Skip to main content
Pissedthehelloff
Trending Lyricist I
May 20, 2024 3:34 PM UTC
Question

The new Sonos S2 App Sucks

The new app is terrible.   I think my experience is worse because the app update happened during our move into a new house, new network, new ISP, etc.   I have  deleted my Sonos app, Sonos account, reinstalled the app, set up a new account, factory reset all devices a dozen times, tried 2.4 GHz, IoT onboarding, etc, etc, etc.  I can see the devices all connected to my Wifi, but none appears in the Sonos S2 app on my system.   I was able to get the ARC to finally appear on a wired ethernet connection, but disappears when I unplug and go wireless.   I might be able to run a switch at my TV to connect TV, ARC and Sub wired, but Sonos should fix their issues.

I think the best thing I can do right now is file a warranty claim on my Platinum AMEX since Sonos will not respond to Support emails.   I don’t have hours to spend on the phone on hold since apparently their help desk is overwhelmed with customer issues.   I have already wasted hours trying to set up the Sonos.  I installed at least a half dozen other devices (two garage door openers, two wireless garage door opener keypads, power shades, etc) on our new network easily in a few minutes, so it is not me or my networks that are the issue.    Sonos is the problem.

    This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

    354 replies

    Show previous replies
    Mr. T
    Mr. T
    Dec 9, 2024 12:50 PM UTC

    You say the new Sonos app is undoubtedly a much better layout for a mobile phone user. I personally don’t see much difference between new Sonos app and S2, but prefer the tabbed interface of S2. The Account and Settings icons are effectively tabs, even ‘Sonos’ takes you to Home Screen, but the UI is certainly not intuitive for users to know that, unless they tap it by mistake.

    There’s always the Sonos online user-guide to assist those that maybe find it difficult to perhaps use the new App. It’s a helpful guide for anyone that’s new to Sonos.

    https://www.sonos.com/en-us/guides/sonosapp

    Nowhere in that guide does it describe clicking on ‘Sonos’ and the resulting action.

    Translate
    Ken_Griffiths
    Ken_Griffiths
    Dec 9, 2024 1:19 PM UTC

    You say the new Sonos app is undoubtedly a much better layout for a mobile phone user. I personally don’t see much difference between new Sonos app and S2, but prefer the tabbed interface of S2. The Account and Settings icons are effectively tabs, even ‘Sonos’ takes you to Home Screen, but the UI is certainly not intuitive for users to know that, unless they tap it by mistake.

    There’s always the Sonos online user-guide to assist those that maybe find it difficult to perhaps use the new App. It’s a helpful guide for anyone that’s new to Sonos.

    https://www.sonos.com/en-us/guides/sonosapp

    Nowhere in that guide does it describe clicking on ‘Sonos’ and the resulting action.

     

    Translate
    Mr. T
    Mr. T
    Dec 9, 2024 1:32 PM UTC

    You say the new Sonos app is undoubtedly a much better layout for a mobile phone user. I personally don’t see much difference between new Sonos app and S2, but prefer the tabbed interface of S2. The Account and Settings icons are effectively tabs, even ‘Sonos’ takes you to Home Screen, but the UI is certainly not intuitive for users to know that, unless they tap it by mistake.

    There’s always the Sonos online user-guide to assist those that maybe find it difficult to perhaps use the new App. It’s a helpful guide for anyone that’s new to Sonos.

    https://www.sonos.com/en-us/guides/sonosapp

    Nowhere in that guide does it describe clicking on ‘Sonos’ and the resulting action.

     

    I’m not sure the relevance of the ‘System Name’ when the discussion is around the ‘Sonos’ logo which appears in the top middle of the Account and Settings screens.

    Translate
    Ken_Griffiths
    Ken_Griffiths
    Dec 9, 2024 1:42 PM UTC

    Unless you perhaps mean the ‘Sonos’ above the top screen grab handle - that just does a similar thing to  grab handle and slides away the current screen to return a user to the Home Screen. It’s not exactly difficult and if anything simplifies the App navigation. 
     

    edit: our post crossed, I thought afterwards, that might be what you were referring to. I don’t see an issue with this though - especially on tablet devices that have the iOS ellipsis ‘split screen’ option near the top centre of the screen too. The Sonos logo makes things a little easier to return to the Home Screen.

