Today we are introducing the most extensive app redesign ever, creating an unprecedented streaming experience that allows listeners to organize their favorite playlists, stations, albums and more from over 100 services on one customizable Home screen.
Home Screen
The new Home screen provides faster access to Sonos system controls with one easy swipe up, making tab to tab jumping a thing of the past. As a leader in sound experience that’s focused on creating a better way to listen, Sonos intentionally redesigned the app on a modern software platform for an easier, faster and better experience that can support more rapid innovation.
The reimagined app supports all existing S2 products and will be available globally through a software update for the S2 mobile app.
100+ streaming services, one Home screen
The redesigned Sonos app prioritizes a listening experience that’s human - allowing you to bring your true favorites front and center and giving you more control to make your streaming experience your own.
Get into your music (and off the app) faster: No need to tap between tabs —the new Home screen serves up all your favorite content and controls, all in one place. Quickly jump back into your recently played, browse libraries and recommendations from your preferred services, and fill your home with music and all the sounds you love.
Customize and curate: Enjoy unparalleled curation by designing your Home screen to reflect how you listen. Pin rows of your favorite content and services; then move, edit, or rearrange them to your liking.
Search every streaming library: Look for an artist, song, podcast, or audiobook across all your preferred streaming apps at once via an easy-to-use search bar that’s always available right on your Home screen.
Elevated system control: Swipe up from the bottom of your Home screen to seamlessly control your entire system and access a visual overview of what’s playing on each of your products, quickly group speakers, and dial in on the perfect volume from anywhere in the app.
Accessible from any modern web browser, a brand new web app allows listeners the same seamless system control as the mobile app.
The new Web App
The Web App will be available alongside the redesigned mobile app on May 7, 2024.
Want to find out more about the new Sonos App? Have a look at the Info Hub section of the community for a complete rundown of the new user interface.
No. That’s not true. At least for me. In the Favorites section are only my playlists made by Apple. However all my individual playlists have disappeared. It’s a disaster.
What a nightmare the new app. I am serious think about ditching the whole system. It is deadslow radio channels have disappeared. Figuring out how to tweak the eq base and treble requires highschool experience. It did not solve the intermittent problem of playing music. @sonos please fix this rapidly or accept losing customers.
The Sonos Playlists are now in the Sonos Favorites ‘Pinned Category’, you probably just need to expand it.
Sorry, @Ken_Griffiths, they're not there. I admit, they were there yesterday, for a brief period, but they disappeared all of a sudden and they're gone since.
The Sonos Playlists are now in the Sonos Favorites ‘Pinned Category’, you probably just need to expand it.
Sorry, @Ken_Griffiths, they're not there. I admit, they were there yesterday, for a brief period, but they disappeared all of a sudden and they're gone since.
The playlists are stored on the Speakers themselves - see if changing the associated speaker for your controller device brings them back.
The preview page on the website seems to suggest there will be no ipad app, we’ll now have to use a browser on ipad. That’s terrible if true.
Also, I suspect ‘classic’ search will no longer be available rendering locally stored content unplayable as the new search doesn’t work with local content in your own media library.
If the above things are true this is a terrible update.
I don’t want to get all negative as none of us have played with it yet, but I hate fiddling about with a phone screen and the whole move to home automation cries out a full l-on wide tablet / iPad experience. And no I don’t want a browser experience either. Oh God, I’m reading far too much into this, but already I'm finding what I’ve read so far kinda depressing.
Yep, an iPad is the perfect remote control for a home music system, removing this ability and forcing you to use a smaller home screen is an utterly ludicrous decision.
And if they’ve removed the ability to play locally stored content on my network I need a whole new system that won’t be Sonos.
They’ve removed the local library function ??? I can’t local library settings anywhere in the videos. Seriously I will be one VERY unhappy (and soon to be ex) Sonos user if this is true.
