Your feedback on the new Sonos App

I cannot access my library at all I have been told by Sonos to be patient! May be fixed by mid June. Basically, I now own a Sonos system which has new components, that I cannot connect to my music library on my laptop, which I had been doing (not without glitches sometimes) for 10 years. If you bought speakers from Harvey Norman and they didn’t work you could take them back. So I bet there will be no offer to do so from Sonos!

How is that possible ? This new Sonos App is a mess ! Very complicated to use, a lot of bugs (some of my speakers disapearing from a group; impossible to control the volume of some of them / Difficulties to listen the sound of the TV on the Beam bar - it plays music from a playlist instead - almost impossible to change the source, I have to shut down the whole system + the TV and restart all !!!). 

Problems with Tune In radios also.
I bought a Sonos system for my parents at Christmas… Almost impossible for them to use it since the app change.
Sonos Team have to fix all these bugs asap… OR give access to the previous version of the app…

Sonos was supposed to be simple to use !!!

The new app is so bad it defies belief. How did it get signed off? The CEO needs to be made aware. We’ve invested massively in a system that’s now unusable. I feel Sonos need to be held accountable and compensate users. 
 

I’d settle though at having the old app back, being able to turn the volume up and down or putting on a radio station feels like a distant luxury now. 

Although the complaints about the new app understandably focus on the various features that have been removed without warning, my concern is that when (if?) these features are restored the app remains extremely slow to respond to commands, even slower than the previous app. And that’s saying something! I bought the Sonophone app when it became clear that the new Sonos app was awful and it is like night and day. It responds more or less instantaneously and, even if it’s design leaves something to desired, is so much enjoyable to use than the new Sonos app.

Are you considering any good alternatives? Sonos has shown that we can not trust a closed ecosystem. But what are good alternatives out there and how do they compare (pros/cons) to Sonos?

Does anyone have any news on an actual class action lawsuit? I’ve got 10 Sonos devices and am very eager to join any serious effort,

The company needs to pay through the nose for this.

…rather than waiting another week or two? Makes so much sense.

You could always waste your time trying to set up your own class action instead? 

Yes, they did. And it’s bizarre they did remove these. BUT they will be reinstated because that is what Sonos speaker systems rely on.

Can no-one wait a couple of weeks for the clear errors to be undone??? It’s not like Sonos doesn’t know, regardless of their questionable decision making. 

But all this posturing is pointless. By the time you get round to ending the moaning and taking action, the app will be updated again, your Sonos will work, and your whole time complaining will have been an utter waste of your time. 

I'm usually fairly technologically savvy but I've been wondering if I'm getting dementia.

Pro: I see a big orange banner on the site saying there's an issue with Amazon Alexa and Android. Thank you Sonos, because that's a sign not only that I may not be going crazy but also to avoid going down the rabbit hole.

Cons: Why stop there?  I'm getting to grandad age, but I never thought I wouldn't be able to figure out how to listen to music. It's not like it's like trying to use a TV remote or setting a microwave clock, but here comes Sonos to prove me wrong.

My biggest issue: How do I know what's a bug, a feature drop, a design change or what I should be doing to try and hear some sound in my house?

I downgraded Deezer to a single account (maybe multiple accounts are a problem?), deleted all my playlists but one (now I know why the rest of my family were so pissed off when I shut down the Family package - the theoretical no big deal becomes the reality of are you kidding me?). But, alas, after 3 "something went wrongs", I see Deezer again. Success!

Well, not quite. I can't get past the something went wrong when I try to load playlists, but I can search for them and, by gosh, play one. Not easily, it takes a few times hitting the play button, but there's sound! At least in one room, but, hey, it's something!! And a stereo pair!!! Like, real music!!!

But not in the room I want, so I crank it up to hear music in the adjoining room because I can't figure out how to add that room, the very reason I bought a multi-room system. I can't figure out how to change the volume. I go up, it goes back down, but after hitting the screen seemingly randomly a few times, it somehow sticks. A little louder than I wanted but I figure a little overcompensating for my sensory deprivation is probably not a bad thing.

Fast forward, and my wife comes in a few minutes later to say turn it down. No problem, as it was irritating me, too, since it was a rando playlist. Good luck with figuring out that one!

There's nothing on my lockscreen, and when I finally get into the app, no system found. So, we're now moving furniture to unplug the speakers.

But here's the kicker, I have no idea if this is just how the new app is designed to work, whether it's a known bug, etc.

How do I track what's a known problem and what's a feature of the "improved" app that so many people have apparently been calling for? Sonos may be brave in rolling it out, but I'm feeling stupider by the day and more and more like I made a mistake going all in on the ecosystem.

I Google, and it seems I can control the volume via the lock screen, but I can't figure out the instructions on the Sonos help page so I start farting around in Android's permissions, all to know avail.

Why can't they put out a single page that shows each feature and it's status, like the orange Alexis banner? That would go a long way in helping me figure out what's going on and when I should just be patient, block off more time to call Support or cut my losses.

Lockscreen support page:

https://support.sonos.com/en-ca/article/control-sonos-from-the-android-lock-screen

When trying to turn the volume down:

On Android, you can delete the new app and install an apk of the previous app version 16.1, if you Google Sonos 16.1 apk. Just be sure to leave auto update off.

Thanks, Rhonny! I don't know why I didn't think of that but it works brilliantly - at least for now.

Now being reminded of the old app, I'm guessing the rationale for the new app design is to dumb down the user interface with less options. This is the same redesign philosophy I've noticed a lot of lately.

Clearly, it's a sign of the times, and I'm sure based on evidence that folks on this forum are all at the margins in terms of use cases.

My IT group at work has convinced me (begrudgingly) that 99% of our users just want to be able to hit the "play" button (so to speak), and the more options you give them, the louder the complaints (measured in terms of bodies, not decibels - we've got them beat on that front!).

It's sad, but I think we've lost the fight (with Sonos and beyond) on customization vs simplicity, as the latter is much more cost effective and we're dinosaurs when you crunch the numbers re: impact. That leaves niche products, but then back to the $ issue that's driving the change in the first place. I don't know it well enough, but maybe an API solution?

I cannot access my uploads to YouTube music, search returns nothing.

I can play stuff beginning with an A if I click on my library through services, but the infinite scroll is broken and just starts all over again when I'm  nearing anything beginning with B.

I cannot for the life of me understand why they don't just release a S2 and S3 (new app), this would literally make all your current users happy and still allow you to release your headphones this financial quarter. It's not as if you haven't already used this strategy with S1