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.
Typically in the UK Sonos App updates appear about 18:00 BST, so it will be while yet.
Turned off “auto update” on my apps this morning. Looking forward to hearing about others experiences with the new app and local music as that is the only thing I use Sonos for.
For those who want to download it it’s just appeared on my update list on iOS
I will wait for a while before I install it
Near as I can tell, having just installed the iOS version, it is indeed merely a UI change, there was no associated firmware update (yet?). It will take a little muscle memory retraining, and I suspect there are those who won’t like ‘change’, but it looks spiffy, without having used it beyond looking for ‘update my system’ functionality.
I’ve updated - had to re-authorise my Apple Music account but so far cannot get anything to play through my Sonos system via the new app. Everything plays OK to my via Airplay from Apple Music app, just nothing (so far) via the Sonos app
Edit:
…and all of a sudden it’s started working 5 minutes after posting!!
It’s bad news for anyone on iOS who uses their local library a lot
No ability to scroll through album or artist lists quickly as there is no quick access alphabet on the right hand side. No search function either.
Can’t find playlists either. Looks like that function has gone
It’s bad news for anyone on iOS who uses their local library a lot
No ability to scroll through album or artist lists quickly as there is no quick access alphabet on the right hand side. No search function either.
Can’t find playlists either. Looks like that function has gone
Indeed.
Where has the ability to search my library gone? The search facility only appears to work across streaming services and does not include the local library, as it used to.
Also albums appear as a list rather than a grid, which is particularly annoying on my iPad. I can’t see a way to change this.
Even though I have music playing on a device, it says the music queue is empty and won’t allow me to change the volume.
Sleep timers appear to have gone.
This is really poor. Does no one test these things? I have found these major issues within a minute of starting the app.
@SilverGrey
When I do a search and tap on Apple Music there is a toggle to switch the search between “Apple Music” and “My Library”. Not sure if this is how your local library is set up but it definitely showing me music I have stored locally that way.
@SilverGrey
When I do a search and tap on Apple Music there is a toggle to switch the search between “Apple Music” and “My Library”. Not sure if this is how your local library is set up but it definitely showing me music I have stored locally that way.
I use TIDAL and Bandcamp and there’s no toggle. I can only search across these 2 sources only and don’t have the ability to add my local library.
Is the web app up yet? I see that its supposed to be available at the same time as as the new phones apps but can;t find an address or a link for it anywhere.
@SilverGrey “My Library” only shows up for certain services (Apple, Amazon and YouTube for me). But since Apple Music is the only service where I have local library I’m guessing this is just “my library” in the cloud for each of these services. So its to local files.
If Sonos has cut out local music streaming of the new app they are going to have a lot of angry customers.
Just updated on iPhone and lost ability to play the custom radio stations URLs, I am still seeing.
Click on the tiles in my favorites doesn’t connect speaker with the radio station URL. Nothing happens.
Where are my playlists? Can't seem to find them in the web app.
Found them. They're in Sonos Favorites.
Any cosmetic improvements (which are subjective anyway) are massively outweighed by:
Not being able to search locally stored music
The awful system for navigating locally stored music - no alphabet at the side of the screen means swiping through albums, slowly, as they load, somehow more slowly than they did before.
Not being able to add songs to the queue. An absolute basic feature of a music playing app.
Another Sonos disaster, and not worse than the time their update literally stopped the Port playing music, but close enough.
The web app needs a light mode, can’t seem to see where this is in the settings
Also the side panel (on default view) duplicates almost exactly the functionality of the panel at the bottom.
When you press on the queue button it doesn’t scroll to the currently playing track (the app does this). It’s also painfully slow and scrolls down about 10 tracks a time, nice when your playlist is c. 500 items.
I get this is new but in 5 mins or less of using this there shouldn’t be such basic UX flaws which testing would pick up.
It also doesn’t appear to be possible in the web app to remove items from the queue or drag and drop them to reorder.
Was this even tested?
For anyone missing the sleep timer, the Mac Sonos Controller still works.
I just tried a 15 min timer and it worked ok
The new web app doesn’t seem to have it though.
Eh?
If you use an iPhone SE with a smaller screen, you can’t use the new web app because the screen size is “unsupported”.
Eh?
What screen size?
The iOS apps appear to be OK but for now the web app - whilst being probably a good idea in general (and replaces things like sonos-web quite nicely with an in house solution) has a lot of features and work needed before it can replace the Windows and macOS apps
