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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Yes, you worded it better than I. And I am experiencing no problems at this time. My usage is IOS and a Windows 10 Controller. I don’t use any music subscription services and only play one radio station thru Sonos TuneIn in the Kitchen. All my music is either purchased from iTunes, or ripped from my large CD collection. So, my application is very simple. And since I’m a retired Cisco Engineer, I use my own equipment (router and separate modem) and never have any networking issue at home.
Yes, you worded it better than I. And I am experiencing no problems at this time. My usage is IOS and a Windows 10 Controller. I don’t use any music subscription services and only play one radio station thru Sonos TuneIn in the Kitchen. All my music is either purchased from iTunes, or ripped from my large CD collection. So, my application is very simple. And since I’m a retired Cisco Engineer, I use my own equipment (router and separate modem) and never have any networking issue at home.
Hi John,
I think the reason for no discussion on the firmware update might be two (or more) reasons:
1. It seems to make minor changes, including support for the new Arc
2. This is a thread on the new app, not new firmware.
I'm so late to this party, bought a speaker to use with YouTube music and finding the android app unbearable. Can't simply start a radio and view songs or navigate backwards and forwards.
There is so much noise around the app it'd be a part-time job to work out if it's being addressed.
There is no way on earth id have bought Sonos if I was aware of this stuff ahead of time.
Sooo, quick update .. having checked app and firmware versions, disabled my secondary WiFi network, reconnected an ethernet cable to my soundbar, changed WiFi channels to avoid interference with next door, used the Sonos connectivity matrix to check system communicating., I thought hey a bit of improvement. Nooo! Tonight took 20mins to play anything, no music services showing. Mute button does nothing, volume controls still behave randomly or disappear completely, changing tracks has massive lag and 'now playing' info rarely reflects track actually being played - these are basic functions that should just work and used to - what the hell is going on Sonos! I am so so disappointed and frustrated and you seem to be nothing absolutely nothing!
Would it be possible to remove the apparent limit for the favourites list?
Not sure what it currently is (need to count them up but old posts posit 70 - whatever I seem to have hit it).
Surely there is no need for a limit now 'we' are all cloud based? Even if it has device memory related management functionality imposed…
This is particularly restrictive (and it IS!) when one has integrations with a smart home via, for example, SmartThings and/or Homey.
I just read an article on Life Hacker about the release of a new Sonos Sub and the fact that “most of the missing features in the app have been restored”. Really! How do you save a playlist once you add a track to it. And it still takes you back to the top of the playlist when you hit the Playlist icon in the lower left corner of the Now Playing window. I guess the app will never get back to normal if Sonos thinks their new app has most of the missing features. I guess they’re saving the best for last. The only way I can save to a playlist is by using the Windows Controller app. There is no such option in the IOS app. And Windows Controller keeps your place in queue.
You really have to read this article. It will make your blood boil:
I’m terrible at cutting and pasting with my double vision but if the link above does not work maybe cut and paste it into your browser I’m doing this on my iPad right now but I should be doing it on my Windows Machine upstairs.
Remaining issues…apologies if these have been addressed earlier…can’t possibly read the entire thread. I have a whole house system with an Arc and 9 amps direct wired to speakers. These were new devices installed in spring of 2022.
I’ve been patient with the app even though it has been incredibly frustrating to adapt to the seemingly unnecessary changes. It is now somewhat better but still falls short of the old version in simplicity and ease of use. As you can see, I have a lot invested in this product set. I’m relying on you to get it back close to what it was.
Changing control devices - if I start a playlist on my iPhone and my wife in another room wants to change the volume on her iPhone, when she navigates to currently playing amp the playlist just stops and forgets where it was.
If I start a playlist on Spotify, the banner at the bottom of the app which displays the current song never changes from the first song that played and when you open the playlist, that first song is continuously displayed as the current song. If you exit the app and then reopen, you can see the current song but then “most of the time but not always” that song is permanently displayed in the banner.
The app still does not consistently remember the last amp played. It generally defaults to the first amp in the system list.
