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Your feedback on the new Sonos App

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B
Userlevel 2

My arc no longer will connect to my rear surrounds. (Play 1’s).  4 support calls later it’s still not working.  The common conclusion from Sonos support has been “it must be your router”.  Funny that my router became a problem the day the app updated and not the prior 4 years that it’s been working perfectly.    I was even told by one tech that the max distance from arc to surrounds is 15ft.  Not sure who has a complete surround system in their bedroom but that’s about 15ft.  Here’s a couple suggestions.   
 

  1.  Recall the damn updated app and end our suffering.   Then fix it and relaunch it when it’s fixed.  Expensive? Yes but so was my $7k sound system that doesn’t work. ( oh ya, I was also told by tech support to wait till late June for the POSSIBLE fix!)
  2. The reason I’ve built this Sonos system over 10 years is the tech support has been amazing.  Now you’ve farmed it out over seas to have people who’ve never seen a Sonos speaker read flow charts and give ridiculous answers with no expertise.   
     
  3. PLEASE DON’T GET CHEAP ON US NOW GUYS!!!  
Rhonny
Userlevel 7
Badge +11

My arc no longer will connect to my rear surrounds. (Play 1’s).  4 support calls later it’s still not working.  The common conclusion from Sonos support has been “it must be your router”.  Funny that my router became a problem the day the app updated and not the prior 4 years that it’s been working perfectly.    I was even told by one tech that the max distance from arc to surrounds is 15ft.  Not sure who has a complete surround system in their bedroom but that’s about 15ft.  Here’s a couple suggestions.   
 

  1.  Recall the damn updated app and end our suffering.   Then fix it and relaunch it when it’s fixed.  Expensive? Yes but so was my $7k sound system that doesn’t work. ( oh ya, I was also told by tech support to wait till late June for the POSSIBLE fix!)
  2. The reason I’ve built this Sonos system over 10 years is the tech support has been amazing.  Now you’ve farmed it out over seas to have people who’ve never seen a Sonos speaker read flow charts and give ridiculous answers with no expertise.   
     
  3. PLEASE DON’T GET CHEAP ON US NOW GUYS!!!  

The latest app update yesterday had mention of better connectivity for older speakers. Did you update software and system firmware?

B
Userlevel 2

Negative   System is up to date.  And please don’t blame my “old” speakers.  These things should be supported for a lifetime at their price point.  Imagine if Samsung updated their TVs and everyone’s 4 year old TV stopped working.  It would be fixed in a day.  Ya’ll want to play in the big boy arena, put up the money, do the right thing, and stop blaming the customer 

A
Userlevel 4
Badge +1

Update to new app and unable to access Sonos radio even after trying to re authorise 

Why isn’t Sonos responding?

Because this isn’t Sonos customer service, it’s a forum.
Besides, they did respond this morning:

https://en.community.sonos.com/product-updates/new-sonos-app-update-6896801


I just tried the latest iOS Sonos App along with latest system update. I’m not impressed. 
 

Despite Sonos’ claim of local library access improvement, it still remains flaky.  Yes, I’m running the SMBv2 protocols.  Yes, other products and apps have zero trouble accessing these directories and files.   “Fiddling” of home page is necessary to eventually persuade the loading of the Music Library, which remains an ugly stepsister to the online streaming services. No searching. Ridiculous to throw away this one-time valuable feature. 


Just my two cents.

FWIW I attempted to air my dissatisfaction directly with customer service rather than here.   My call got placed in a queue more than 60 minutes long.  I gave up the effort  

 

A
Userlevel 4

With current App update (fix to the diaster), now have an issue with connecting to different systems, at work and at home.  Previous app was seemless when I got to work, home or friends.  Now, half the time it would take awhile to connect, if it did.  Now with new “fix” I cant even do that.  The app seems my home wifi in the app and asks me to change all my devices. 

This is comical.

