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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Billzy

Lyricist III

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.

Why Remove the " On This Device " feature. No Bluetooth either. Can't play it at home when wifes using Spotify. Time to return this $1300 product.

106rallye

The answer to your question is in the text you quoted: “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.”

Could you elaborate on your Spotify remark? Or is it you are using the same account on Spotify your wife uses? I believe that it is possible to use the same Spotify account to play different music on two Sonos spekaers when started form the Sonos app. Not quite sure about this.

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Billzy

Lyricist III

The answer to your question is in the text you quoted: “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.”

Could you elaborate on your Spotify remark? Or is it you are using the same account on Spotify your wife uses? I believe that it is possible to use the same Spotify account to play different music on two Sonos spekaers when started form the Sonos app. Not quite sure about this.

I was listening to Her Spotify then she opened it up on her phone going home and the Sonos Arc stopped playing. Spotify only lets you use it on 1 device.

106rallye

That's my impression too, but what I was trying to say was that the Sonos system counts as one device. So you can play music from the same Spotify account to different Sonos speakers - provided they are chosen from the Sonos app. Since your wife used het Spotify account outside of Sonos your use on Sonos stopped.

To listen to the music taht is on your phone try one of the possibilities mentioned above - iBroadcast seems nice.

106rallye

Sorry for the typo's, by the way. There's no way to correct them in these kinds of posts…...

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Billzy

Lyricist III

That's my impression too, but what I was trying to say was that the Sonos system counts as one device. So you can play music from the same Spotify account to different Sonos speakers - provided they are chosen from the Sonos app. Since your wife used het Spotify account outside of Sonos your use on Sonos stopped.

To listen to the music taht is on your phone try one of the possibilities mentioned above - iBroadcast seems nice.

Nah in Spotify it only lets you choose 1 device I.e. Sonos(Home-Livingroom), Wife's Phone(at work), My Phone. Etc. this option only lets you choose one. But yeah guess I'll give iBroadcast a go 👍

That's my impression too, but what I was trying to say was that the Sonos system counts as one device. So you can play music from the same Spotify account to different Sonos speakers - provided they are chosen from the Sonos app. Since your wife used het Spotify account outside of Sonos your use on Sonos stopped.

To listen to the music taht is on your phone try one of the possibilities mentioned above - iBroadcast seems nice.

R

Ralpfocus

Prodigy III

There are a number of Android apps that will play to Sonos devices. They use the fact that Sonos devices will accept UPnP /DLNA, In these Apps they will appear as a Media Renderers. The two I have had some recent limited use of are HI-Fi Cast and BubbleUpnP. They both work in a similar manner in that you choose a media source as your input, a renderer as your output, choose your playlist and hit Play. Once you have chosen your output device you can use the Sonos App to group speakers together.

IRC they have difficulty with Stereo pairs but you can group a single speaker with a stereo pair and it works fine,

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Brizza

Lyricist I

I am extremely annoyed that “Starting May 23rd, 2023, we’re removing the ability to play audio files directly to Sonos using the “On this device” menu in the Sonos app for Android “

Call me old fashioned but the whole point of having my own music collection is that I could play music wirelessly to my complete Sonos system (not just a portable bluetooth speaker) without having to stream some third party, possibly remixed version of a classic album that relies on an internet connection. If the developers can get it to work on an expensive and energy inefficient NAS drive surely it is possible to use storage on an android phone! I am not convinced whatsoever that the excuses made by the Sonos developers are true 😪

jgatie

I am extremely annoyed that “Starting May 23rd, 2023, we’re removing the ability to play audio files directly to Sonos using the “On this device” menu in the Sonos app for Android “

Call me old fashioned but the whole point of having my own music collection is that I could play music wirelessly to my complete Sonos system (not just a portable bluetooth speaker) without having to stream some third party, possibly remixed version of a classic album that relies on an internet connection. If the developers can get it to work on an expensive and energy inefficient NAS drive surely it is possible to use storage on an android phone! I am not convinced whatsoever that the excuses made by the Sonos developers are true 😪

I can stream my entire personal music collection just fine. I can also put them into playlists or alarms, and play them without my phone battery draining or even being on. Been able to do it since before Android or iPhones were even invented.

As to Sonos’ “excuse”, why else would they remove a feature some customers seem to benefit from? Sonos doesn’t make a dime from any music services except their own, and their own isn’t a stream on demand service, it’s radio stations.

106rallye

@Billzy Your screen grab does not look like you are using the Sonos app. You can ad Spotify to the Sonos app like this: https://support.spotify.com/uk/article/spotify-on-sonos/

Then when you are both home and using the Sonos app for Spotify you can play different music on different speakers.

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