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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I have been loyal and happy Sonos customer for well over 5 years. I own 7 different speakers. I have enthusiastically told my friends and family about the product. That said, this latest version of the app is THE WORST app upgrade I have ever experienced of any app since the advent of the iPhone. It is unintuitive. It is slow. Popular features are hard to find. Was there any canary or other user experience testing ? Please , Sonos, revert back to the previous version and do your research before forcing such a horrible experience on your loyal customers.
. Was there any canary or other user experience testing ? Please , Sonos, revert back to the previous version and do your research before forcing such a horrible experience on your loyal customers.
allegedly they beta tested but ignored feedback (says whistle blower beta testers). The app was clearly released in the state it is in by Sonos on purpose
Ken Griffiths, I suspect the “technical” reasons for no extensive testing before the new app rollout is that Sonos needed it out to run the headphones and they didn’t want to delay its launch. Classic example of going after new customers at the expense of existing customers. I do not believe the developers are so incompetent that they didn’t know the app had significant problems, my guess is they were overruled by the CEO who decided to put a flawed app out and then fix it once it was out. Sonos was willing to alienate a portion of its customer base to get the headphones out before competitors who are working on the same thing. Their bet is most customers will get over it and forget once things are fixed, and there is evidence that happens. The CEO statement was 99% love the app. He thinks those out here are a vocal 1% and has decided he will lose some, but he will keep most once things are fixed. He took a calculated risk by knowingly putting out a flawed app in the hope of getting the headphones out, which is their big bet. Again, he is sacrificing/alienating a group he publicly stated is only 1% to concentrate on a new revenue source (the headphones). I mean he already has our money for the products we bought, he wants that new headphone money.
It’s so disconnected of them to be hearing the screams of frustration and think what that is saying to them is ‘you know what? now would be a great time to push more products to the angry masses’.
Who thinks like that?
Good points. I hope that the new funeral-black app icon is not a portent of the system as a whole.
Sorry folks but the new app is just awful.
messy
clunky
no add to queue!!!! Who forgot that? How did you forget that?
My wife and I wish we could go back. Literally nothing about this new version works neatly.
It’s like people were working in all separate house!! Or departments and put this together with no thought on how it would be to the consumer. Like a new team had been given the pointless task of updating just for the sake of it because change is needed. Please sort the queue thing out asap. I’ve got this bloody expensive system and the world’s most rubbish controller. Very disappointing
Ken Griffiths, I suspect the “technical” reasons for no extensive testing before the new app rollout is that Sonos needed it out to run the headphones and they didn’t want to delay its launch. Classic example of going after new customers at the expense of existing customers. I do not believe the developers are so incompetent that they didn’t know the app had significant problems, my guess is they were overruled by the CEO who decided to put a flawed app out and then fix it once it was out. Sonos was willing to alienate a portion of its customer base to get the headphones out before competitors who are working on the same thing. Their bet is most customers will get over it and forget once things are fixed, and there is evidence that happens. The CEO statement was 99% love the app. He thinks those out here are a vocal 1% and has decided he will lose some, but he will keep most once things are fixed. He took a calculated risk by knowingly putting out a flawed app in the hope of getting the headphones out, which is their big bet. Again, he is sacrificing/alienating a group he publicly stated is only 1% to concentrate on a new revenue source (the headphones). I mean he already has our money for the products we bought, he wants that new headphone money.
They seem to have literally bet the house on their headphones. They've even cleared out their Instagram account. It's been reduced to six posts which are all about the headphones. From the little I've read about them, they're not a significant game changer and their main market is people who are already invested in Sonos.
The more of the other reviews I read the more annoyed, angry, frustrated I get. Given the issues and how simple it is to fix I would expect a company that cares for its users fixes the glaring errors. Hopefully this isn’t another situation of a company not being genuine and only caring about one thing. also since updating I’ve had issues with my speakers.
I hope I don’t have to ditch the whole thing and go to a better product.
Just as an example my mother still uses a Bang and Oulfsen system from the 80s. Now that’s a product I respect.
