The new Sonos S2 App Sucks

There have been several updates since the original release of the 80.x version controller for S2. See release notes here.

There are ongoing additions, according to this FAQ article.

My understanding is that the FAQ article will be updated as needed.

You should perhaps contact Sonos Customer Support if the new App is not working for you. It works okay for me on iPhone, iPad and an Android tablet. Example from iPad controller attached. Anyhow here’s a link to contact support. Hope you can get things sorted.

https://support.sonos.com/s/contact

I want to return everything! It makes me crazy. 

Dayum!

So my experience has been similar only slightly diferent.  I own an entire S1 system and have for probably 10-12 years now. Its been rock solid!  This system still works well. I think I have 6 total “zones” on that one in my primary residence.

I recently purchased an Era 100 for a second home and intended to add a few more “zones” to this system.

First of all, I’m totally unhappy that the S! &S2 devices are incompatible, but I got over that emotion about a week ago when I “bit the bullet” and bought my first S2 device.

Secondly, changing the names of everything from S1 to S2 makes my brain melt.  Whats wrong with the original solution? it is rock solid!

Thirdly, the Era100 on a completely different wifi/ISP/router worked for about 24 hours, then all of sudden it started “dropping out”  I spent 90 minutes on the phone doing stupid troubleshooting and the end result was to use it as a bluetooth speaker.  uhmmm, no!  I have several bluetooth speakers and they are NOTHING like my S1 sonos system.  I thought that was what I was buying again.

Why don’t any S2 devices have wired Ethernet ports like S1 devices?  This would remove all of the connecting to my wireless network BS in the S2 app.

I’m thoroughly disapointed in the S2 experience as well

What router make/model is it? Is there just a single WiFi AP or are you using a mesh, or extended WiFi setup? What controller are you using Android/iOS (make/model)? What troubleshooting steps were taken with Support?

it’s unfortunate but not surprising that support can’t help you. The app and firmware updates just aren’t working for a lot of people - even people like yourself who know how the system (used to) works.

I’m guessing since support didn’t fix a config problem on your network it’s good. But If you want to hardwire your device, Sonos will sell you a usbc network adapter:  https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/sonos-combo-adapter

another option is to try the desktop app. It’s still working for a lot of people when the new app isn’t because the issue for many is the new buggy AF app, not your network.

IS THERE ANYWAY TO JUST GO BACK TO THE OLD IOS APP?  (S2 was also worse than S1!) but still at least S2 finally worked for the most part, eventually.  This current app is a JOKE.  We have a mesh network.  It works with EVERYTHING fine - just Sonos crashes, skips, won’t connect to the devices (we have 10+ at this house).  We have music inside the and outside the house.  The only semi-reliable connection is via a laptop….  IS THIS A JOKE???? how can this app be so bad??????

I have gone from someone who praises Sonos for a great product line and recommending them to friends to telling people to hold off until the app is fixed or they revert to the old one.

A one seamless system now gives me problems all the time. It is embarrassing when I have a party and I cannot play the music I want in the location I am in.

Sonos, fix this ASAP or it will ruin your company.

In my own use-case using the new Sonos App, I’m able to load 25,697 local library tracks as my party playlist (if required) to any Sonos room, or group - that would play non-stop for about 7½ weeks. Plus you certainly dont have to use the Sonos App for your party, you could easily use AirPlay, UPnP/DLNA, ‘Direct control’, Bluetooth, or Voice Services to keep your music playing, that’s based on the devices you have listed in your community profile here - you could even use TV based Apps.

So there’s absolutely no need to be embarrassed - the hardware playback is just the same as before the Sonos App update… “you doth protest too much, methinks”.

I think with the thousands of angry posters on just this community you aren’t the only one with the same opinion. 
 

Damage is done to the brand. The question is can they recover. It’s on our interests that they do which is so maddening to me because what they’ve done so far is not good enough imo. 
 

They have a new soundbar coming, leaked it to the verge as usual, and many of the articles (not all but some) are referring to the software issues. This is not good. 
https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/sonos-lasso-soundbar-leaked-pics/

https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/s/ypJ8fYxz38
 

Therein lies the rub, everyone wants to blame the new Sonos App, but the hardware playback of music hasn’t changed. A party playlist could be setup well in-advance of any party for example and once it begins playing the App can be closed and the mobile controller device powered off too and the music will still play happily without the App/controller. It’s simply people looking for excuses to blame the App, when in reality the App is often not the issue. I’ve seen it apply to quite a few reports here in the community.

The wood is being hidden by the trees in quite a few of the cases I see reported here and this is just one such example.

Sorry, Ken, but I beg to differ. All you’ve really offered are workarounds that require the customer to take responsibility to remedy a problem that Sonos created. That’s not how a successful consumer-oriented business works.

Danny Meyer, the restauranteur who has successfully commandeered fine dining at Union Square Grill and Gramercy Tavern… and burgers, fries and shakes at Shake Shack…  has said that what at first looks like a disaster is really an opportunity to create devoted customers.

