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Your feedback on the new Sonos App

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B
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

Until this half-baked beta 0.1 app car-crash is significantly improved, or the previous S2 app made available again to downgrade sorry upgrade back to, then the only way to maintain use of decent queue management is using the Windows desktop app. And no I don’t mean that new web browser based option that is a completely unusable novelty act.

One of the key features of Sonos has been to be able to put together a queue or playlists with relative EASE, so that when you are busy working, you drop everything you want to listen to from various sources into the queue, hit play, and get on with things knowing that your listening is taken care of for any length of time. As it stands you can still do this with the Desktop App, but please for the love of God, don’t try and “improve” it, or worse mothball it in favour of this appalling trend towards browser based junk. Right now, this lifeline is the only thing stopping me from getting rid of the whole Sonos system.

Bumper

While Sonos may have been able to ignore (at least initially) or rationalise the huge negativity directed at them, as many people check online reviews and feedback prior to buying items I wonder how many new purchases have been deferred or cancelled over the last month, to say nothing of additional buying by existing customers. 

Yeah and in addition a lot of reviews of Ace headphones are mentioning the sad state of the app. New customers looking up Sonos for the first time will no doubt encounter many of the negative reviews and posts. likely will have long term negative affect on the brand not simply erased through updates that eventually fix the app. 

S
Userlevel 5
Badge +9

While Sonos may have been able to ignore (at least initially) or rationalise the huge negativity directed at them, as many people check online reviews and feedback prior to buying items I wonder how many new purchases have been deferred or cancelled over the last month, to say nothing of additional buying by existing customers. 

Yeah and in addition a lot of reviews of Ace headphones are mentioning the sad state of the app. New customers looking up Sonos for the first time will no doubt encounter many of the negative reviews and posts. likely will have long term negative affect on the brand not simply erased through updates that eventually fix the app. 

 

Fin review led with they shouldn't have. They have a financial outlook as do I. I hope we are still here in a year.

"I saw the Stooges and the MC5"
Bumper

While Sonos may have been able to ignore (at least initially) or rationalise the huge negativity directed at them, as many people check online reviews and feedback prior to buying items I wonder how many new purchases have been deferred or cancelled over the last month, to say nothing of additional buying by existing customers. 

Yeah and in addition a lot of reviews of Ace headphones are mentioning the sad state of the app. New customers looking up Sonos for the first time will no doubt encounter many of the negative reviews and posts. likely will have long term negative affect on the brand not simply erased through updates that eventually fix the app. 

 

Fin review led with they shouldn't have. They have a financial outlook as do I. I hope we are still here in a year.

Hopefully their financial outlook is better than the App Store reviews. 

Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @Silverthorn, @Ken_Griffiths and - to a much lesser extent - @sjw 

Please be aware that I have removed or edited multiple posts from all of you. If you cannot refrain from antagonising each other, this thread will be closed to further discourse, and you may each see further action taken against you.

If someone posts something that you don’t like, report it - if it breaks any rules, it will be edited or removed by moderators. If it does not break any rules, then I would just ask you to please learn to cope with someone disagreeing with you.

 

@Bumper & @press250 

Thank you for trying!

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
W
Userlevel 3
Badge

I successfully downgraded my S2 android app using APKMirror (from black to beige icon) and now I can at least control my speakers reliably, but there is a downside which I’ve seen before and also frustrates me. 

On my Windows desktop, Sonos has disabled the option to view or manage my local music library - they are now grayed out.  Why does Sonos do this? 

Eventually I found out the library had disappeared from Windows entirely and had to give it permission again and re-add it.

B
Userlevel 4
Badge +1

I successfully downgraded my S2 android app using APKMirror (from black to beige icon) and now I can at least control my speakers reliably, but there is a downside which I’ve seen before and also frustrates me. 

On my Windows desktop, Sonos has disabled the option to view or manage my local music library - they are now grayed out.  Why does Sonos do this? 

Eventually I found out the library had disappeared from Windows entirely and had to give it permission again and re-add it.

I thought I was safe as well. But apparently on 16.1 with the app and system my sub mini in my office will not work. 

 

It's connected, but it will not play sound.…

 

I tried to reboot, but that will not help. What a complete shit show this last month.

R
Userlevel 1
Badge +1

So. Got an arc today. Reset eras 300, reset sub. Setting everything back up was easy. A bit weird, but easy. Also I found that if I choose Spotify output as soundbar, Sonos shows playing exactly the same thing as when I play Spotify from Sonos! (Is it the same thing??) 

Just "normal" lag, I can control volume with volume keys of a device, songs doesn't jump around playlist. And volume slider don't jump around before settling where I want. 

 

I guess update screws power users? But for simple undemanding home cinema is mostly fine? 

Rhonny
Userlevel 7
Badge +11

Also I found that if I choose Spotify output as soundbar, Sonos shows playing exactly the same thing as when I play Spotify from Sonos! (Is it the same thing??) 

 

Yes. Your Sonos speakers are aware that there is music being cast to them, and in the Sonos app it shows what that music is. It gets that info from Spotify. You can then control it from the Sonos app or the Spotify app. 

