Skip to main content
Ryan S
Ryan S
Retired Sonos Staff
October 2, 2017

Now Available, the New Sonos App

Related content:Software



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.
    This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

    527 replies

    Show previous replies
    BCM
    BCM
    October 11, 2017
    There would still be negativity. No matter what changes are implemented, there is still outcry. While I think the white is too bright, it doesn't diminish my enjoyment of Sonos in any way, especially to the point of 'fix it or I'm selling all my Sonos kit!' I've been around this long enough to know they'll make changes. Demands and threats are useless other than raising blood pressure.
      TheBiz
      Lyricist I
      October 11, 2017
      Not a fan of the new app at all. On Android tablets it is very, very difficult to navigate and find *anything* Attempting to change rooms, trying to find Favorites, trying to search for stations -- all took several minutes to find by complete hunt and peck guessing. Previous SONOS apps have always been beautifully simple and I have never hesitated to hand the app to a visitor to control the system. No chance of me doing it with the current app. The current PC app is still familiar and now my preferred way to control the system.
        amun
        October 11, 2017
        The current PC app is still familiar and now my preferred way to control the system.
        Same here. At one time (4.x?) the android tablet app looked the same, and that worked well for me. As far as I'm concerned, each new version since then has just got worse and worse. The team responsible for this deterioration should be sacked, IMHO, as they don't seem to learn from their mistakes.
          Troykm
          Avid Contributor I
          October 12, 2017
          I like the new app. Much better than any that came before.

          But for those who are concerned about battery issues with the white screen, it won’t affect battery life unless the display you are using is OLED. If it’s an LCD display it will use same power regardless of black or white background.

          A dark theme choice would be nice however.
          jacob_7
          Prodigy I
          October 12, 2017
          I have been 'subscribing' to each new topic regarding the app. The list currently stands at 24 SEPARATE topics criticizing it, each with many commenters. There is not a single topic 'I love the new app'. Yes, there is the occasional person who says they like it but they are pretty few amongst the massive majority of detractors.

          People always come to forums when they are unhappy. There are probably way more people who like the new app but they are not the ones who use forums like this.

          What i dont get is the amount of hate. "Morons," sack the design team" etc... Just because in their opinion the app isnt what they want. You'd think Sonos had come for their first born.
          amun
          October 12, 2017
          What i dont get is the amount of hate.
          Hate? Hardly - Just disappointment with the on-going deterioration of the Sonos software - and the amazing rookie mistakes in UI design.
            jacob_7
            Prodigy I
            October 12, 2017
            What i dont get is the amount of hate.
            Hate? Hardly - Just disappointment with the on-going deterioration of the Sonos software - and the amazing rookie mistakes in UI design.

            Expressing disappointment is fine however you should read some of the other 24 threads, there are definitely some haters out there. I also wish that people didn't feel the need create a new thread for the same topic.
            Ken_Griffiths
            Ken_Griffiths
            October 12, 2017

            Expressing disappointment is fine however you should read some of the other 24 threads, there are definitely some haters out there. I also wish that people didn't feel the need create a new thread for the same topic.

            ... or to keep repeating what others have already said, time and time again, in the various threads on the forum.

            I’m sure Sonos have clearly heard what people have had to say about the new App during the past week. Now it’s time to wait (patiently) for the next update to see if they have listened to the end-user comments. I see little point in repeating the same things over and over again, even if those comments are worded slightly differently.

            The software has been released as a 'public beta' and that usually means the company will be listening to the views of the public, before finalising things.

            Ryan S. has clearly said that some changes are coming, that he has passed on the concerns of the community here ...and so it’s now time to sit back and give Sonos the 'time' and 'opportunity' to look at these things.

            The Sonos team are surely looking for constructive criticism, not an 'off the cuff' repetitive slagging off of the software. I think many here should just wait and judge things by the final end product and not keep attacking the same points (over and over again) on what is 'clearly' still very much 'a piece of work in progress'.

            The repetition is starting to feel a little tedious ... just give Sonos time to look at what people’s general views are and let’s see what they come up with next.
              Guy_19
              Guy_19
              Enthusiast II
              October 12, 2017

              Expressing disappointment is fine however you should read some of the other 24 threads, there are definitely some haters out there. I also wish that people didn't feel the need create a new thread for the same topic.

              ... or to keep repeating what others have already said, time and time again, in the various threads on the forum.

              I’m sure Sonos have clearly heard what people have had to say about the new App during the past week. Now it’s time to wait (patiently) for the next update to see if they have listened to the end-user comments. I see little point in repeating the same things over and over again, even if those comments are worded slightly differently.

              The software has been released as a 'public beta' and that usually means the company will be listening to the views of the public, before finalising things.

              Ryan S. has clearly said that some changes are coming, that he has passed on the concerns of the community here ...and so it’s now time to sit back and give Sonos the 'time' and 'opportunity' to look at these things.

              The Sonos team are surely looking for constructive criticism, not an 'off the cuff' repetitive slagging off of the software. I think many here should just wait and judge things by the final end product and not keep attacking the same points (over and over again) on what is 'clearly' still very much 'a piece of work in progress'.

              The repetition is starting to feel a little tedious ... just give Sonos time to look at what people’s general views are and let’s see what they come up with next.
              My only issue is the waiting. We waited a year for Alexa integration, and I find that I can't select from my Music Library (NAS) or Deezer streaming service using voice. If we knew that they have a prioritised backlog of change, and 2 week sprints followed by deployment, then it would be fantastic. It's the fact that they just say "soon" and don't share plans or development methodology that is frustrating.
              7 rooms: One SL Stereo Pair, One SL x 2, Move, Play:5 Gen2 & Port into Arcam AVR with AE floorstanders, Port into Denon microsystem.
              Ken_Griffiths
              Ken_Griffiths
              October 12, 2017
              Guy_19,

              The voice control and ongoing enhancements are in many ways 'free' to existing hardware owners and clearly both Amazon and Sonos will want the public either to buy their hardware, new and old, or subscribe to the available streaming music services they provide.

              I think we should not expect absolutely everything here for 'free', especially in the early days of development... I’m sure Amazon would like to see us all subscribe to either their 'Prime', 'Ultimate' or their 'Shared Family' Music services and purchase one, or more, of their echo devices. In the same vein, Sonos will be hoping to encourage customers to buy their hardware, particularly the new Sonos One speaker.

              The developers may go onto develop 'complete' voice control for locally stored libraries, but from an earnings/business-growth perspective, I don’t think either Amazon, or Sonos, would decide to put that development work at the top of their priority list. Its all about sales and profit in the end and so I think the voice control of locally stored music is something for them to look at later, me thinks.

              I think we should all be very grateful that Sonos have decided to make these 'free' voice-control upgrades available to existing owners of their legacy hardware and have taken us with them on their journey. They could easily have confined the development to the new 'Sonos One' and any future Sonos products in the pipeline, practically forcing us all to buy their new speaker in order to voice control things.

              I am grateful for the work and service the two companies have provided already this year and so far it has cost me very little in real terms... so you won’t hear me complaining about me not being able to play my local library when I now have voice-controlled access to Amazons 40 million tracks for a small monthly outlay. My local music is still available anyway via the app and once an album or playlist is started, I can use voice to then control things anyway.

              I think it’s been a great first round of 'voice control' development ... and I’m quite sure there is plenty more still to come our way in the next few months and years.
                Show more replies
                Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement