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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.

 

I hate this new app. Why oh why do I have to relearn and accept missing features ?


Possibly the worst App rollout of all time. Was any testing done prior to rollout? 

The fact that you have a long list of core functionality to add means this was NOT ready for release. 

We often entertain and Sonos is often a discussion topic, about how great the product is. Sonos will continue to be a topic, but now a laughingstock … the face of mismanaged app updates. 

Not being able to manage song queues pretty much negates almost all value of the app.

Deleting playlists saved by users … can you imagine any other online service or app deleting your user data with no prior notice? Absolutely unfathomable. Imagine Google deleting your saved Gmail historical emails? Imagine Spotify deleting user playlists? Crazy.

Playlists are coming back. Might as well not even bother. Why would I take the effort to save anything to Sonos when it could be deleted at any moment? Sonos has destroyed all user trust. This functionality is rendered useless now. I had many favorites and playlists saved. I consider these to be lost and will start over building them with another service.

The Sonos community and reputation has really been a grassroots thing over the years. This new app is SO damaging to the Sonos reputation that I am shorting the stock. So disappointing.


What the crap happened??? This new app is like finger nails on chalk board....please fix it and soon or I'm dumping my sonos system


 

Since you’ve removed smbv1, have you fixed the smbv2 indexing bug? You’ve said it’s being worked on for a long time but as of last week or so a rep said it was still being worked on. 

I would like an answer to that one as I never got it to work on S2 with a large library - it always failed.


What the crap happened??? This new app is like finger nails on chalk board....please fix it and soon or I'm dumping my sonos system

Please send me a pm as to where you’re going to  dump it so I can go and retrieve it.  Many thanks.  


I don't mind if the app getts updated when it's needed like s1 to s2. But removing basic functionalities like alarms timers and queues well telling it won't doesn't give any confidence.

When do the functionalities come back? 

Why even push out the update when it's lacking basic functionality.

If this last to long I'll sell my system. If I can't trust sonos any more it doesn't belong in my house.


This shouldn't have been an app update, it should have been a new app version called S3, giving us the option if we wanted to change from S2


I’m lucky(?) enough to have three recent purchases still within their return windows. They were upgrades to 10-year old Play:1s--the only bits left from our initial system. The purchases were essentially a re-commitment to our Sonos investment, in part because of the exciting news of an improved app.

I just got back from returning the first one to Best Buy. The next one will go back to Best Buy next week, and the last back to Sonos Direct after that. I’m willing to wait for some official act of good faith so long as I have time in those return windows. But with respect to the moderators here, they are not decision makers and not entitled to make commitments.

Our initial system was purchased for the primary purpose of randomized, all day, whole house background music from our personal library of roughly 7500 tracks. That’s an easy thing to trigger with the old app but seemingly impossible with the new one. And yes, I know there are workarounds. I’ve already added our music to our Plex server and it’s playing on shuffle from there. That’s not actually necessary since I’ve blocked the new app from all but one of our devices, but I figured it was easy enough to do and worth a trial. I’d rate it as “adequate for the time being but not something I want to maintain forever”. It’s clearly a step backward since it’s vulnerable to internet outages or glitches, and the Plex shuffle is inferior to the shuffled (and updatable) Sonos queue we had before.

We’ve added Beams and subwoofers over the years for TV viewing, and the apps have little impact on that usage. But I’m looking at other options for whole-house music in case we don’t eventually get back *all* the function we rely on.

 


At least some of you can use the app…!!

On the iOS app I cannot reconnect to the sonos system or re-add it as its not accepting local network connections despite being turned on...


Oh boy what a disaster this update is… I am missing all of the services that I regulalry use… It has rendered my system almost useless. The only service that I use that still works is Audible.

 

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


Coming back when?  Dear god, I just finished updating to all new S2 capable hardware and now none of the features I use function. Music library segregation is bad enough.  But the loss of “add to end of queue” is enough to make me sell this system immediately.  Every week I build an adhoc playlist of albums I want to listen to as I read about them online.  Sometimes that queue is 20-30 albums deep.  I revisit it all week and use it as my consolidated reference of new music.  POOF! GONE! Hello WiiMamp or Bluesound.

