We moderators of the community - @Corry P, @Jamie A & @Sotiris C. - wanted to take an opportunity to explain some of what is currently happening on the community.
First of all, we value all the feedback you are providing about the new Sonos App. We hear you. Feedback is coming in fast and thick, however - for understandable reasons - and to be frank, we are having trouble just keeping up with it all. For this reason, some topics that have not yet been replied to will go unanswered. We will, however, do our best to amalgamate some of these separate threads into bigger, related threads (such as one big thread for Alarm complaints and another for Queue Management) to be answered en-mass. The threads that are feedback on other aspects of the new app will be merged with this post.
Threads that describe issues such as missing rooms and app crashes (those that are not just feedback, in other words) will be answered, as will threads not relating to the new app in anyway, but these will take a bit longer than normal.
Please be aware that we are reading every post, we are recording and collating all feedback, and all of it will be passed over to the app software development team. In addition, we are doing our best to identify previously unidentified issues and report them to our technical teams.
We know many of you are concerned about certain features going missing, so let us take this opportunity to say that the following features are coming back:
Alarms management
Sleep timers
Queue management
Playlist editing
In addition and contrary to some speculation, local Music Library is not going anywhere, though SMBv1 support has been permanently removed. Local Music Library searching is something that is still being worked on.
We’d also like to thank everyone who has taken it upon themselves to help others here with their questions and concerns - we appreciate you all!
Thanks for listening - take care of yourselves, and each other.
Combined threads:
General feedback (not relating specifically to those below):
Queue management:
Alarms:
Playlists:
Music Library:
Sleep Timers:
Please note that there is an official statement that can be read here.
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The new app is pure garbage. Unusable. So frustrating!!
Please roll this update back.
Seems to be a duplicate post of your first ever forum post here:
I suspect Sonos may have heard you the first time and there’s enough such posts, without repeatedly saying the same things again, which really tell Sonos very little about what problems you’re experiencing anyway.
It’s about as much use as a chocolate teapot.
As are posts trying to claim it’s all local network issues or that somehow calling (an overwhelmed) Sonos support will help.
IF Sonos don’t understand the bulk of the issues by now, then they’re in a lot more trouble than any of us thought. The lack of significant headway so far is a concern.
The big problem as I see it is how do they get customers with major connectivity issues into a stable enough state again that they can update the speaker firmware reliably when we finally get one that in conjunction with the new app, addresses the bulk of the connectivity problems.
As are posts trying to claim it’s all local network issues or that somehow calling (an overwhelmed) Sonos support will help.
IF Sonos don’t understand the bulk of the issues by now, then they’re in a lot more trouble than any of us thought. The lack of significant headway so far is a concern.
The big problem as I see it is how do they get customers with major connectivity issues into a stable enough state again that they can update the speaker firmware reliably when we finally get one that in conjunction with the new app, addresses the bulk of the connectivity problems.
Well it is the exact same App/Sonos hardware with the only variables being cantered on the local LAN/WAN. If users see the fact the App works for some users (which is clearly the case), those with issues may find it worthwhile looking closer at their LAN/WAN setup, rather than simply waiting to see if it is the Sonos App and hoping a future update might fix their issue. Not everything, particularly audio interruptions on playing rooms, will be App related. Sometimes simply changing the position of a speaker, rebooting a router, or changing the group-coordinator in charge can quickly fix such interruptions or even sluggish volume controls in some cases.
As are posts trying to claim it’s all local network issues or that somehow calling (an overwhelmed) Sonos support will help.
IF Sonos don’t understand the bulk of the issues by now, then they’re in a lot more trouble than any of us thought. The lack of significant headway so far is a concern.
The big problem as I see it is how do they get customers with major connectivity issues into a stable enough state again that they can update the speaker firmware reliably when we finally get one that in conjunction with the new app, addresses the bulk of the connectivity problems.
Here are 2 articles from an industry leading engineer about the flaws in the cloud architecture, how volatile and unpredictable it is.
