Retired Sonos Staff

‘On this Device’ for Android controller no longer supported

Related content:Software

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Starting May 23rd, 2023, the Sonos S1 and S2 controller for Android will no longer support the ‘On this Device’ feature for streaming locally saved audio files directly to Sonos devices.

As newer versions of mobile operating systems are released, it can sometimes change the way information is shared between devices, and this feature will no longer be compatible with newer versions of the Android operating system.

While this feature will no longer be available in the app, we know local audio files are important to our listeners and we’ll continue to offer other options to enjoy downloaded tracks on Sonos, including:

Streaming the catalog from a music service. There are more than 100 music services available on Sonos, many with several millions of songs.

See our article on 'Adding music services' to get started.

Some music services allow you to upload your own music files to a cloud storage service like YouTube Music for example, which allows for an upload of up to 100,000 files with a free account. Services that allow you to upload files to a cloud storage:

Streaming through music services or cloud storage allows you to access your music without your phone.

You can play music files from your Android device to a supported Sonos product using Bluetooth.

See more about 'Using Bluetooth on Sonos' here.

Setting up a Music Library share on a Network Attached Storage (NAS) drive. You’d need to have the drive available in your network when you want to play music, but your library would be easy to transfer to these devices, if it isn’t already on them.

See our article on 'Using a NAS drive with Sonos' to get started.

If you have a Sonos Play:5, Connect, Connect:Amp, Amp, Era 100 or Era 300 (with the Line-In dongle), you have a Sonos player with a Line-In connection. Using that Line-In, you can play music directly from any device connected to it, to any player around the house.

See more about 'Using the Line-In on Sonos' here.

We'll continue to support everyone through this change, and will help you through the necessary steps to keep listening to your favorite tracks on Sonos.

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Frustrateduser1980

Lyricist II

I'm hoping that a class action lawsuit materializes. Until the mandatory app update, certain functionality (that was part of the product when I purchased it) was removed without my consent. There was no technical reason (such as an Android update) for Sonos to do it. Is "removing functionality" covered by the Terms and Conditions?

I'm afraid you are out of luck. Like most software, your Sonos EULA explictly states "Sonos reserves the right to discontinue access to and/or support for any third party service, content or technology at any time, and for any reason." This is just one clause, there are several pertaining to third party content and services.

This clause covers services, content, and technology provided by third parties, not technology provided by Sonos.

Wow. Sonos will never get my money ever again. Selling this speaker that is now useless to me. Bought it so I could play my own music, not the radio...

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Frustrateduser1980

Lyricist II

I'm hoping that a class action lawsuit materializes. Until the mandatory app update, certain functionality (that was part of the product when I purchased it) was removed without my consent. There was no technical reason (such as an Android update) for Sonos to do it. Is "removing functionality" covered by the Terms and Conditions?

I'm afraid you are out of luck. Like most software, your Sonos EULA explictly states "Sonos reserves the right to discontinue access to and/or support for any third party service, content or technology at any time, and for any reason." This is just one clause, there are several pertaining to third party content and services.

This clause covers services, content, and technology provided by third parties, not technology provided by Sonos.

Wow. Sonos will never get my money ever again. Selling this speaker that is now useless to me. Bought it so I could play my own music, not the radio...

And what normal human being would read a EULA to understand the risk of buying this garbage anyway. Did Ikea know too? Sneaky Sonos. Sneaky.

Airgetlam

I’m really confused as to why you think Sonos is doing this.

It seems fairly evident to me, as an iOS user who went through this process back in August of 2019 that this is being forced on Sonos by changes that Google is making to the Android operating system, just as Apple did to us iOS users back in the day. I’m not sure what ‘advantage’ Sonos gains by removing this feature, and making some large portion of their user base unhappy. Why would they choose to do this, if they were not being forced, by Google, who controls the Android OS?

Bruce

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unojojo

Lyricist I

Sooooo FRUSTRATING!!! 😰

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nik9669a

Senior Virtuoso

Sooooo FRUSTRATING!!! 😰

Agreed. So many folk on so many threads blaming Sonos for something which is out of their control.

106rallye

As I said, I just repeated what I read hear. I do not use YTM myself (I own a NAS).

You say your where prompted to pay - question is, if paying was obligatory.

T

ToJa

Lyricist I

So this update to the S2, when I lost the ability to play music from my phone, made me go back to the S1 with my Playbar and voila, I can enjoy music from my phone again. No more automatic updates :)

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So_Nos_is_trash

Lyricist I

This has basically rendered my Play1 useless as I am not going to setup a NAS or subscribe to a music service.

Only service that was able to upload mg songs was ibroadcast after jumping through hoops after hoop.

Yes my play1 is oks but sonos is a premium product and i paid a premium price for it back in the day. It should not be this difficult just to play the songs from my library on my android phone. Sonos is worse than apple jailing you to in their eco system.

I will.say I recently bought a JBL flip 5 for half the price I paid for this play 1 almost a decade ago and I am far more satisfied with the flip 5.

* sonos. I will never buy another product from you again.

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

106rallye

According to Sonos, it’s not Sonos locking you in but Google locking you out…….

I found iBroadcast very easy to use, bit I upload files from a computer. No hoops there.

You have to remember playing files from an (easily lost.misplaced etc.) phone seems very old fashioned to most people.

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crooked_tree

Contributor I

This is absolute ****. Terrible, not happy at all

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

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