Your feedback on the new Sonos App

I have been a loyal Sonos user for 14 years and have 25 devices. I thought you guys botched the rollout of the first S2 when you effectively bricked old speakers. You saved that by offering an S1 network for older devices or a credit to trade up. Nevertheless, you have outdone yourself with the new app update. It is complete and absolute garbage!!!! Why would you roll this out before testing it. it’s slow, common features are gone and now everything takes multiple clicks to do what used to take one. You need to fix this quickly or roll back the old app until you have debugged this new app. I have told everyone I know to not download the new app but if someone asked me today if I would recommend Sonos for their house, how can I say yes?

I am still on the old app with auto update turned off in the Apple Store and in the app it’s turned off in system

mine has not tried to update at all and I have had 1 popup asking me to update which I closed and ignored

worst thing I have to deal with is making sure I don’t hit update when doing other apps

That perhaps shows clearly that Sonos has not forced anyone to update, your example here proves that to be the case @skullc.

It’s often the case users either have auto-updates enabled, or have manually chosen to update themselves. The settings are there on controller devices to switch off updating. Everyone does have that choice to standstill and to perhaps wait and see.

I chose to ‘manually’ update both the App/hardware in my own case.

Yes agreed unfortunately I have decided that the update has accelerated me leaving the Sonos ecosystem for other options

I am lucky enough that multi room audio is not the driving force for me so I am going analogue amp with wired speakers and a wiim pro plus for streaming

I enjoyed my time on Sonos but enough is enough I am afraid ‍

Thanks. Can anyone else confirm this (I’m currently at work), because if that really is the case, I’m done with Sonos. No good reason to require internet access to play local libraries.

Here’s my experience when no internet

If music is playing it continues. Player controls work.
Music Library in the app disappears, can’t change what’s playing. This also happens randomly when there is an internet connection so can’t say this is the cause 100%.

The app is a buggy POS.

I am still on the old app with auto update turned off in the Apple Store and in the app it’s turned off in system

mine has not tried to update at all and I have had 1 popup asking me to update which I closed and ignored

worst thing I have to deal with is making sure I don’t hit update when doing other apps

That perhaps shows clearly that Sonos has not forced anyone to update, your example here proves that to be the case @skullc.

It’s often the case users either have auto-updates enabled, or have manually chosen to update themselves. The settings are there on controller devices to switch off updating. Everyone does have that choice to standstill and to perhaps wait and see.

I chose to ‘manually’ update both the App/hardware in my own case.

Sorry to dissent, but for over a decade of Windows, Linux.,Android use, I NEVER EVER allow auto-updating of any software. Firmware is a different matter when the device forces an update or does it in the background. Every YELLOW Sonos icon has changed to the new BLACK icon of Doom without human intervention. Will it be black helicopters next ?

Something rotten in the state Sonos...

Thanks. Can anyone else confirm this (I’m currently at work), because if that really is the case, I’m done with Sonos. No good reason to require internet access to play local libraries.

Here’s my experience when no internet

If music is playing it continues. Player controls work.
Music Library in the app disappears, can’t change what’s playing. This also happens randomly when there is an internet connection so can’t say this is the cause 100%.

The app is a buggy POS.

Thanks. Very disappointing news. Can anyone at Sonos confirm this is how it is intended to operate, i.e. you’ve introduced a dependency on internet access for playing local music? @Corry P ?

The immense damage Sonos has done to it’s users will ultimately be determined in the courts. Advice: sell any Sonos stock you have now, when the class action suit hits, it is likely to tumble. There is a group getting ready to tee this up. It may take quite some time, but eventually, unfortunately, and painfully Sonos will be made to face the truth that they seem unable to accept at this time. Keep records of all your equipment purchases, your problems and issues with the software, all of the time you are spending trying to fix issues that shouldn’t be there in the first place, and the time you have spent trying to talk to customer support and still having issues. Companies like this, that completely abuse their customers, deserve nothing less than to have their day in court to try to defend themselves against thousands of unhappy users, and to try to mitigate the punitive damages.

Thanks. Very disappointing news. Can anyone at Sonos confirm this is how it is intended to operate, i.e. you’ve introduced a dependency on internet access for playing local music? @Corry P ?

If you read @Bumper’s post again, local library playback does work on Sonos products without internet access. The fact he is seeing the Music Library disappear under ‘Your Sources’ is somewhat irrelevant, as he is seeing that happen even with an internet connection.

My ‘Music Library’ on the other hand does not disappear and stays ‘put’ in the App.

It would be nice though for you to disconnect the internet connection yourself, but leave the router/wifi/network capabilities in situ when you get Home from work …and perhaps test it yourself and report back as some routers ‘may’ drop their WiFi network when the internet connection is removed.

I can’t see any reason why it would not work if the local wired/wireless network is in place.