Ken Griffiths, I suspect the “technical” reasons for no extensive testing before the new app rollout is that Sonos needed it out to run the headphones and they didn’t want to delay its launch. Classic example of going after new customers at the expense of existing customers. I do not believe the developers are so incompetent that they didn’t know the app had significant problems, my guess is they were overruled by the CEO who decided to put a flawed app out and then fix it once it was out. Sonos was willing to alienate a portion of its customer base to get the headphones out before competitors who are working on the same thing. Their bet is most customers will get over it and forget once things are fixed, and there is evidence that happens. The CEO statement was 99% love the app. He thinks those out here are a vocal 1% and has decided he will lose some, but he will keep most once things are fixed. He took a calculated risk by knowingly putting out a flawed app in the hope of getting the headphones out, which is their big bet. Again, he is sacrificing/alienating a group he publicly stated is only 1% to concentrate on a new revenue source (the headphones). I mean he already has our money for the products we bought, he wants that new headphone money.
They seem to have literally bet the house on their headphones. They've even cleared out their Instagram account. It's been reduced to six posts which are all about the headphones. From the little I've read about them, they're not a significant game changer and their main market is people who are already invested in Sonos.
Those 'invested' in Sonos, rightly or wrongly, expected the ACE phones to integrate as a player in the Sonos ecosystem. They don't, apart from some half-baked 'bonding' with the ARC soundbar.
Very few are going to buy ACE at 500 smackeroos simply because they have the Sonos logo. Nothing special for 99% of existing users.
A massive fail all round by Sonos overall (management, R & D, software design & implementation, sales, etc. Cleaning and security staff are probably blameless).
I hate the new app.
Even something as simple as adjusting the volume or switching music around rooms is now a pain.
very disappointed that such a fantastic quality company can not consider its customer base and produce bargain basement app
Without access to my local library my Sonos system is useless.
Swallow your pride and roll back the update. The longer my speakers sit gathering dust the less likely I am to buy another Sonos product and the more likely I am to become vocal about the reasons why people should avoid Sonos.
The measure of any business is how they resolve problems. So far all I see is Sonos in denial and carrying on regardless with the audacity to promote new headphones in the app update that’s bricked my existing system.
Ken Griffiths, I suspect the “technical” reasons for no extensive testing before the new app rollout is that Sonos needed it out to run the headphones and they didn’t want to delay its launch. Classic example of going after new customers at the expense of existing customers. I do not believe the developers are so incompetent that they didn’t know the app had significant problems, my guess is they were overruled by the CEO who decided to put a flawed app out and then fix it once it was out. Sonos was willing to alienate a portion of its customer base to get the headphones out before competitors who are working on the same thing. Their bet is most customers will get over it and forget once things are fixed, and there is evidence that happens. The CEO statement was 99% love the app. He thinks those out here are a vocal 1% and has decided he will lose some, but he will keep most once things are fixed. He took a calculated risk by knowingly putting out a flawed app in the hope of getting the headphones out, which is their big bet. Again, he is sacrificing/alienating a group he publicly stated is only 1% to concentrate on a new revenue source (the headphones). I mean he already has our money for the products we bought, he wants that new headphone money.
They seem to have literally bet the house on their headphones. They've even cleared out their Instagram account. It's been reduced to six posts which are all about the headphones. From the little I've read about them, they're not a significant game changer and their main market is people who are already invested in Sonos.
Those 'invested' in Sonos, rightly or wrongly, expected the ACE phones to integrate as a player in the Sonos ecosystem. They don't, apart from some half-baked 'bonding' with the ARC soundbar.
Very few are going to buy ACE at 500 smackeroos simply because they have the Sonos logo. Nothing special for 99% of existing users.
A massive fail all round by Sonos overall (management, R & D, software design & implementation, sales, etc. Cleaning and security staff are probably blameless).
The funny thing about that 99%, if 1% buy the new headphones it would generate pretty close to the $100million in extra revenue they project from the release. This would be a win, executive jobs safe, investors happy etc. In other words all this with the app would have paid off for them.
Cant connect and register a Play1 and Playbar after new app updates. Dont Sonos care about existing customers, because if you did you would properly test.
Why doesnt the app allow Users to choose the Ethernet or Wifi settings manually because the auto setup is broken!!!!!!
Maybe existing customers need to organise and take out a Class Action for damages against Sonos. What Sonos have done to loyal customer existing systems would apear to be negligent at best or criminal at worst.
Maybe existing customers need to organise and take out a Class Action for damages against Sonos. What Sonos have done to loyal customer existing systems would apear to be negligent at best or criminal at worst.
Maybe you and the 30 other people (in a half dozen threads) suggesting this should actually get together and consult a lawyer. With dozens of threats already levelled, there’s your class. However, if history is any indicator, the threats are just that, threats. Nobody ever actually files a suit (except the “class” of one guy in the CR-100 fiasco. He lost.).