R
Userlevel 1
Badge +1

Also I found that if I choose Spotify output as soundbar, Sonos shows playing exactly the same thing as when I play Spotify from Sonos! (Is it the same thing??) 

 

Yes. Your Sonos speakers are aware that there is music being cast to them, and in the Sonos app it shows what that music is. It gets that info from Spotify. You can then control it from the Sonos app or the Spotify app. 

Hmm... so if i dont have to use sonos app to play spotify, and arc seems to have less volume difference between spotify and tv than beam, i guess i absolutely dont need app? I guess il leave old app on phone just in case, stop updating app on my tab and keep updating ipad app hoping truplay will eventually work.

Rhonny
Userlevel 7
Badge +11

Also I found that if I choose Spotify output as soundbar, Sonos shows playing exactly the same thing as when I play Spotify from Sonos! (Is it the same thing??) 

 

Yes. Your Sonos speakers are aware that there is music being cast to them, and in the Sonos app it shows what that music is. It gets that info from Spotify. You can then control it from the Sonos app or the Spotify app. 

Hmm... so if i dont have to use sonos app to play spotify, and arc seems to have less volume difference between spotify and tv than beam, i guess i absolutely dont need app? I guess il leave old app on phone just in case, stop updating app on my tab and keep updating ipad app hoping truplay will eventually work.

The app has had a major update as of ten mins ago, so maybe give that a try. But no, you don’t need the Sonos app as such to cast Spotify to your Sonos soundbar. Just for all the other things that you’d need to do on and with your soundbar and speakers.

M

I guess there were technical reasons for why the new App could not be released as a ‘preview (beta) app’ alongside the S2 App - it’s quite disappointing though that that was not considered in the early days of development in case there were development delays. There was no clear ‘plan B’.

This is quite questionable since a significant number of users have rolled back to the previous version of the app, without specific issues.

I have both S1 and S2 running but my new Era 100 will not run under the older app.  Also,  5 of my Sonos items will not run under S2.  If they fix it either direction that would make me happy.

As far as some things I’ve noticed on the new app is the lack of the ability to state what your search type is.  Not being able to note that I’m looking for a song, artist, album, etc… ...creates a list of returns that make it harder to find what I’m looking for specifically.

Also, there really needs to be a feature added to move Sonos items that can move from S1 to the S2 app/network.  I have 2 networks but no way to manage them.  It should allow me to select, by product, which network it should be on.

Ken_Griffiths

I (strongly) suggest if anyone is launching the new Sonos App and it’s taking 54 seconds to launch it, then they should look closer to Home for the cause of the issue. Keeping in mind @TC123246 says they’re from the UK, the same as me …and are using one of the UK’s top internet providers.

I’ve got a couple of Play 1s and an Era 100, and if I disconnect the Era 100 the time it takes for “Music Library” to appear jumps from ~1 to ~7 seconds. That’s in a setup where I only have a local music library (as I don’t use the Sonos app).

It sounds like you have a number of speakers, do you experience the same thing, assuming you have any Play 1s?

My One and only Play: 1 is now running on the S1 App with some other older products. I gave away most of my Play:1’s to the children/grandchildren around the time of the S1/S2 split, or just after. So I perhaps can’t test this easily without grabbing them back from the kids.

I presently have (in that type of speaker)

  • 4 x Era-100s (A stereo pair …and two set as surrounds)
  • 2 x Sonos One SL’s (paired)
  • 2 x Sonos One (Gen 2’s) (surrounds)
  • 1 x Sonos One (Gen 1) (standalone in hallway/foyer)
R
Userlevel 1
Badge +1

Also I found that if I choose Spotify output as soundbar, Sonos shows playing exactly the same thing as when I play Spotify from Sonos! (Is it the same thing??) 

 

Yes. Your Sonos speakers are aware that there is music being cast to them, and in the Sonos app it shows what that music is. It gets that info from Spotify. You can then control it from the Sonos app or the Spotify app. 

Hmm... so if i dont have to use sonos app to play spotify, and arc seems to have less volume difference between spotify and tv than beam, i guess i absolutely dont need app? I guess il leave old app on phone just in case, stop updating app on my tab and keep updating ipad app hoping truplay will eventually work.

The app has had a major update as of ten mins ago, so maybe give that a try. But no, you don’t need the Sonos app as such to cast Spotify to your Sonos soundbar. Just for all the other things that you’d need to do on and with your soundbar and speakers.

I don't see the update. But once I see it I'll try on iPad. If I don't have issues on iPad for a while, I'll try on my tab! 

press250
Userlevel 7
Badge +9

I don't see the update. But once I see it I'll try on iPad. If I don't have issues on iPad for a while, I'll try on my tab! 

Same here, tho you can ‘manually’ grab the very latest right away ...