S
Userlevel 5
Badge +9

Negative   System is up to date.  And please don’t blame my “old” speakers.  These things should be supported for a lifetime at their price point.  Imagine if Samsung updated their TVs and everyone’s 4 year old TV stopped working.  It would be fixed in a day.  Ya’ll want to play in the big boy arena, put up the money, do the right thing, and stop blaming the customer 

 

My Play 1’s are working with my Playbase. There’s a guy in the home theatre section who is very helpful. His first suggestion is to turn everything off, including your router, to then basically give everything a minute or two. My system was unstable until I did that.

 

If you don’t get it sorted post over there and see if you can get a bit more help.

"I saw the Stooges and the MC5"
T
Userlevel 2

I strongly strongly encourage the management team at Sonos to perform an honest after-action after this fiasco. As a manager myself, you learn from failure as much as you learn from success. And while I suspect many of articles circulating likely have the basic diagnosis right, I’d feel a lot more comfortable investing in future products if I knew this was less likely to happen again.

Like many in this forum, I’ve been a strong supporter for many years, touting the quality of the hardware, encouraging others into the ecosystem and purchasing products for relatives (let alone my own system). But I think I’ve finally reached my boiling point too with this update too - it’s not the clunkiness of the interface (yes, it’s over complicated and quite hard to find things I use frequently, but I can learn new routines); It is removal/absence of core features for long periods of time (ability to update music libraries, queue management, etc) - and with nothing but vague timetables (e.g “mid June”) for patches. I’ve been pretty fortunate in that I heard some of the complaints before updating my main android apps, so I’m comfortably still on the S2 on my main device, and yes, I can use workarounds via the desktop apps. But each time I keep needing to use them, it tears away a little bit more at my confidence in the brand. This truly was a mess…

Will I immediatly jettison my Sonos system? No - I don’t have that kind of money. But I had been planning to add a Move 2 and a headphone pair this year, and those are definitely on hold. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m even evaluating whether I want to slowly sunset Sonos and migrate to another system. Never thought I’d say that. The good news is that there is still a little time to fix this with customers like me, but it will require truly fixing whatever went wrong inside the company that lead to this cluster@#$, and communicating it (and changes that result from it) in honest, humble language back to those of us that have been a loyal customer base. That’s what I think I need to start speaking positively about the Sonos “system” again.

S
Userlevel 5
Badge +9

I strongly strongly encourage the management team at Sonos to perform an honest after-action after this fiasco. As a manager myself, you learn from failure as much as you learn from success. And while I suspect many of articles circulating likely have the basic diagnosis right, I’d feel a lot more comfortable investing in future products if I knew this was less likely to happen again.

Like many in this forum, I’ve been a strong supporter for many years, touting the quality of the hardware, encouraging others into the ecosystem and purchasing products for relatives (let alone my own system). But I think I’ve finally reached my boiling point too with this update too - it’s not the clunkiness of the interface (yes, it’s over complicated and quite hard to find things I use frequently, but I can learn new routines); It is removal/absence of core features for long periods of time (ability to update music libraries, queue management, etc) - and with nothing but vague timetables (e.g “mid June”) for patches. I’ve been pretty fortunate in that I heard some of the complaints before updating my main android apps, so I’m comfortably still on the S2 on my main device, and yes, I can use workarounds via the desktop apps. But each time I keep needing to use them, it tears away a little bit more at my confidence in the brand. This truly was a mess…

Will I immediatly jettison my Sonos system? No - I don’t have that kind of money. But I had been planning to add a Move 2 and a headphone pair this year, and those are definitely on hold. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m even evaluating whether I want to slowly sunset Sonos and migrate to another system. Never thought I’d say that. The good news is that there is still a little time to fix this with customers like me, but it will require truly fixing whatever went wrong inside the company that lead to this cluster@#$, and communicating it (and changes that result from it) in honest, humble language back to those of us that have been a loyal customer base. That’s what I think I need to start speaking positively about the Sonos “system” again.

 

Personally I think we need to see a bit of a mea culpa from on high to restore some faith.

