S2 compatibility message feedback

  • 26 November 2020
  • 22 replies
  • 552 views

Userlevel 2
Badge +2

Not sure if this message board is a good place to give app feedback, but here goes:

The Sonos app keeps presenting me the banner “The Sonos S2 app is now available Check Compatibility”.

Couldn’t the software automatically determine compatibility without prompting me? I have 3 devices, 2 of which are not compatible with S2, and no amount of prompting me is going to make a difference! Not a big deal but just annoying that it keeps coming back even after I dismiss the message.


22 replies

Userlevel 6
Badge +16

Hi @hokietoner, thanks for reaching out. Thanks for alerting us about this issue on the prompts for compatibility. We'll make sure that we'll pass this on to our engineering team as a feature request. Rest assured that we'll try our best to improve your experience with our Sonos products and services.

Please, feel free to let me know if you require any further information.

We're here to answer any further questions you have.

What happens if you click “check compability”? Maybe it gives you the option to continue using S1 and thus prevents the banner from future displays.

Userlevel 1
Badge

Not sure if this message board is a good place to give app feedback, but here goes:

The Sonos app keeps presenting me the banner “The Sonos S2 app is now available Check Compatibility”.

Couldn’t the software automatically determine compatibility without prompting me? I have 3 devices, 2 of which are not compatible with S2, and no amount of prompting me is going to make a difference! Not a big deal but just annoying that it keeps coming back even after I dismiss the message.

Super annoying and a blatant disregard for my communication settings which are set to OFF

What happens if you click “check compability”? Maybe it gives you the option to continue using S1 and thus prevents the banner from future displays.

As far as I recall this is what it does do.  At least, it didn’t force me to upgrade to S2.  It determined that my Connect was not compatible with S2 (which I knew) but I had to choose to remove it from my system before upgrading the other speakers to S2 and downloading the S2 app to control them.

My playlists, favourites etc were carried over into S2.  I had to set up a new S1 system for the Connect, with none of my playlists preferred.

I am sure there was an option to stick with S1.  What I cannot be sure of is that that would stop the messages - you would hope so, but…..

This was several months ago.  I don’t think that at any stage Sonos made a great job of explaining the operation of the process for moving into the S1/S2 era, although I think the options themselves were fairly clear.

@r1ch1eb  - this isn’t really to do with your communication settings.  This is not a mass communication, it is the app determining the state of your local setup and informing you of the options available.

Userlevel 1
Badge

Sure.

But like many of the Sonos customer base we would like the ability to suppress on a permanent basis. When and “IF” we wish to upgrade to S2 then we will. I don’t expect to have to dismiss a compatibility pop up box once a week across numerous devices that I use as a Sonos controller. I’m fully aware of which devices are S1 and S2 compatible.

Agree!

Sure.

But like many of the Sonos customer base we would like the ability to suppress on a permanent basis. When and “IF” we wish to upgrade to S2 then we will. I don’t expect to have to dismiss a compatibility pop up box once a week across numerous devices that I use as a Sonos controller. I’m fully aware of which devices are S1 and S2 compatible.

That is fair enough - but it isn’t just about telling you what is compatible, it is about leading you through the choices to the setup you want - which is what it did for me.

I suspect (but I am not sure) that you can get rid of it by just going through the process once.  If that doesn’t make it go away and there is no other means to suppress it, I’m inclined to agree with you .

Userlevel 1
Badge

Already been through the process numerous times and my choice is to simply stay on S1 and accept the lack of future enhancements.

If they launch S1 AND S2 integration then most of us would be keen but we’re not keen on junking perfectly good S1 zone players.

Again, agree. For what seem to be superficial benefits in S2 for those of us that don't care about using Sonos for TV audio.

Already been through the process numerous times and my choice is to simply stay on S1 and accept the lack of future enhancements.

If they launch S1 AND S2 integration then most of us would be keen but we’re not keen on junking perfectly good S1 zone players.

Not sure what you mean by S1 and S2 integration.  If they integrated them in any meaningful sense of the word they would destroy the fundamental reason for separating the devices in the first place. No chance.

Userlevel 7
Badge +23

Not sure what you mean by S1 and s2 integration.  If they integrated them in any meaningful sense of the word they would destroy the fundamental reason for separating the devices in the first place.

Well they could have kept things in a single app, there was no technical reason to split the app version as well as the device firmware. That would have reduced a bunch of customer confusion.

I’m totally sick of being constantly reminded to check for s2 comparability despite having done this and knowing I am not eligible to upgrade and still retain my play 5 in my speaker group. I feel Sonos actually think I’m going to get rid of a perfectly good and working speaker just so I can have some sort of advance voice control or whatever the s2 app offers. It was bad enough that they weren’t going to offer the s1 app anymore, at least they backtracked on that but I’m sick of the constant banner in the s1 app. Sometimes it dissapear for a time but it always comes back. Please sonos will you just set it to turn off permanently want it to.

