Issues with app layout when using split screen on iPad


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I recently installed an iPad wall mount for controlling my Sonos system and smart home devices. In order to easily control both Sonos & Apple Home without switching screens, I’ve setup the two apps in split screen mode:

 

This works really nicely, however, every time the Sonos app runs an update, the layout of the now playing view on the Sonos app gets squished to look like this (red border added):

 

In order to fix it I have to remove the app from split screen mode and then re-add it. A minor annoyance, but I’m finding this is happening about once a week, and the idea with this wall mount is that I don’t have to fuss with anything and “it just works”.

 

So I’m posting here hoping that someone @Sonos is listening and can report this bug to their iOS team. I submitted a diagnostic from my iPad controller while it was showing the squished view in the second photo.

Diag #: 478660750


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10 replies

Userlevel 7
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Hi @dgaultiere 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

Thanks for your post, but I’m not convinced this is a bug that can be fixed. Presumably, it will be more to do with the screen space reserved for the Sonos app being reported to it while it loads, and it’s reaction is to choose the phone aspect ratio. Only by offering it the full, landscape-oriented screen does it give you the tablet layout, which you’re then squeezing to make room for the Homekit app.

I could be wrong, however, so I’ll pass this on to the relevant team.

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@Corry P Thanks for your response. The screen width has not changed between the two pictures. In both cases I have the Sonos app set to take up 2/3 of the screen and HomeKit is taking up the other 1/3. I’m confident it’s the exact same width because it’s the maximum size iOS will let me stretch the Sonos app to. If it’s the same width, why would the app present a different layout?

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I would assume that it’s happening during the time that the app is initialising and asking about what screen is available - the result it gets doesn’t fit a known aspect ratio for landscape mode so the app falls back to it’s default of portrait mode. On the other hand, when it does get a landscape ratio (if there’s no split-screen) it sets itself up for that mode and when you then make room on the screen for Homekit, that’s iOS managing the rearrangement of the available screen space and because the Sonos app is already up and running, it doesn’t think there’s a need to alter anything until some kind of accelerometer interrupt is sent to the app telling it to switch orientation (when you rotate the iPad).

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Hey Corry, thanks for your response. I’m not an engineer but the Sonos app definitely adjusts its layout in real time when I add the homekit split screen and drag it left or right to change the split width. So surely the app has access to some information from iOS about the current size of the view. In any case, I understand it may not be optimizing for this since it’s an edge case. 
 

Today I noticed something new. When I woke up the app was showing the “squished” layout again after an update ran overnight. However, after I selected something to play and then re-opened the now playing view, it had “un-squished” itself. The only strange part is that the volume slider was still squished. Here is a screen recording illustrating this:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tq907ec6bef7i8h/Video%20Apr%2014%2C%208%2024%2011%20AM.mp4?dl=0

Userlevel 7
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Hi @dgaultiere 

Hey Corry, thanks for your response. I’m not an engineer but the Sonos app definitely adjusts its layout in real time when I add the homekit split screen and drag it left or right to change the split width. So surely the app has access to some information from iOS about the current size of the view. In any case, I understand it may not be optimizing for this since it’s an edge case. 

Good point. I’ll report this back. You are right however - it’s an edge case. If the app renders properly in each orientation at first, and during rotations, then we’re mostly likely happy about that and are unlikely to spend resources on every eventuality.

 

Today I noticed something new. When I woke up the app was showing the “squished” layout again after an update ran overnight. However, after I selected something to play and then re-opened the now playing view, it had “un-squished” itself. The only strange part is that the volume slider was still squished. Here is a screen recording illustrating this:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tq907ec6bef7i8h/Video%20Apr%2014%2C%208%2024%2011%20AM.mp4?dl=0

Thanks for the recording. Unfortunately, I think this also hits squarely in the same edge-case scenario. If the volume slider is still fully functional, then it won’t become a priority, I’m afraid. It may be an indication of something “beneath the hood” not being quite right, however, which may affect other operations so thank you for bringing it to our attention.

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Thanks @Corry P, appreciate you passing it along :)

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@Corry P now I’m having an issue that is definitely a bug. The volume slider is completely broken:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/38ut04xuyrhp3yh/Video%20Apr%2015%2C%207%2011%2003%20AM.mov?dl=0

 

Diagnostic: 277728845

Userlevel 7
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Hi @dgaultiere 

Thank you again for sending the video and reporting this. I recommend shutting the Sonos app down and restarting it. You can see how here: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/ipad/ipad79518d15/ipados

If that doesn’t help, please reboot the iPad.

Userlevel 7
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@dgaultiere 

If this volume issue occurs without the use of split-screen, could you please let me know? Thanks.

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Thanks. Restarting the app fixed it. I’ll let you know if it happens again.