My local network is just fine. Sonos worked without any problems for over 14 years. I’ve tried the new app with and without Internet, with and without Boost, with and without Sonosnet. No music library or playlists on my iPad, not on my iPhone. The only thing that seems to work as it should is the Windows Desktop Controller 16.2.

Sonos messed up really bad this time. And i never thought I'd be writing these words down...

A new issue that does not yet seem to have been reported, the firmware update seems to have broken ALL interaction with Sonos speakers from within the Ikea ecosystem... There appears to no longer be ANY control from the Ikea app or automations whatsoever (Android):

Firmware: 2.556.0
Model: DIRIGERA Hub for smart products
Manufacturer: IKEA of Sweden
IKEA Home smart app: 1.25.1

So far () Smartthings integration seems unaffected.

Thanks. Very disappointing news. Can anyone at Sonos confirm this is how it is intended to operate, i.e. you’ve introduced a dependency on internet access for playing local music? @Corry P ?

My ‘Music Library’ on the other hand does not disappear and stays ‘put’ in the App.

And what happens if you click on “Music Library” when you’re without internet access? That’s when I’m presented with “Something went wrong”. I force closed the app before I unplugged from the internet.

I’m on Android if that makes any difference.

Alarms

Just wanted to let people know that alarms are back on, so hopefully other issues will be just as quick to get resolved.

I know these things are (more than) annoying but with so many people so quick to throw the baby out with the bath water I do wonder what my fellow Sonos users do as jobs that they can, as many, many comments have threatened, just take out their whole Sonos system and buy something that is not a “crock of ……” (put in your own expletive) ?

Queue management:

Alarms:

@Corry P I work as a Product Manager delivering Enterprise Grade Solutions to the largest companies in the world. Two things I know about customers:

It is easier to make money from existing customers than win new ones
When a customer decides its time to go, it is hard to win them back

It is clear that we have a lot of development people here and that is one of the reasons that the messaging from Sonos are seen so negatively. We can see and smell the cover up.

It was not the users that threw the baby out with the bath water, that was Sonos.

Under a different scenario I would happily be focused on providing feedback on what’s new and not what is missing. Sadly Sonos did not offer me the choice and chose to force onto me an app that has disrupted my use of the products and enjoyment of music.

Sonos could have:

Delivered the new app alongside the current one.
Delivered an optional update with a warning that users who did not want their experience disrupted or who depended on the missing features should wait for the September 2024 update, a realistic date to complete and stabilise the new app, to adopt the new one.

Sonos chose to remove my choice and now has the audacity to complain that I am critical. Sonos literally broke into my home and stole parts of my music system from me.

There are likely people here who can afford to simply replace all of the Sonos equipment they own and do that before Sonos can deliver an app that is actually fit for purpose. I doubt that there are many but there will be some.

The real commercial damage for Sonos will be the large number of users who will now continue using the speakers they have rather than upgrading. I am one of these people. I have recently bought a pair of Era 100s and I’m really impressed. So impressed that I was considering replacing by 3 x Play:1’s with Era 100s and a Play:3 with an Era 300. Those plans are now on permanent hold.

When I decide at a future date to buy change my system to update the technology, Sonos will no longer be my automatic first choice.

Sonos is the problem here, not the customers, and its time for Sonos to accept this.

Agree, it wasn’t long ago that Sonos made a “misstep” and Patrick Spence assured us Sonos would work hard to earn our trust back. It appears they have a short memory.

A letter from our CEO | Sonos Blog

“Thank you for being a Sonos customer. Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback. I hope that you’ll forgive our misstep, and let us earn back your trust. Without you, Sonos wouldn’t exist and we’ll work harder than ever to earn your loyalty every single day.”

Thanks. Can anyone else confirm this (I’m currently at work), because if that really is the case, I’m done with Sonos. No good reason to require internet access to play local libraries.

Here’s my experience when no internet

If music is playing it continues. Player controls work.
Music Library in the app disappears, can’t change what’s playing. This also happens randomly when there is an internet connection so can’t say this is the cause 100%.

The app is a buggy POS.

It seems to me this is the crux of it. The hardware and app is meant to be for a system over a local area via WiFi. A cloud based and/or SaaS is not appropriate. And this reeks of trying to move to a subscription based service for the app i.e., your hardware won't work unless you pay for a subscription app controller.

I have advised others to stay away from Sonos products. This treatment of your customer base is completely inexcusable and unjustified. Fortunately I’ve been able to download an APK package on my phone that allows me to use the product the way *I* want to, but I know others are not as technically savvy. Shame on Sonos.

I can’t see any reason why it would not work if the local wired/wireless network is in place.