"I saw the Stooges and the MC5"
A
Userlevel 4
Badge +1

A few more ideas for Sonos:

  • The present OS X (Mac) and Windows (PC) app versions seem to be working well.  I just tested the latest versions of both.  Sonos, whatever you do, LEAVE THESE ALONE until you straighten out the mess with the phone and tablet apps.
  • Give a little thought to using these two functioning apps (the Mac and PC source code) as the basis for the next phone and tablet version, thereby re-establishing key functionality by reliable means, with new desired features as add ons, RATHER THAN doggedly pursuing the current approach of a brand new version as baseline with the prior functionality as an add-on.  Consider running parallel software development paths for the two approaches.
  • Fire the new boys on the block.  They’ve turned your jewel of a company into a worthless lump of coal.

Ideas for suffering Sonos owners:

  • The Mac and PC apps still work fairly well.  Yeah, I know a laptop is a lot bulkier than a phone or tablet, but it’ll provide you with the functionality you’ve lost.
  • Sonos has competition that functions well (even better) and treats its customers with respect.  Give thought to trying out even just one of the competition’s products.  You might be pleasantly surprised.

Just my two cents.

D
Userlevel 4
Badge +1

A few more ideas for Sonos:

  • The present OS X (Mac) and Windows (PC) app versions seem to be working well.  I just tested the latest versions of both.  Sonos, whatever you do, LEAVE THESE ALONE until you straighten out the mess with the phone and tablet apps.
  • Give a little thought to using these two functioning apps (the Mac and PC source code) as the basis for the next phone and tablet version, thereby re-establishing key functionality by reliable means, with new desired features as add ons, RATHER THAN doggedly pursuing the current approach of a brand new version as baseline with the prior functionality as an add-on.  Consider running parallel software development paths for the two approaches.
  • Fire the new boys on the block.  They’ve turned your jewel of a company into a worthless lump of coal.

Ideas for suffering Sonos owners:

  • The Mac and PC apps still work fairly well.  Yeah, I know a laptop is a lot bulkier than a phone or tablet, but it’ll provide you with the functionality you’ve lost.
  • Sonos has competition that functions well (even better) and treats its customers with respect.  Give thought to trying out even just one of the competition’s products.  You might be pleasantly surprised.

Just my two cents.

Allen

Read your first (and subsequent) posts and completely related.    Its hard to remain calm - to me its equivalent of having your entire Music collection that you curated over 20 years stolen overnight (think Vinyl), only to discover that it was your trusted neighbour and you cant do a thing about it.  Like many others on this forum you go through all kinds of emotion and rage - music is an emotional outlet and Sonos seem to have forgotten that.

I have given up on trying to get answers as support are overwhelmed and lets be fair it's not their fault, they have been thrown into the lion's den.   But in the spirit of helping others in the same boat, here are a couple of tips that have helped me remain (relatively) calm.   Admittedly I didnt allow any of my firmware to upgrade, and do not sure how well the ‘Gold S2” app works with the newer firmware, but this is what I have found.

First I downloaded sonophone to my Iphone.   Its not perfect, but at least it works, I have my library and my playlists and can adjust volume and the queue, and many thanks to the guys on the forum who wrote that and others who pointed me at it.   I hesitate to give the links as this is a Sonos Forum…..

Then I bought a cheap Android ($100 - thanks Sonos) making sure it works with Play store.  Then also following instructions on the forum downloaded the 16.1 app using APKmirror.    That works perfectly and now I have a cheap tablet that I move around the house to control Sonos.   

what is really Frustrating is that the old app is actually still available on the app store.   I have an old Tablet running IOS 12, and as an experiment I tried to download the new app on it, and it says its not compatable and will instead download the “Gold S2”.   Apaprently it will do that up to IOS 15.   Now only issue I am working on is how I can get that up to the “latest before they broke it” level without accidentally updating the firmware.

I am therefore running my Sonos “as it was” , except I use my sonophone on my Iphone and live in constant dread of some other hidden update breaking everything.   I am not sure how that works if your firmware has updated.

One aspect I am very concerned about is that the reports suggest the new app need an internet connection to work at all.   That is a HUGE change, and if that is true that aspect alone should have been cause to roll this out only to those who acknowledged and accepted such fundamental change.

Not sure if this helps, I have become reluctant to participate as there is so much angst and anger, which is completely understandable, because music is normally the relief for too much stress.  

Tomorrow is 30 days since sonos unleashed this update on their unsuspecting customers, I wonder how much longer the Board and INvestors will put up with this fiasco.  

