‘On this Device’ for Android controller no longer supported

Im not happy with this news. Many of the music i have on my phone can't be found on music services or are scattered around. Just having it on your phone and being able to play it is very convenient, without having to pay fir some kind of service or (expensive) NAS.

And as i understand you cannot search on a NAS anymore with the new search?? 

Question :

Is it possible to play music on a Roam (which is on your device) via Bluetooth and then group them with the Arc /One?  This without using the S2 controller but straight from another music player on your phone?

This could be sort of a workaround then. 

If you own an S2 system the Roam would be a possibility. See https://support.sonos.com/en/article/share-roam-s-bluetooth-audio-with-your-sonos-system

You’d need to set it up, but then it would work. The new search can still be changed to the old search.

Thanks for the reply. 

If i understand the information correctly it can only be done with other devices in bluetooth mode or am i reading it wrong? You can't have Roam in Bluetooth mode and then group it with an One SL or Arc and hear the music trough those speakers too? 

Roam, Era 100 and Era 300 all have this capability with bluetooth.  Note that you would need to use group with the room you want to play on by voice or long press of speaker button if you don’t want to use the controller app and you aren’t already grouped.  Also, bluetooth disabled on speakers setup as surround.

As far as NAS goes, it does not need to be expensive.  The audio tracks can be on a PC or Mac or even a thumb drive connect to your router in some cases.

I use Plex personally.

 You can play Roam and Era speakers then group with One SL or Arc.  Move is the only Sonos bluetooth speaker that can’t do this.

@SleepyRobot This can be doen with the Roam non-bluetooth Sonos devices. The Roam will make the “translation” from bluetooth to wifi….

doen=done

Thanks for your answers guys. 

Thanks for your replies.  

I have a PC with all my music on it and when use it i sometimes play music from it .

 So your saying i can make it into a NAS so that i can play the music without it being on/me working behind it?  Hmm..could be a solution indeed for me  🤔

Technically you would not be turning it into a NAS, but you will grant the Sonos system acces to the files on your computer. See https://support.sonos.com/article/add-your-music-library-to-sonos

Remember the computer needs to be on and awake for this to work. You could also install Plex on the computer and to Sonos if you would pass the 65k limit (have more than 65.000 music files in your library). I do not expect this is the cas however, since the files are currently on your phone.

@106rallye  

Aha. No i don't have that many music files, somewhere between 5 and 6000 i expect.

I was happy that i didn't need to have my PC on all the time anymore. I actually don’t use it that much and because of energysavings.

Maybe i should look into a NAS for my files and switch to a personal laptop (now i use mostly my worklaptop). If only Sonos supported Chrome cast, it would solve this problem right away! 

To add, i just tested connecting to Bluetooth on my Roam and grouping the arc with it and it works! 😀

For now i think i'll just use this solution. 

Why remove the feature for all Android users so soon when many will remain on version 12 for a while yet? Coupled with the NAS issues it makes the system much less useful for users who don't use streaming services or create their own music. 

Happened to the iOS version many years ago, for similar reasons. Phones make terrible http servers.

Some routers will accept a USB memory stick that can be used as a NAS drive. In this case, very little extra power is needed.

Why should the functionality be removed from all Android users so quickly when many will continue to use version 12 for some time? Users who don't utilise streaming services or compose their own music will find the system to be considerably less helpful when combined with the NAS concerns. 

I don’t think Sonos wants to maintain multiple versions of the Sonos app depending on which version of android they have.  Even if they wrote a single version that conditionally checked which version of android you have to enable/disable certain functionality, that’s a lot of coding, testing, and supporting.

I suspect Sonos has a good idea of the volume of users who currently use this functionality and what speakers/options they have to play their audio files in a different way. Some may not even be aware of the other methods and may find their system more useful after changing things up.

Can you elaborate on what changes on the Android platform that makes it impossible to do this in future releases?

What about other (on-device) music-playing apps, are they affected as well? If not, could there be a workaround by means of an DLNA player as App?