The interface itself is a poor fit for a phone screen.  Windows on top of other windows making it difficult to see more than one or two lines of what I am trying to look for.  Hamburger or triple dot or gear icons in every corner of the screen, multiple back arrows in subwindows.  Very laggy to update especially when initially launched. Very unhappy. 


Oh boy what a disaster this update is… I am missing all of the services that I regulalry use… It has rendered my system almost useless. The only service that I use that still works is Audible.

 

Any one want to buy a 2 x Sonos 5 speakers?

Will part ex for some Bose speakers

Under the circumstances, why would anyone buy them?  😁


Take a look at how Charles Schwab Brokerage handles their app:  They make INCREMENTAL CHANGES so people can get used to them and not be overwhelmed.   You guys can find everything no doubt, but when I’m making dinner for guests and the music app is now BLACK and looks like BBC and TWITTER/X and can’t be found, and my playlists are at the bottom in grey font under a different title it is off-putting.  Learn incremental improvements like Mercedes - don’t be Lada, the worst car ever. 


Coming back when?  Dear god, I just finished updating to all new S2 capable hardware and now none of the features I use function. Music library segregation is bad enough.  But the loss of “add to end of queue” is enough to make me sell this system immediately.  Every week I build an adhoc playlist of albums I want to listen to as I read about them online.  Sometimes that queue is 20-30 albums deep.  I revisit it all week and use it as my consolidated reference of new music.  POOF! GONE! Hello WiiMamp or Bluesound.

The interface itself is a poor fit for a phone screen.  Windows on top of other windows making it difficult to see more than one or two lines of what I am trying to look for.  Hamburger or triple dot or gear icons in every corner of the screen, multiple back arrows in subwindows.  Very laggy to update especially when initially launched. Very unhappy. 

You do realise that the Wiim or Bluesound need speakers? 


Not exactly an apology for crippling our systems in the name of releasing new products. I say new but hasn't everyone who wants headphones or earbuds already been catered for and bought them already.

No real answers or hope of getting this rubbish App fixed within a reasonable period of time. We are expected to be beta testers when many of us have spent considerable sums on our Sonos equipment. The obvious answer should be another brake in the history of the software at S2 whilst S3 is properly tested. Those who have been around Sonos for a long time will remember when customers were expected to scrap all their existing kit and purchase new kit with the introduction of S2. After a similar but not as bad feedback from aggrieved owners Sonos relented and issued S1. This current situation is a magnitude above the S1 S2 debacle. 

So if you are surprised by the breathtaking arrogance of this company then don't be because they a history of sh&£ting on their customer base.


Take a look at how Charles Schwab Brokerage handles their app:  They make INCREMENTAL CHANGES so people can get used to them and not be overwhelmed.   You guys can find everything no doubt, but when I’m making dinner for guests and the music app is now BLACK and looks like BBC and TWITTER/X and can’t be found, and my playlists are at the bottom in grey font under a different title it is off-putting.  Learn incremental improvements like Mercedes - don’t be Lada, the worst car ever. 

Lada? No, the Trabant beats it hands down 🚗


 

We’ve added Beams and subwoofers over the years for TV viewing, and the apps have little impact on that usage. But I’m looking at other options for whole-house music in case we don’t eventually get back *all* the function we rely on.


 

Everyone should make their own purchasing decisions based on their own criteria.  But one has to question who you believe your audience is here.

Everyone (including me — to be clear, I’m not defending it ) knows that the app is fairly terrible.  Most also acknowledge that it was released too early and that bug fixes and new versions will follow.  That is a given.  We KNOW this. Every piece of software ever written has been followed by more and more bug-fixed versions  

So you’re free to make your own decisions.  But I’m not sure why so many here want to tell us that they are dumping / selling / returning their kit.  Your audience here is other Sonos users.  Well I don’t know you — without trying to sound rude, I don’t really care.  Your other audience here are the mods.  Well they no more have the ear of the CEO than the mailroom guy at Tesla has the ear of Elon Musk.  

 

iI’mnot saying you are making the right or wrong decision — it’s your decision alone — but why would it be for public consumption?  And if there was other kit out there more suitable for your needs than Sonos, wouldn’t you have bought it in the first place ?  
 

