No, the slider still works. It’s the Lock Screen buttons that are no longer available. 

Don’t know if I ever used the “locked screen buttons…never saw the option in a locked screen…unless I’m missing something.. yea I know..don’t bash me..‍♂️

You’re ok then - you can’t miss a feature you never used. 

I guess it really doesn’t matter..Sonos always forces the updates whether you want them or not..

You can disable automatic speaker updates. Usually, you will not be prompted to update the controllers. If you are prompted, don’t continue. The big dangers are well meaning kids and friends updating the system for you and you’ll also need to stop updating the iPad/iPhone because underlying support required by the older SONOS controller might be withdrawn. And, some of the other Apps installed on the iPad/iPhone might balk about the stale iOS version.

Like you, I never used the lock screen Volume control. It seemed like a dumb feature because it might not control the Room where I’m currently listening.

I always have disabled the auto update. But even with that..you get forced to update. The 15.6 update was forced on me because my sub got “disconnected “. I know that update had something to do with the sub /bass. So to get it connected..had to do the update. This is where Sonos sucks. Pics show it..

Maybe, SUB would have come back online if you rebooted the soundbar and SUB.

The loss of the side buttons for volume control on Sonos for iPhone users is unacceptable. They work on Android. Also, when I use Spotify or Pandora independent of Sonos, the side buttons work for volume control. On 25 July 2023 Sonos issued this statement along with the 15.6 Update: “We’ve removed the ability to control the Sonos app for iOS using lock screen controls and device hardware buttons. The way these features were architected do not meet Apple’s experience guidelines for developers and no longer offer a reliable control experience.” I contacted Sonos support (live and chat both) to register my complaint. Their answer was that Sonos “. . .  removed the feature to improve the experience of the Sonos app and iPhone.” In fact it degraded the experience. I asked when this would be solved by their crack software engineers. The lackluster answer was, “We don’t have an estimated time on this feature to be added.” Come on, Sonos!

Perhaps it’s too obvious, but Android and iOS are made by two different companies with two differents sets of software and policy.  Yes, there is a lot of overlap, but it’s entirely possible that a feature that works on one system does not work on another.

Maybe a little less obvious, but Spotify and Pandora apps are playing content through your phone’s internet connection.  The Sonos app is just a controller, the speaker itself is getting the audio through it’s own connection to the internet.  You can turn your phone off or disconnect from WiFi and music would continue playing.   Apple’s airplay, for example, would work to control speakers because the phone is actually used to retrieve the audio.  Turn off the phone and it’s the day the music died.

Thanks Mel for the clarification. Nevertheless this is a software problem that Sonos should solve. Why should we lose a key feature when an app upgrades? Perhaps Sonos and Apple are at war with Apple trying to degrade the Sonos app to the advantage of their app.

Personally, I’ve never had any use for lock screen controls, but I have tried them because of the recent ‘Community flames’, Specifically while using the Spotify App on my iPad the response to hard button Volume changes is somewhat erratic. A couple minutes ago on my Android Spotify App, the response was more prompt.

As I move from physical room to room, the hard buttons are not linked to my current location and the  Volume adjustment is usually made to the wrong room. I would be annoyed if another user adjusted my Volume and I assume that other listeners would feel the same as I moved around.

I understand that some users will miss this feature, but that is not me.

A feature that I would enjoy is if the current physical room would mute when I answer a phone call. A giant plus would be if the mute followed me as I walked with the phone, but this might cause unwanted mutes for other users if I attempted to quietly walk through their space. I imagine that this feature could be a disaster during a party if my phone rang.

I lost the ability to use the physical buttons even when unlocked and with the app open. Boo.

You need to play audio through your phone to adjust the volume - So as an example, if using iOS, then first Airplay, or Bluetooth, some audio to your Sonos player and then adjust the volume-level with the physical buttons on your mobile (either locked, or unlocked).

Ummmm. That defeats the entire purpose of the sonos app! This worked forever and now it doesn’t. Again… boo!

The App though is not actually an audio player - it’s just a ‘remote’ for all Sonos products. It's the actual Sonos speakers etc; that do the playing, usually direct from the streaming audio source, which the App invokes.

So the mobile device hardware buttons have no link to the players, or the audio, so the mobile itself cannot control things. Sonos used to workaround this with software, but it seems Apple put a stop to it possibly seeing things as a potential security issue - so there’s nothing Sonos can do with the current version of the App. Clearly Apple just want everyone to connect over their Airplay or Bluetooth connections only, when using their iOS devices. My ‘boo!’ therefore goes out to Apple.

Yup. I get that. These device vendors are constantly throwing wrenches in.. typically via the accessibility features.

They consider those ‘wrenches’ security updates ;)