Guys….I hope it’s a joke… they can’t be so stupid to have erased one of the best service offered…the possibility to stream a local library…again…It should be a joke… otherwise I sell everything!!
Does someone in charge at Sonos not understand what makes Sonos great? I love music, have loved Sonos as the best way to play it, and am actually sad/confused/angry over exactly how bad this update is. I would have thought Sonos would have learned something from previous poorly messaged and poorly managed update debacles; you lost a lot of brand goodwill over the S1/S2 thing; however in that situation it was still possible to get a good music listening experience. As far as I can tell in this update (v10 for iOS at least), it’s not at all possible to get a good music listening experience.
What’s so bad that I noticed just in the first few minutes of using the new app?
search doesn’t work well
no queue management
significant lag just starting playback
Please roll back immediately.
Guys….I hope it’s a joke… they can’t be so stupid to have erased one of the best service offered…the possibility to stream a local library…again…It should be a joke… otherwise I sell everything!!
I guess not because a users local library is still there for many users - see screenshots attached from my Sonos App, just as an example, to show the new App definitely has that feature.
Guys….I hope it’s a joke… they can’t be so stupid to have erased one of the best service offered…the possibility to stream a local library…again…It should be a joke… otherwise I sell everything!!
I guess not because a users local library is still there for many users - see screenshots attached from my Sonos App, just as an example, to show the new App definitely has that feature.
Yeah it’s there for sure, just sometimes it inexplicably doesn’t show up. It shows up in Sonophone and other third party apps I’m using, just not always in the official Sonos app … because its a buggy POS imo.
The Sonos Playlists are now in the Sonos Favorites ‘Pinned Category’, you probably just need to expand it.
Sorry, @Ken_Griffiths, they're not there. I admit, they were there yesterday, for a brief period, but they disappeared all of a sudden and they're gone since.
The playlists are stored on the Speakers themselves - see if changing the associated speaker for your controller device brings them back.
Have reset the app. To no avail. Have logged out and back in. To no avail.
Guys….I hope it’s a joke… they can’t be so stupid to have erased one of the best service offered…the possibility to stream a local library…again…It should be a joke… otherwise I sell everything!!
I guess not because a users local library is still there for many users - see screenshots attached from my Sonos App, just as an example, to show the new App definitely has that feature.
Yeah it’s there for sure, just sometimes it inexplicably doesn’t show up. It shows up in Sonophone and other third party apps I’m using, just not always in the official Sonos app … because its a buggy POS imo.
and (also / or?) because it takes ages for the app to react / scan whatever it has to scan to function - see for instrance how incredibly slowly it reacts to attempts at changing the volume of one (or more) speakers. You may want to wait a bit when on the m,ain screen and see if your libray finally shows up.
Guys….I hope it’s a joke… they can’t be so stupid to have erased one of the best service offered…the possibility to stream a local library…again…It should be a joke… otherwise I sell everything!!
I guess not because a users local library is still there for many users - see screenshots attached from my Sonos App, just as an example, to show the new App definitely has that feature.
Yes the library is there…
…just can’t browse or search it.
making it impossible to use in practice.
when we invested in Sonos 10+ years ago it was all about making streaming music from NAS simple and straightforward to one or many speakers.
New stuff is potentially great but not at the expense of the basics. Fortunately Sonopad IOS app works great for us.
Will the Windows11 Desktop application be updated?
As far as i am aware,later in time, the Desktop app will be terminated as it is replaced by the web app. But someone correct me if i'm wrong.
Which is just the final straw for me.
I am at least grateful that I know this now, so I have time to research alternate systems to SONOS. Thanks to this non-functional app, and planned future "updates" deleting more features, I'm ready to start over and shell out some money for products that won't get bricked by an all-powerful overlord.
Suggestions? Something with open-source controls maybe?
It is disappointing that Sonos slashed my unwavering 100% confidence over a decade of passionate use, loyalty and promotion of your system.