These are all things that the old app handled flawlessly.
I thought it might be useful and helpful for Sonos to have a full list of the problems I am still experiencing with the Android App, on Samsung S10 Plus, App Build 80.11.33-release+20241024.0a1a868, Sonos devices all at Version 81.1-58210, Devices are 6 x Play 1 (in 3 rooms), 5.1 setup - 2 x Play 3, 1 x Playbar (Ethernet connection), 1 x Sub, Turntable I/F (Sonos Port)
I’d be interested to know if these are still broadly the same for others?:
System - connection delayed on app start up
System - rooms and speakers disappearing then re-appearing (infrequent but annoying)
UI - Album, station and song art not always showing
UI - on resuming the app (particularly after phone has been locked) irritating ‘reconnection’ and then defaults to ‘Your System’ list rather than the currently playing room.
Playback - now playing track often not correctly displayed
Playback - skip forward / back - can be very slow or not work at all
Playback - Play, Stop, Pause button can be slow to respond and changes to an irritating rotating ‘progress indicator’ after coming off pause or stop, why is this necessary? These are basic play controls!
Playback - unstable, individual speakers cutting off then resuming (infrequently but annoying)
Search - Can’t search across all sources (have to select a specific source then search otherwise get ‘Something went wrong. Try again ...’)
Volume - Erratic behaviour, when increasing or decreasing with volume slider often just resets to original position
Volume - Can be very slow or not respond at all (very frequent!)
Volume - Volume control slider bar / volume indicator disappears (infrequent but annoying)
Mute - sometimes doesn’t work at all
Mute - can be very slow to work when it does
While I very occasionally experienced some of these issues with the previous app there were far fewer and nowhere near as frequent as with the current version which spoils the whole listening experience.
I am on android with an old samsung A40, since the end of September I no longer encounter this type of problem. The system is stable, only the logos of the radio stations are not taken into account when broadcasting. I took great care of the wifi network, connection exclusively in 5GHz, the presence of the two frequencies 2.4 and 5 is not favorable to stability.
I’m sorry to hear the problems you are having. I use iPads for my music, so I use the IOS apps. I do notice the slowness sometimes, and lately it’s getting worse; I don’t know why since there were no recent updates that I can recall except for this week’s firmware update. But then I don’t know what that actually did and how it would affect Android or IOS applications. My big concern is the article I posted yesterday from LifeHacker.com. I don’t know where they got their information, but the article states that Sonos is very happy with the progress they have made so far and at this point, 90 percent of the app is considered fixed. I have been complaining about two things which are constantly ignored so I gave up anticipating them to come back. They are: 1.) No way to save a playlist. and 2.) When in the Now Playing window and after scrolling down about 100 tracks, and you hit the Playlist icon in the lower left of the window, it takes you back to the top of the playlist and doesn’t remember your place in the queue. After reading this article and sensing that Sonos is making good progress on the new app and is 90 percent complete with all the functions that were on the old app, I don’t expect my two complaints to ever get fixed. Or just might be the remaining 10 percent. The only way I can add songs to any of my playlists and resave the playlist or keeping my place in the queue, is by using my Windows Controller, but one of the users in this or another group told me it is eventually going away. I hope that doesn’t happen, because it’s the only app that works for me with these two issues. I don’t know if you have a windows machine and tried any of your issues, but then again, who wants to keep turning on your Windows machine to listen to music remotely. It’s not the concept of the Sonos system.
Just ran the latest IOS update. The app and playlists are opening quicker. However, the annoying UI issues remain. I have spoken about this before and apparently no one at Sonos is interested in fixing it. In the Favorites section it shows (with artwork) items marked as just “Playlist”. Touching the icon on the player page just results in an endless circling and no music. At the far right are icons for playlists without art work that say “Sonos Playlist” and touching those does start the music.
Please stop wasting space in the UI and resolve this issue!