As are posts trying to claim it’s all local network issues or that somehow calling (an overwhelmed) Sonos support will help.
IF Sonos don’t understand the bulk of the issues by now, then they’re in a lot more trouble than any of us thought. The lack of significant headway so far is a concern.
The big problem as I see it is how do they get customers with major connectivity issues into a stable enough state again that they can update the speaker firmware reliably when we finally get one that in conjunction with the new app, addresses the bulk of the connectivity problems.
Well it is the exact same App/Sonos hardware with the only variables being cantered on the local LAN/WAN. If users see the fact the App works for some users (which is clearly the case), those with issues may find it worthwhile looking closer at their LAN/WAN setup, rather than simply waiting to see if it is the Sonos App and hoping a future update might fix their issue. Not everything, particularly audio interruptions on playing rooms, will be App related. Sometimes simply changing the position of a speaker, rebooting a router, or changing the group-coordinator in charge can quickly fix such interruptions or even sluggish volume controls in some cases.
I understand your point Ken, but the frustration is that systems that previously worked now don’t work or suffer from connectivity issues that they didn't have before all this malarky started and there have been no other intervening changes in set ups, positioning or networks.
I’ve been lucky myself and (apart form one instance where my rear 300s were dropped completely and had to be manually added back - which took several attempts) my problems with the new app have been around local library access and some annoyance over things that load on one occasion when you open the app, then fail to open on other occasions. These issues ARE being addressed, albeit slowly, I agree.
As are posts trying to claim it’s all local network issues or that somehow calling (an overwhelmed) Sonos support will help.
IF Sonos don’t understand the bulk of the issues by now, then they’re in a lot more trouble than any of us thought. The lack of significant headway so far is a concern.
The big problem as I see it is how do they get customers with major connectivity issues into a stable enough state again that they can update the speaker firmware reliably when we finally get one that in conjunction with the new app, addresses the bulk of the connectivity problems.
Here are 2 articles from an industry leading engineer about the flaws in the cloud architecture, how volatile and unpredictable it is.
Those articles are really interesting (the bits I understood, anyway ). Further proof, however, as if it was needed that the new app should have stayed in beta until these issue were sorted out.
Sadly, it’s also hurting customers and a once great audio company, not to mention the good and honest employees at Sonos who are lead by an ignorant, arrogant, and greedy leadership team.
And now the fallout from this terrible decision impacts more than just customers, resellers, and investors.
As are posts trying to claim it’s all local network issues or that somehow calling (an overwhelmed) Sonos support will help.
IF Sonos don’t understand the bulk of the issues by now, then they’re in a lot more trouble than any of us thought. The lack of significant headway so far is a concern.
The big problem as I see it is how do they get customers with major connectivity issues into a stable enough state again that they can update the speaker firmware reliably when we finally get one that in conjunction with the new app, addresses the bulk of the connectivity problems.
Well it is the exact same App/Sonos hardware with the only variables being cantered on the local LAN/WAN. If users see the fact the App works for some users (which is clearly the case), those with issues may find it worthwhile looking closer at their LAN/WAN setup, rather than simply waiting to see if it is the Sonos App and hoping a future update might fix their issue. Not everything, particularly audio interruptions on playing rooms, will be App related. Sometimes simply changing the position of a speaker, rebooting a router, or changing the group-coordinator in charge can quickly fix such interruptions or even sluggish volume controls in some cases.
You keep missing the point spectacularly.
No-one apart from Sonos changed anything. Sonos changed everything inside the app/speaker combination, and for ’s and giggles thought they’d divert it all through the cloud too. Why should people have to turn their setups upside down to correct the mess Sonos have made of this re-write? If it was working before the update and doesn’t work now, Sonos are responsible.
If we were still in the pre-update world and people were here looking for answers to issues then everything you say would be correct. However that is 100% not where we are.
Some things *may* help, but you have to be really careful what you change, and you need to understand why. 99% of people here quite rightly don’t care about that, they bought a speaker system that used to work and now through no fault of their own, and not because they changed something, it broke.
