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Ryan S
Ryan S
Retired Sonos Staff
August 20, 2019

'On this iPhone or iPad' No Longer Available

Related content:Software
Starting today, the ‘On this iPhone or iPad’ feature will no longer be available in the Sonos app. There are still many ways to play your locally saved music library to Sonos and control it from your iOS device, including some good free options.

We first launched ‘On this iPhone or iPad’ in 2012 as an option to play locally saved content from your iOS device before Apple AirPlay was available on Sonos. The way this feature was originally designed has become unreliable with newer versions of iOS and Sonos.

The best way to play the music stored on your phone to Sonos is now by using Apple AirPlay 2 on compatible Sonos speakers (Sonos One, Amp, Beam, Play:5 (Gen 2), Playbase, and SYMFONISK WiFi Speakers). Using AirPlay 2, you can send the audio to one of these products and use the Sonos app to group it with any other Sonos rooms to have them all playing in sync. You can find more information about using AirPlay 2 with Sonos here.

For people who don’t have AirPlay 2 capable Sonos products, additional options to play tracks that are stored on your phone to Sonos include:
  1. Uploading your tracks to a music service with a storage feature, such as Apple Music or Google Play Music. These services will store your library and allow you to stream it anywhere. This is a great option if you have songs that aren’t available on a subscription based streaming service. Also, Google Play Music has a free account option that allows you to upload 50,000 tracks and play them which works with Sonos.
  2. Setting up a Music Library share on a Computer or Network Attached Storage drive. You’d need to have the computer or local drive available when you want to play music, but your library would be easy to transfer to these devices, if it isn’t already on them.
  3. Streaming the catalog from a music service. There are more than 100 music services available on Sonos, many with several millions of songs.
  4. Android mobile devices will continue to have access to the ‘On this device’ feature. If you have an Android phone or tablet, ‘Playing music stored on your Android device’ to Sonos is a great option.
  5. If you have a Sonos Play:5, Connect, Connect:Amp, or Amp, you'll 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. You could even look into connecting a Bluetooth or AirPlay receiving device to that line in to use your mobile device without needing to wire it in to the line-in. See more about 'Using the Line-In on Sonos' here.
With the first three options, your phone doesn’t need to be turned on to listen to your music, and the music will keep on playing even if your phone is off or leaves the house. There are also alarm and Sonos playlist features that are available for most music sources that aren't available from 'On this iPhone'.

More about how to ‘Play music stored on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch’ is on our support pages.

We'll continue to support everyone through this change, and will help them set up the necessary workarounds to keep listening to their favorite tracks on Sonos.
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      353 replies

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      chicks
      chicks
      September 8, 2019
      Best Buy shuts down Insigina Connect app, rendering most of its smart devices useless.

      https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/6/20853671/best-buy-connect-insignia-smart-plug-wifi-freezer-mobile-app-shutdown-november-6

      Lowe's shut down its Iris smart home platform earlier this year, rendering most of its smart devices useless.

      https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/2/18208407/lowes-iris-smart-home-platform-shutting-down-march-2019

      Unlike Sonos, neither of these was caused by changes by Apple to IOS...
      Translate
      Dock
      Lyricist II
      September 13, 2019
      Seems the only answer to the problem given here is to use android devices instead of apple ios. Seems like an incredibly bad startegy for lack of a technical solution from sonos. I now have 2 amps that make nice boat anchors , guess Ill sell them to an android user and move to a different system .

      what incredibly poor customer service ....ohh seems the song skipping issue wasnt wifi interference after all.....
      Translate
        JonnyA
        Contributor I
        September 13, 2019
        I have a Playbar, 3 Sonos One (gen 1) and 2 Play 5 (Gen 1). This update seems to mean I can only play my favourite podcasts & stream music from my phone if I attach a wire and buy a new piece of kit. Correct me if I am wrong but none of my devices are compatible without airplay2.

        4 years after buying I just lost a load of functionality.

        Sonos, you just went from my favourite to most annoying piece of kit. I have spent the last few years evangelising about you to my friends. Unless this is corrected I shall spend the next warning people not to buy your equipment.

        I note a post above saying that future buyers should not be advised against buying Sonos, they should “just buy Airplay2 capable devices.” I shall not be advising them that way, partly because I am highly annoyed but mainly because I perceive it to be bad advice: when Apple upgrade airplay2 they’re likely to be as frustrated as I am.

        Sonos, if you are reading this, please invest time ensuring old kit can have a software upgrade to be Airplay2 compatible, or give a very detailed explanation as to why it is impossible for you to do, or provide me with the kit free of charge.

