Sonos version 8.0 is introducing a brand new controller for iOS and Android. The new Sonos app makes it even easier to navigate, access, and control your music throughout your home. This new app comes side by side with voice control through Alexa devices, more about that
here.
Check out our blog for the
Remastered Sonos App. Full details on the new apps can be found
here on their respective product guide pages. Let’s take a look at the new app:
Introducing Navigation with Tabs:
The Sonos app now has five tabs visible at the bottom when not in the full playing screen. The tabs are My Sonos, Browse, Rooms, Search, and More. See here:
Now your most used options are available with just one click, and Now Playing is always just one tap away.
My Sonos
We’ve consolidated all your personally curated Sonos Playlists, music service playlists, and Sonos Favorites into one, easy to use page on the Sonos app. You can edit fields to move around the order, or delete them entirely. You can now have up to 40 favorites total, up from 32.
Browse
Browsing your music is even easier as it no longer hides your other options. You can browse and move to different rooms all while keeping your place in the browsing menu. There’s also a dock on the bottom of the app that gives you easy access to the navigation tabs. You can swipe it up to reveal it at any time, then back down. We’ve separated browsing your music and the menu for Settings, so it’s even easier to find what you’re looking for.
Rooms
The menu starts highlighted on the active room, featured right on the app so that it’s even easier to see what’s playing in each room. There’s now an icon on that screen to show you where the music is coming from too. That includes if it was started by Alexa. The active room has a Group button to have it add others to the party.
Search
It hasn’t changed, just moved to an easy to find spot.
More...
All the settings and options are in here. You can add services, make alarms, get some help, and access all your settings. We think this will make it a lot easier to find what you’re looking for. And speaking of settings…
Explicit Language Filtering
Within Settings > Parental Controls, you can set a system-wide setting to filter songs with explicit content. Right now, this is working for Apple Music, and we’re hoping to add it for more services soon. Once the setting is on, Apple Music songs with the explicit tag will no longer play on your system.
Long Press to Group
Making it even easier to play music. With 8.0, you can press and hold the Play/Pause button (or mute on older players) to have your player join the most recently active player as a group. First, you have to start playing music on a player, (it can be from an alarm or any other source), and then just hold the button for a few seconds on another player. That second player will join the first one’s group and start playing the same music in sync.
There's another function of the long press, and that's being able to move recently stopped music to another room. First, stop playing music in any of your rooms. Then, press and hold the play/pause on another player for a few seconds. (Make sure that you don't start playing music anywhere else.) The queue or source will move to the unit you held the button for and start playing. The players won't group together and any existing queue will get whiped out in place of the new one.
iOS 11 and Android O Support
Lastly, version 8.0 has support for the latest operating systems from Android and iOS. This includes iOS 11 support for Trueplay on Sonos. Trueplay isn’t available on Android at this time.
Hi,
Thank you for the helpful info on Bluesound. I've been using Sonos since 2010. The queue management is the best feature in Sonos for me. I tried using an alternative in the past but I have not yet found a product that would have a queue management as good as Sonos - maybe there is? A system relying on Spotify Connect does not do it for me. The alternative I tried did not have a usable queue management so I didn't switch to it. I will study Bluesounds.
I've learnt the new navigation and don't mind it at all when the errors are fixed. The need to swipe down to reveal the tab area in unfortunate but not a big deal for me as it's just swiping down instead of right/left in the 7.4 (can't remember which way you needed to swipe to show the side menu). The new app is also slower than the previous version for me. That's unfortunate. I understand that the UI for people with multiple Sonos components may look way more crowded. Hopefully the zone area view in the Rooms tab is more compressed to prevent the need for lot of scrolling.
I would like to see a list of Known Errors for the 8.2.1 software. Is there a list available? Would save a lot of time contacting support and reading the community threads.
I am sad to see the huge white background on 8.x. That is my #1 gripe with the new 8.2.1 app. Slowness is #2.
I'm hoping that the error with moving music to another room from the Now Playing (card) UI gets fixed soon. Also hope the error with Search result list ordering gets fixed on the Android app. I also hope the icons are made much smaller in My Sonos, and the big album graphic in Now Playing UI made smaller to make better use of the screen estate, by e.g. showing the control tabs all the time. I'd like to see if it was usable or resulted in more accidental touches on e.g. my android phone's navigation buttons. It would make the sw more complex but an option for the user to make the tabs visible all the time vs. hiding them could be one way (similar to Windows' auto-hide task bar). I'd keep it visible if it did not result to wrong accidental touches.