 


Not exactly an apology for crippling our systems in the name of releasing new products. I say new but hasn't everyone who wants headphones or earbuds already been catered for and bought them already.

No real answers or hope of getting this rubbish App fixed within a reasonable period of time. We are expected to be beta testers when many of us have spent considerable sums on our Sonos equipment. The obvious answer should be another brake in the history of the software at S2 whilst S3 is properly tested. Those who have been around Sonos for a long time will remember when customers were expected to scrap all their existing kit and purchase new kit with the introduction of S2. After a similar but not as bad feedback from aggrieved owners Sonos relented and issued S1. This current situation is a magnitude above the S1 S2 debacle. 

So if you are surprised by the breathtaking arrogance of this company then don't be because they a history of sh&£ting on their customer base.

Great post.  You're right, most have already got a set of headphones but some will be looking to add a set into either a new or existing setup..  Hopefully, for those who may hear about them soon will do a bit of Googling and see the kind of things users are posting and the sheer disdain customers are treated with.  Thousands of posts across all sorts of sites complaining massively yet there isn't even an official comment on the Sonos site - in fact it's still being promoted with a vengeance and shows functionality that isn't even possible in the update.

How courageous..


And I picked yesterday to buy a Beam soundbar to replace my HomePods. And I thought the HomePod experience was buggy. This was horrible. I couldn’t even install the Beam. Persistence and a long wait on the support line helped somewhat. 

It kept telling me it couldn’t add the Bream to my account because a my iPhone was using AirPlay. Huh? I finally got it running but TruePlay wouldn’t work at all. I think I logged out of the app and logged back in and it worked. 

Then today the Beam just crashed and quit working for no reason. Other speakers in the house were still playing but acting oddly. I ditched the HomePods because I was just tired of them not working, often at the most inoperative time. Now this. I’m sympathetic, but geez didn’t they even Beta test this? The least they could have done was hold off on the marketing hype and just let us know, “Hey, the new apps is missing some very key features and is a bit unstable. YOU MIGHT WANT TO WAIT BEFORE UPDATING.”


I'd estimate about 90% of the posts are just one off vents and ill-tempered rants.  Very few seem to have actually read any other posts.  This is why there are 100s of posts about alarm 'clocks', all saying the same thing. Sifting through all this must be a soul-destroying task. 


We have been using FitRadio with Sonos for our CrossFit gym for a few years, but this app update rendered FitRadio unable to authorize itself. Our business depends on this solution. I tried to call support and bring in one of my colleagues at the location, but they were unable to assist on the conference call. The conference was necessarily due to the extremely long hold times. When will this be resolved?


I am a user who seems to have lost access to my NAS Library which is all the CDs I’ve every owner. I am very very unhappy.

Is it possible to restore the old app or make it available to those that want it. 

This needs to be fixed right away. 


We have been using FitRadio with Sonos for our CrossFit gym for a few years, but this app update rendered FitRadio unable to authorize itself. Our business depends on this solution. I tried to call support and bring in one of my colleagues at the location, but they were unable to assist on the conference call. The conference was necessarily due to the extremely long hold times. When will this be resolved?

Surely FitRadio is available on other devices?  


Does the new app work for anybody?

 

 

🤣🤣🤣  I was being sarcastic because even people like Ken have issues with the app, my sincere apologies that you feel attacked sunshine. 
 

 

Apology accepted.   Everyone has issues with the app, myself included.  But just to clarify, the question was does the app work for anybody.  Sure it does.  That’s not to say that I have those things (alarms, queue management) that are missing for everybody else — I don’t.   But what I do have — taking into account the glitching and buggyness does kinda work.  That’s an honest answer to the question.  


 

 

”…. taking into account the glitching and buggyness does kinda work.”

I mean you aren’t saying it works, that it only kinda works  🤣 

 

 


I am a user who seems to have lost access to my NAS Library which is all the CDs I’ve every owner. I am very very unhappy.

Is it possible to restore the old app or make it available to those that want it. 

This needs to be fixed right away. 

It'll be fixed when it's fixed.  

Sideload the S2 app from apk mirror website if you use Android.  If Apple, then beg, steal, borrow or buy an Android phone. 


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