We want SONOS App dark mode back!


Userlevel 5
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I like the light background.

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163 replies

The white background Is way too bright and very annoying! Please give us the option to change it back to black! I use Sonos a lot in dark environments and the new background is distractibg. I didn't personally think there was anything wrong with the previous version. I was horrified when I opened the update!?????
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To all who suggested to get Sonopad .. Thank You! I love it only 1 minute in. So much more intuitive I figured everything out in under 30 seconds and the background is not only easier on the eyes but better. Also has some great features Sonos never had. They are Fantastic with their speakers but the app programmers need to go to work for Google.
Like many others I HATE the new white background. The latest update is definitely not an improvement. I signed up so that I can voice my opinion. Please at least give the option for a black background.
The bright background on new SONOS app release is not an improvement.
It's too bright in a dark room, intrusive, hard too see in a light room, and it eats my battery.
Don't like it.

Users speak up. If enough people ask, maybe the app developer will listen.

Brighter is not better.
Please give us back the dark background theme.
completely agree!! Please bring back dark skin. white background is a beacon of light in dark room.
Googled this to see if I was alone in my hate of the new app.. thankfully not. Sonos there are way more users who are upset than are posting here (I know several) so please fix this fast. For now checking out SonoPad and holding off on my desires to buy the new One until you guys show that you are listening.
Userlevel 6
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I know this isn’t a hotline to Sonos, but re the above, I think some indication would be nice.......

Sonos, are you listening ????

It should be a source of some embarrassment that some of your users are now looking to 3rd party apps to control your hardware!
As has been stated before, Sonos reps read each and every post in these boards, so yes, they are listening.

And they constantly provide feedback to the development teams. Your voices are indeed being heard.
HELLO?? ROLL BACK! PLEASE! What the hell were your designers thinking?? DARK UI is a MUST have option for most of your users! 😠
Absolutely pathetic. I guess if a moron can be president, a group of morons can call themselves designers. I see class action here. You've now successfully degraded what we've all purchased. It would greatly behoove you to act now and not later.
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Hi all, I signed up to the forum just to add my opinion here in hopes of SONOS reading it.

After updating, I was horrified to see an all white theme. I thought maybe they were trying something new and turned this OPTION on by default, so I immediately went into settings to toggle to a dark theme, but as you've all stated, there is NO option to do so.

The white interface looks HORRIBLE. The album/song artwork icons look so awkward and out of place as if they are floating in white mass. And small dark text against an all white background is way more difficult to read than light on dark. When you think of media, you think of dark and sleek interfaces, just like the hardware (stereo systems) that these apps have ultimately replaced. I use my iPad Mini (magnetically affixed to my fridge) as my SONOS music control center, and now there is a garish white box glaring off of my graphite/grey refrigerator. It looks awful.

I loved using the SONOS app because it was so much better to look at than the Apple Music App, which is abysmal in every way. So imagine my horror when I learned that SONOS ultimately copied all the worst features of the Apple Music app.Just because Apple did it, doesn't mean it's good and should be copied. I love Apple and have been buying their products religiously for 20 years, but their UI design completely sucks these days - especially all of the white themed apps and lack of buttons/icons.

I do not like when developers overhaul apps without user options - they do not know better than me when it comes to aesthetics, so leave options in the app. If you want to try something new, fine, but give the option to use dark or light - let the user decide. What's more, save a new feature or two, the app isn't any more intuitive than the previous version, so I am not sure why so much time and effort was put into this new version. There has got to be a way to better streamline the functionality of this app. So many clicks.

As a huge SONOS fan (my entire apartment is 100% SONOS with eight Play:1s, three Play:5s, two SoundBars and three SUBS), so the app shouldn't be the kill-joy whenever I decide to put on some music (which is every day and night when I am home).
The previous app was much better. Background, general navigation and room switching have all taken a big step backwards. Do your designers actually use the app? Sonos hardware is too good for you UI to be this bad. Please consider rolling back to the previous app until you can launch a real upgrade.
Userlevel 3
agree with everyone here, as well as the comments about scrolling left to right. Unintuitive, and a huge pain in the ass. And I would add that now just using the app makes me frustrated to the point that I no longer even want to try switching stations because it's such a headache. I love to sit and enjoy a bourbon and read and listen to music. Good luck trying to switch stations or playlists with 55 year old eyes and a healthy buzz with this shitshow of an app. Everything about this upgrade is a miserable failure.
Userlevel 2
Just wanted to add to the list of users that hate the white colour. Along with a number of other annoyances with he new interface. Just doesn't seem either as quick to change rooms or as intuitive to use.
😞
I AGREE too. SONOS please bring back BLACK UI colour option to iOS app. Give us the option of both colours or more! White is to bright and bad for eyes at night !
Please put it back the way it was until you come up with a truly funtional upgrade. The white background is really annoying.
Userlevel 1
As an 82 year old techie I can quickly grasp the nuances of most apps. However, the latest iteration of the Sonos app. appears to obey Parkinson's First Law of Economics : Every improvement is a deterioration. The new Sonos thing is far too bright, a real pain to navigate and often appears to have a life of it's own. At least give us a choice of background colour and I'll struggle along with the rest.
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Also, if SONOS is listening to their customers and decide to bring back the darker theme, please also bring back the very cool artwork overlay as well (the image of the artwork of the current song playing as a blurred background under the entire app interface). This was such a nice and tastefully done feature. It showed that SONOS (and their app) is all about the music and appreciated the artwork that so many of us make sure is in tact for every song, even if we ripped it from a CD 10 years ago.

Everyone who looked at the music playing (from my iPad on my fridge) said, 'Wow, what app is that? That looks very cool'. And, indeed, it was. Dark, slightly transparent, sleek, cool with tasteful and subtle design. I do wish developers would put design and personality back into their apps. Making everything white, replacing icons with words and making everything look cold and sterile does not make the app attractive or easier to use. Quite the opposite is true, actually.

Again, just because Apple does the boring white thing with zero personality doesn't mean other developers should follow. Apple does many things right, but their recent interface and UI designs are not among them.
I don't currently use the Sonos phone app but I remember the artwork overlay from when I did and I have to agree that was a nice feature. Does Sonopad do that in their app?
Userlevel 5
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The white is only beginning of the abomination of this new roll out. Bring back list view.
I absolutely hate the new interface. The dark one was much more appropriate when one is using SOnus in a party or diner party - or just a dinner at home. I loved Sonus for the old interface, but if this doesn’t change, I am going to sell all of my Sonus units on eBay and move to a system with a better interface. Alexa et al may not have such good sound, but the UI is so much more important. What do you all recommend?
Userlevel 3
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To all who suggested to get Sonopad .. Thank You! I love it only 1 minute in.

Did you already noticed that when browsing through a compilation album, Sonopad actually shows the artist next to each track where the Sonos app lets you guessing who the artist is? Love this function! Something I was always missing in the Sonos app.

Interesting to see that this one guy who developed and wrote Sonopad achieved to create a better Sonos interface than the whole Sonos software team combined! Shame on you Sonos!
Userlevel 3
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I don't currently use the Sonos phone app but I remember the artwork overlay from when I did and I have to agree that was a nice feature. Does Sonopad do that in their app?

Not as fancy as Sonos 7, Sonopad shows it more like on the CR200 remote, but of course larger screen and higher resolution. Still, way better than Sonos 8 and with nice reflection effect.
Userlevel 3
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The white is only beginning of the abomination of this new roll out. Bring back list view.

If you're on iOS: Sonopad!
I'm starting to feel like a salesman, but trust me, I'm not ?