Bravo, you set your app back to the 1990s. It now has the functionality and flexibility of my once innovative Sony100 disc CD player. I can no longer instantly customize what is being played, besides switching discs, shuffling it all, or skipping.
The inability to edit by adding, removing, reordering or combining the Sonos queue and Spotify playlists is an insult because this was a critical feature I loved most about your platform. I no longer see the value in your platform or system.
You can earn your phenomenal reputation back by allowing users the option to install the prior version ASAP while you clean up this senselessly self-inflicted mess. We all make mistakes, you had a good run. Now show some humility and you’re certain to get back on-track with your most loyal customers.
Thank you for allowing feedback and your attempts to correct course.
that will be fun 🤣
Quote: “(...)some of you might have questions when you have had a week to get to know the new Sonos App interface. Because of that, we want to give you all a chance to ask some of the people who were integral in its creation and design, the questions that have come to mind while you have used the app.
We are therefore happy to announce our first live Community AMA!
Our panelists will be:
Diane Roberts, Senior Director of Software Development
Kate Wojogbe, Senior Director of User Experience
Tucker Severson, Director of Product Management
It will be hosted on the 14th of May from 11:00 until 14:00 GMT -07.
If you look at the right side of this page, you can see the when the AMA happens, in your local time.”
Yeah it’s there for sure, just sometimes it inexplicably doesn’t show up. It shows up in Sonophone and other third party apps I’m using, just not always in the official Sonos app … because its a buggy POS imo.
and also / or beacause it takes ages for the app to react / scan whatever it has to scan to function - see for instrance how incredibly slowly it reacts to attempts at changing the volume of one (or more) speakers.
I’m not seeing the local library not show-up on my iOS controllers, but I agree with the lag on the ‘grouped’ volume sliders - but the sliders work.
It’s perhaps just a case of further optimisation is needed in this area, but these things can come later (for me, at least) as I think getting the ‘missing’ playback/queue-editing features put back in the new App is more of a priority, that’s from my own perspective.
What is clearly more important than my own ‘wants’, is for the screen-reader voice-over accessibility features to work well for those that are visually impaired. I’d really like that to be ‘top of the pile’ for the next App update as it is clear that some have highlighted that issue too.
that will be fun 🤣
Quote: “(...)some of you might have questions when you have had a week to get to know the new Sonos App interface. Because of that, we want to give you all a chance to ask some of the people who were integral in its creation and design, the questions that have come to mind while you have used the app.
We are therefore happy to announce our first live Community AMA
OMG YES, can't wait 🍿👀🍿
Yeah it’s there for sure, just sometimes it inexplicably doesn’t show up. It shows up in Sonophone and other third party apps I’m using, just not always in the official Sonos app … because its a buggy POS imo.
and also / or beacause it takes ages for the app to react / scan whatever it has to scan to function - see for instrance how incredibly slowly it reacts to attempts at changing the volume of one (or more) speakers.
I’m not seeing the local library not show-up on my iOS controllers, but I agree with the lag on the ‘grouped’ volume sliders - but the sliders work.
It’s perhaps just a case of further optimisation is needed in this area, but these things can come later (for me, at least) as I think getting the ‘missing’ playback/queue-editing features put back in the new App is more of a priority, that’s from my own perspective.
What is clearly more important than my own ‘wants’, is for the screen-reader voice-over accessibility features to work well for those that are visually impaired. I’d really like that to be ‘top of the pile’ for the next App update as it is clear that some have highlighted that issue too.
They say May 21 for Voiceover support. About the same priority as alarms. It’s still 14 days too long.
Personally I want to:
Stream from a local file share
Be able to add a custom stream URL, which i do with the old TuneIn app that actually works well for this purpose (unlike the “new” one)
The new app takes this functionality away from the product i paid significant money for. Going to another room to use the desktop app isn’t a solution (who knows how long that will be around now anyway).