        Technology moves on, we all get this. But find a way to return the functionality of my perfectly good speakers or I shall never buy another Sonos product.

        I also have a Bose portable speaker and it is outstanding.
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          JonnyA
          Contributor I
          September 13, 2019
          Good point Dock, forgot to mention the fact that Sonos clearly lied when I repeatedly sent them my diagnostic information. They clearly knew exactly what was causing the skipping but kept giving me BS....and correct it by removing my most important functionality.

          I am am not giving up here.



          Seems the only answer to the problem given here is to use android devices instead of apple ios. Seems like an incredibly bad startegy for lack of a technical solution from sonos. I now have 2 amps that make nice boat anchors , guess Ill sell them to an android user and move to a different system .

          what incredibly poor customer service ....ohh seems the song skipping issue wasnt wifi interference after all.....
          Translate
          106rallye
          106rallye
          September 13, 2019
          @JonnyA Your Sonos One’s are Airplay capable. When grouped with one of your other Sonos devices you van use Airplay on those devices too. You problem is not as big as you think it is......

          @Dock Your Connect:Amps (Sonos also has an “Amp” that is Airplay capable) are indeed not Airplay capable, so you reallye have lost functionality, so I can understand you’re annoyed. Would the free Google Music option or buying a 99 dollar Ikea Symfonisk (that is Airplay capable and can be grouped with your Connect:Amps) not be a solution for you?
          Translate
          User528012
          Lyricist I
          September 20, 2019
          Moving away from Sonos - it is nothing like it was. I loved the combination of having all my music available from my harddrive but I also loved being able to play my favorite playlists from my iPhone and the newest music I bought (on my phone). That's no longer possible and the Sonos App has gotten worse and worse in its design. You started out with something fantastic and then degraded it year over year. In ten years time you no longer in the market. At least I know for sure that in ten years time I have no Sonos devices left in my house. (currently 8...)
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          Airgetlam
          Airgetlam
          September 21, 2019
          I guess I don't understand how it's not possible. All you have to do is sync your phone with your iTunes on your hard drive, something I do on a daily basis. Any music I purchased on my phone since the last sync is copied over to the hard drive, and is now available to play on the Sonos.

          I don't have any response to your UI issues. UI is indeed a personal thing. While it's taken a bit for me to get used to this new one, I don't find it any more challenging to use than any of the older ones, it's just a muscle memory adjustment. All the functionality has remained, it's just in slightly different places. But, as I say, this is all personal opinion. My view on it is not better, or worse than yours. It's just different.

          However, the fortunate thing is that Sonos continues to hold great value in the sales market, so if you do take the decision to get rid of yours, you'll likely get a significant amount of your investment back.

          However, in my occasional looks at the marketplace, I've not found anything as good as Sonos out there. There are some products that do a few things extremely well, for sure, but none of them match up to what I get out of my Sonos system (18 speakers at last count).

          But that's the conundrum we need to face with softare driven devices, such as the Sonos computer/speakers that Sonos makes. They'll always have a new UI person who wants to make their mark, and so we'll see slight modifications to the controller app. And new features will continue to be added, so some areas will get more data put into them, which might require UI changes as well.

          Things were simpler back when you bought a receiver and a pair of speakers. No firmware updates, no changes.....but no new features. It's what we pay for when we talk about progress.

          I am thankful that Sonos provides this forum for us to complain in, and give them suggestions. I've not seen anything like it in many other areas of my technological life.

          Best of luck, whichever way you choose to go. It's a big decision.
          Translate
          Bruce
          Ralpfocus
          Prodigy III
          September 24, 2019
          Another option to play music store on an iPhone might be a DLNA server / controller App. I was just looking through an old (Android) tablet and came across a DLNA server, gave it a quick whirl and it will still happily request that a Sonos device renders (plays) music stored on the Tablet, I tried the same using Windows media player and that will also request a Sonos device to play the specified music. I do not have an IOS device so cannot confirm the same is true for that but there are a number of DLNA apps sitting in the Appel Store so it might well be possible.
          Translate
          ltyler
          Lyricist III
          September 27, 2019
          Here is an idea. Why doesn't Sonos set up a 'Streaming Service' which only offers the ablity to play own content which is free to use and can be added via the app that way? This way customers can play their music from their own device easier. Problem solved
          Translate
            jgatie
            jgatie
            September 27, 2019
            Here is an idea. Why doesn't Sonos set up a 'Streaming Service' which is free to use for its customers with their device in order that they can play their music from their own device easier?


            Why should they, when Google Play Music already does it?
            Translate
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