Have you read the information in the CEO comments here, the information in the app update schedule here, seen the posts release notes here, or even the quarterly comments here?

​@M1che1,
I find the new Sonos App really stable these days and certainly do not have any issues discovering or playing to my speakers, either individually or when they’re grouped. I’ve seen some say the App is slow to open, or they have latency issues with volume control and I’m not seeing those issues either. Sonos Alarms are working here. 

It sounds to me like you may possibly have mDNS/SSDP ‘device discovery’ issues across your local network that’s preventing the Apps on the controller device from communicating with the Sonos speakers. See attached re: SSDP/mDNS.

Such communication failure can occur across networks that use WiFi extenders, EoP adapters, or if managed switches are misconfigured. It can also happen if some settings on a local router are incorrect, or there’s software running on the mobile device that is getting in the way of the multicast communication, such as security software, VPN client, firewall, site blockers etc.

I’d perhaps investigate further in the areas mentioned and if still no luck, then it maybe best to reproduce the issue(s) seen and then immediately submit a Sonos system diagnostic report from within the Sonos App, note it’s reference and contact/chat with Sonos Support Staff via this LINK and see what the Staff can perhaps suggest to help you to resolve the matter.

The CEO has made promises but I am not seeing much progress. Just had to factory reset my entire system due to increasing dropouts, poor volume response, etc. 

Unfortunate, factory resets rarely are a long term ‘fix’ for that. 

Most often, dropouts and poor volume change responses are caused by network issues, between your controller and router, or the router and the speakers. When it returns,  I’d certainly check the wifi interference FAQ, as well as performing a Sonos network refresh, by unplugging your Sonos devices from power (or powering them off, if battery connected), and rebooting your router. Once the router has recovered, power back on your Sonos devices. This will give them both a fresh IP address, as well as a refresh of the Sonos OS. Finally, check your system for updates, in case there are any that need to be applied. 

And when it returns, if the above doesn’t fix your situation, I would recommend that you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it. But don’t post the resulting diagnostic number here, they get sensitive about GDPR.

There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.

When you speak directly to the Support staff, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your network and Sonos system.

Thanks for the info, Bruce. I’ve been thru the whole routine of restarting, factory reset so many times. Also moved several sonos speakers to see if there is an interference issue. It was the metal fireplace causing some problems with the old play 5’s but that was 10 years ago and were replaced by new 5’s. No interference issues there anymore. New router and still dropouts and volume control lag. Things got way worse after that awful update last summer. It is still very buggy. Sometimes it crashes or freezes and must be restarted. Other times one set of speakers with drop out, then back on several times or just disappear from the app. I’ve tried a wired system setup with direct ethernet cable from router to a play1 to create a sonos network and that didn’t work either. Factory reset again and all is well. For a while. I’ve contacted sonos support many times in the past and they were helpful to get it all reset, but it kept happening. Keep in mind that I live in a rural place with very little wifi signals from neighbors, so that’s not an issue. Wifi channel change does nothing to improve things. I love the sound these sonos units put out, but If I didn’t have 40 years of computer tinkering under my belt, I would have sold all of my 12 sonos units long ago.

Keith

It’s odd, as while our situations are similar (rural, few other signals to worry much about), my experience is the polar opposite of yours, my system of 20+ speakers is rock solid. Of course, I’m pretty fastidious about keeping my network as clean as possible, and the island I live on has relatively frequent power outages that force my router to reload its DHCP table, as well as reassign all IP addresses. 

But in the past, living in other situations, I’ve had network issues, from an errant microwave spewing interference, to a new neighbor setting up a new router that stomped all over the WiFi channel I was using. So far, I haven’t been impacted by solar flares, but given the current state of the sun, it is a possibility I don’t want to forget. 

And back when I used the AT&T supplied modem/router, it turned out to be a mess. Couldn’t keep anything right, even with power surges. Things improved substantially when I went back to my own router. I’m currently testing a newer T-Mobile 5G mode/router, to see how it works, but my faith in bean counter demands for ‘freely given’ hardware is slim. And the demands placed by Sonos on a network are, in my mind, significantly more than those made by most devices, who just don’t exercise the network standards in the same way. 

The couple of times I spoke with support, I ended up in a good place. Finding a good way to express my situation, and give them the appropriate information to respond to was the hardest part. 

My guess, without seeing any hard data, is that your router has issues with getting into a state where it is handing out bad IP addresses, frequently. Which is a network issue, affecting both wired and wireless systems. Sonos ‘exposes’ this issue more than most, as every time they update the firmware in their speakers, they reboot them, which causes a new request for an IP address from the router. If they are given an IP address that is being used already, there can be a disruption between the two devices, and Sonos, which needs to constantly communicate with other speakers, your controller, and the outside world, loses out. That network refresh I outlined in the previous post will address that issue. As would assigning reserved IP addresses for network devices in your router’s DHCP table. 

But it’s entirely possible that my guess is wrong, and the diagnostic would show some other issue, which is why I suggested both. The challenge I have is that I can’t see the data in your diagnostic to know. 

I hope you’re able to resolve the issues that have beset your system. 

Let’s see, how difficult is it to get a 1.2 average rating on Trustpilot? Pretty hard, especially as you can’t award zero stars…

Even allowing for reporting bias, it appears that an enormous number of Sonos customers are unhappy, very unhappy….

Other than publishing stats going back over the post-May period when the App undoubtedly had difficulties for some users - it would likely be far better to establish if you, or any other users, are having problems with the App now …and if indeed that’s the case, it maybe best to go onto reproduce the issue(s) seen and immediately submit a Sonos system diagnostic report from within the Sonos App, note it’s reference and contact/chat with Sonos Support Staff via this LINK and see what the Staff can perhaps suggest to help you to resolve the matter.

Moaning and publishing old stats is unlikely going to fix the problems - I think Sonos would much prefer to see your data and to see whatever problems you may have with their App.

As for myself and some others here, the same App seems to be working fine, but that maybe due to our Home network/hardware configuration and LAN/WAN connections perhaps, as those ‘almost always’ do tend to differ.