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Your feedback on the new Sonos App

Hi Everyone

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.

 

@chambolle  Most people have always had access to their playlists, so I’m not sure whether this is a ‘fix’ still to come. The ability to create them and edit them will be available though.
As has been said before, there will be no ‘all clear’ as there will be no final app update. The app will be continually updated, just as it has been since Sonos was first launched. 

Having to wait almost 6 months just to get vague feature parity (there are loads of small things missing from the UI in general) is hardly something to be pleased or thankful for. It’s also not something that is impressive or shows any kind of prowess. It’s just plain embarrassing. 

Agreed. Who’s pleased or thankful about it?

Thank you as SONOS!!!!

MattyJake… This may be a dumb question but, does PlexAmp connect to our Sonos speakers or are you talking about an alternate system/software altogether?

All good!

You can cast to your Sonos speakers. And you then just use the Sonos app to handle grouping and anything else specific to their system.

It also has a huge library of crowdsourced EQ settings and a whole bunch of other good ones.

 

and for a bonus, you can connect to your library remotely from Wi-Fi or cellular. And for cellular, you can set the compression rate you want from uncompressed down to 128. And when you’re on Wi-Fi, you automatically get the compression level level of the music in your library.

 

And, you can invite other Plex users to be able to access your Library and do the same thing.

 

And… It’s completely completely free!!!!!!!!

 

Has totally changed the game for me, I’m not even kidding.

 

Not entirely true. I’ve just spent a couple of hours creating a Plex media server on an old laptop which works fine. But when I loaded the app on my phone it says I have to pay for the premium version if I want to cast to my Sonos speakers so not completely free!

 

You can add it Plex as a service within Sonos and should be able to use it for free that way.

Added plex as a service but made no difference. Actually I don’t see how this would help anyway. I’m not looking to play my plex music server via Sonos app. I want to play my Sonos music using the Plexamp app. Or am I missing something?

No, I too added Plex as a service in Sonos but to no avail. Still, on the bright side, in terms of an app to -at last- access my music library and, say, play it through my audio system it works as advertised. 

No, I too added Plex as a service in Sonos but to no avail. Still, on the bright side, in terms of an app to -at last- access my music library and, say, play it through my audio system it works as advertised. 

Whilst using Plex as a DLNA server isn’t the best option, if you enable this feature (Settings > DLNA : Enable the DLNA server) you can then use UPnP control points to play music from Plex to your Sonos system e.g. BubbleUPnP on Android.

https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2024/09/03/former-sonos-engineer-heartbroken-by-the-app-disaster/

Hi @chambolle @Toolio @TC123246 & @Rhonny 

I hope you all had fun writing your long messages that have now been removed.

Please refrain from antagonising each other in future.

 

https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2024/09/03/former-sonos-engineer-heartbroken-by-the-app-disaster/

Thanks for posting that. The laid-off SONOS engineer tells a story that sounds a lot like what happened (and is still happening) at Boeing. The still-employed “someone else”, on the other hand, seems to think the problems will be resolved and “can see the light at the end of the tunnel”. Might need to spend more time closely tracking r/sonos!

@chambolle  Most people have always had access to their playlists, so I’m not sure whether this is a ‘fix’ still to come. The ability to create them and edit them will be available though.
As has been said before, there will be no ‘all clear’ as there will be no final app update. The app will be continually updated, just as it has been since Sonos was first launched. 

We are not waiting for a final app update. What we are waiting for is to have back all removed features and to have the new app's bugs sorted out. Unfortunately, I don't believe this will happen this year. If we are lucky, perhaps by Q1/2025.

There's this unofficial Bug Tracker. I haven't seen many issues being closed lately:

 https://github.com/amp64/sonosbugtracker

The still-employed “someone else”, on the other hand, seems to think the problems will be resolved 

One has to pretend to drink and even like the Kool Aid as long as one is on the payroll.

@Rhonny

Rhonny wrote:

@chambolle  Most people have always had access to their playlists, so I’m not sure whether this is a ‘fix’ still to come. The ability to create them and edit them will be available though.

In last weeks update I got my favourites and recently played lists being populated which included playlist access for the first time. I could however only play a selected track from a list and recently played absented itself after a day or so...

Yesterday, recently played returned, empty but is populating, and I could actually play a whole playlist - no further updates and no interventions on my part.

Something got fixed somewhere, cloud?

#notmynetwork

 

@Rhonny

Rhonny wrote:

@chambolle  Most people have always had access to their playlists, so I’m not sure whether this is a ‘fix’ still to come. The ability to create them and edit them will be available though.