When something goes wrong, you just go out of your way to empathize and make it right… and never, ever fail to notice and respond to a customer’s distress, much less leave the impression that you blame the customer’s shortcomings and not your own.

Thus far, Sonos has utterly failed to turn its botched app update into an opportunity to cement its relationship with customers. That’s the problem. It has left hundreds of thousands of customers feeling ignored, or worse, feeling they’ve been blamed for their own dissatisfaction with the new app.

Moral of the story: When an army of customers says ‘we’re not happy with what’s happening,’ the appropriate response is not ‘I can’t hear you,’ or ‘there’s nothing wrong here,’ or ‘that’s your own damn fault.’

Seems to me Sonos needs to bring in a crisis management consultant to guide it out of this mess, if it’s not already too late. Because thus far, this disaster has not been an opportunity for Sonos to prove itself… it’s just a garden variety disaster.

@chambolle,

tl;dr (for some)

You can of course present a different viewpoint @chambolle, but a closed Sonos controller App is never going to affect a playing party playlist as I have outlined in the recent discussion here. I cannot see how the App is even relevant in that situation?

Other users in the community too, mention music stopping on their speakers part-way through a track and blame the Sonos App for that too, but we all know the App is not a ‘player’ and it can be closed and the music will continue without it. If the music stops, then it’s probably not the App - it’s more likely a different issue and possibly something a little closer to Home IMHO - I’m also saying there are reports like that around here, where users blame the new Sonos App and many ‘others’ here too, hanging around saying it IS the App and to use other 3rd-party Apps in its place etc.

My own view/thoughts are there are aggrieved users here, that ‘collectively’ are attempting to whip up some kind of storm to try to get Sonos to make a U-turn on their App and want the re-release of S2 in its place, or alongside …and they are attempting to use many (irrelevant) reports here that are ‘clearly’ no fault of the App, to increase that negative view and add to their cause.

I’m sure however that Sonos Staff are seeing through this and will likely have their own collected data to help them see the real position and ascertain ‘the wood from the trees’. 

I personally do not see the new App as a problem, but I’m perhaps biased as it has always worked fine for me, my family and friends etc.

I accept there are missing components and features (some will return). I accept the App was released early and some misinformation was posted about it too. I also accept that it needs some additional optimisation in places (that usually comes later)  but it can and does work to control our Sonos speakers.

I also acknowledge that there are genuine users with genuine App issues and my own thoughts there are they should report and give their own situation/diagnostic data direct to Sonos to get their matters resolved, not just simply listen to all the noise being generated here and (wrongly) persuaded to sidestep their issue to try to find some answers in 3rd-party Apps. Some issues are not always fixed by other controller Apps anyway - here’s one example of many where it didn’t work…

https://en.community.sonos.com/general-feedback-and-conversation-229090/the-new-sonos-s2-app-sucks-6894800/index8.html?postid=16767222#post16767222

So of course express you viewpoint @chambolle, but I see things from a different perspective and will continue to express it here in the community aswell.

Ken_Griffiths:

I don’t doubt that some problems are now attributed to the app that would exist whether the app was changed or not. Consider those problems the baseline. But as Sonos support seemingly has been overwhelmed with problems, starting with the app ‘update’ in May, it’s very difficult to believe, as it seems you do, that Sonos customers are somehow ganging up on Sonos for some nefarious purpose. And in any event, if customers are trying to tell Sonos ‘we don’t like what you’ve done,’ that ought to be a message Sonos hears and to which it has a satisfactory response.

A satisfactory response is not ‘that’s tough… get over it.’

If the new app were as easy to use and as functional as the one we had before the May ‘update,’ users would be as satisfied with it as they were before.

But it is nowhere near as easy to use or as functional. You and some ‘advanced’ users may not be affected. Evidently many, many users have been affected; and a satisfactory response to customer concerns that are being expressed en masse will never be ‘it’s your fault, not ours’ or ‘it’s all in your head’ or similar deflection. 

Bravo @chambolle for taking the time to remind all of us techies how Normal People perceive and deal with technical challenges. Your posts are extraordinarily articulate and extremely well reasoned. Sonos would benefit tremendously from reviewing an anthology of your work on these forums over the past two months.

As we say in cycling, CHAPEAU!

@chambolle,

Many issues reported in the community here have been as a result of the changes to the local library sharing protocol aswell …and that’s also been used rather a lot by others here to lay blame at the door of the Sonos App, but in essence that has all been ‘by design’ and that protocol-change information was communicated in advance of the Sonos update and widely discussed here and elsewhere online.

Even now though, some Sonos library users still seem to think the updates due in July will fix their SMBv1/HTTP shares and I suspect we all know that’s not the case, it’s not what that scheduled update is for, but what’s the bet that others here will continue to try to use that to help fuel their anti-App storm?