Not sure if this message board is a good place to give app feedback, but here goes:

The Sonos app keeps presenting me the banner “The Sonos S2 app is now available Check Compatibility”.

Couldn’t the software automatically determine compatibility without prompting me? I have 3 devices, 2 of which are not compatible with S2, and no amount of prompting me is going to make a difference! Not a big deal but just annoying that it keeps coming back even after I dismiss the message.

I thought i would drop a reply just to say i share your frustration…..I have the same issue....But now its worse. Despite having 2 of 5 sonos devices in my system that are not compatible with S2 …. sonos prompt demands i upgrade to S2...and I can no longer dismiss the prompt.

in my case it doesnt matter too much...its been such a disappointment …...sonos is on the way out at my place....the Connect (Gen 1) And Connect:Amp (Gen 1) stopped working a while ago anyway, and i only have some play 1s, still running on S1, left. The system has never worked properly since mac catalina and my playlists are now full of corrupt entries (support says its all Apple’s fault - even though those same playlists are perfect in the Apple music App)

A new bluetooth speaker is doing the job 100 percent, costs half the price, plays all my music off the ipads my wife and I use, zero issues and sounds better too. Its not a multiroom system but i no longer care about that...for me the advantages and reliability beat the alternative. Plus I still have an audiophile quality sound system, 20 years old, never missed a beat and still going strong. 

Userlevel 7
Badge +23

I starting getting the new Update demand, despite having many S1-only devices. I don’t use the official apps very often, but this is very annoying indeed. I’m just hoping my wife doesn’t accidentally try and update my system when she sees it.

Agreed, Sobos

 

I thought i would drop a reply just to say i share your frustration…..I have the same issue....But now its worse. Despite having 2 of 5 sonos devices in my system that are not compatible with S2 …. sonos prompt demands i upgrade to S2...and I can no longer dismiss the prompt.

in my case it doesnt matter too much...its been such a disappointment …...sonos is on the way out at my place....the Connect (Gen 1) And Connect:Amp (Gen 1) stopped working a while ago anyway, and i only have some play 1s, still running on S1, left. The system has never worked properly since mac catalina and my playlists are now full of corrupt entries (support says its all Apple’s fault - even though those same playlists are perfect in the Apple music App)

A new bluetooth speaker is doing the job 100 percent, costs half the price, plays all my music off the ipads my wife and I use, zero issues and sounds better too. Its not a multiroom system but i no longer care about that...for me the advantages and reliability beat the alternative. Plus I still have an audiophile quality sound system, 20 years old, never missed a beat and still going strong. 

 

Agreed, Sonos does not feel that special anymore, and this move will certainly push more people away. 

This annoying, repetitive notification is just the latest example of how increasingly user-hostile Sonos has become.  That many of us continue to use Sonos is a testament not to them being far and away the “best” product out there, but more to the fact that

1. we’ve all sunk in huge amounts of money into their ecosystem so switching is difficult and

2. perhaps for our particular use-case, there is no real alternative.

Is that the reputation that Sonos wants to have?  Users not choosing Sonos because it is clearly the best and most delightful product, but rather because we’re locked into using a product/ecosystem that is hostile towards us?

Badge +2

+1. The most recent notification is much pushier in its language and offers no close (x) option like previous messages did. I was able to get it to go away (by checking for compatibility, logging in again even though I’m already logged in, and telling it to get lost) at least for a bit.

Oh, and while we’re on the topic of being user-hostile, I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve had to “hide” the “recently played” feature.

Userlevel 3
Badge +1

@Simon B the newer notification will not clear in IOS 14.4 - any suggestion on how to regain that screen real estate?

Userlevel 7
Badge +16

This is a massive annoyance to S1 users and not a good user experience.

Sonos just plows on regardless..

Userlevel 3
Badge +1

Well at least they’ve spelled it out for us in this post: 

If you have a household that only has players that are S2 capable, then the banner will persist until you choose to upgrade. 

There it is - they will continue nagging until we update.

 

I can shed some light on what’s going on here:

That banner you see that always keeps coming back even after you go through the compatibility checker is what’s known in design and UI/UX circles as a Dark Pattern.
 

A Dark Pattern is basically a type of technique where a user interface or web site is designed to manipulate or trick you into doing something you don’t want to do. They are incredibly unethical and designers who engage or support stuff like this are objectively not good people. 


Here the intent is to wear you down and get you frustrated enough to say “fine, I’ll upgrade all my Sonos speakers and get the new app.” See, the point of the compatibility checker isn’t to actually check your compatibility — it’s to annoy you into doing something they want you to do  

 

Sonia isn’t dumb — they are perfectly aware of this behavior and capable of giving us a way to opt out of seeing it forever, but they won’t because they want more of your money and don’t care about the ethics or optics. When confronted they’ll pretend it’s to “help the consumer understand their choices blah blah” which everyone knows is just bullshit they have to say. It’s pretty classic corporate PR doublespeak. 

Userlevel 7
Badge +17

I think I will sell all my devices made by Sonia immediately….

:wink:

Reply