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Lampshade
Contributor I
August 5, 2019

'On This Phone' Feature Being Removed

A few months ago I lost the ability to control my Sonos system with my iPhone 4s because the software updates were no longer supporting the 4s. What a waste of equipment...! That phone became totally redundant and now sits in a draw doing nothing...

Customer services were useless with their hollow apologies

I looked to sell all my Sonos equipment - 2 x Zonebridge 100’s, 3 x Zoneplayer ZP90’s and 4 x Zoneplayer S5’s.
I used to use the Sonos CR 200 but that was crap and after five replacements under warranty I gave it up as a total waste of money, hence using the 4s.
I tried to sell all my Sonos kit and find something else that wouldn't be hindered with this update/redundancy but that wasn't easy. In the end I purchased another iPhone - the 6s, to control my Sonos...
But now - another problem... the 'On This Phone' feature is being removed!!!
So now, my few-months-old iPhone 6s will be useless for playing my music!!!

I am retired, living in Thailand.
I cannot afford to upgrade to Airplay speakers, cannot afford to get involved with subscribing to streaming services. I don't have a NAS, Mac or PC...

Is this the end of my Sonos kit altogether!? What the hell am I supposed to do???

Moderator note: Multiple edits for profanity.
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    17 replies

    nik9669a
    Senior Virtuoso
    August 5, 2019
    Does the Play:5 have a Aux/Line in? Can you use that?

    If you don’t want to be hardwired, buy a Bluetooth receiver and plug that into the 5, and Bluetooth from phone to speaker.

    Im sure there are other solutions too.

    And if the iPhone 4 has Bluetooth you could use That one as well.
    Ken_Griffiths
    Ken_Griffiths
    August 5, 2019
    Upload the music to the free Google Play cloud server and stream the tracks from there via the plugin service in the Sonos App. Just needs an internet connection, which is a basic requirement for the speakers anyway.
      Ken_Griffiths
      Ken_Griffiths
      August 5, 2019
      Use a cheaper Android phone or tablet instead and stream the tracks from there, so that’s another way to solve the problem.
      nik9669a
      Senior Virtuoso
      August 5, 2019
      A few months ago I lost the ability to control my Sonos system with my iPhone 4s because the software updates were no longer supporting the 4s. What a waste of equipment...! That phone became totally redundant and now sits in a draw doing nothing...

      Did you also rant at those rotten Apple people too, when they stopped updating the opsys for the iPhone 4?
        chicks
        chicks
        August 5, 2019
        You would think that, eventually, folks would learn that Apple is the problem here...
          sjw
          Local Superstar
          August 5, 2019
          Do those rotten Apples actually support the latest software and security updates on their devices for a LOT longer than any Android equivalents though?
          I know it's always talked about here about the planned obsolescence etc. but what's the actual reality here? Is it just that Android users are happy to use devices that no longer get updates (Inc. security) or is it something else?
            LampshadeAuthor
            Contributor I
            August 6, 2019
            Good Morning to you all...

            First off - I apologise if I offended anyone with any profanities in my OP! I wasn't a happy bunny yesterday!
            Thank you to the moderator who corrected this.

            You have all been very helpful with your suggestions and I will look into all of them to find the best way to gain some extra life from my Sonos system.
            I particularly like the bluetooth idea using 'line-in'...
            I will also look to see how much free space Google Play allows. My music folder is around 140 Gb!

            Yes, I did contact Apple CS about my first issue of dropping support for my iPhone 4s but Apple said it was nothing to do with them and that Sonos had decided to drop the older 4s support... Mmm?

            I do know of friends back in my home country who have lost features on Android. In fact there are quite a few features across the board available to Apple which are not available to Android.
            Apple claim they maintain full functionality on their devices for 5 years before certain things start to get dropped. I cannot speak for Android as I don't have any experience with that OS.

            Anyway, Thank You all again for your help.
            Regards
            LampshadeAuthor
            Contributor I
            August 6, 2019
            Upload the music to the free Google Play cloud server and stream the tracks from there via the plugin service in the Sonos App. Just needs an internet connection, which is a basic requirement for the speakers anyway.

            I've just checked this one out and it is not yet available here in Thailand...?
            Maybe the Bluetooth route is the way to go...

            Thanks again, have a great day!
            LampshadeAuthor
            Contributor I
            August 6, 2019
            Back again...

            Can I ask a relatively simple question regarding this removal of 'On this iPhone' feature as I've not come across any such discussion on this forum which answers my query...?

            Are Sonos removing this feature in their current apps or simply not including it/deleting it in any future updates?

            I notice already the feature is not in the Sonos app on IOS 13 but I can still see it in IOS 12.3.

            If I don't update my Sonos app will I still be able to use the "from this device' feature in IOS 12.3 or even IOS 13 or are Sonos going to make the feature disappear somehow, as they did with my iPhone 4s?
            Airgetlam
            Airgetlam
            August 6, 2019
            Sonos hasn’t said specifically, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this feature was set up like all other streams, i.e. requiring a server side check to function. This would be why you see people saying they can’t add a service when the service is actually down.

            Considering it’s a source, just like any other source, I would expect that they’re going to flip a switch on a server somewhere, and it will go away. That would make more sense to me from a code side, so as not having to write special case code for one feature, just make it work like all the rest. This means, however, that it won’t end up being a case of “just don’t update your controller”.

            I could be wrong, but I would think if I was talking code design, I would have wanted it to function the same way as everything else, with some sort of server touch.
            Bruce
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