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The new Sonos S2 App Sucks

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D

Horrible app update. Family hates it. Slow, sluggish, bloated, and overly complex. The previous version far more intuitive. Ruined our Sonos experience and being an industry person, I’m no longer a Sonos advocate. Oh, and did I mention how SLOW this app is?!? 

Feels like engineers are trying to show off how complex they can make things and how smart they are. Classic story of trying to impress each other and their bosses. Winners would write code to create apps using functions in an easily digestible manner the family can figure out. Even more frustrating when we have multiple streaming services to navigate. 

Please bring back the previous app version!!!
 

 

W

The updated Sonos app is HORRIBLE!  We have Sonos systems all over our house and at pool. Old app worked great. Now my wife and I cannot control song selection or volume from separate phones… music plays in rooms we didn’t select and volume control is all gooned up.  Sonos what are you doing?!!  Fix it fast or you will be losing tons of business.  CEO get your support team fixed too- it’s like a black hole. 

N
Userlevel 1

I’ve got $50,000 plus invested in SONOS in multiple locations, been using it for years.  Always been a fan.   Can’t describe in words how disappointed I am with the updates.   No one must have trialed this out to a test group.  Last night for the 4th, took probably 20 min to finally get the two speakers I wanted to play something.  It’s so awkward to have music selection separate from the speaker/amp selection and the stuff doesn’t work until you mess with it for a while.  And god forbid you accidentally take the TV off of TV, you can’t recover from that.  

Ken_Griffiths

I’ve got $50,000 plus invested in SONOS in multiple locations, been using it for years.  Always been a fan.   Can’t describe in words how disappointed I am with the updates.   No one must have trialed this out to a test group.  Last night for the 4th, took probably 20 min to finally get the two speakers I wanted to play something.  It’s so awkward to have music selection separate from the speaker/amp selection and the stuff doesn’t work until you mess with it for a while.  And god forbid you accidentally take the TV off of TV, you can’t recover from that.  

Strange the new Sonos App works fine here. Certainly doesn’t take anywhere near that long to get anything to play on my 25 speaker home system. That’s using iPhone, iPad or Android controller.

I would say if your problems persist you might be best to perhaps first reproduce the issue, then immediately submit a Sonos system diagnostic report from within the Sonos App, note it’s reference and then contact/chat with Sonos Support via this LINK to discuss the matter in detail and see what the Staff can perhaps then suggest to resolve the matter.

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Bumper

I’ve got $50,000 plus invested in SONOS in multiple locations, been using it for years.  Always been a fan.   Can’t describe in words how disappointed I am with the updates.   No one must have trialed this out to a test group.  

They trialed it, Sonos CEO said he and all the staff were using it for an extended period of time, like 6 months. 
I’m not sure how that’s possible since the app on release was just a massive steaming pile of you know what. It’s getting better, slowly, but also with new bugs introduced as well. Beta testers also said their feedback was allegedly ignored. It’s a massive screw up on Sonos’s part. 
The good news if I can call it that is you have options. If you are on iOS use SonoPhone. Desktop app still works. Roll back to 16.1 on Android. 

All your bugs are belong to Sonos
Ken_Griffiths

@Niner01,

FWiW, I don’t personally find SonoPad any quicker to begin music playback - as shown in the attached, but it’s a matter for yourself if you wish to purchase that App.

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Bumper

@Niner01,

FWiW, I don’t personally find SonoPad any quicker to begin music playback - as shown in the attached, but it’s a matter for yourself if you wish to purchase that App.


$3 for an actually working app is gold baby. Speed trials are for races. Though SonoPhone is always faster for me since it works, ymmv. 
 

 

All your bugs are belong to Sonos
skullc
Userlevel 7
Badge +12

@Niner01,

FWiW, I don’t personally find SonoPad any quicker to begin music playback - as shown in the attached, but it’s a matter for yourself if you wish to purchase that App.


$3 for an actually working app is gold baby. Speed trials are for races. Though SonoPhone is always faster for me since it works, ymmv. 
 

 

16.1 is free moral of the story wait before you update 👍

Network= livewire cpe pro 3 +eero 6 pro wireless
Bumper

^ This 100%

All your bugs are belong to Sonos
D
Badge

Complete and utter stuff-up by Sonos 
New App started off with many glitches and now simply crashes every-time - Will not even load up

D
Badge

Sonos does not seem capable of fixing these issues 
I WILL NOT BE BUYING any new equipment for a very long time after these issues are resolved
LOSS OF TRUST
I DO NOT NEED USELESS ‘electronic paper-weights’ adorning my home and business

L

I knew I could t be the only person that totally disappointed by this app.  It’s terrible. 
there’s so many different ways to adjust the volume of a group and all of them suck. 
it’s the most inconsistent commercial software I’ve experienced in a while.  
my investment in Sonos consists of 4 media rooms with soundbars each with subs and surrounds, amps and speakers in kitchens, bathrooms and gym, and a few so is moves for the garden and family outings.  
the software makes all of that investment feel as if it was a cheap setup from some random online company. 
I really hope they get some interface experts in the clean up this software mess.  I definitely won’t make any more investments in Sonos if the software doesn’t get better. 

T
Userlevel 3
Badge

Wow. I hope the CEO. Is listening to this 

Ken_Griffiths

I knew I could t be the only person that totally disappointed by this app.  It’s terrible. 
there’s so many different ways to adjust the volume of a group and all of them suck. 
it’s the most inconsistent commercial software I’ve experienced in a while.  
my investment in Sonos consists of 4 media rooms with soundbars each with subs and surrounds, amps and speakers in kitchens, bathrooms and gym, and a few so is moves for the garden and family outings.  
the software makes all of that investment feel as if it was a cheap setup from some random online company. 
I really hope they get some interface experts in the clean up this software mess.  I definitely won’t make any more investments in Sonos if the software doesn’t get better. 