My local network is just fine. Sonos worked without any problems for over 14 years. I’ve tried the new app with and without Internet, with and without Boost, with and without Sonosnet. No music library or playlists on my iPad, not on my iPhone. The only thing that seems to work as it should is the Windows Desktop Controller 16.2.

Sonos messed up really bad this time. And i never thought I'd be writing these words down...

What sharing protocol is the local music library using?… Yhe desktop App will support SMBv1 to v3 and ‘http’ shared folders. The new Sonos App no longer provides support for http or SMBv1, as both are considered to have security vulnerabilities as widely mentioned here in the Sonos community and elsewhere online… the new App is stepping forward with this, rather than including past vulnerabilities. So perhaps more-likely that’s part of the issue.

Users using a Windows PC for their shared library (as an example) are following the steps mentioned in this post from a community member…

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers%2Dand%2Dmusic%2Dservices%2D229131/adding%2Da%2Dwindows%2Dsmb%2Dshare%2Dstep%2Dby%2Dstep%2D6892060

I assume those with MAC PC shared libraries are doing something similar to those steps for Windows …and some NAS users may need to switch to use the higher version of the protocol in the NAS OS configuration settings.

I hope that assists you,

I can’t see any reason why it would not work if the local wired/wireless network is in place.

My local network is just fine. Sonos worked without any problems for over 14 years. I’ve tried the new app with and without Internet, with and without Boost, with and without Sonosnet. No music library or playlists on my iPad, not on my iPhone. The only thing that seems to work as it should is the Windows Desktop Controller 16.2.

Sonos messed up really bad this time. And i never thought I'd be writing these words down...

the new App is stepping forward with this rather than including past vulnerabilities. So perhaps more-likely the issue.

I can understand why you would say this, but if someone is on their own home network, why would a company attempt to limit what type of sharing they’re using, arbitrarily, in an app update such as this?

My LAN is my problem. At this point in the process, the only thing with questionable intentions inserted into the relationship between my lan, my music, and my devices, is SONOS. Why do they get to dictate that I need the internet running to do any of this, all of a sudden?

Thanks. Can anyone else confirm this (I’m currently at work), because if that really is the case, I’m done with Sonos. No good reason to require internet access to play local libraries.

Here’s my experience when no internet

If music is playing it continues. Player controls work.
Music Library in the app disappears, can’t change what’s playing. This also happens randomly when there is an internet connection so can’t say this is the cause 100%.

The app is a buggy POS.

It seems to me this is the crux of it. The hardware and app is meant to be for a system over a local area via WiFi. A cloud based and/or SaaS is not appropriate. And this reeks of trying to move to a subscription based service for the app i.e., your hardware won't work unless you pay for a subscription app controller.

This is my concern also. But Sonos being a SaaS product doesn’t make much sense, especially as it was working without the cloud for 20+ years.

The courageous App update that ‘energised’ the team is down to a 1.5 rating on the Play Store.

Reputations take years to build but can be ruined in the blink of an eye by taking your mind off what's really important. This is a concept clearly alien to Sonos and the senior management team who appear to have absolutely doubled down on the ‘We're right and you're wrong.’ mindset.

Interesting, It shows as 2.9 when I check the Google Play store.

I can’t see any reason why it would not work if the local wired/wireless network is in place.

My local network is just fine. Sonos worked without any problems for over 14 years. I’ve tried the new app with and without Internet, with and without Boost, with and without Sonosnet. No music library or playlists on my iPad, not on my iPhone. The only thing that seems to work as it should is the Windows Desktop Controller 16.2.

Sonos messed up really bad this time. And i never thought I'd be writing these words down...

What sharing protocol is the local music library using?… Yhe desktop App will support SMBv1 to v3 and ‘http’ shared folders. The new Sonos App no longer provides support for http or SMBv1, as both are considered to have security vulnerabilities as widely mentioned here in the Sonos community and elsewhere online… the new App is stepping forward with this, rather than including past vulnerabilities. So perhaps more-likely that’s part of the issue.

Users using a Windows PC for their shared library (as an example) are following the steps mentioned in this post from a community member…

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers%2Dand%2Dmusic%2Dservices%2D229131/adding%2Da%2Dwindows%2Dsmb%2Dshare%2Dstep%2Dby%2Dstep%2D6892060

I assume those with MAC PC shared libraries are doing something similar to those steps for Windows …and some NAS users may need to switch to use the higher version of the protocol in the NAS OS configuration settings.

I hope that assists you,

Thanks for your input, @Ken_Griffiths but it's besides the point. For many years I had a good, working system of many Sonos components. Now, suddenly, after having updated my app, my system is flawed in many ways. I don't want to jump to many a hoop (SMB, networking, network discovery, music file sharing, share permissions and what not) to get my working system back. I expect Sonos to publish a new app that does all that for me. If you break a glass, you pick up the pieces. It's as simple as that.