I see the support articles have not been updated with the latest app. It would have been pretty easy to make screen capture videos showing how the new features work. Maybe the Sonos team has not yet had time to make them, or I'm not seeing them. They could help a lot of users who have usability issues with the new app. I see and hear from my colleagues that they are increasingly experiencing drop outs in music after the latest Sonos software update. Hopefully those get resolved.
Just out of interest - maybe you mentioned this somewhere - how much feedback, and from how many users, did you get in the real beta program phase for the white UI and the new layout? I'd really like to know how many users find the white UI better than the darker UI.
I hope the Sonos team is successful in quickly fixing the errors and making the app work much faster. Godspeed.
Maybe a suggestion to Sonos that has some sense making and bridging the gap between new and old: Start a second BETA software testing and development program, maybe even an ALPHA program which takes a look at a further future version of the software. That future version is started with a copy of 7.x (without the account-login requirement), renamed to version 10.0 and conservatively further developed. This ALPHA program can only be accessed by users that are not interested in voice control and and don't have any player newer than the 2nd gen Play:5. At a later stage that might change and newer players and services can be added to this ALPHA program. It's unknown when this program will leave the ALPHA status.
I'm curios how many Sonos users will instantly enroll in this upcoming ALPHA testing and development program. 🙂
After update to the latest Sonos app (8.2.1), my iPhone app is unable to find and connect to my system - is there anyway to fix this other than do a complete reset of everything? I had to do that at our beach house upon updating the app, and now back home I am experiencing the same problem?
Still very unhappy with the app. The Rooms view is just confusing, with no obvious delineation, and it is just so inefficient. I have 5 rooms and a 5.5" phone, but I can only see 2.5 rooms without scrolling. And it goes without saying that there is too much white. This morning Kitchen had disappeared completely. I clicked on Group for a different Room, and Kitchen was there! I selected Kitchen, deselected the original Room, and then I had control of Kitchen! How nuts is that?
My daughters and I were in favour of getting multiple Sonos units, but my wife was reluctant - but with the previous app, we got her up to speed. With the current app, she is in her words "dis-empowered" and hardly ever uses it. That's sad.
I notice that we no longer get responses from Sonos in what still seems to be a very active topic. I guess that says it all.
Let me start by saying that I rarely submit app reviews. If I don’t like an app, I delete it. In the case of Sonos, I hardly have a choice since Sonos hardware is app driven. I have 8 Sonos devices and a lot of money invested. I started buying Sonos 6 or so years ago. I was very happy with it hence my additional purchases.
The app upgrade is poor. The UI is not intuitive at all. It takes so much thought and staring at the app just to figure out how to control basic room and volume functions.
I have never, ever posted on a forum like this. I have 5 speakers including my sound bar that up until now I have been very pleased with. Things just aren't working well on my Sonos anymore. (1) The new user interface is terrible to use. (2) I keep having music go away and sometimes never come back on. (3) Today I downloaded the windows app for my new laptop and for the life of me I cannot get it to find my system. I may be doing something wrong as I am not the most techie guy around. When I got things originally I could contact Sonos for help. Is that even possible anymore?
Thanks for sharing everyone! We're still reading and sharing all of your feedback with the development team so they know what you're looking for and would like to see improved.
We're continuing to work on the Sonos app to try and include your feedback and make it the best it can be.
@deezz, thanks for the detailed write up! I'm sorry you felt it necessary to move somewhere else, but I really hope you're happy where ever you wind up, and that you can still enjoy your music. While we do have an extensive beta and alpha test program, we don't have a regularly running public beta for the next versions. I'll pass your suggestion on to the team that handles betas.
After update to the latest Sonos app (8.2.1), my iPhone app is unable to find and connect to my system - is there anyway to fix this other than do a complete reset of everything? I had to do that at our beach house upon updating the app, and now back home I am experiencing the same problem?
This is likely unrelated to the app itself and likely network related. We'd be happy to help if you
give us a call on our support line. I'd suggest starting with rebooting your wireless router and toggling the wireless on your mobile device. Usually, that'll sort out any connection issues.
Thanks for checking back on this, Ryan.