Second level tech support was able to get my replacement amp online yesterday. The fix was to install the Sonos amp on my home computer then retry the setup from my phone, they stated this was the temporary fix. Kind of odd. After that everything appeared to work perfectly until I left our house with music streaming from our two amps. When I returned I could not turn the music off from the Sonos app, it was displaying that no music was playing. I have a Brilliant pad installed and was able to use it to shut off the music. Now the Sonos app will not restart playing anything to the amps, but the Brilliant pad works perfectly. This app is a real issue for a speaker system that depends upon it. The theoretical 1% that are online complaining are the 1% that are technical in nature and can work around some of these issues with other apps, the other 99% won’t and will just return their equipment or call support and sit on hold for 90 minutes...
After three weeks.… and having read there was an issue on the community posts...
I managed to prevent PC from updating, but one by one, despite changing every auto update sub menu I could find on ipad and android, they've all updated... used the side loading apk method to reinstall on android but it still updates periodically, have raised the white flag although would love to know how that app is updating when every other one obeys the restrictions - SONOS!??
Have tried using the new app on both android and ipad... wow what a litany of issues... inconsistency and latency all the time... as I really use Sonos Playlists to curate both Amazon music and my NAS content if either isn't resolved it will be a deal breaker as although I've had products since they started, if I can't do what I could do before, I'll consider a change. Very disappointed in how the company has gone since the S1 to S2 issue that alienated many customers several years ago.
After three weeks.… and having read there was an issue on the community posts...
I managed to prevent PC from updating, but one by one, despite changing every auto update sub menu I could find on ipad and android, they've all updated... used the side loading apk method to reinstall on android but it still updates periodically, have raised the white flag although would love to know how that app is updating when every other one obeys the restrictions - SONOS!??
Have tried using the new app on both android and ipad... wow what a litany of issues... inconsistency and latency all the time... as I really use Sonos Playlists to curate both Amazon music and my NAS content if either isn't resolved it will be a deal breaker as although I've had products since they started, if I can't do what I could do before, I'll consider a change. Very disappointed in how the company has gone since the S1 to S2 issue that alienated many customers several years ago.
@B33Jay Are you sure you actually disabled app auto-updates? The auto-update settings inside the Sonos app refer to Sonos system updates (i.e. the software running on the speakers) not app updates. To prevent auto-update of the mobile apps you need to change the settings in the relevant app stores.
I disabled app auto-updates in iOS app store and as a result my Sonos iOS app is still the old version.
If your apps are auto-updating in spite of you correctly changing app store settings then that’s an Apple/Google issue rather than a Sonos issue.
Interesting to me, although playlists and most functions are gone in the new app, as a workaround on IOS when the app shows nothing and says the “queue is empty” simply completely shutting down the app and restarting, sometimes a few or more times, resolves the issue and allows me to play music from the Apple server. Hate the app but want music while impatiently waiting for Sonos to fix their issues. PS my “boost” only creates conflicts in this environment, it remains unplugged until the "new" new app appears.
Heads up… Sonos app update 80.01.30 now available in the iOS App Store!
Let’s see what’s new!!
Just downloaded it, you can see release notes here.
A nightmare, very slow with a lot of bugs, bad UX, Changing room not working to a point that I loose control and cannot control the music, Alexa not reacting well anymore. Basically rollback and finish the app
App updated, playing music and this is the current IOS app display LOL good to see alll is “better?"
A nightmare, very slow with a lot of bugs, bad UX, Changing room not working to a point that I loose control and cannot control the music, Alexa not reacting well anymore. Basically rollback and finish the app
This is the worst experience I have had with sonos in the many years I have owned their product. It is concerning that they can completely ruin the experience of thousands of dollars in equipment with a garbage app update. I will think hard before I buy any more products from them whoever approved this application needs fired IMO. What a joke.
Latest, by the way the app lies, exited app fully and restarted and guess what, entire system shows again! SONOS get your act together!!
So, I finally had everything working last night with the new app. This afternoon an update happened and now I can do nothing. I cannot play music on any device that doesn’t already show a source associated to it which is almost all of my devices. When I do try, the app pauses for quite a while and then shows an error that something happened and fails. Just went from bad to much worse, how can they be taking the app even further backwards? It is great that they may be adding some functionality back to it, but if they are then not allowing you to play anything then what is the point. Someone on their side really needs to look into their app testing process.