Many people will have made it worse by quite reasonably trying to do things to get their system back, just plugging in an ethernet cable where once there wasn’t one, resetting boxes… all of which probably just make it worse and then they are really stuck.
Sonos *could* help by trying to explain a bit more about WHAT they changed, but no. Silence. The only clues come from people able to partially reverse engineer what’s going on. There is no collaborative approach coming from Sonos with their users to try and help. Instead people are just trying anything and everything which is pure guesswork.
Others insist until they are blue in the face that because they are lucky enough to fall within the happy clappy zone, that it must therefore be user networks, despite all the reasons given about why that’s too simplistic.
Sonos Speakers are consumer grade network speakers and if they need professional installation/help all of a sudden just to keep them functional for a large number of people then Sonos have dropped the ball.
This ground up re-write has dropped the ball in so many place compared to what came before…
No alphabetic simple selection
A limit of 100 items in a list
Dysfunctional queue management
Broken indexing of local libraries
Dropping the SMBv1/HTTP sharing from a Mac/PC (that they added) from the speakers but leaving the setup wizards in the desktop apps
Not having accurate documentation (either old or how it should be but isn’t in reality)
Broken radio streaming
Vanishing local libraries
Broken smart home integration that can give speakers a mind of their own
Broken discovery with regressions in previously reliable SSDP methods.
Taking months (6 maybe more) to just get almost back to feature parity.
On top of all that, the weirdest thing is that all the other devices on people’s networks at home that worked BEFORE the Sonos software changes still work… Yet the answer from some continues to be not to focus on what has actually changed, but to go change something else and exonerate the one thing that has changed and screwed up badly.
Well it is the exact same App/Sonos hardware with the only variables being cantered on the local LAN/WAN. If users see the fact the App works for some users (which is clearly the case), those with issues may find it worthwhile looking closer at their LAN/WAN setup, rather than simply waiting to see if it is the Sonos App and hoping a future update might fix their issue. Not everything, particularly audio interruptions on playing rooms, will be App related. Sometimes simply changing the position of a speaker, rebooting a router, or changing the group-coordinator in charge can quickly fix such interruptions or even sluggish volume controls in some cases.
You keep missing the point spectacularly.
No I don’t entirely miss the point.
If you just want to sit and do nothing, except complain and wait for the Sonos fortnightly updates, then that’s a matter for you, but I and some others who land here in the community should be allowed to still go onto suggest/try a few things in the meantime, just to see if they might help resolve some of the issues seen by ‘some’ users.
Changes, such as shifting devices onto the faster 5Ghz WiFi band and taking a device SNR level to 45dB (or higher) and switching libraries over to SMBv2/3 etc; to name just a few things, are ‘clearly’ helpful/useful to do anyway, all whilst Sonos continue to add back the scheduled features and announced App improvements in the coming weeks/months.
If you don’t want to ‘mess’ with anything then that’s fine too, but don’t try to stop others trying to help improve things for themselves and others, as often the network changes/improvements that are being suggested, are mostly useful to do anyway and may help some users to engage with the new App that then works for them.
I also like to suggest other methods of audio playback that’s available to use with Sonos speakers too, including…
3rd Party Apps (Soro/SonoPhone/Orto etc.) (useful for grouping speakers too)
…as these things listed might help users to also keep their audio playing on their hardware aswell, plus it’s a lot more constructive than simply waiting and ‘moaning’ about the Sonos App as it continues to be improved.
Whatever any of us do/say anyway, it’s not likely going to change what has happened already, so it’s likely far better to move forward and try some things, rather than loitering and complaining about the past.
I read the article on the layoffs. I am so disappointed that Spence was not one of them. My God, they have a board member working on quality. There is a hint there. I spent my entire career, over 40 years, in corporate America. I am beyond disbelief that Spence is still there. Even if he manages to fix this in the next few months the marketplace, his customers, will never trust him again. I know I won’t. I am also beginning to distrust the board of directors. Thank God I never bought any stock. I just want my system to work. I am not in a position where I can spend the money to replace what I have. I am not tech literate so I just don’t understand why we can’t go back to the app that worked while they fix and test the new one. I really am offended that Sono’s thinks thier customers are ok being lab rats!