I initially thought that the new tab navigation was not that bad. Since that I've noticed it's now easier than before to accidentally replace the whole queue because of the all white modality. I remember the change in 6.4 and the initial feedback which was understandable as with almost every change in people's lives:
https://en.community.sonos.com/announcements-228985/new-play-commands-with-version-6-4-6739302
I don't have a problem with that immediately replacing an unedited queue, it makes sense, but this new UI leads to too many accidental replacements.
I strongly urge you to consider making the full playing screen dark again. It's not just an aesthetic feature. See below for the problem it introduces now.
I guess it was decided to make it white to make it stand out from the dark bottom Tab(?)
I'd like to try if the new navigation could work better for me if:
+ the full playing screen is dark and others are white like they used to be
+ the bottom tabs are always visible (the blog mentioned: "We realized our hidden side menu wasn’t doing you any favors there, so we got rid of it." That should have said "and we replaced it with a hidden bottom menu" :)
If the above can't be done then re-introduce a prompt when changing and unedited queue (i.e. remove immediate replacement without prompting).
My thoughts when comparing to an older dark UI version shown e.g. in this useful video:
https://youtu.be/GnVU7Ulzeb0
Problem now: Easier to accidentally replace the whole queue mid-song - partly due to the full playing screen being white, and new navigation mode:
1. I have music playing, and I have added albums A to the queue from Spotify via Search (Artists), and the focus on the tab has remained on that last album "A" I've added
2. Swipe up to show the full playing screen -> it's playing and showing the queue for about 9 songs from album "A" as those fit on the screen on the UI on landscape iPad
3. Later, I swipe down to reveal the hidden bottom menu tabs to go add another album -> focus will be in Search tab on that album "A" and shows its songs - there's animation on the song that is currently playing.
Now comes my mistake which I've made a few times now: I accidentally tap on one of the songs as _while the UI looks different it has a list of songs as in the full playing screen but is similar all white_ instead of tapping again on Search at the bottom or the "
Things are only accidental until you learn to stop doing them.
That and Sonos sorting the long standing queue problems out.
In the UK, booking a train journey would make the task impossible for many of the complainants here as they have switched from a confusing intuitive interrogation to a logical one. Took some time to get used to but, screen layout aside, it is much better than the old intuitive version.
I don't usually use the native Apple Music app since it does not cast to Sonos as the Google one does, so I opened it after many days yesterdays and immediately saw how Sonos has just copied the Apple UI in many ways. Down to the disappearing black tab that would work a lot better if it did not; since it isn't important in the Apple UI means that there, it does not matter much that it does.
Of course, the present My Sonos arrangement is a confusing knee jerk kludge that is a Sonos creation alone, and will hopefully also get sorted soon.
I've been a big complainer about the new app on here mainly due to the blinding white background. I haven't had a chance to use the app much due to that..until now. We both got new phones so I was forced to use the new app. And now I can list all the reasons that I do not like this new version at all. But first, Sonos, why not just apologize, put the old app back and start over? YouTube on my Roku recently did this (horrible updated, then suddenly they reverted back to the prior one). All I hear is that you're giving them feedback. Yet NOTHING gets done. You released a Beta version that has made most of your user base unhappy. This thread is now 18 pages and going strong. Anyway...
1. The white as been mentioned a zillion times. Pretty easy to patch it with a dark theme considering that was the norm before.
2. "My Sonos". What a dumb name. Go back to "Favorites". And since it's two of us using Sonos, it's not really My Sonos, it's Our Sonos.
3. Allow us to re-order the Favorites, er My Sonos. I don't want it in alphabetical order.
4. The icons. My goodness, we all have large phone screens and I get four to a page and have to keep scrolling? I believe the old app had six.
5. Rooms. What a mess. I can't even describe how poorly this works. It is so frustrating to change rooms yet have the Sonos app still list the old room as being used even though the music is playing in the new room. (Example: Playing music in the ktichen. I go to Rooms, select "Bedroom", unselect "Kitchen". Music plays in Bedroom, Sonos app show it is playing in the Kitchen. Go to Rooms, "Kitchen" is still checked, "Bedroom" is not yet it's playing there.
6. The widget says I'm not connected to Sonos when I'm on my WiFi. Happens every time I leave the house and come back.
I have more issues but six is good for now.
What a shame. Great speakers, horrific customer service. Yeah, yeah, I know, you've submitted it for feedback. How about an apology saying you're sorry for releasing a beta app and ticking off your customers who are clearly not happy with the app or the company right now?
