's now without difficulty, certainly not in comparison with the previous app. And that last part is something you can not ignore as the current app is the follow-up to the previous, and sonos made it impossible to keep using the old app.
What a colossal waste of both our times this debate is. I concede that you are correct on every point, and I am completely wrong.
Userlevel 3
I agree that the new app is poorly designed, I do not see why I should have to relearn how to use this every few months.

Going forward I intend to test new apps on an old android phone I have, I will only download new controllers if I deem them to be an improvement. Does anyone know if using old versions of the app long term will cause any problems? Will it eventually do it anyway if I keep saying update later?
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
I agree that the new app is poorly designed, I do not see why I should have to relearn how to use this every few months.

Going forward I intend to test new apps on an old android phone I have, I will only download new controllers if I deem them to be an improvement. Does anyone know if using old versions of the app long term will cause any problems? Will it eventually do it anyway if I keep saying update later?


Eventually some services will stop working as those services make changes which require firmware/controller updates.
Will it eventually do it anyway if I keep saying update later?
No, providing that you lock it off everywhere - all controllers, all possible updates (e.g. android auto updates), never allow anyone on the system who may update it either helpfully or accidentally. In addition, you can't add new controllers (so you can't change phones, laptops etc) or re-install existing ones if there's a problem. So locking it down can be quite restrictive.
Userlevel 3
Stuart_W and Amun thanks for your comments, very helpful.
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One change I would like to see is the ability to change the Music Library menu structure. For example, if I could, I would change the menu path to be Music Library>Genres>(albums). Currently this path ends with artists. With classical music this would be especially helpful as "composers" is often not correctly filled in by iTunes. A list of all albums, as currently provided in the path (Music Library>Albums) is way too long to use and it would be nice to narrow down by genre.
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I've had my 5 room sonos for 7 years, long enough to have had the orignal remotebefore there was an app...Anyway, what I find annoying is how confusing it is to change rooms. Too many steps.
The new interface is very inconvenient. Especially the way you select a room and make group is not straightforward. Furthermore the selecting a song from search was much more convenient when you could choose what you want to do with instead of start playing it directly.
To be clear I normally never give feedback, but these changes are extremely annoying.
When this update was released I wrote to Sonos to complain as the previous version was so good. I don’t normally feel inclined to give feedback but as Sonos was so amazing I was shocked that they messed it up so much. Like others I am still using “trial and error” to select a room and finding the bottom menu again. It seems the room selection and grouping have become mixed up and I am always choosing the wrong thing. Every time we look at the new tracks we keep accidentally playing them and messing up the queue. It feels like I need to tread carefully and slowly when I touch the app in case I accidentally stop my music and replace it with something else!! I still like the Sonos though but have too much now to change... but Sonos need to be careful I don’t start recommending something else to new buyers.
Sonos original menu interface was great. SOOO Easy to use. What the hell happened? Navigation is terrible. Select something to play and good luck trying to get back to it to change speakers, stations, etc. Go back to your roots. Sometimes you don't have to change things.
Userlevel 1
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After spending a lot of money over many years on a music system 10xS1, 4xS3, soundbar, bridge, connect, I expect the company and not its customers to resolve my problems.
The update app which i delayed installing, crashes everyday. It fails to see components, won't group rooms, required far more actions to do anything, requires signing in for most actions, such as trying to recover components it can't find, won't accept additional advice (phone, PC) controllers, can't find my NAS, always there before, etc. etc.
Do something!
Userlevel 2
I, personally, thinkt hat the original “blue” UI was probably the easiest to use (the one that WIndows/OSX still uses). The last version was ok, and the ciurrent version requires, quite often, 3 or more clicks to achieve what used to be done in one or two. The white is also way too harsh at night, a dark/light theme option can’t be that difficult, surely? We have black and white speakers, how about a black or white theme?

I think that if the menu bar along the bottom actually stayed in place, it would solve a large number of the problems on it’s own.

Look at the Sonopad app for iOS, or the OSX/Windows apps for an example of easy to use UI. My partner stopped using Sonos, full stop, with the new app. I installed Sonopad on her ipad, and with no instruction, she figured out how to do everything she wnated in about 5 minutes. The new Sonos app needs a video to show you how to change rooms... Which is more logical?

Z...
I've been using the Sonos system for 2 years, and Sonos is my 3rd server-based digital music management system. We have 6 zones in our house and 5 of them are powered by Sonos Connect AMP units. The other by a Sonos Connect.

It is with this background that I say that the previous UI was outstanding. it was intuitive, quick and a pleasure to interact with. The latest one (introduced in the fall of 2017) is frustrating and inconvenient. It is especially hard to control which rooms/zones you want on and off, and even after over a month of daily use we still find ourselves in loops of going back and forth to the wrong screen to try and figure out how to achieve this. Much like the introduction of NEW COKE, this new structure to the UI is the **answer to the question that nobody asked**, and the head 'architect' behind this upgrade should be sacked.

And on the subject, in this same new app version, when one clicks on 'Pandora' THEN one has to ALSO make an additional click to select "My Stations" — this is the height of annoying redundancy.

Formerly elated, now disappointed,
TH
Asheville, NC
Userlevel 1
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It is interesting to consider what genius decided users would like an extra step to see their list of favourites nor why the playlist need to be screen covering generic icons. It's not even consistent. And after weeks of trying and lots of online help, the phone app still cannot see my NAS while other apps and PCs can.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
The people who designed the Apple Music app and the Spotify app which Sonos obviously tried to emulate.
A constructive feedback:

First: I like the new look - the blue was so 2007

Second: The main interface bar at the bottom - good idea in general.

But one important element is missing!

Sonos forgot its core business in the App: Providing a MULTI-ROOM experience!

Choosing and selecting rooms has to be the center of it all. But currently it has same priority than all the other functionality. This leads to a total headache whenever you want to switch between the rooms. Because most often I am in the detailed view of a room also to open the current playlist. From here one only has the possibility to group rooms together, etc. But you can not switch to an other room or select new music! It is actually a totally confusing and useless UI layer. First swipe down, then select the new room, then choose what should be played. This is much too long and chunky!

You could at least allow to swipe left or right to switch between rooms faster or you add a bar at the bottom which can be scrolled from left to right to choose and select the rooms. On top of this you add the bar which is currently at the bottom. Whereas the room button would then show the info of the detailed “current playing” view.
Now you never loose sight which room you are currently in and you choos the functionality easily per room.

But last of all: Please change something! It can not remain like it is now. Thanks
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
I like the idea of being able to swipe the room side to side to browse between rooms. That's a new one.
Userlevel 1
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And why did someone decide it was more useful to be only able to see two favourites as the default?
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
It sure what you mean. I think the new my Sonos is much better then old favorites as you can create your own categories.
Userlevel 6
Badge +1
It sure what you mean. I think the new my Sonos is much better then old favorites as you can create your own categories.

WTF is likely referring to the huge tiles used when you favorite a playlist, something quite some others complained about as well.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
What a horrible username to use
Badge +1
As someone who almost exclusively uses Playlists in iTunes I find it very frustrating to have to scroll through the many (100's) of playlists I have to reach one near the end of the alphabet.

An alphabet menu at the side (like in songs, artists ect) shouldn't be too hard to add, should it??