Sonos introduces New Search

Related content:Software

129 replies
5842 views

Hi all,

Last week we started rolling out New Search, a new feature that will make it easier to find content in the Sonos app.

What’s New Search?

We’re introducing a new single search box that searches across all categories (Artists, Songs, Albums, Playlists etc), to improve your overall search experience. This means that you no longer need to select a category to search in ahead of time. Instead, the search results will be broken down by category, and aggregated across all your content services, which you can easily switch between at the top of the search menu.

When performing a search, you will be able to narrow your search results by content service, rather than by category.

To try New Search, tap on “Try the New Search” in the search menu.

New Search will be rolling out to all users over the coming weeks, with all users receiving the feature by 25th April [edited from 18th April].

This means that not all of you will have access to New Search right away, but you can expect it soon.

Will New Search look through all of my audio sources?

New Search does not currently support searching through personal music libraries, “On this Device” (Android) content, or music services with library functionalities.

Why is my specific music service not being searched?

While the vast majority of content services on Sonos are available in New Search, there are some that are not yet compatible. We’re working with our partners to add more music services to New Search and look forward to rolling these out over time. In the meantime, all music services continue to be compatible with classic search.

I liked the classic search option, can I use that instead?

You can switch between Classic Search and New Search by navigating to the search menu and tapping the buttons labeled “Switch to Classic Search” and “Try the New Search” respectively.

Is Classic Search going away?
No, users will continue to have the option to use classic search .

Please note: We can’t grant you access to New Search prior to it being available to you.

For further information, please see how to switch between New Search and Classic Search.

Stanley_4

Grand Maestro

Will we be able to prioritize the music service list so our favorite(s) come first and we don’t have to scroll down every time we search?

Corry P

Sonos Staff

Hi @Stanley_4

Not only that, but it will happen automatically!

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein

Corry P

Sonos Staff

Hi @Stanley_4

To clarify a little, you cannot change the order of music services manually, but New Search will order the list based on the aggregate household listening history, so results from services listened to the most appear first.

This does not relate to “favourites” saved in My Sonos.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein

C

craigski

Local Superstar

@Corry P - Just to clarify, a search using Sonos App on ‘my’ phone, will be an aggregate of the searches of everyone on the Sonos system in the household, and not local/specific to ‘my’ searches on ‘my’ device? What if different users (devices) have different music tastes and/or use different music services, but share the speaker system?

Corry P

Sonos Staff

Hi @craigski

Yes. It is the speaker system that performs the search and relays the results to your phone, so the music services used the most will appear higher on the list of search results.

For example, if you predominantly use Spotify, and your housemate predominantly uses Apple Music, then when you search for a track, results from these two services will appear first on the list, before results from, say, Amazon (assuming an account for Amazon has been added). If you use the system more than your housemate, results from Spotify will appear at the top of the list. The actual search results that you see will have nothing to do with your housemate’s listening habits, however.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein

BMF

Prodigy III

Please pass on my thanks to the devs for this one, I just had a play and it does seem like a massive improvement so far.

👏👏👏

SarahN

Local Superstar

@Corry P - will this feature just appear in the app without a new update?

I don’t have it yet on my android phone

Can you have too many Sonos speakers? 🤔 😆

bockersjv

Local Superstar

@Corry P - will this feature just appear in the app without a new update?

I don’t have it yet on my android phone

Yes. There have been a few cases of this over the years where an enhancement does not require a system or App update.

BMF

Prodigy III

It just appeared for me without any app update or action from me.

I read a reference to it, that was the first I knew about it… looked and it was not there… it just appeared later on a day or so later

SarahN

Local Superstar

Thanks all - I will just keep an eye out for it 😁

Can you have too many Sonos speakers? 🤔 😆

Show more replies

Sign up

Login to the community