Steve
5. Rooms. What a mess. I can't even describe how poorly this works. It is so frustrating to change rooms yet have the Sonos app still list the old room as being used even though the music is playing in the new room. (Example: Playing music in the ktichen. I go to Rooms, select "Bedroom", unselect "Kitchen". Music plays in Bedroom, Sonos app show it is playing in the Kitchen. Go to Rooms, "Kitchen" is still checked, "Bedroom" is not yet it's playing there.
I hate to say this, but you're still using Rooms incorrectly.
How am I using them incorrectly? I've even tried selecting "Kitchen" and "Bedroom" at the same time and then, say, unchecking "Kitchen" but the app still would show it as "Kitchen". That's what I did in the old app and never had an issue.
If you could give me more detail that would be great, thanks. I'm not adverse to change as I'm in IT and I adapt pretty quickly to new technologies but I hate changes for the sake of change.
Steve
I hate to say this, but you're still using Rooms incorrectly.
Errmm.. can you remind us what you mean - what is the correct way?
I have this same error with the UI (discussed in another thread in Controllers) and it is thought to be inteference related (like many problems with the latest app it seems) - I'll try to get to test my setup with both players wired. But for now I'd like to know how that is using Rooms incorrectly, and how I should use it so I can test properly.
.How am I using them incorrectly? I've even tried selecting "Kitchen" and "Bedroom" at the same time and then, say, unchecking "Kitchen" but the app still would show it as "Kitchen". That's what I did in the old app and never had an issue.
If you could give me more detail that would be great, thanks. I'm not adverse to change as I'm in IT and I adapt pretty quickly to new technologies but I hate changes for the sake of change.
Steve
I can have a go 🙂 The primary purpose of the Rooms tab is to select the room which you want to control:
If I want to control the music in the Kitchen, I click on the bottom (black) Rooms tab, tap 'Kitchen' from the list of room tiles, then all subsequent UI actions apply to the Kitchen. I don't need to click on any other rooms. I can use the My Sonos, Browse and Search tabs, and start playback from any of these -- which then apply to the Kitchen because it's the selected room.
If I want to stop music in the Bedroom, I click on the bottom Rooms tab, click on 'Bedroom', tap the square stop icon. And so on.
The Rooms tab can also be used for grouping, by clicking the Group button on the display tile of each room.
If you are attempting to change rooms by checking or unchecking the boxes next to room names, YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG!!!! That is for grouping only. Changing from one room to another can ONLY be done via the Rooms tab. Tap the Rooms tab, tap the room name (not the Group button) and the room will be selected down the bottom. Double tap the room from the Rooms tab and the Now Playing screen will pop up for that Room.
OK. I had no idea that they were different functions and I don't think I've ever been in the Rooms tab or even remember seeing it. I'm not at home now but will try it later.
Appreciate the help!
Steve
.How am I using them incorrectly? I've even tried selecting "Kitchen" and "Bedroom" at the same time and then, say, unchecking "Kitchen" but the app still would show it as "Kitchen". That's what I did in the old app and never had an issue.
If you could give me more detail that would be great, thanks. I'm not adverse to change as I'm in IT and I adapt pretty quickly to new technologies but I hate changes for the sake of change.
Steve
I can have a go 🙂 The primary purpose of the Rooms tab is to select the room which you want to control:
If I want to control the music in the Kitchen, I click on the bottom (black) Rooms tab, tap 'Kitchen' from the list of room tiles, then all subsequent UI actions apply to the Kitchen. I don't need to click on any other rooms. I can use the My Sonos, Browse and Search tabs, and start playback from any of these -- which then apply to the Kitchen because it's the selected room.
If I want to stop music in the Bedroom, I click on the bottom Rooms tab, click on 'Bedroom', tap the square stop icon. And so on.
The Rooms tab can also be used for grouping, by clicking the Group button on the display tile of each room.
WORST APP UPDATE EVER! MAKES ME HATE MY SONOS SYSTEM
I've been a big complainer about the new app on here mainly due to the blinding white background. I haven't had a chance to use the app much due to that..until now. We both got new phones so I was forced to use the new app. And now I can list all the reasons that I do not like this new version at all. But first, Sonos, why not just apologize, put the old app back and start over? YouTube on my Roku recently did this (horrible updated, then suddenly they reverted back to the prior one). All I hear is that you're giving them feedback. Yet NOTHING gets done. You released a Beta version that has made most of your user base unhappy. This thread is now 18 pages and going strong. Anyway...
1. The white as been mentioned a zillion times. Pretty easy to patch it with a dark theme considering that was the norm before.
