The new Sonos Mobile App & Web App

I totally get where @osm is coming from. This is exactly what I am used to for other devices, eg Ring/Amazon/Google/Nest/Apple/Smarthome devices/Smart scales/dog GPS trackers/etc, you share your ‘system’ with other accounts.

Think of the old days, you may have a turntable/amp/speakers, another member of family or visiting friend may have their own collection of records, you allow him to play their music on your system. There is nothing stopping one person taking a record off and putting there own on the turntable. Or someone changing the station on a playing radio. I see this as the modern equivalent, ie you are allowing another user ‘account’ to access your ‘system’.

I am sure Sonos would love to have additional accounts without associated hardware, just from the data harvesting value.

However, I also think there is less and less value in the Sonos App, as more and more native apps can connect to Sonos (Spotify/Airplay/etc), ie the Sonos App is used less now that Native Apps are integrated with Sonos.

Lets see how this goes after the 7th 😀

I wonder if we will need to pay for users (if they bring it) or cloud controller access, in the future, for a low low monthly price. 

Yeah, that would work too. When it comes to other family members, I wouldn’t personally have any particular preference either way (your suggested approach vs each person in getting their own Sonos.com account), but your suggested approach would be better-suited for providing guest access. 

Regarding “Users logging in while off the wifi network (web app) would need to provide the name of the system they are logging into”: Does your phrasing here mean the web app can actually connect to the local (on network) system without need to sign in with a Sonos.com account? I took an earlier comment from you to mean login was always needed when using the web app regardless of whether it was used on or off network. 

I’m not sure these necessarily need to be issues. I personally see profiles as necessary for each user to have their own favourite lists (stations, albums, playlists etc). Basically the lists in My Sonos in the current app. System administration including adding/removing services would require the system administrator to as it does currently.

It’s not just about controlling who has access to which cameras. The approach of utilising shared access via multiple Ring.com accounts is what Ring recommended when I asked them how I could setup the system so that different people living in the house can configure alert/notification settings to their own preferences. I’d be quite surprised if desire to control motion/event notification settings at a user-level instead of system level is uncommon.

Yes, it's game over for what was once Sonos' core customer base - people with local music libraries. The writing was on the wall when New Search was introduced last May. Now, looking at the limited previews of the app, it's a muddled mess with trending, recommenations, playlists and all the other nonsense that makes me steer clear of streaming platforms. And there's still only one service you cannot remove - Sonos Radio. I'm going back to an amp, speakers and laptop setup. 

In fairness, the new app does bring functionality change as it will no longer be able to search local libraries and the current one can.

The thing is that maybe 98% of Sonos users today, none of who visit this forum, will see the new app and love it for all the bells and whistles at their command, now in a contemporary format. This target audience just isn't part of this conversation and I therefore don’t know what Sonos expects as actionable feedback from it.

Those with Connect Amps and Play 3 units - or even Play 1 units - are risking music play disruptions if they stay on the S2 upgrade path that includes the new eye candy. 

This is the announcement forum.  I don’t think Sonos was expecting actionable feedback from this post.  I don’t think they are surprised by the feedback or that it’s unwelcome per se, just that they were not actively looking for critiques of the UI.

This is a new UI, not exactly an upgrade path as you’re portraying it.  Users could get the May 7th update, and never update again (fireware and app).  Yes, there are potential downsides to that strategy, but they are not any different than not getting the UI update to begin with.  The one exception might be that the webapp is server based, and therefore effectively always on the latest version.  It surely is using the standard APIs though, which are not likely to change frequently, or change in a way that breaks existing code using the older versions of the API.

I am simply going by what Corry said about valuing feedback received.

Users of Connect Amps and the like that have suffered equipment collapses subsequent to S2 updates and as of now are still left in the lurch by Sonos may not appreciate the parsing between what this UI is and what it isn't. I don’t see Sonos saying that their new UI isn't going to break more borderline kit either.

Hi @Kumar 

The new app is not going to affect speaker functionality - it’s a User Interface refresh for the controller. As a comparative example, you would not expect a replacement remote for your TV to affect the picture quality.

As a result, it should not be compared to the S1/S2 split - it really isn’t anything like that at all.

I hope this helps.