found a workaround for the problem caused by new Sonos controller app when adding a new speaker

P
Userlevel 4
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Trying to add a new speaker to an existing Sonos system doesn’t work with the new Sonos controller on iOS.

There is a way to workaround this.

Firstly, in the controller try to add the new speaker as usual.  You will get so far and the app will keep crashing.   You’re probably getting an error like this:
 

Secondly, you need to go into the controller app and choose to transfer ownership of the system (settings/manage/transfer system ownership), putting in your account as both old and new owners. All speakers including the one that you tried to add unsuccessfully will now transfer to your account and work perfectly. 

19 replies

G

That worked for me too. Thank you. 
Now to add three more speakers…

M

Worked for me after a long day of frustration. Thanks so much!

S

Wow. Thank you. That’s what we get for buying a speaker at the same time as a major app release. But this nailed it. Saved me 138 minutes on hold! 

P

Worked for me too. Thanks for the fix!

B

Worked!!!  Struggling for 3 days.  Thank you.

M

I couldn’t get my app to show me the ability to transfer ownership.

 

So for anyone else having this crash loop, I was able to get the devices to register and update in a fresh install of Sonos app from within an Android phone (it was IOS that was having the issues).  Once the devices were added, registered and updated in the Android device, I erased and re-installed Sonos on the iOS device to get out of the loop, then reinstalled and viola, the devices are all fine now in the IOS App.  The crashing and doom loop seem to be an IOS problem for now. 

Hope this helps anyone stuck waiting for resolution from Sonos.  How they, this many years in, continue to release such god awful buggy software that constantly fails updates, registration, etc… is beyond me.  Thinking of moving to Bluesound just because of how bad the Sonos app system is… anyway, this solved the new buggy app issue for me with devices.

K

Days of frustration solved by this tip. Thank you!

Y
Userlevel 2

Worked for me as well.

Still selling all my Sonos gear though.
I don’t trust Sonos anymore and they’ve frustrated me enough times now.

F
Badge

When you transferred ownership, did it or does it clear your current alarms?  Thought I’d ask before attempting the solution.

B

OMG thank you so much! Bashed my head against the wall for over an hour with this issue, solved by transferring my account to myself (hmm).

J

This worked for me as well. I have been trying to connect an Amp for 4 days.

L

For me nor Ios or android get me to the point for transfering. Did already more than  30 times the process. I wonder that they have been testing the app or if somebody in their team is doing sabotage by adding some bugs in the final code. It is time Sonos makes a statement about the siuation !

T

Bought the Ray and Arc. Arc would not connect to the PC despite salesperson assuring me it did. Couldn’t get Arc to sync with the rest of my speakers throughout the house. After a day of trying, I went to sleep. Next morning, Arc is showing up and playing in sync with the rest of my speakers, only now with its own volume control, perfect! I speak with installer, because I can’t get it to work with PC, and that’s when I find out it’s not designed to. So I upgrade to the Fives, and after 20 mins of him getting nowhere, we realize my router isn’t set to 2.4, it’s only set to 5G. I call Shaw, and we do a hard reset on the router to get 2.4 going for Sonos, because this new router has had issues with Sonos since the day I got it 6 months ago. The router reset now made it so none of my devices are recognized. I can’t get my connect:amp to work either… completely locked out of my home speakers now. Not to mention, I can’t use the sonos speakers, even as a device to stream tv audio, because technically they aren’t on the system. I tried Ray as well this evening and same issue. So I am stuck with about 3700 dollars worth of Sonos products and 15-20 hours of troubleshooting and I’m even further away from a solution than I was 6 hours ago. What a nightmare. Now I am dealing with the “Sign in as the owner” issue.

 

I also had to pay the installer 100 bucks for his trouble and 3 hours on the phone with Shaw. I have also tried the manufacturer reset on the connect:amp and tried the trick with using a Samsung phone.

 

I have also tried installing various Sonos apps and have tried the sign out method via the website. What controler app is everyone using?

N

Thank you sir, you are a techno genius and have brought the torture to an end. How ridiculous though! Spent an hour messaging with Sonos live chat last night. They clearly don’t monitor their forums. So frustrating.

D

Thanks!  This post saved me from pulling my hair out as the whole experience when things go wrong with Sonos is depressingly bad.  The new speaker just wouldn’t connect, and transferring the system over to myself worked perfectly.

One caveat for anyone else who finds this doesn’t work… if you’ve got Pi-Hole set up, this stops it from swapping over.  Once I disabled mine, it worked straight away (same went for signing in on macOS as well).  I saw something about VPNs in another thread, and thought maybe it’s similar.  Certainly Sonos is one of my blocked clients in PiHole, and it appeared to fix the issue.

L

I solved my AMP connection problem by putting it straight into the router iso passing by a switch. No it works ok even behind the switch.

 

J

After nearly 4 hrs with Sonos tech support with no resolution (I feel bad for these folks dealing with an App update that wasn’t ready for prime time), the work around you proposed worked 100%.  Another thing I noticed with the update was it somehow added other wifi networks in the house.  I think you need all the Sonos products including the App on the same network.  I don’t know if this also contributed to the problem.  Anyway it is working and I’m very happy….

T

THANK YOU!!! I have had Sonos products for many years and would consider myself fairly versed in adding / removing them between my house and business. This app upgrade threw a spanner in the works with all products failing to register. Very annoying. This has worked a treat and our business now has music again (bar and restaurant so pretty important). 

This just shows how powerful having a great community who can think outside the square and share.

It would have been a huge task for SONOS to upgrade to this new software. I’m sure they will patch asap and prob working on it now.

D

Perfect! Solved the problem I had. I ended up having to do this twice… one for each of the two new speakers I had that wouldn’t register. Thanks!

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