AlexPermit
Userlevel 5
Badge +5

 

 

what is really Frustrating is that the old app is actually still available on the app store.   I have an old Tablet running IOS 12, and as an experiment I tried to download the new app on it, and it says its not compatable and will instead download the “Gold S2”.   Apaprently it will do that up to IOS 15.   Now only issue I am working on is how I can get that up to the “latest before they broke it” level without accidentally updating the firmware.

 

You may want to read this thread.  Read through to the end.

 

A

The new update for Sonos App, deleted all my Favorites, my music services on the home screen. Has anyone encountered the same?

H
Userlevel 1

This app has essentially made my speakers worthless. They don’t play on command. They don’t stop on command they don’t turn volume up or down on command. I can’t search any music. 

 

I just moved to a new home and was considering investing in multiple units because the place has four levels. This app and my speaker functionality better fix itself by then or I will be investing in something else. 
 

Seriously, whoever engineered this new app should not have a job in this field.

 

I called the customer service support line And heard the intro for the app update. To lead that there are any improvements is a flat out cover. There are no improvements. Current in the current status, My product And experience is ruined. Admit you screwed the pooch completely. Anything less than that is insulting the intelligence of your customers. 

A
Userlevel 4
Badge +3

Where are “Play Next & Add to End of Queue” meant to be? I’m not seeing that option while a queue is playing. Tapping the 3 dots to the right of a track in the queue only brings up “Save to Sonos Favourites”. (this is a queue from my local library, btw)

Bumper

Where are “Play Next & Add to End of Queue” meant to be? I’m not seeing that option while a queue is playing. Tapping the 3 dots to the right of a track in the queue only brings up “Save to Sonos Favourites”. (this is a queue from my local library, btw)

These functions don’t work on anything already in the queue, none of the other queue features are back. If you want to play next, you have to go to the track in your library or music service and tap the three dots beside the track there.

A
Userlevel 4
Badge +3

Where are “Play Next & Add to End of Queue” meant to be? I’m not seeing that option while a queue is playing. Tapping the 3 dots to the right of a track in the queue only brings up “Save to Sonos Favourites”. (this is a queue from my local library, btw)

These functions don’t work on anything already in the queue, none of the other queue features are back. If you want to play next, you have to go to the track in your library or music service and tap the three dots beside the track there.

Got it. So even the “fixes” aren't complete fixes! why does this not come as a surprise?

S

Yet again, with the latest update my roam when trying to connect, response is; unable to connect, try again later. Frustration again. How is it possible that the problem was solved and now created again. 

H
Userlevel 1

Sonos, you should immediately hire a handful of your most educated and committed customers to help you sort through this * . They clearly know your old product better than you do. 

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

J
Userlevel 3
Badge +1

This app has essentially made my speakers worthless. They don’t play on command. They don’t stop on command they don’t turn volume up or down on command. I can’t search any music. 

...

I called the customer service support line And heard the intro for the app update. To lead that there are any improvements is a flat out cover. There are no improvements. 

 

^^^This is the part I don’t understand.

Sonos says:

“We set out to create a more personalized and effortless listening experience with the updated Sonos app. It was rebuilt from the ground up to ensure it could support future innovation in the years to come. For its initial rollout, we focused on how we could answer some of the most common requests from our customers, including increased reliability, performance, and faster access to music.”

What aspect of the app is more reliable, performs better and gives me faster access to music? I’m not being facetious. What specific improvements am I looking for? Knowing  what they’ve improved, what’s coming, what’s a current problem, what’s a dropped feature, etc. would make me want to pull my hair out a lot less.

I can’t browse Deezer, though I can now search - sometimes. But, my ability to play music feels random. I’m well aware “something went wrong”, though I have no clue what/why or how to fix it. 

If I do manage to get a song to play (again, it feels random), it’s usually on the wrong speakers and I can’t group the correct ones, control the volume, etc. Inevitably, the app ends up saying it can’t find my system, which is my cue to start the unplug process. Half my speakers are currently powered off because they’re in hard-to-reach places, and … why bother plugging them back in? The system is functionally not working.