Lots of other missing features that are important to others. I thought Sonos could be trusted more than the big tech companies with similar products. Shouldn’t have spent the extra and just got cheaper Amazon speakers, lesson learnt.
I installed the old Android app, i wont be updating it until I can use the product as I can now. I wont be updating my speakers in case it breaks compatibility with the old app.
To add insult to injury the app has suddenly decided that I do have a music library.
Fired up the controller on the iPhone and the library appeared phew thats good me thinks!
Fired up the Ipad and no music library, rebooted it, and just generally buggered around, cant add it as there is no option.
Was just about to give up and bingo it appeared!
There is nothing I hate more than software that is not consistent.!!
Thank you to those who recommended SonoPad / SonoPhone.
Definitely worth $2 to get queue editing back. And it’s just a nice interface to use overall.
The new app is a disaster. On top of being less intuitive and easy to use than the prior version (which mostly worked great) there are terrible UI lag times, services randomly disappearing, and worst of all, zones changes and adjustments frequently don’t work at all, music stops playing or won’t start, speakers drop out of groups at random. After years of multi-zone whole home audio enjoyment, the product is unusable. I have $$$ upgraded amps and speakers throughout the house we currently can’t use.
As a software development manager, would love to gain an understanding of what your QA process looks like. Please restore the previous app and support your customers until you guys fix it.
They say May 21 for Voiceover support. About the same priority as alarms. It’s still 14 days too long.
Yes, that’s just 10 days to wait now, by my reckoning, but I’m a fairly patient-sort anyway.
I’m not sure if the accessibility features can perhaps be incorporated/pushed from the server-side on a rolling basis either, but that gets my priority. As for Sonos Alarms, I don’t use those, I just use Alexa Alarms on Sonos instead.
Why do some of those who have spent 1000s on Sonos think they are more deserving than than the 1 speaker punter, and demand an immediate definitive response, otherwise they'll sell their investment immediately? Don't they realise that at the moment the resale value will be miniscule - a good investment for anybody prepared to employ one of the simple workarounds! 🤣😁
The new app is a disaster. On top of being less intuitive and easy to use than the prior version (which mostly worked great) there are terrible UI lag times, services randomly disappearing, and worst of all, zones changes and adjustments frequently don’t work at all, music stops playing or won’t start, speakers drop out of groups at random. After years of multi-zone whole home audio enjoyment, the product is unusable. I have $$$ upgraded amps and speakers throughout the house we currently can’t use.
As a software development manager, would love to gain an understanding of what your QA process looks like. Please restore the previous app and support your customers until you guys fix it.
If you are indeed a software manager, then you are actually missing/not understanding something here.
The Sonos App is merely a ‘remote’ for Sonos products. It is not a music player and if it initiates playback on a group of speakers, then that playback is between the audio source and the group-coordinating speaker/product, which in turn distributes the music to the secondary devices in a timely manner and keeps all in perfect sync.
You could at that point in time having started the audio stream, close the App and power-down the controller device. So if your speakers are stopping playback, or dropping from the group, it’s not going to be anything to do with the new Sonos App, it’s far more likely an end-to-end network issue.
It is a disaster. Why did you change something that looked and worked beautifully, and make it absolutely horrible?
First, when I open up the app, I do not want to see what services I do or could subscribe to, I do not want to see recently played, and I do not want to see what is trending now. I want to see my system, and what is playing in each zone.
The interface (app) used to be architecturally pleasing so it was no problem leaving it displayed on the home controllers (Samsung pads). Now it looks like another cheap phone application and definitely not appealing.
You can no longer add your own music. I have an extensive library that I used to play from and where all my playlists reside, but with the new application, those are inaccessible.
The sleep timers and alarms are gone. Why? Oh right, because you wanted to reduce functionality!
It is time to ditch Sonos for a product that works and looks like it fits in a luxury home.
I have 3 Amps, 1 Move, 1 Five, and one Port, so it is not a trivial investment.
