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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anyotherbizniz

Lyricist III

"an reneging"?

Not worth saying anymore because your SONOS chums would probably delete it again.

H

Hrdnox

Avid Contributor I

This is unbelievable.

They release this like this is normal.

This sucks.

You spend large amounts of money to purchase their equipment, and they get up and change it. Sorry you cant use your equipment any more. Sucks to be you.

This should be a class action lawsuit.

Every single person who owns a Sonos should be paid for the vast amount of hours they spent trying to get the Sonos to work.

They should have been forced to send this notice to every Sonos owner and given them the option for a full refund.

Horrible company.

It is not the end of being able to play your music through Sonos. Youtube Music, Apple Music, Deezer, Plex, and iBroadcast are cloud storage services that work with Sonos. Youtube Music and iBroadcast are free and you can upload an unlimited amount of songs. However, Youtube Music can only import 999 songs to the Sonos Queue. I have a larger library than 999 so I’ve been using iBroadcast and find it to be excellent and easy to navigate.

buzz

Grand Maestro

The fact that so many people only found out about the sudden removal of the functionality and having to search on the Internet to find out what is happening shows Sonos has some work to do in their communications department.

A friend of mine called to inform me that SONOS had sent him an email announcing the change -- several weeks before the change. I did not receive the email because I don’t use the feature.

A

anyotherbizniz

Lyricist III

Just seen that SONOS have two and a half thousand reviews on Trustpilot and they are 81% one star, the lowest possible rating. And quite a few of the recent ones are quoting this issue.

Cue the response from the SONOS chatbot saying all those reviews are the fault of Google ...

jgatie

I've personally never heard of Trustpilot. However, those who buy Sonos via the world's largest online retailer (which actually verifies a purchase) rate Sonos an average of 4.5 stars, with multiple thousands of reviews. Just another example of why one should take online reviews with a grain of salt.

U

user458233

Lyricist I

I'm surprised nobody mentions the Android app “Hi-Fi Cast”. It works with Sonos. Someone on Reddit mentioned it.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.findhdmusic.app.upnpcast&hl=en

buzz

Grand Maestro

I've personally never heard of Trustpilot. However, those who buy Sonos via the world's largest online retailer (which actually verifies a purchase) rate Sonos an average of 4.5 stars, with multiple thousands of reviews. Just another example of why one should take online reviews with a grain of salt.

I regularly have merchants contact me offering perks if I file a very positive review after a purchase. I’ve also had perks offered for me to revise or retract a negative review of a horrible product.

T

TarHeel

Avid Contributor I

I'm surprised nobody mentions the Android app “Hi-Fi Cast”. It works with Sonos. Someone on Reddit mentioned it.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.findhdmusic.app.upnpcast&hl=en

Thank you for this suggestion. This app works on my Android phone and my Android HiFi music player. I am now easily able to cast local device music to my Sonos speakers again. There is one quirk. The app, it casts fine to all of my speakers in my home theater setup - Arc, 2 Fives, and Sub Gen 3. It also casts fine to a single Play Five. However, when I cast to my Play Five stereo pair, the app plays music only on the one I choose in the list of renderers and not to the stereo pair. Thanks again for your suggestion.

melvimbe

Just seen that SONOS have two and a half thousand reviews on Trustpilot and they are 81% one star, the lowest possible rating. And quite a few of the recent ones are quoting this issue.

Cue the response from the SONOS chatbot saying all those reviews are the fault of Google ...

So is that a thing now? If a you don’t like what another user is saying, just declare them to be a bot to invalidate whatever they said?

Here’s the link to the reviews I believe your talking about. There are a few Sonos company profiles, but this is the one with 81% 1 star

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.sonos.com

I sorted by most recent an only see 2 reviews specifically about this issue. Most complaints appear to be about connectivity issues. There are 5 reviews in the last 30 days. There are 108 reviews in the past year.

Danny

S

SamJones6

Avid Contributor I

This change is user hostile.

Instead of investing in making this work (local Android music library is the only way I use my Sonos gear), Sonos yanks the feature.

Very hostile.

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