So, if I want to listen to music late at night because I can't sleep, I have to blind myself with the bright white background and then fumble around with twice the number of button presses as I had before?
Also, why are you wasting so much space on the screen? It's like a child's version with "big pretty icons" but no real functionality.
FIre your design department. READ the reviews on the Play Store... This is an EPIC FAIL! You have more one star reviews than two or three star reviews - and the VAST MAJORITY of newer reviews are complaints against your growing idiocy.
Agreed. Read the reviews on the Playstore. I read about 100 of the most recent reviews. Every single one... 100% are extremely negative. Seems to be a consensus the new app is a epic failure. How Sonos reacts to the feedback will determine the true nature of the company. I will be looking for an alternative if the app isn't fixed or we aren't given a way to downgrade to the old app. And I've invested thousands of dollars... 2 sound bars, sub, speakers in every room. I gave myself 3 weeks hoping I would hate it less over time. Sadly, the more I've used the new app the more I realize just how bad it really is. Possibly the worst software upgrade I've ever experienced.
What a mess!
Poor design, unstructured flattened navigation, more clicks than before to do the same, looks quite unsophisticated and immature.
Classic case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"
I would add a vote with the folks that dislike the new app.
And not because "I don't like change" and some people just don't like change.
Specifically, the dark version of the old app was "better", and the layout and flow of the old app was more intuitive. Of course I will eventually get used to this new flow, but I do believe that it was a downgrade in terms of usability, layout, and overall feel of the app. Earlier tonight I was playing music in the garage, and then went into the basement home gym. Getting music to stop in the garage, then select music to play in the Home Gym zone was cumbersome. Took me a few times to get it all right, and not accidently start grouping things. In the end, it seemed like more steps and cumbersome just to select the zone I want to play music. I tried this several more times with different zones and still don't really get how to properly stop music in one zone and play music in another.
As others have noted, typical app design by someone who is a "designer" and not a "user", with no input taken from users. As you see in this thread, MANY of the same complaints are repeated. How did that pass quality control, beta testing, and user input to end up like this? I'm sure there many of us who don't understand the true difficulty in coding and app design and might not "get it"...but ultimately since Sonos already had a good app, and downgraded...I think maybe this isn't about users "not getting it"...and more so about the company "not getting" it's users.
You won't ever get used to it or learn to like it, trust me. I gave it 3 weeks of constant use and I would conclude the UI was created by people who don't use the app, or they have a single speaker in a single room and always listen to the same station.
Joining the #whitemustdie movement. Or maybe #whitemustdarken.
With the new, stark design it's now brighter than every other app on my devices -- except the flashlight app!
Even if you don't want to return to black, would you consider a light gray or off-white?
(Me, I have an eye condition that makes staring at bright screens extremely uncomfortable but based on comments, I suspect a lot of people would appreciate a less glaring UI.)
Bought, just Arrived. Configured seamlessly, added to the others. It sounds very good. now the kitchen joined the party!
How do I 'Downgrade' back to the old App?
I am very, very dissatisfied with the latest Sonos controller update for iOS devices.
Let me be clear that I use the Sonos controller exclusively with my iPad – almost always in “landscape” (rather than “portrait”) mode. As a result my chief concern is how poorly the new Sonos controller uses the available screen resource.
1. The white controller background is far too bright. I see from the tread Sonos has been getting an earful (eyeful?) on this from a lot of its users. Compares very poorly to the former black background with subtle variation provided by the “halo-ed” thumbnail icon (station name, album cover, etc) – which I thought was classy/sophisticated.
2. I badly miss the command menu on the left edge of the screen. At a glance, everything you needed (favorites, playlists, library, device, line-in, app services, etc. ) was in one place. The menu only took up a column of one-quarter/one-third my available screen real estate – it did not crowd the display of sub-menus and media browsing.
3. I greatly dislike having to toggle between “My Songs” (why is this not called “Favorites”) and “Browse” (why is this not called “My Library”). And these new icons are small, little, ill-defined shadows on a “Navigation” bar at the bottom edge of the controller. Why? In the prior Sonos controller all was on one handy menu (see above). Why make users take extra steps?
4. Why are icons in “My Sonos” so darn big? The prior Sonos controller could show me 12-15 “Favourite” album thumbnails at a glance on one screen. Now I see only 4 album thumbnails (more about which below). Why? A waste of screen real estate…
5. In “My Sonos”, when you “See All” stations or albums, why does the controller insist on listing (for example) the albums at the left edge of the screen? Why can’t the album thumbnails be tiled across all available screen real estate, as it was before, giving you 12-15 album thumbnails at a glance and thus more information? As it is, at least two-thirds of my screen real estate is wasted.