Even though it might not be understandable for California-based developers and marketing people: there is still a market for people that expect systems to work even when no internet connection is available. (This is also related to the annoying fact that there is basically no free radio service in the Sonos ecosystem that does NOT play annoying advertisements when starting a new stream).

So it would be much appreciated to keep such offline functionalities with as little additional devices as possible (i.e. NO additional NAS as data source).

… additional device, additional power consumption - that’s not how we should argue in an era where people are adviced to safe energy wherever possible.

I doubt Sonos wants to get into a technical discussion with customers about how the feature used to work, what exactly changed, who is to blame, what Sonos could possible due to re-enable, their management decisions to not pursue that, etc.

I doubt Sonos is basing this decision on random guesses or polling their friends about about how people are using their speakers and what sort of content they are playing.  But it is understandable if you don’t want to use a cloud service and opt for one of the many other options.

What sort of additional energy consumption are you thinking that using bluetooth or a wired connection are going to have.  I can understand if you don’t currently own a Sonos speaker with bluetooth or aux input and don’t have a router with USB port to stick a thumb drive into, but I’m not aware that these methods would draw more power than sending audio from android to device to Sonos speaker over WiFi.

To be honest this is really bad news. The Alternative ways are basically requiring additional work. The rationale saying there are changes.... does not really justify stopping something that works. Also to blame android for this is just an attempt to keep the shotstorm low. Android is not changing the way wifi works. 😒 

My speakers don't have BT and I will not be able to play music spontaneously from my network. 

Really bad move. 

Does anyone know if this is automatically disabled or only if I update the app from the 23rd? 

… but user-centered development means to take user’s positions and needs into account rather than just doing what is possible…

I don’t have the drive and time to delve deep into this, but there are enough studies and surveys about differences in privacy perception, user needs etc. between different parts of the world (see for example https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2020/07/29/the-privacy-mindset-of-the-eu-vs-the-us/).

Simple story: right now I can select a song on my phone and play it anywhere at home on one of my Sonos speakers.

1. Using the NAS approach, I need to 1) buy a NAS and b) operate it (probably 24/7, which makes me consume more energy than before
2. Using Bluetooth I need to own a BT-enabled SONOS speaker (not the case) and am restricted to stay within the range of the BT connection (< 10 m)
3. Using an AUX cable, I am restricted even more to a range of 1.5-3 m (depending on the cable) AND need a speaker that still has this input option.

One might note that the iOS version of this feature being discontinued hit 10 pages in about the same amount of time this thread hasn’t even hit a full single page, and that decision was never reversed.  So regardless whether one thinks this removal of functionality is legitimate, or based on a crazy, fever induced, down-the-rabbit-hole conspiracy cooked up by the evil masterminds at Sonos, one can use that iOS thread to reliably predict the possibility of it being rescinded is slim to none, and slim has left the building. 

One would surely have better use for the current and future energy to be spent bemoaning the issue in this thread, for the ultimate futility of that energy expenditure is plain as day.

Which has nothing to do with explaining all the tech and decision making that goes into implementing or removing a feature to users.  

Again, I don’t think Sonos made this decision by just polling their friends.  They have  data on how there speakers are used, which may or may not line up with your research.  It’s not like they removed the only way to use Sonos without cloud streaming services.

NAS is the only thing you mentioned about energy consumption which can be a USB drive on your router, or even the computer you already.  Yes, you have to turn it on to use it.

As far as the restrictions on distance, yes you are restricted, but they are options.  You aren’t restricted to play only files either, which is plus.  I don’t think Sonos is saying these other options are 100% equivalent to playing files off android, with the same benefits and drawbacks and should appeal to everyone equally. 

I don´t agree. Just remember the ** they faced and their reaction about “abandoning devices”. They also revised their way forward (a bit).

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

No they surely didn´t poll their friends. It´s surely a 100% business decision because it shall makes people buy their BT devices to be able to direct play again. Furthermore it supports other use cases that Sonos emphasizes. 
It sucks big time that they can take features away compared to the time that you bought this stuff. 

Hence my question: Does this come with an update or is this already implemented in my current app and gets just disabled when we reach the 23rd? If first case applies, one could simply not update and continue. If it´s a timed action, then someone should take legal action.