In last weeks update I got my favourites and recently played lists being populated which included playlist access for the first time. I could however only play a selected track from a list and recently played absented itself after a day or so...

Yesterday, recently played returned, empty but is populating, and I could actually play a whole playlist - no further updates and no interventions on my part.

Something got fixed somewhere, cloud?

#notmynetwork

 

No idea! Is Sonos working on things in real time, with cloud adjustments that trigger certain things to start working again for certain setups without additional updates? Who knows! 

The test will be whether it all remains working for you. It could just as easily disappear again tomorrow, leaving you scratching your head again…!

Which is why I’m waiting until the dust settles; with periodic ‘check-ins’ to determine the current status.

It’s been months and this app still sucks.

I gather this means the long-awaited return of functions like access to saved Sonos playlists and ‘queue editing’ is still a work in progress?

Sonos has said September/October is the target for a return to normalcy. Sounds as though it will be another month or two before it will be reasonably safe to update my app and firmware.

I’ll keep checking back now and then, since it seems unlikely Sonos will send out an ‘all clear’ via email or a notification in the app.

Functionality missing, the app is not intuitive at all. Yesterday my Sonos Move fell off the network. I went to setting where there used to be a button to find speakers that are part of your system that need to be reattached, and it’s gone. I got a link to some articles that didn’t help. It took me hours to sort out.

 

Sonos has take a great product and completely trashed it for headphones that nobody buys? Silicon Valley is chock of quality programmers and the release disgraceful. It should never have gotten out of beta. I am ready to research other wireless solutions,

And you can turn it off if you wish:

 

 

 

 It should never have gotten out of beta.

Or rather, it should have spent some time IN beta.

Just one word trainwreck

@Rhonny

Rhonny wrote:

@chambolle  Most people have always had access to their playlists, so I’m not sure whether this is a ‘fix’ still to come. The ability to create them and edit them will be available though.

In last weeks update I got my favourites and recently played lists being populated which included playlist access for the first time. I could however only play a selected track from a list and recently played absented itself after a day or so...

Yesterday, recently played returned, empty but is populating, and I could actually play a whole playlist - no further updates and no interventions on my part.

Something got fixed somewhere, cloud?

#notmynetwork

 

No idea! Is Sonos working on things in real time, with cloud adjustments that trigger certain things to start working again for certain setups without additional updates? Who knows! 

The test will be whether it all remains working for you. It could just as easily disappear again tomorrow, leaving you scratching your head again…!

Backend fixes that don't need UI update. Like issues that should have been picked up a year before they triggered the update

Again I’m reminded by a simple fix that never gets done. I’m sitting in the Living Room looking through over two hundred songs, find one and start to play it. Then realize that it’s not the song I was looking for and wanted to continue my search. But AGAIN, it takes me to the top of the playlist. WHY CAN’T SONOS FIX THIS *** PROBLEM!!!  It seems like it should be a simple fix. I am really pissed!,

*Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.*

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danpontefract/2024/08/24/the-sound-of-failure-at-sonos/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danpontefract/2024/08/24/the-sound-of-failure-at-sonos/

After reading this article, now I understand why my request has been going unanswered for months. It is insignificant relative to all the other app problems. And my take on the 100 employees that got laid off were the ones who were vocal about the decisions being made by upper management. I’ve been a victim myself at a smaller network test equipment company years back. Why, with all the problems that Sonos is having right now, would you lay people off? You would need all the experienced staff you can get. I think most of the staff that were let go were the original programmers who were upset, and that would mean to me that things are not going to get better any time soon. 

Why can’t you just role back the update and go back to the drawing board. A forced app update for headphones that most of us don’t want or use just seems crazy. Surely you can just roll back the update to a stable version of s2 and then employ a way better dev team to spend 12 months re building the whole thing from the ground up. Either way Sonos has lost my vote of confidence and the entire senior management team needs to feel the wrath of their failure for a series of avoidable catastrophes in the decision making process. Like, I am just totally gob smacked by the series of failures from a product that pretends to compete with premium speakers. Maybe sell the company to google or another big software company with a better affinity for developing this type of audio interface. 

I just played a song that I saved to Sonos Favorites. When I did that it replaced my entire existing queue with that one song. Is that how it’s supposed to work?

I just played a song that I saved to Sonos Favorites. When I did that it replaced my entire existing queue with that one song. Is that how it’s supposed to work?

Luckily, my Sunroom queue was saved in Recently Played and I was able to recover the Sunroom Playlist. 

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