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Sold on Sonos but don't expect features to be withdrawn?


If I'd bought a 4 wheel drive car but years later was told that it was only going to be 2 wheel drive after a software upgrade, I would be pretty p'd off by that and would expect some compensation having been mis-sold a product.

However I'm now seeing nagging pop-ups on my Sonos App telling me I will no longer be able to play content from my iPhone after a forthcoming upgrade? 1) In my view that is not an upgrade, 2) It is removing one of the fundamental reasons I invested in Sonos products and 3) I feel I'm going to lose faith in the system if it's a pain to recover from a feature I've had since day 1 ownership. Is this due to pressure from Apple or other manufacturer, have Sonos been providing this feature illegally? Are Airplay 2 compatible Sonos speakers the only solution or should I just not upgrade to the latest Sonos App?
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Best answer by jgatie 16 July 2019, 16:33

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17 replies

All covered extensively here:

https://en.community.sonos.com/announcements-228985/upcoming-changes-to-on-this-iphone-or-ipad-playback-6826585
Sounds like more expense to get what I had from Day 1, purchase an AirPlay 2 Sonos speaker or pay $100 a year for Apple music..... Not at all impressed by that.
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Then you seem not to have read the suggestions put forward by other owners in the thread referred to above.
Then you seem not to have read the suggestions put forward by other owners in the thread referred to above.


I've decided to ignore the ones who willfully skip the free options. They are obviously only here to vent, and are not interested in an actual solution. I'd rather spend the time helping those who actually want help.
Sounds like more expense to get what I had from Day 1, purchase an AirPlay 2 Sonos speaker or pay $100 a year for Apple music..... Not at all impressed by that.

You really need to go vent on the Apple forums. They are to blame for this feature going away. Or, do what the smart money does, switch to Android.
I'm a customer, I paid for a specification and invested heavily in the products and don't intend to spend time or money recovering a feature that has worked for me for years. Go help those who have the inclination and time to fix this for Sonos on their time, I believe Sonos should be providing continuity of service here not palm it off to other suppliers or services.
I'm a customer, I paid for a specification and invested heavily in the products and don't intend to spend time or money recovering a feature that has worked for me for years. Go help those who have the inclination and time to fix this for Sonos on their time, I believe Sonos should be providing continuity of service here not palm it off to other suppliers or services.


Not sure what you are looking for, but Sonos has made the decision, and they have never reversed any decision like this in their 14 year history. So if you are here to vent, go ahead, but it will do no good at getting your functionality restored.
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I’m a customer too. I try to help other users who post their problems and concerns on this User Forum.

By posting on here I thought you were asking for help.

I apologise for spoiling your rant by replying to it.

If anyone else reading this does want help, I can tell you that free-of-cost options are potentially available as an alternative to what Sonos suggested in their message.
If I'd bought a 4 wheel drive car but years later was told that it was only going to be 2 wheel drive after a software upgrade, I would be pretty p'd off by that and would expect some compensation having been mis-sold a product.

Your analogy is missing some key factors here. 4 wheel drive feature isn't based on interfacing with another product that your car manufacturer has no control over. A better analogy would be if you bought a car that was capable with Apple carplay. Years later, Apple changed how carplay works, and your car can't use carplay with it's current firmware anymore Your car company says that they cannot update the software to work with carplay.. You have other means of accessing music, but you bought the car for it's carplay functionality. Still not a perfect analogy, but better matches the current situation I think.

However I'm now seeing nagging pop-ups on my Sonos App telling me I will no longer be able to play content from my iPhone after a forthcoming upgrade? 1) In my view that is not an upgrade, 2) It is removing one of the fundamental reasons I invested in Sonos products and 3) I feel I'm going to lose faith in the system if it's a pain to recover from a feature I've had since day 1 ownership. Is this due to pressure from Apple or other manufacturer, have Sonos been providing this feature illegally? Are Airplay 2 compatible Sonos speakers the only solution or should I just not upgrade to the latest Sonos App?


1 - I don't think anyone has claimed this is an upgrade.
2 - I think this is understood quite well. That doesn't need to be concerned about other features other customer s bought their products for, needs to operate at a loss to meet your needs, etc.

The feature is not illegal or anything of that nature. It's simply not a feature that Apple was concerned about not disrupting when they made changes to their OS.
I'm a customer, I paid for a specification and invested heavily in the products and don't intend to spend time or money recovering a feature that has worked for me for years. Go help those who have the inclination and time to fix this for Sonos on their time, I believe Sonos should be providing continuity of service here not palm it off to other suppliers or services.


Why did you ask for options in your first post if you weren't interested in them?

Are Airplay 2 compatible Sonos speakers the only solution or should I just not upgrade to the latest Sonos App?
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If I'd bought a 4 wheel drive car but years later was told that it was only going to be 2 wheel drive after a software upgrade, I would be pretty p'd off by that and would expect some compensation having been mis-sold a product.

Bad analogy.

However I'm now seeing nagging pop-ups on my Sonos App telling me I will no longer be able to play content from my iPhone after a forthcoming upgrade? 1) In my view that is not an upgrade,


You're confusing the term update with upgrade.

2) It is removing one of the fundamental reasons I invested in Sonos products and 3) I feel I'm going to lose faith in the system if it's a pain to recover from a feature I've had since day 1 ownership. Is this due to pressure from Apple or other manufacturer, have Sonos been providing this feature illegally?


Continue to waste time and resources supporting a broken feature and have upset customers, or remove the broken feature (check your EULA, they're allowed to make changes as they see fit to their program) and upset some customers.

Which one makes more sense from a business perspective?

Are Airplay 2 compatible Sonos speakers the only solution or should I just not upgrade to the latest Sonos App?


There's a bunch of options.

Thank you to all trying to help and your candid responses. I see I have a number of options should i wish to continue with Sonos as my home audio solution. Firstly let’s see how well AirPlay2 works via one of my Play5 Gen2s.
Speaking from personal experience, using PLAY:5 gen 2s, and both an iPad and iPhone, I’ve had no difficulty with the Sonos side of things, using it almost daily. The three issues I’ve had over the last year have all been iOS issues, where a simple reboot of the iOS device has cleared it up. Never had to touch the Sonos in any way.
I totally agree that this is unacceptable customer experience. Purchased Sonos 5 with 6 additional speakers. Now I can't play from my Iphone! Is there a place on the intraweb that I can warn other potential buyers about this problem??? Very upset!
I'd suggest Apple oriented websites. They're the ones that made the change that forced this issue.
I totally agree that this is unacceptable customer experience. Purchased Sonos 5 with 6 additional speakers. Now I can't play from my Iphone! Is there a place on the intraweb that I can warn other potential buyers about this problem??? Very upset!


Assuming your play:5 is 2nd generation, then it is airplay compatible, and you can play music off your iphone through that. Not sure what your other 6 speakers are, but below is the list of airplay compatible speakers.

  • Beam
  • Amp
  • Sonos One
  • Playbase
  • Play:5 (second generation)
  • SYMFONISK
Read this article for more information about using airplay.
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I totally agree that this is unacceptable customer experience. Purchased Sonos 5 with 6 additional speakers. Now I can't play from my Iphone! Is there a place on the intraweb that I can warn other potential buyers about this problem??? Very upset!

I don't think the intraweb post would be seen by many others - now, the interweb would be a better bet!