Ignore the timeline, I just want to be able to see a single list of known “problems” or “feature drops”. It was great when they had the bright orange banner saying there was an issue adding Amazon on Android. That was a great way to save time/aggravation. But, do they recognize that people are having problems connecting to their speakers/services otherwise? After chatting with Support and rebooting/reinstalling, etc. I was told I had to call in, but it’s tough for me to find the time to wait on hold for their Eastern office hours. If it was just on my end, well that’s on me for not calling, of course. But, from this thread (and others), I suspect it’s not just me.

Every day that passes without some indication they know there are serious problems with the app (apart from the specific features they’ve already said they’re working on) is causing me to go further down the rabbit hole of finding a longer-term alternative because, apart from the features they say they’re working on, if this is their idea of an app that’s more reliable, performs better and gives me faster access to music, we need a divorce!

Rhonny
Userlevel 7
Badge +11

Negative   System is up to date.  And please don’t blame my “old” speakers.  These things should be supported for a lifetime at their price point.  Imagine if Samsung updated their TVs and everyone’s 4 year old TV stopped working.  It would be fixed in a day.  Ya’ll want to play in the big boy arena, put up the money, do the right thing, and stop blaming the customer 

Just checking - you know I don’t work for Sonos?

D
Userlevel 4
Badge +1

 

 

what is really Frustrating is that the old app is actually still available on the app store.   I have an old Tablet running IOS 12, and as an experiment I tried to download the new app on it, and it says its not compatable and will instead download the “Gold S2”.   Apaprently it will do that up to IOS 15.   Now only issue I am working on is how I can get that up to the “latest before they broke it” level without accidentally updating the firmware.

 

You may want to read this thread.  Read through to the end.

 

Thanks AlexPermit.  You have just given me another project for the weekend !!    

But I am also thinking that I might just dot a few more Android Tablets around the house, and forget about it on my phone - just like the original system with the controller.      Instead of upgrading the speakers which clearly is now never going to happen.    

A

New app is horrible, is trying to update my products and it can't, lost connection at all.

 

Come on Sonos!

T
Userlevel 1
Badge

I installed the 80.02.06 for Android and I couldn’t find any of the promised fixes for this version, I did notice that the audio volume information and some audio settings was removed, so with other words even less features than previous version of the horrible 80.x.y application, I guess those features are exclusive for iOS users.

The only thing I could do now was to disable auto update for Sonos app, head to Aptiode and download installer for the last 16.x version and side load it. Now at least I can set sleep timer, see volume level. 

I know I’m a small fish in the pond, but I’m planing to sell my 6 speakers and invest in another brand, the 25% off deal do not compensate that you pushed out an alpha grade application that functions less well than the old one, and then you release a new version that is supposed to reintroduce some old features, but all you do is removing more features. Why don’t you have a QA-team that verifies that the application works before you do releases and please stop to just care about the US customers who mainly run iOS devices, the rest of the world is mainly Android.

G
Userlevel 2
Badge

A month has passed and I am wondering if all this social medial pressure of the dissatisfied customer base is really enough. It looks like a revolution in the making here or on Reddit but does it really hurt the company, does it make them care to solve the problem with a sense of urgency? Doesn’t seem so. I briefly checked youtube and I could not find much criticism of what we are going through. This confirms my suspicion that most influencers only care when they can review some new peoduct or introduce new features but they do not bother to share their negative opinions on the app in this case (or is it $$$?). I am located in Europe so it’s long distance to California but if I lived there I would already be camping in front of Sonos headquarters armed with Nerf blasters and water baloons! Priceless… 

T
Userlevel 1
Badge

Reviewer who has early access to devices will not go on the offensive as they wouldn’t get early access to the devices in the future. Not sure if Sonos pays for reviews, but wouldn’t be the first company to do so if they do.

I’m sorry but I’m quite negative to how Sonos has handled the whole thing, the only sane thing they could have done was to revoke the alpha app release and keep on adding features to the old one while one team had been working on making the new app to work, but that would require some QA-testers which I guess is too expensive for Sonos, as they may rather give more bonus to the CEO.

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