2. "My Sonos". What a dumb name. Go back to "Favorites". And since it's two of us using Sonos, it's not really My Sonos, it's Our Sonos.
3. Allow us to re-order the Favorites, er My Sonos. I don't want it in alphabetical order.
4. The icons. My goodness, we all have large phone screens and I get four to a page and have to keep scrolling? I believe the old app had six.
5. Rooms. What a mess. I can't even describe how poorly this works. It is so frustrating to change rooms yet have the Sonos app still list the old room as being used even though the music is playing in the new room. (Example: Playing music in the ktichen. I go to Rooms, select "Bedroom", unselect "Kitchen". Music plays in Bedroom, Sonos app show it is playing in the Kitchen. Go to Rooms, "Kitchen" is still checked, "Bedroom" is not yet it's playing there.
6. The widget says I'm not connected to Sonos when I'm on my WiFi. Happens every time I leave the house and come back.
I have more issues but six is good for now.
What a shame. Great speakers, horrific customer service. Yeah, yeah, I know, you've submitted it for feedback. How about an apology saying you're sorry for releasing a beta app and ticking off your customers who are clearly not happy with the app or the company right now?
Steve
I wish someone more Twitter literate than me would take this to @sonos and @Patrick_Spence (CEO). He claims he is interested in the future of music, but he has stopped my wife listening to it because she hates the app.
Maybe they would take some notice there?
WORST APP UPDATE EVER! MAKES ME HATE MY SONOS SYSTEM
Ryan S - Is there any update/timeline on when the usability issues with the control App are going to be sorted? Like others, I'm still finding it very frustrating to use. Thanks.
Just want to thank pwt as I figured out the rooms situation better last night. And, I thought the widget was working because as soon as I came home the lock screen had what my wife was playing and the widget was working. Woke up this morning and it had the ye olde "Not Connected to Sonos" message again. But, I've got one thing checked off so I'll consider it a win for today because I'm tired. 🙂
Steve
I guess I will go ahead an weigh in on the new app. I've kinda avoided it because from past experience I really dislike the tone most people take like this is some life or death issue. And being I have been around a while I tend to get bashed as some kind of Sonos shill.
Do I like the new app - no not really. I find myself going to the wrong room selection screen with the new red room menu in now playing. I don't really like how the now playing card slides up over everything and the only way to get back to anything is slide away now playing. I think leaving the bottom buttons visible when now playing is active and not making it a slide over everthing would be better. and make now playing a button then. I think if you go back if memory serves me that is the way it was about 4 years. ago. I did get used to the rooms being at top but that is just because I was then used to it - not that it was the best way (speaking of rooms - as other have said way way to much white space - you should be able to see a lot more rooms per screen). Sometimes Sonos makes to big a changes that are hard to adapt to quickly because the navigation is so different.
Is this version earth shattering. No I don't particularly find it that annoying. Actually what I find more annoying is the version prior that started the whole thing of Play From Here deleting the queue. I still hate that and the fact there is no Party Mode to lock the queue. But hey I've complained about that for probably 5 years and Sonos isn't going to listen to me or others about that. Does that take away my enjoyment of Sonos. No (well sometimes when someone deletes my queue). Am I going to be all up in arms because Sonos isn't listening to me. No. Is there a better system I can move to. No.
I do expect to see some UI tweaks to the current app - but not immediately - yes in the next development cycle (sonos doesn't move quick like that). Will they look at peoples opinions. Yes. Will they make sure they satisfy those requests. No. Will they give someone back old version of App. Absolutely not.
Now you all can continue your rants/calling people fandboys etc. as many of the thread around do. Although this one of late seems to show some respectfulness to it. I'm going to unsubsribe to this thread and avoid the other people bound to pop up as soon as I post this - as I don't want to get caught up in all the hate, bashing, and acting like the sky is falling.
Would love the ability to play through the speakers without using the app. Id be using them much more
I don't use playlists much as I often prefer to listen to stations in order to hear new music. Today I tried helping my wife use a Christmas music playlist she created last year. For the moment we'll ignore the corruption of the list as it now shows album covers and song titles totally irrelevant to the song playing, and we have not idea where it's picking up some of the songs that were never in the playlist.
Regardless, I'm glad I don't use playlists much. I've been trying for a while now to figure out how to create a new playlist on the new app. Pretty much have given up...
Tap the three dots next to track. Add to Sonos playlist. New plaaylist