  • Open the App Store
  • Search for ‘Sonos’ and find the S2 app; this will NOT show an update available
  • Tap on the Sonos app to open the description; this WILL show an update available
  • Tap the ‘Update’ button and Bob’s your uncle
R
Userlevel 1
Badge +1

I don't see the update. But once I see it I'll try on iPad. If I don't have issues on iPad for a while, I'll try on my tab! 

Same here, tho you can ‘manually’ grab the very latest right away ...

  • Open the App Store
  • Search for ‘Sonos’ and find the S2 app; this will NOT show an update available
  • Tap on the Sonos app to open the description; this WILL show an update available
  • Tap the ‘Update’ button and Bob’s your uncle

Thank you! Updated. Now half stuff is greyed out requesting firmware update. I'll do it when I get back home! I'm primarily android user! 

D
Userlevel 4
Badge +1

Ugh. The new update at least restores queue management, but still no local library in search (think that might be a coming by mid-June feature) and you still can’t skip down artists alphabetically - I would have though the latter would have been a piece of cake to implement in this update.

Also, why does the app not cache the artwork for albums in local music libraries? Every time I open it up, it starts reloading the thumbnails. What a pile of dung.

 

Edit to add - just noticed the desktop app now displays the same behaviour with regards to artwork caching (or rather, not). It definitely used to cache them. Guess this is another “improvement” then…..

M

Based on a very quick first try, here’s a list of essential functionalities that are still missing in the latest version of the IOS app release today (v80.02.04):

  • Update Music Index Now / Update Music Library Now
  • Remove / Delete individual song from the queue
  • Reorder songs in the queue
  • Clear the queue
  • Add an entire music library folder to the end of a queue
  • Add multiple music library subfolders to the queue simultaneously (e.g. 2CDs stored as 2 subfolders in an overarching folder)
  • Quickly go the end of a very long list of folders in a local music library (e.g. the ZZ Top folder in a local music library)
  • Show products that are in Bluetooth mode in Your system
  • App keeps asking to turn on Bluetooth, every time it is opened
  • ...
M

Ugh. The new update at least restores queue management, but still no local library in search (think that might be a coming by mid-June feature) and you still can’t skip down artists alphabetically - I would have though the latter would have been a piece of cake to implement in this update.

 

Respectfully agree to disagree.

I feel queue management is still very poor in the most recent version of the IOS app v80.02.04

Ken_Griffiths

Ugh. The new update at least restores queue management, but still no local library in search (think that might be a coming by mid-June feature) and you still can’t skip down artists alphabetically - I would have though the latter would have been a piece of cake to implement in this update.

 

Respectfully agree to disagree.

I feel queue management is still very poor in the most recent version of the IOS app v80.02.04

Queue management is not part of the fixes released so far. The App update release notes are here:

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/release-notes-for-sonos-software-updates

M

Queue management is not part of the fixes released so far. The App update release notes are here:

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/release-notes-for-sonos-software-updates


Well… “Improved playback settings including Play next and add to end of queue” is the first item on the list. But its functionality is still nowhere near that of the old IOS app v16 and Windows controller.

Not sure that improvements in queue management are part of the “future features” either 

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/the-new-sonos-app-and-future-feature-updates

Ken_Griffiths

Queue management is not part of the fixes released so far. The App update release notes are here:

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/release-notes-for-sonos-software-updates


Well… “Improved playback settings including Play next and add to end of queue” is the first item on the list. But its functionality is still nowhere near that of the old IOS app v16 and Windows controller.

Not sure that improvements in queue management are part of the “future features” either 

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/the-new-sonos-app-and-future-feature-updates

I’ve not personally confused ‘playback controls/settings’ such as ‘Play Next’, ‘Add to end of queue’ etc. with queue management - I believe Sonos are still to improve the queue management, but it was not mentioned in the "future features” document (as far as I can recall). 

My own understanding of those announced features, are that it’s not an exhaustive list, but a priority that was set from initial App launch until July and that was not the end of the App development, but just an initial prioritised list. I think we will just have to wait and see when the queue management features will be added to the App.

N
Userlevel 1

New app is absolute garbage!  Why would SONOS force an update without obviously testing their product in a live setting.  Customer service is non-existent.  Chat = no human.  Call = holding forever.

A product that used to be simple to use (their trademark) has now completely frustrated their loyal users.  What a mess!

N
Userlevel 1

New app is absolute garbage - what a joke.  Customer service is non existent.

R
Userlevel 4
Badge +2

For you fellow Mac users who use their Sonos to play music from their Mac Music Library in their Music folder using either their Mac or iPhone as controllers . . . 

Equipment: iMac running macOS Sonoma 14.5 with File Sharing “on” specifying Sonos as “Read Only for “Shared Folders” of “Music” and “iTunes”; Sonos v 16.2 with two pairs of Play: 1 speakers running Sonos OS:2 . . . Sonos app updated this morning.

I updated the app this morning, got an error 1101 message, followed the directions to the letter and the app completed the update. Yet there was still no connection to the Music folder on my Mac. Tried to add it thru Sonos Music Library Settings and got the 913 error message.

Any of my fellow Mac users having the same or hopefully better experience? If you were successful, any tips?

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