Thanks. Can anyone else confirm this (I’m currently at work), because if that really is the case, I’m done with Sonos. No good reason to require internet access to play local libraries.

Here’s my experience when no internet

If music is playing it continues. Player controls work.
Music Library in the app disappears, can’t change what’s playing. This also happens randomly when there is an internet connection so can’t say this is the cause 100%.

The app is a buggy POS.

It seems to me this is the crux of it. The hardware and app is meant to be for a system over a local area via WiFi. A cloud based and/or SaaS is not appropriate. And this reeks of trying to move to a subscription based service for the app i.e., your hardware won't work unless you pay for a subscription app controller.

This is my concern also. But Sonos being a SaaS product doesn’t make much sense, especially as it was working without the cloud for 20+ years.

Any move to a sub based service would be the final nail in the Sonos coffin. given it's currently on life-support in the ICU 🩻

The courageous App update that ‘energised’ the team is down to a 1.5 rating on the Play Store.

Reputations take years to build but can be ruined in the blink of an eye by taking your mind off what's really important. This is a concept clearly alien to Sonos and the senior management team who appear to have absolutely doubled down on the ‘We're right and you're wrong.’ mindset.

Interesting, It shows as 2.9 when I check the Google Play store.

I think it's region specific. Here's what I see in the Play store.

I can’t see any reason why it would not work if the local wired/wireless network is in place.

My local network is just fine. Sonos worked without any problems for over 14 years. I’ve tried the new app with and without Internet, with and without Boost, with and without Sonosnet. No music library or playlists on my iPad, not on my iPhone. The only thing that seems to work as it should is the Windows Desktop Controller 16.2.

Sonos messed up really bad this time. And i never thought I'd be writing these words down...

the new App is stepping forward with this rather than including past vulnerabilities. So perhaps more-likely the issue.

I can understand why you would say this, but if someone is on their own home network, why would a company attempt to limit what type of sharing they’re using, arbitrarily, in an app update such as this?

My LAN is my problem. At this point in the process, the only thing with questionable intentions inserted into the relationship between my lan, my music, and my devices, is SONOS. Why do they get to dictate that I need the internet running to do any of this, all of a sudden?

The fact the new App would not support SMBv1 and http was widely publicised in the community here, before the update was released and users were given notifications in the S2 App and emails in advance. An answer that springs to mind to get around it, might have been to switch to the higher SMB standard or to not upgrade and standstill. In my own case I upgraded my NAS long ago to support SMB 2 and 3.

Some Windows users I presume will just follow the steps posted by @press250 and MAC users will perhaps take similar steps.

Thanks for your input, @Ken_Griffiths but it's besides the point. For many years I had a good, working system of many Sonos components. Now, suddenly, after having updated my app, my system is flawed in many ways. I don't want to jump to many a hoop (SMB, networking, network discovery, music file sharing, share permissions and what not) to get my working system back. I expect Sonos to publish a new app that does all that for me. If you break a glass, you pick up the pieces. It's as simple as that.

The choice made to upgrade to the new Sonos App is really a matter that lies with yourself @beynym - Another user I’ve seen post here recently, named @skullc, chose to wait and has not taken that step.

Unfortunately there’s currently no easy way to step back (particularly for iOS users) as Sonos do not provide that in their App, albeit some others have posted workarounds for Android. What step you choose to take next is a matter for yourself, having chosen to upgrade to the new App.

Thanks for your input, @Ken_Griffiths but it's besides the point. For many years I had a good, working system of many Sonos components. Now, suddenly, after having updated my app, my system is flawed in many ways. I don't want to jump to many a hoop (SMB, networking, network discovery, music file sharing, share permissions and what not) to get my working system back. I expect Sonos to publish a new app that does all that for me. If you break a glass, you pick up the pieces. It's as simple as that.

The choice made to upgrade to the new Sonos App is really a matter that lies with yourself @beynym - Another user I’ve seen post here recently, named @skullc, chose to wait and has not taken that step.

Unfortunately there’s currently no easy way to step back (particularly for iOS users) as Sonos do not provide that in their App, albeit some others have posted workarounds for Android. What step you choose to take next is a matter for yourself, having chosen to upgrade to the new App.

Your reply would make sense if Sonos hadn’t misrepresented, scratch that, lied about the app’s state and said that things would continue to function as before.

No one chose to upgrade to a biggy POS app because we were told it was as before but better.

Unfortunately there’s currently no easy way to step back (particularly for iOS users) as Sonos do not provide that in their App, albeit some others have posted workarounds for Android. What step you choose to take next is a matter for yourself, having chosen to upgrade to the new App.

I am fully aware of my responsibilities. It's Sonos's responsibility to publish an app that doesn't create havoc amongst its users. Sonos messed up, Now it's up to them to repair the damage.