So frustrated!!!!!!
I am so disappointed that Spence was not one of them.
I am sure there is a vast consensus on that. Unfortunately generals are given marching orders long after they have ended the lives - careers - of many in the front line. Standard operating procedure in the military and the corporate world.
So even after the latest “update” I still can’t listen to two radio stations previously available. The level of disingenuous BS from Sonos and their fanboys on here is typical of the tech bro sphere MO of shutting down discussions they don’t want to have. Just admit your corporate plan doesn’t include taking your existing customers with you and we can all move on to services that actually meet our needs. There is no point in providing useless contact points like this forum if they can’t resolve fundamental problems with your product or, more seriously, the corporate culture of your market sector. You are failures. You have failed. Do not pass Go. Roll back to whichever Mickey Mouse MBA rinsed your parents of their hard earned and get a proper job.
I really hope Sonos manage to give us the rollback option despite Spence’s stubbornness for months now. Then we can all choose ourselves, if to have a decent Sonos system or to be a beta tester for the new app. For myself it would be an easy choice because now there’s mostly frustration to use my system. I can play some music but it’s not an enjoyable experience and it’s not due to the music - it’s the horrible new app.
slow, unresponsive, unreliable connection, poor cue management, now playing starts at top so you need to scroll and scroll to the song that is actually playing, and it goes on and on…
For what it’s worth, my system is now working quite well. Like almost everyone else, regaining access to my local library was high priority. When the app was updated to allow access again, I followed the Sonos instructions and failed repeatedly. My library is on an older MacBook Air running MacOS Monterey 12.7.6. I think the Sonos instructions are for newer Macs, so after messing around for a while, I found that it wasn’t necessary to include the shared folder in my file path. I don’t know why this worked, but my library, playlists, etc all play as well (perhaps better than) as before. I also upgraded to a new modem that I connected directly to one of my speakers with an ethernet cable.
My Sonos speakers are 2 Play:1s, and 2 Play:3s running on S2, version 16.3.1.
So far, my system is functioning normally and I’m happy. But, the app debacle should have never happened and I’m still rather disappointed about that.
I really hope Sonos manage to give us the rollback option despite Spence’s stubbornness for months now. Then we can all choose ourselves, if to have a decent Sonos system or to be a beta tester for the new app. For myself it would be an easy choice because now there’s mostly frustration to use my system. I can play some music but it’s not an enjoyable experience and it’s not due to the music - it’s the horrible new app.
slow, unresponsive, unreliable connection, poor cue management, now playing starts at top so you need to scroll and scroll to the song that is actually playing, and it goes on and on…
I recite my self while waiting for Sonos to actually let million of user roll back if they don’t want to be beta testers for the new app. Applauding the ones that is sticking around to help Sonos maybe solve it in the future and congratulate the ones having no issues.
Just to keep my sanity I will from now on treat all my 14 Sonos speakers spread over two houses as very, very expensive and overpriced Airplay 2 speakers . At least it works okay, of course that was not why I bought in to the Sonos system in the first place. Biggest drawback with that solution is that all audio has to travel through my Appel devices and no possibility to lossless music on Sonos that was earlier released.
And so the fun begins
Presumably I’m being dim, but where is the Music Library option meant to be?
I thought it was in System Manage after the firmware/app upgrade, but it seems to have gone awol after being forced to factory reset just to add a WiFi network
Also need to keep an eye on the App thinks it’s playing when it isn’t. Has only occurred after the firmware reset and new system setup. Suspect the app isn’t refreshing status from the player correctly coming out of sleep. Have seen this type of behaviour in other apps I’ve worked with before. Oddly wasn’t a problem the past day or so after the upgrade, only tonight since the factory reset.
Tablet was asleep while playing, when I woke it some time after the album finished playing successfully the app claimed the speaker was still playing the first track with -0.0 time left Obviously pause does nothing to release the app status because the speaker has nothing to pause or tell the app it successfully stopped.
