Sonos S1 Controller for Mac Update Fail

Yea, I have, although using S2. I found it easier to just delete the Mac app, then go to their website and download the fresh version, selecting “connect to existing system” when it prompted. Fortunately, all the data is stored on the speakers, and not in the app.

I don’t want to go that route with S1, in case I get stuck with no controller. My fear is the update file is the wrong one for S1 and that’s why it’s crashing.

I’d think there would be dozens upon dozens of folks posting about that, if it were the case. But there’s a simpler test.

Rename your current application. Download and run the new one, to be sure it works. If it does, as I’d expect, then you can just delete the “old” one with the changed name. 

I tried that.

”Sonos S1 Controller cannot be opened because of a problem.”

I’m surprised there aren’t more people posting about it.

Well S1 is the smaller subset of customers, and most of them would use the mobile app only, and most of the remaining would likely use PC over Mac...

I suspect this might be a related issue:
https://en.community.sonos.com/topic/show?tid=6877006&fid=228999

Related? Likely so, but the work around I suggested would normally have taken care of that issue. 

Since you tried what I suggested (and I’m glad you merely renamed, rather than deleted as I’d first suggested), then you probably need to contact Sonos directly. 

I know I don’t have a S1 Mac controller to do any testing on, all of my answers are based on what I know, not what I’ve done. And I’ve needed to delete my old install and re-download the S2 controller for both Macs I run. Not a huge deal, as I said before, all of the data is stored at the speakers, and not on the controller. The controller is merely a remote control, a “window” as to what the application running on the Sonos system on the speakers is doing, if you will.

But I’m honestly perplexed by your “because of a problem” thing, so your best bet, especially given the small number of S1 Mac users, is probably to call Sonos Support directly. 

Reinstalling from the Trash version of the S1 App worked for me - very weird.  On MAC OS Ventura - recently updated.  Now I can access preferences and update my music library.

Interesting. I’ve had this issue the last two updates of S2, but the normal .pkg file installs the ‘new’ version without having to deal with the trash can at all. I do delete the ‘old’ version that won’t self update first, though. 

Exact same issue and solution for the S1 update at my end as pointed out by buzz, the first one after the Mac upgrade to Ventura and likely therefore to be a bug there.

In the past, after the upgrade self installed, the trash bin contained the download without any user action, so the installer being located in Trash is not in itself the problem.

Unfortunately, that didn’t work for me.

Click on the installer once it is in downloads. That should be all that is needed. Although in my case I first moved it from downloads to the desktop, but that should not be necessary.

I was finally able to get the correct explanation from someone at Sonos technical support.

I have a number of Sonos products, some of which are S2 capable and some S1. I have stuck with the S1 controller, as I don’t want a divided system.

It turns out that the update that my S1 Controller for Mac is trying to run (Sonos_57.13-34140.dmg) is actually the newest update for S2 Controller for Mac (14.8). That is why it is crashing. It is already running the latest S1 version for Mac (11.5).

Quite why my S1 Mac controller is identifying an incompatible S2 version as an update, when it is already running the latest S1 version, I don’t know.

The newest S1 version for macOS on the Sonos download page is also Sonos_57.13-34140.dmg (S2 version 14.8), so it is also incompatible and crashes on installation.

Perhaps the beginning of the end of Sonos support for S1 has started with MacOS?

Or perhaps more disappointing, yet less conspiracy laden, someone uploaded the wrong file to that link by mistake?

I’m not wearing my tinfoil hat, Airgetiam.

I'm just positing the question.

Perhaps applying Occam’s Razor might be beneficial, then. It’s a long stretch to get to “this is the beginning of the end of S1”, certainly. 

Perhaps. Quite frankly, I’m not that bothered. :-)

The latest version of S1 for Mac is 11.6.1 and is on my Mac, and I too am on S1 with some S2 capable products, because I chose to stay on S1. 11.5 is NOT the latest.

How come many have been able to get that installed by just following the workarounds suggested here, if the Sonos advice received is correct?

Something for some one like @Corry P to clarify, perhaps.

That’s very interesting, Kumar. 
Just to clarify: for me, the latest version of S1 on my iOS iPhone devices and iPadOS iPad devices is 11.6.1 but on my macOS iMac and Mac mini devices, it’s 11.5. Are you saying that you have been able to update your devices running macOS to 11.6.1?

Yes, both the iPhone and Mac are now on 11.6.1.

Mac first moved to Ventura and then to 11.6.1; that move needed the workaround that has never been needed in the past which is why I suspect a minor Mac issue and not a Sonos one.

Thanks for the help on this thread. I had the same problem when using the S1 app on MacBook Pro with recently updated Ventura the Sonos update kept failing and crashing. My speakers were showing Version11.6 and the app showing Version 11.5. As suggested I removed the installer from the Trash to downloads, opened it and it created a second Sonos Controller App 2 which I now use andI deleted the original Sonos S1 app. I can now manage my library and the speakers and app are back to normal.

I’ve hit a very similar issue with my Mac Book Pro. I’m stuck on OSX 10.12.6 Sierra and not able to update the OS as later ones (although they are compatible with the hardware) simply fail to install for some reason.

My Sonos S1 system has been off-line for the past 8 months due to major house refurb project and I’ve just attempted to restart it. iPhone updated and accessed the test Play 1 but my Mac Book music library wasn’t available on the phone. So I started the laptop controller and it wanted to update the controller - so I let it (no other option by the way!!). After that it simply crashed or would not run. I tried reinstalling the S1 (from Sonos download page) and although it installed it still fails to run. Until I can get it to run I can’t share my laptop music for the iPhone to find.

Any suggestions? OSX S1 controller requires at least OSX 10.11 so I should be fine.

Sonos chat wasn’t much help as they said I should move to a later OSX or get another computer that did work… So all my music on the Mac is unreachable from my phone… NOT happy… I have 6 S1 devices that appear to be almost useless - unless I want to stream services. Feels like I’m being forced out of S1 devices

Thanks for any help...

Stephen,

The problem for me turned out to be that I am running MacOS High Sierra 10.13.6 on an older Mac, that has my music library.

Having finally escalated the problem at Sonos, I received the following replies:

”Thank you for the information provided regarding your issue. Actually, there is an ongoing issue with the Sonos S1 application on macOS High Sierra 10.13.6, we are aware of it and looking into a future resolution.”  “(T)he Sonos S2 application works, the issue is related just to the S1 Application.”

I can in fact install the S2 Controller on my Mac, with no issues, but I don’t want a split system, so I am waiting on a “future resolution”.

Given you are having the same problem, I suspect that the issue is not just with High Sierra.

I am still running Sonos S1 Controller for Mac version 11.5 on my Mac, so my system can access my music library.  All of our iPhones and iPads are now running the latest Sonos S1 app version 11.6.2 and they work fine.

My only suggestion is for you to try and restore S1 version 11.5 on your Mac, if you are able, through a backup or otherwise.

Thanks for sharing this dab909. It appears that updating from whatever version I was running before — whatever was current and available for download from Sonos around last January — broke S1 on macOS High Sierra, which I am also stuck on due to the model of my computer. Happy to hear Sonos has at least acknowledged the issue and is looking into a solution. While I can control my system from my phone, it’s nice to have the option to control it from the desktop as well, and it appears Sonos was not aware they had broken the app on this admittedly old OS, as it is not listed as incompatible. Hoping they provide some update or option for us soon.

Edit: forgot to add, I looked on oldversion.com, and just looked around generally for old versions, but unfortunately couldn’t find anything.