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Appetite for 3rd app alternatives

  • January 13, 2026
  • 6 replies
  • 85 views
S

I’ll preface with my Sonos app wish list (IOW, I’ve put some thought into this):
 

 

I stopped waiting and built what I want so I can fill my home with delightful music throughout the year. I have an iOS app and a backend that drives the communication with the Sonos.

I’m now wringing delight from my Sonos investment which I’ve wanted for 10 years.

You can see the app here:

[link removed]

I’ve been considering pushing a free app to the appstore and charging for the backend and wondering if there is actually a market for this sort of thing?

Regardless, it’s been fun creating a solution for something I wish Sonos could have delivered itself.

Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.

 

6 replies

Stanley_4
  • Stanley_4
  • Lead Maestro
  • January 13, 2026

You might chat with some of tne other App developers here.

Unless it makes a big difference in basic usage and is going to stay current with Sonos firmware, for me probably not.

    O
    • On The Hill
    • Contributor I
    • January 13, 2026

    Lost me at IOS.  Been wringing delight out of my system for some time now.

     

    Glad yours is too

    S
    • stevetrefethen
    • Author
    • Contributor I
    • January 13, 2026

    You might chat with some of tne other App developers here.

    Unless it makes a big difference in basic usage and is going to stay current with Sonos firmware, for me probably not.

    Fair enough. Personally, I find Sonos alarms, which for me drive a large amount of the value I get from my investment, to be utterly unsatisfying, inflexible, error prone and just plain annoying. I have zero expectations after a decade+ that Sonos understands this gap nor that they will fix it given alarms are essentially unchanged from the very early days.

    You’re point about possible firmware breaks is real and IMO Sonos would further damage their ecosystem breaking existing APIs rendering efforts like this useless with one update, that said, I don’t put that past them (sorry Sonos). And I just bought the new sub-mini, what can I say I can’t help myself.

    That said, the cost I’d consider selling something for would likely be in the few cups of coffee range, given the cost of these speakers it’s trivial (again, IMO) even if it disappears with weeks of payment due to an update. I suspect the probability of this happening is relatively low.
     

    S
    • stevetrefethen
    • Author
    • Contributor I
    • January 13, 2026

    Lost me at IOS.  Been wringing delight out of my system for some time now.

     

    Glad yours is too

    Yup, I get it. I could easily build a nearly identical app for the browser would that change your mind? You would access it via your local network and it would be entirely hosted via the backend.

     

    I’m obviously an iOS user and the app is going to take advantage of many iOS services like geofencing to only play music when I’m home and also adapt to focus modes (I guess this is Digital Wellbeing on Android) like sleep and turn off music accordingly.

    Stanley_4
    • Stanley_4
    • Lead Maestro
    • January 13, 2026

    I'd comment on the Sonos alarms but I've never used one.

    TV,  streaming, Grouping, music library are my common uses. A decent method of fiddling tone and loudness settings might sell me on something. Have to be Android though as I've pretty much quit buying Apple hardware just to Trueplay my system.

    S
    • stevetrefethen
    • Author
    • Contributor I
    • January 14, 2026

    I'd comment on the Sonos alarms but I've never used one.

    TV,  streaming, Grouping, music library are my common uses. A decent method of fiddling tone and loudness settings might sell me on something. Have to be Android though as I've pretty much quit buying Apple hardware just to Trueplay my system.

    Ah ok, so yeah this is probably not interesting for your usecase.

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