5. When you “Browse” “Albums” in your “Music Library”, the thumbnail icons are ridiculously large (see like complaint above). Only 8 album thumbnails a creen? C’mon, there should be at least 12-15. More waste of screen real estate…
Finally, I have contacted Sonos several times on this: the controller absolutely needs to support a “Date” tag. For anyone with a decades deep music collection, I think this is a must. You should be able to sort Albums within a single Artist by Date (of the album), not just Album title alpha-sort. The Music Library should have a Date (of the album) sort alongside Artist, Album, Composer, Genre and Song. Plus you should be able to see Date (of the album) in “Now Playing”. This used to be my only complaint about an otherwise solid Sonos controller … until all the new issues (above) since the controller was overhauled (for the worse).
BTW I say this as a supportive 6+ year Sonos customer, who has convinced at least half-a-dozen friends and acquaintances to start using your product – all of them enthusiastically.
Hope the Sonos controller will change (revert?) for the better soonest.
M. W.
Ottawa, Canada
Thanks again for the feedback. And M.W. that's a really detailed post, thanks for taking the time to share! We'll make sure your feedback gets to the team so they can work with it for future editions of the app. It'll keep evolving as we go on.
Please!! Get me the old app back!! I am a rookie Sonos user with several devices and the new app is almost making my cry 😞
Just wanted to add my two cents to the Sonos team regarding the recent changes to the iOS and Android apps. Start with the positive - they both look fantastic. Really clean looking and the black and white aesthetic works well with the direction the hardware is going.
Now for the bad. The UI is extremely confusing for someone with a multi-room setup. The two layers of room settings is frustratingly unintuitive. I'm constantly mixing up which is which and getting stuck into the wrong part of the interface. There should be a consistent room switcher at the bottom of every screen. Hoping this will be fixed soon.
Bad effort, trying to give the new UI a fair chance but its just not that good. Don't like having to navigate between all those screens. I wish they gave the Windows app the update.
this update is horrible, switching between rooms is awful. Please fix..........
How do I 'Downgrade' back to the old App?
If only it was possible. I would pay good money to be able to go back to the old app. The old app got an A in my book, the new app gets an F. If there was a worse grade than an F, I'd give that.
this update is horrible, switching between rooms is awful. Please fix..........
Everything about the new app is awful. I honestly can't thing of one thing that I like better than the old app. I could make very long list of things things they made worse... essentially everything.
Sonos could you communicate with us and let us know what is going on or maybe what is in the works? Can we email somebody? Does anybody have Patrick Spence email?
I am very, very dissatisfied with the latest Sonos controller update for iOS devices.
Let me be clear that I use the Sonos controller exclusively with my iPad – almost always in “landscape” (rather than “portrait”) mode. As a result my chief concern is how poorly the new Sonos controller uses the available screen resource.
1. The white controller background is far too bright. I see from the tread Sonos has been getting an earful (eyeful?) on this from a lot of its users. Compares very poorly to the former black background with subtle variation provided by the “halo-ed” thumbnail icon (station name, album cover, etc) – which I thought was classy/sophisticated.
2. I badly miss the command menu on the left edge of the screen. At a glance, everything you needed (favorites, playlists, library, device, line-in, app services, etc. ) was in one place. The menu only took up a column of one-quarter/one-third my available screen real estate – it did not crowd the display of sub-menus and media browsing.
3. I greatly dislike having to toggle between “My Songs” (why is this not called “Favorites”) and “Browse” (why is this not called “My Library”). And these new icons are small, little, ill-defined shadows on a “Navigation” bar at the bottom edge of the controller. Why? In the prior Sonos controller all was on one handy menu (see above). Why make users take extra steps?
4. Why are icons in “My Sonos” so darn big? The prior Sonos controller could show me 12-15 “Favourite” album thumbnails at a glance on one screen. Now I see only 4 album thumbnails (more about which below). Why? A waste of screen real estate…
5. In “My Sonos”, when you “See All” stations or albums, why does the controller insist on listing (for example) the albums at the left edge of the screen? Why can’t the album thumbnails be tiled across all available screen real estate, as it was before, giving you 12-15 album thumbnails at a glance and thus more information? As it is, at least two-thirds of my screen real estate is wasted.
5. When you “Browse” “Albums” in your “Music Library”, the thumbnail icons are ridiculously large (see like complaint above). Only 8 album thumbnails a creen? C’mon, there should be at least 12-15. More waste of screen real estate…
Finally, I have contacted Sonos several times on this: the controller absolutely needs to support a “Date” tag. For anyone with a decades deep music collection, I think this is a must. You should be able to sort Albums within a single Artist by Date (of the album), not just Album title alpha-sort. The Music Library should have a Date (of the album) sort alongside Artist, Album, Composer, Genre and Song. Plus you should be able to see Date (of the album) in “Now Playing”. This used to be my only complaint about an otherwise solid Sonos controller … until all the new issues (above) since the controller was overhauled (for the worse).
BTW I say this as a supportive 6+ year Sonos customer, who has convinced at least half-a-dozen friends and acquaintances to start using your product – all of them enthusiastically.
