Update to obsolete


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The latest update has made my controller stop working.
I use an amazon kindle fire to control my sonos (speaker and sound bar) - but with the latest software update it now says that my kindle software is not recent enough. I've spoken to amazon, and the software is up to date. I've spoken to customer services at Sonos - and they say there's nothing they can do. I cannot return to the previous version of the app.
Does anyone know of a way to get the old version of the app back? or is there another update?
My fire is not that old.
I am really cross that what was working well is suddenly cancelled by Sonos - I understand that old hardware won't get new updates forever, but it seems wrong that it is made to not work anymore (and no warning given or I wouldn't have updated the app) and there seems nothing that I can do.

Sonos is a premium brand and I had been very happy with it - but not now

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17 replies

Userlevel 7
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Is Amazon still updating the software on your Kindle? My Kindle Fire stopped supporting the Sonos app recently, but this was multiple years after Amazon stopped updating the software on the device, rendering it increasingly obsolete.
Userlevel 3
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Ryan said you should get a warning email and a notification in app inbox
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I spoke to amazon - they said the software was up to date, but I don't know more than that. I've not had any problem with anything else on the fire not working / stopping working / not having an up to date version - ie nothing else that I use has become obsolete or says that the fire isn't fine.
I do understand that new features might not be available - my problem is that what was working now no longer does - the update took away my being able to use all my Sonos speakers.
Re the email - the customer service person that I spoke to at Sonos also mentioned that there should have been an email - and I went back through my inbox and spam and there wasn't one.
When the app had a message that it needed to update (on the fire - ie as I turned it on) it did not say that doing the update would / could / might... stop it working - it was just a bland - time to update message.
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This email business is quite new, and is asking a lot, that every users different controllers are listed correctly and that sonos can tell the update will kill it.
No one has reported it working correctly yet AFAIK.
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But why does an update "kill" a functioning thing? This is what I do not understand - maybe make no changes but the update shouldn't shut down a good system - and with no warning or anyway at all to maintain function.

I now can only use my soundbar with the volume on the TV and my speaker comes on as an alarm clock - but I can't even change the time it comes on.

And regarding the email not listing different controllers - there was no email! There was no warning that doing an update would stop the only way to control the sonos things.

Anyway this message wasn't meant to be a moan - I was hoping someone would know how to fix this - how can the previous app be restored, maybe there's webpage that could help? i'm not happy to buy another device simply to control the sosos - especially because if they do this once it could be an ongoing problem. The speaker and sound bar are expensive in the first place without have in to buy a dedicated control device every [insert unknown time period here] when the kindle fire works for everything else! It is not so old that it doesn't work - all other apps and software that I use on it are completely fine.
Userlevel 3
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This is sonos policy to kill controllers, they are old, move on is their moto. I too was livid when they killed my ipods.
The email is supposed to be targeted to controllers registered to your account that the update could kill. I dought this is working hence you got no email, or it is only for iOS and android phones.......who knows

You cannot go backwards with sonos, once you or someone in your house has accepted an update. Look on the cr100 thread.
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Thank you paulrw for clearing that up - so it is now non-functioning and there's nothing I can do . Wow!
Userlevel 3
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You now have the full sonos experience :D
Android devices tend to have a longer sonos lifecyle, or get new iOS phone every 3 years or so, or use sonophone 3rd party app on it.
Userlevel 7
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I think the message is that older devices and OSes that are no longer supported by their manufacturers will cease to be supported by the Sonos App, but this is usually years after manufacturer support ends. This is no different to lots of other apps.
In my experience in the game business, it's exactly the same. We would support devices as long as they were supported by the manufacturer with software updates, once that stopped, we had no more access to support from the manufacturer, so we stopped releasing updates for that version of the OS, forcing the few people on the old unsupported OS to update.
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Everything else works on my kindle. You make it sound like I'm trying to get the sonos to work on something years and years and yeas old - it's not! My youngest speaker is only one year old (the oldest one about 18 months).

I don't expect new upgrades forever - but I also don't expect it to stop working for no reason - it was perfectly functional - why make it stop working - surely the app could just be left alone on the device, receiving no changes? I really do not understand the whole concept - with expensive speakers to take away the app so now they don't work.

Think I will just have to give up now and accept that I can't use them any more.
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Sorry Airgetlam - I am confused.
If you stop releasing updates surely the last update will continue to work?
Not necessarily. If there was something in the new code that relied on a feature that existed in the newer OS, but not in the older, it forces the user to update. And if you're fixing a bug, and you no longer have access to the source code of the older OS, it makes it hard to confirm/guaranty compatibility.

And honestly, there always was an aspect of legal responsibility involved. There were certain aspects that the companies I worked for that forced us to test against available OS releases. If the older OS was no longer supported/available from the company that originally wrote it, we were required to stop supporting it with our releases.
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Thank you for the explanation, although it doesn't help me continue to use something that was very new and had been working. Maybe the moral of this story is to buy wired in speakers and continue to have a spaghetti monster at the back of the tv.

Now where's that gramophone? she says, rootling about in the loft.
It's unfortunate that technology isn't exactly what we want, but what we get. Unfortunately, companies have to create what sells to the majority of the people, and the rest of us have to figure out how to fit the pieces together to make it do what we want.

I feel your pain. I hate having to shut people out of using my games when I have to drop support of OS's when the companies who make them drop support, but when the programmers can't get reference to look up information when they're fixing bugs, I get why it has to be done.
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BTW I've found the date of the latest update from Amazon - it's 7 February 2019 - so about 2 months from the latest update and Sonos have stopped the app working.

But I think I am giving up now, just won't make the same mistake again.
So i havent used my Sonos in a while...using Galaxy Note 8 phone so not that old and today it wouldnt work. The app was saying that my controller/app was not up to date and functionality would be limited...basically i cant use sonos and there is no update!
I tried everything thinking it was a sonos issue so i fully reset both sonos connects and still same issue....
I used my fiance's extremely old iphone and hers worked fine. Being her phone is a dinosaur, i think its an issue with the most recent android update and not the phone.(or the kindle of the first poster)

Anyone else having the issue?
This is such a pain! I cant use my sonos!