The new Sonos S2 App Sucks

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  

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.