Hope the Sonos controller will change (revert?) for the better soonest.
M. W.
Ottawa, Canada
I couldn't agree more with all of your specific feedback. Good job. I'm too lazy to write all of my specific complaints. Unfortunately, mine would be several pages longer than yours.
I'm also a big supporter and fan of Sonos. I actually purchased about 15 Sonos Play 3s for colleagues of mine. I alo have two sound bars, a sub, and speakers all over my house.
I really want to keep being one of Sonos's biggest fans. I want to keep recommending Sonos to everyone and even buying them their first speaker.
But I can't, and won't in good conscious recommend it to anyone else unless the software gets repaired. I consider it badly broken. It's like I was driving a new Porche or Tesla, and now I'm driving a 1970 Volkswagen bug with a horrible stick shift.
I don't need to give a list of all the repairs I would make because all Sonos needs to do look at how the old software was designed. There's a clear road map right there.
After living with the new app for three weeks, I’m now firmly in the camp who find it to be a giant step backwards. In the beginning I was hesitant to rush to judgement, and I thought there were a few things about the concept that would grow in me. That hasn’t been the case. There is nothing intuitive about it, it wastes real estate, blinds me in a dark room at night and ... well, you, know, it’s all been said above. I’d class this as an epic failure, particularly on iPads and Android tablets (my favourite controllers). It’s the “new Coke’ of the Sonos world. I want the old flavour back, perhaps with a slightly tweaked label.
New UI is terrible. The previous interface was easy to use. Who was your UX designer on this? Please go back to the old interface, or give users the option to roll back.
Does the feedback posted here make it's way back to the management at Sonos? I sure hope so. The current app is painful at best for your customers to tolerate. This current app isn't just hurting the Sonos customers. It will also cut into Sonos profits big time. Sonos will lose customers, and they'll stop referring. I've stopped referring, and won't start again until this is fixed. In fact, I'll be warning people to stay away.
I’ve been using Sonos products for 12 years and have always loved the end-end experience. The past few weeks have been torture. I’m actually using my system significantly less because I hate the app so much.
I’ve been using Sonos products for 12 years and have always loved the end-end experience. The past few weeks have been torture. I’m actually using my system significantly less because I hate the app so much.
https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/user-guide-for-v8-app-6792817/index1.html#post16158856
I’ve been using Sonos products for 12 years and have always loved the end-end experience. The past few weeks have been torture. I’m actually using my system significantly less because I hate the app so much.
https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/user-guide-for-v8-app-6792817/index1.html#post16158856
Your user guide is well written, but I still hate the app. It’s not for lack of trying or understanding how to use it.
I'm just hoping that Sonos will not force us to use the new app in the future. If that happens, I don't know what I will do. I cannot even use the new app due to the ridiculous blinding whiteness of it. I swear, looking at the eclipse without special glasses was safer then looking at this app in the dark. I'd love to comment on the actual usage of it but I cannot because (and I cannot stress this enough)...IT'S TOO BRIGHT. The sad thing is that was pointed out in the beta by many, many people back in the summer and they still did nothing about it. (I was part of the beta and left) I'm sure I'd get used to it although I didn't like most of what they did when I was in the beta and I see that they left it all in.
I did see, on the Sonos sub-Reddit that they are fixing some things in the newest beta. Except there still is no dark mode. Seriously? We're not all 25 years old. I'm sad that Sonos, like many other companies, felt the need to make a change for change sake. And then, again like many other companies, they don't listen or respond. Especially the latter. Nothing. No "Sorry about the blinding white, we're working on it". We've all spent money on these products and now they don't care about us. Great system, terrible customer service. And I work in customer service. I would never, ever treat any of my customers like this.
And, for those that are looking for the old version; Google is your friend. I have 7.4 downloaded and saved to our NAS in case one of us accidentally updates the app.
Luckily, we were about to purchase a couple more speakers but the new app came out right before I pulled the trigger.
Steve
I too have been using Sonos for many years and find the new app horrible to navigate. It's not that I'm adverse to change, I just find it cumbersome and uninspiring, as do others in my household.
I don't write on forums as a rule but I feel compelled to do so on this occasion.
Come on Sonos, role us all back to the previous version whilst you get this sorted...please!
Does the feedback posted here make it's way back to the management at Sonos? I sure hope so.
It absolutely does. We make sure to pass up everything to the right teams, all the way to the top.
We appreciate the feedback, and the criticism too. We're working on the new controller in several ways.
I guess I'll put my 2 cents in, too. This BRIGHT WHITE background is PAINFUL to look at! With the high resolution of today's smartphones & tablets, there is WAY TOO MUCH screen real estate wasted on the app. It'd be nice to see more than four album covers, radio station logos, etc.. when looking to play something. I don't believe it's too much to ask to have the option for a "dark" theme, and have the ability to change the size of the album/station icons so you don't have to SCROLL forever to get to what you're looking for.