I personally reckon many of the early calls to Sonos Support were related to local library access aswell.

i just want to add - I don’t personally think the new Sonos App is going away, so the sooner folk realise that, perhaps the sooner things will move forward. If the App doesn’t work for a user, my advice will still be to point them towards Sonos Support to try to resolve their issue. Sonos may need those reports and user-data anyway to identify the ‘real’ issue, I suspect.

I don’t see some of the suggestions being offered by others here sometimes, as being a viable long term solution, particularly where the App is not at fault. At least not if everyone wants their issues truly resolved.

Just to finish, I find the new Sonos App really simple to use. The old S2 App was much more complex and many new users often landed here in the community to express their view that they didn’t like, or understand how to use it. Either way though, even with the new ‘simplified’ App, Sonos are never going to please everyone… they do seem to believe however that this new UI/UX, when complete, will please the majority of their users. I guess only time will tell.

1.) Used and enjoyed Sonos for years, different products, locations and devices to operate.
2.) New app released, downloaded and installed.

3.) Serious lag in operation. Cannot control volume, change songs, even shut off.

4.) Been waiting nearly 3 MONTHS for a fix.

5.) Some insist “the app is not at fault”. BS, and it’s destroying this business  

It sounds like some kind of LAN/WAN latency involving connections between your mobile controller, Sonos players and Sonos servers… Just as a very quick example it works okay here (see attached), that’s when controlling 10 Sonos rooms (25 Sonos products, as some are Home Theatres/Stereo Pairs etc.)

FWIW in my own case, I run the Sonos setup on a WiFi 6 AX signal, rather than the slower SonosNet signal and where practicable/available I have steered my products onto the routers 5Ghz band with SNR levels showing of 45dB, or higher, to ensure all players respond asap. See this link:

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/understanding-the-network-details-section-in-the-sonos-app
 

Maybe some of the things mentioned here might perhaps quickly assist you to get the Sonos volume controls working a little better for you, at least until the matter is ‘perhaps’ rsolved with a future update. I’m not sure though if anyone has perhaps reported the issue to Sonos Support, but I have seen others mention the ‘lag’ here in the community,

Thanks for the constructive reply. Consider that I'm using the same app and controlling devices (iPhone and iPad) at two different locations with different ISPs and different Sonos products. 

Makes me wonder what the difference is between your install and Ken’s install. 

It’s not impossible to be having network issues (I’m thinking particularly about duplicate IP address issues, entirely possible) in multiple locations. But ultimately, rather than posting here, your best bet is to submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it.

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 phone folks, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your network and Sonos system.

There is always a possibility of it being an issue with the app, but it’s also more likely to be a network issue. 

I do hope you can find and resolve your issue. Unfortunately, I’m in the same position as @Ken_Griffiths, where it is working fine on both my iPhone, and two iPads. 

Try your system with the desktop app. If it works you know it’s the app. If it doesn’t look at your network. 

@Bumper: So what does it mean when it doesn’t work with the desktop app; but it does work (sort of) with the new iOS S2 app for ipad, when used in conjunction with phonos+?

Because that’s what’s going on chez chambolle. Perhaps that’s because I’m using the web/desktop controller via safari on my ipad? I have no idea. I just know what works and what doesn’t; which is all that really matters.

I would suggest taking @Airgetlam’s advice and speak with Sonos Support, even if there is a wait to get through to them on occasions, as that’s usually the best way to get many issues resolved. Anything else is likely not going to sort things for you in the longer term. 

Have you spoken to Sonos Support about whatever issues you are seeing? They have tools that can establish where the problems may lie and even if they can’t resolve them there and then, at least they will become aware of what’s going on and likely be able to fix it with an update. If they’re not made aware and you simply switch to some kind of workaround, then it’s never going to be clear if Sonos are aware of your matter and it may not get fixed. So, if not done already, make sure you report your issue and see what the Staff perhaps recommend.

@chambolle The desktop app (not the web app) primarily uses ssdp/upnp to communicate with the players. This is the way Sonos has done this forever.

The update  changed the comms, it’s now encrypted mdns (aka Bonjour). The hypothesis is that older Sonos units are not interacting well with the new controller because they are being overwhelmed due to a large increase in encrypted traffic. They don’t have the cpu and memory to keep up. 
 

Also Some of this traffic appears to leave your network and communicates with Sonos servers. You can’t control how fast or reliable this works or even if the Sonos servers respond 
 

Using the desktop app changes this back to the old way. It takes these changes out of the equation.

So If your speakers don’t work with the desktop app you probably need to fix something on your network. You may want to contact support if this is the case cause they might be able to help you  

But If it does and the new app doesn’t work chances are you need Sonos to fix something on their end. Support prob can’t help you cause they don’t actually know wtf the problem is or it’s one of many bugs in the app and there’s no solution. 

It seems In most, but not all cases, simply changing to desktop app, using SonoPhone, going back to 16.1 or like in your case using Phonos plus just works because it’s the app not your network.