I often adjust the group volume use the group volume slider - as per attached screen-capture. It works fine for me and can adjust an individual room volume level too.

1 Attachment
Bumper

I knew I could t be the only person that totally disappointed by this app.  It’s terrible. 
there’s so many different ways to adjust the volume of a group and all of them suck. 
it’s the most inconsistent commercial software I’ve experienced in a while.  
my investment in Sonos consists of 4 media rooms with soundbars each with subs and surrounds, amps and speakers in kitchens, bathrooms and gym, and a few so is moves for the garden and family outings.  
the software makes all of that investment feel as if it was a cheap setup from some random online company. 
I really hope they get some interface experts in the clean up this software mess.  I definitely won’t make any more investments in Sonos if the software doesn’t get better. 

The interface is what it is. Hopefully as they fix more bugs it will become easier to use. Personally I like the changes to the ui but it’s useless given how buggy and unusable the app is. Make sure you leave review for the software in the App Store. 

All your bugs are belong to Sonos
L

It’s not allowing me to upload videos.  
 

@Ken_Griffiths 

theres an inconsistency that I get that bugs me.  Let me know if you get the same thing:

From the main screen if you have a group playing and you tap the volume, you have the option to control all or the individual speakers, that’s perfect (but doesn’t always work)
if you then slide the control box up, and tap the volume, you are only able to control the entire group, unless you press the speaker button.

its hard to explain  but if you try and adjust the volume, you should see what I mean.   
 

I agree, everything can be fixed, but as it is right now, the Ux needs work and the app code needs to be looked at and deeply tested in house before they roll out an update.


 

 

Ken_Griffiths

That’s how the App works @L44WSN ‘by design’ - in your last screenshot - where you have raised the ‘room selector’, you just select the button over to the right (above the volume 19 level) to goto individual room volume-level controls.

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Ken_Griffiths

I’ve seen some users say that some volume controls are sluggish or delayed - I don’t see that at all but if that’s happening I would check the SNR connection level on whichever speaker is misbehaving and perhaps even steer it onto a different band and see if that might resolve the matter. I suggest looking for an SNR level of 45dB or higher as outlined here…

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

T

@Niner01,

FWiW, I don’t personally find SonoPad any quicker to begin music playback - as shown in the attached, but it’s a matter for yourself if you wish to purchase that App.


$3 for an actually working app is gold baby. Speed trials are for races. Though SonoPhone is always faster for me since it works, ymmv. 
 

 

I payed for the SonosPhone app based on your comment.   Unfortunately it’s also causing me issues as YouTube Music won’t load on it all.

This company has gone to the crapper.  Short the stock. 

Ken_Griffiths

@Niner01,

FWiW, I don’t personally find SonoPad any quicker to begin music playback - as shown in the attached, but it’s a matter for yourself if you wish to purchase that App.


$3 for an actually working app is gold baby. Speed trials are for races. Though SonoPhone is always faster for me since it works, ymmv. 
 

 

I payed for the SonosPhone app based on your comment.   Unfortunately it’s also causing me issues as YouTube Music won’t load on it all.

This company has gone to the crapper.  Short the stock. 

I’m not sure if @Bumper has become affiliated to that app in some way as I can see at least 10 posts in the last week or so, where he has suggested users purchase it.

Either way these Apps are merely a ‘remote’ for your Sonos system, so there’s a good chance if something does not work for one App, it may also not work in the other - so you just end up out of pocket.

As things are not working in both I would perhaps reproduce the issue in the Sonos App, then immediately submit a Sonos system diagnostic report from within the Sonos App, note it’s reference and then contact/chat with Sonos Support via this LINK to discuss the matter in detail and see what the Staff can perhaps then suggest to resolve the matter.

C

I hate that I have so much invested in sonos or I would ditch it for sure based on this app experience. 

The only consolation is that have not messed up the PC software yet… hopefully that is not next.

 

sj

Ken_Griffiths

I hate that I have so much invested in sonos or I would ditch it for sure based on this app experience. 

The only consolation is that have not messed up the PC software yet… hopefully that is not next.

 

sj

I see you only joined this forum today and the above is your first post but you haven’t mentioned anywhere what the issue is you’re facing, or if your spoken to Sonos Customer Support. In my own case the new App is working fine.

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N
Userlevel 1

You don’t have to deal with customer support to have an opinion about how bad the new App is.   We all used the previous App, for years.   The new one is objectively worse in nearly every way.  As if they outsourced the app development to an external team to save money and they went to a different hosted platform which required re-writing the App.  It’s just worse than before, clearly.  

Ken_Griffiths

You don’t have to deal with customer support to have an opinion about how bad the new App is.   We all used the previous App, for years.   The new one is objectively worse in nearly every way.  As if they outsourced the app development to an external team to save money and they went to a different hosted platform which required re-writing the App.  It’s just worse than before, clearly.  

I don’t think Sonos would risk out-sourcing in case the company collapsed and left the App unsupported, much better (and cheaper) perhaps to do these things in-house.

N
Userlevel 1

You don’t have to deal with customer support to have an opinion about how bad the new App is.   We all used the previous App, for years.   The new one is objectively worse in nearly every way.  As if they outsourced the app development to an external team to save money and they went to a different hosted platform which required re-writing the App.  It’s just worse than before, clearly.  

I don’t think Sonos would risk out-sourcing in case the company collapsed and left the App unsupported, much better (and cheaper) perhaps to do these things in-house.

I agree with you.   It’s just so fundamentally different that it feels like the backend platform changed. 

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