At least it’s an easy one to try recreating.
And so the fun begins
Come on now, @sigh, surely the problem is your network. rsarcasm]
And so the fun begins
Come on now, @sigh, surely the problem is your network. osarcasm]
At least I have something behaving oddly now since the factory reset.
It was disappointingly uneventful after the upgrade of the app and first 4 speakers.
Apart from the app ui/ux change being a bit lacking, everything just worked. Added another 3 tonight, but had to do factory resets on everything and create a new system. Hasn’t been quite the same level of uneventful doing that even though everything is still running on sonosnet atm still as it was previously but with almost double the signal strength.
Maybe the network is too good now and I need to space everything out to get back to my previous ~41-43ish signal
Lots of annoyed/angry people this morning (UK) time… Sonos Cloud was down.
Interestingly, no Sonos Cloud seems to mean no music at all through the Sonos App if you stream everything, which we’re constantly told is the main use case…
Local libraries were still functional though, unless you’ve lost that too…
However, they really need to come up with better on screen information when for example Sonos Cloud can’t be contacted… else as it’s just (!!) consumer grade audio kit, people are going to start doing stuff like resets etc. when they don’t need to just to try and get their system back.
And if you’re going to force everyone through your cloud all the time with no plan B you need to make it pretty damn bullet proof…
And if you’re going to force everyone through your cloud all the time with no plan B you need to make it pretty damn bullet proof…
If Sonos App is not available, for whatever reason, your plan B:
You should still be able to AirPlay to Sonos speakers, watch TV with your Sonos HT setup, or listen to your Ace headphones?
Interestingly, no Sonos Cloud seems to mean no music at all through the Sonos App if you stream everything
Sonos cloud? I thought cloud was a generic name for the net?
I know that Sonos called off Alexa integration in India in 2019 because it did not wish to invest in the server infrastructure close to India to offer latency free integration with Echos for which an Amazon that, seeing India as a huge future market for all its services, had made the necessary investments in local server infrastructure as well.
So now how will Indian customers of Sonos, using the new app, deal with what look to be similar needs for the use of the new app?
Every day it’s the same story. I want to play some music in certain rooms, the way I have for over a decade on the Sonos platform. I open the app and there are no speakers on my system. I force close the app and re-open. Now a system is there but nothing else is loaded in, no stations, no history, just blank squares. I force close the app and re-open. The system is there, the history loads in and I try to group speakers (they may or may not have come un-grouped). “Something went wrong”. Try to group again, they group, then un-group. Try to group again, they group, then un-group. Try to group again, they group. Pick something from history to play on the newly grouped speakers, “Something went wrong”. Try to play again, “Something went wrong”. Force close the app, re-open, wait for the system to load, click to newly grouped speakers, pick something from history, only plays from one of the grouped speakers. At this point, I load up the app in the app store (android) and check the recent reviews. I click “was helpful” on all the newly added one star reviews for the day. While I’m doing this, the music starts to play on the other speaker in the group. I go back into the app and try to adjust the volume of the speaker that just started playing. Only now, when I adjust the volume, it immediately reverts to the same level. The volume controls are not responding. I attempt a few more volume adjustments until it finally recognizes the change.
Do you notice anything about this story regarding lack of feature support? I am literally just trying to use the system and the new app is incapable of performing basic functionality. I was on the old version as long as possible and everything worked fine. Then Sonos forced me to upgrade and I’ve joined the millions of others who are furious we’ve invested thousands of dollars and tons of goodwill in a company that threw it all away in the name of “progress”.
Now, back to trying to get my music to play. As I was writing this, nothing is currently playing from any speakers though the app says it is.
). Further proof, however, as if it was needed that the new app should have stayed in beta until these issue were sorted out. 
’s and giggles thought they’d divert it all through the cloud too. Why should people have to turn their setups upside down to correct the mess Sonos have made of this re-write? If it was working before the update and doesn’t work now, Sonos are responsible. 