Another simple fix not yet re-instated: There is currently no way on the IOS App to revert back to playing the loaded queue / playlist after listening to a radio station (or TV in the case of playbase). Just a simple icon in the bottom left to access and re-start the loaded queue is surely not rocket science? The non-affiliated SonoPhone app can do this, as can the Windows PC controller, so why not the official Sonos IOS app?
Would also be nice to be able to save a queue - surely another basic function which is still in the 20% of functionality still not restored? Again still possible with SonoPhone so why not the official App?
I’m sorry to hear the problems you are having. I use iPads for my music, so I use the IOS apps. I do notice the slowness sometimes, and lately it’s getting worse; I don’t know why since there were no recent updates that I can recall except for this week’s firmware update. But then I don’t know what that actually did and how it would affect Android or IOS applications. My big concern is the article I posted yesterday from LifeHacker.com. I don’t know where they got their information, but the article states that Sonos is very happy with the progress they have made so far and at this point, 90 percent of the app is considered fixed. I have been complaining about two things which are constantly ignored so I gave up anticipating them to come back. They are: 1.) No way to save a playlist. and 2.) When in the Now Playing window and after scrolling down about 100 tracks, and you hit the Playlist icon in the lower left of the window, it takes you back to the top of the playlist and doesn’t remember your place in the queue. After reading this article and sensing that Sonos is making good progress on the new app and is 90 percent complete with all the functions that were on the old app, I don’t expect my two complaints to ever get fixed. Or just might be the remaining 10 percent. The only way I can add songs to any of my playlists and resave the playlist or keeping my place in the queue, is by using my Windows Controller, but one of the users in this or another group told me it is eventually going away. I hope that doesn’t happen, because it’s the only app that works for me with these two issues. I don’t know if you have a windows machine and tried any of your issues, but then again, who wants to keep turning on your Windows machine to listen to music remotely. It’s not the concept of the Sonos system.
I’m sorry to hear the problems you are having. I use iPads for my music, so I use the IOS apps. I do notice the slowness sometimes, and lately it’s getting worse; I don’t know why since there were no recent updates that I can recall except for this week’s firmware update. But then I don’t know what that actually did and how it would affect Android or IOS applications. My big concern is the article I posted yesterday from LifeHacker.com. I don’t know where they got their information, but the article states that Sonos is very happy with the progress they have made so far and at this point, 90 percent of the app is considered fixed. I have been complaining about two things which are constantly ignored so I gave up anticipating them to come back. They are: 1.) No way to save a playlist. and 2.) When in the Now Playing window and after scrolling down about 100 tracks, and you hit the Playlist icon in the lower left of the window, it takes you back to the top of the playlist and doesn’t remember your place in the queue. After reading this article and sensing that Sonos is making good progress on the new app and is 90 percent complete with all the functions that were on the old app, I don’t expect my two complaints to ever get fixed. Or just might be the remaining 10 percent. The only way I can add songs to any of my playlists and resave the playlist or keeping my place in the queue, is by using my Windows Controller, but one of the users in this or another group told me it is eventually going away. I hope that doesn’t happen, because it’s the only app that works for me with these two issues. I don’t know if you have a windows machine and tried any of your issues, but then again, who wants to keep turning on your Windows machine to listen to music remotely. It’s not the concept of the Sonos system.
Just updated to today’s version of the IOS app. NO CHANGE, SAME PROBLEMS MENTIONED ABOVE. How can you release an app without a playlist save option???
Don't buy any of these products. The worst ever , absolutely rubbish. All I want to do is listen to some rubbish music , this company can't provide the means to do it. I hate it , it should be simple, terrible ,terrible, terrible
Updated to this version on 3 Nov 2024. Start up, no system found, can't do anything with the speakers or use them. Even after multiple Force Stopping the app, clear cache, still the same. Took the ultimate path, clear app data storage, reboot the mobile phone, login and re-added all the speakers after resetting the speakers. Prompt for speaker updates, did that with a bit challenges but managed to upgrade. Let see how long this last. Envy the guys here who can still use the app to control the speakers but difficulties on the features. I can't even perform the most basic stuff, ie: use the speakers!