    Translate
    Mr. T
    Mr. T
    Dec 9, 2024 1:46 PM UTC

    Unless you perhaps mean the ‘Sonos’ above the top screen grab handle - that just does a similar thing to  grab handle and slides away the current screen to return a user to the Home Screen. It’s not exactly difficult and if anything simplifies the App navigation. 

    But as stated, not described in the user guide and is not intuitive.

    Translate
    Ken_Griffiths
    Ken_Griffiths
    Dec 9, 2024 1:51 PM UTC

    Unless you perhaps mean the ‘Sonos’ above the top screen grab handle - that just does a similar thing to  grab handle and slides away the current screen to return a user to the Home Screen. It’s not exactly difficult and if anything simplifies the App navigation. 

    But as stated, not described in the user guide and is not intuitive.

    i can’t recall exactly, but perhaps the feature was added after that user-guide was written? Quite a few things have altered in the past 6 or 7 months and that guide has been there since the App was first launched and even showed some features that were not in the App at the time.

    Translate
    Mr. T
    Mr. T
    Dec 9, 2024 1:58 PM UTC

    Unless you perhaps mean the ‘Sonos’ above the top screen grab handle - that just does a similar thing to  grab handle and slides away the current screen to return a user to the Home Screen. It’s not exactly difficult and if anything simplifies the App navigation. 

    But as stated, not described in the user guide and is not intuitive.

    i can’t recall exactly, but perhaps the feature was added after that user-guide was written? Quite a few things have altered in the past 6 or 7 months and that guide has been there since the App was first launched and even showed some features that were not in the App at the time.

    Your point just proves what a mess the app release was when feature were shown in the user guide but not available, without quantifying what would not work at that time.

    Translate
    Ken_Griffiths
    Ken_Griffiths
    Dec 9, 2024 2:01 PM UTC

    Unless you perhaps mean the ‘Sonos’ above the top screen grab handle - that just does a similar thing to  grab handle and slides away the current screen to return a user to the Home Screen. It’s not exactly difficult and if anything simplifies the App navigation. 

    But as stated, not described in the user guide and is not intuitive.

    I’m sure there were a number of things in the S2 App aswell that new Sonos users did not find intuitive either. It can likely be said of some other Apps too and it can sometime be nice for a user to discover such features for themselves in some instances - it can keep people interested looking or stumbling upon such features IMHO. 

    Translate
    Ken_Griffiths
    Ken_Griffiths
    Dec 9, 2024 2:08 PM UTC

    Your point just proves what a mess the app release was when feature were shown in the user guide but not available, without quantifying what would not work at that time.

    Undoubtedly the new App was released prematurely and some of the documentation may have misled some users that some features were available - not least the "playback options" screen was incomplete, but shown in the online documentation - however Sonos have (and still are) putting that right and apologised and offered extended product warranties etc.

    I take it you want them to do more and move faster, but it’s clearly still a work in progress. I’m not sure I can add anything to placate your feelings about it, but no doubt their work is continuing.

    Translate
    thecoolestusernameever
    Contributor I
    Dec 9, 2024 2:37 PM UTC

    I don’t actually think the new UI is a hot mess. It’s new, and new things take time to adjust to. For example, the swipe/gesture UX is new AFAIK.. I adjusted to it and like it.

    However, it does have some issues and could be improved. The only one I felt is truly problematic is how many user actions it takes to get to the search box.. it is too hidden away. The Sonos logo at the top of the app is a terrible use of valuable screen real estate. The left arrow functionality is vague.. < = back.. back to what? Make that a home icon, replace the Sonos logo with a search box = problem solved.  

    The play/pause responsiveness remains a bit of an issue. ~1.8 seconds to resume play is too long. Sadly, the S2 app uses Sonos’s cloud whereas S1 worked locally; S2 has to make some HTTP roundtrips to Sonos’s cloud so it will be slower out of the gate, and will probably always be slower unless they reintroduce cloudless playback. The decision to switch away from something that worked to something their engineers surely told them would be slower and their designers told them would cause user friction is beyond me. 

    Translate
    Show more replies
    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement