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Sonos Apologizes for Widely Criticized App Redesign, Provides Progress Update

Of course there will be people for whom the new app works fine because they didn’t rely on the features that were gutted, or came to the system after new app was released and don’t know what the old app offered. And of course the new app probably actually is better for some people, depending on which features were relevant to their particular use case.

Then there are people like me, who used things like my large personal music library, queues, and playlists, for whom the app update was a disaster. Essentially completely broke my system. Those features were the reason I bought more and more Sonos products, because they worked so well for me.

The problem for me, and I’m sure others, is that even if Sonos does fix everything in the app, what they’ve demonstrated is that I’m at their mercy when it comes to maintaining my user experience with the ~$3k worth of their products I’ve purchased, and now I don’t trust them not to break the system again. The fact that they were willing to release an app that wasn’t ready, removed features, and presented it as a routine update — that’s the real problem. They’ve forced me to fully realize how “my” system is not really mine, and they’ve lost my respect and trust. The problem for them is that I used to enthusiastically recommend their products to people, and I won’t do that anymore.
 
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Spokeyourname said:
Switch to Roon to control Sonos devices and don't look back. It's a way better interface and the signal processing makes a massive difference in sound.
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Quick research shows this is a paid service? Never heard of it. I just want to group speakers with fewer clicks than the Sonos app. Is it more efficient that way?
 
Epic fail -and I just returned 2 ERA 300's yesterday after fighting the app for a week. Happy now with my JBL Authentics 500 as replacement. Edit, after the app apology letter I bought back the ERA 300's, and a Mini Sub. Now waiting unpatiently..
 
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Idiots forced me to update everything to the new app and now my 10 devices are wokring like crap. S2 was good enough and i used Mac, PC and iPhone without any problem. Now i am getting "unable to connect" 50% of the time. I like UI but they failed miserably with the UX.
 
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flexwithmarius said:
The app redesign really isn’t that bad from a UI perspective.

It’s definitely more streamlined which I suspect is to complement the headphone addition as well as Sonos Pro (business) admin functionality like locking down volume controls per location.

We live in an age of social media where the loudest and most irritated voices get heard the most. Willing to bet my house that 99% of people who had a temper tantrum and threatened to sell their equipment did no such thing.
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oh mate
 
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My Sonos system has turned music on and off at random for over a month now..
Volume goes up and down at random per speaker and half of the speakers lose connectivity every 2min when playing.

It’s completely unusable.

According to the email it’s going to be about two more months until volume and connection issues will be solved.

It’s crazy how they just refuse to roll back and let people reinstall stable software while they fix the new one.
 
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GrayFlannel said:
Nicely said. I have several been using SONOS products since 2014 and like them along with their app very much. It’s human nature to resist change especially wholesale changes.
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It’s also human nature to want their things to work. Sonos for the fail.
 
I own Sonos speakers but literally never use their app. I simply stream from the macOS/iOS Music or Podcasts app over AirPlay. No issues whatsoever.
 
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n-evo said:
I own Sonos speakers but literally never use their app. I simply stream from the macOS/iOS Music or Podcasts app over AirPlay. No issues whatsoever.
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I bought a Mac Mini M1 just for that, and since the update that is also wonky. They used ****** technologies for the WEB app and now they have too much stuff going on on "underpowered" hardware. They either need to optimise this (if possible) or scrape the idea.
 
My Sonos are set to auto-update so if there are any firmware updates that changed anything my Sonos Ones must have gotten it as well. AirPlay continues to work perfectly on my end.

I genuinely wonder why people use the Sonos app and feel they’re at the mercy of them. With AirPlay enabled Sonos speakers you can pretty much stream anything from any audio app. Is there anything special de Sonos app does that other media apps can’t?
 
n-evo said:
My Sonos are set to auto-update so if there are any firmware updates that changed anything my Sonos Ones must have gotten it as well. AirPlay continues to work perfectly on my end.

I genuinely wonder why people use the Sonos app and feel they’re at the mercy of them. With AirPlay enabled Sonos speakers you can pretty much stream anything from any audio app. Is there anything special de Sonos app does that other media apps can’t?
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AirPlay is not a solution for lots of people. Only the newest Sonos products are inherently AirPlay compatible; only my soundbar (Playbase) and 2 other speakers are airplay compatible. I can’t AirPlay to the speakers in 5 other rooms directly. I have to group them with an AirPlay-compatible speaker, then mute the compatible one if I don’t want the audio in the room it’s in, which also takes it out of commission for others to use. It’s a clumsy “solution”, and hard to accept when it used to just work nicely with the old app. Hard for me to get away from the fact they sold me a lot of product based on a feature set, then diminished those features without warning or my consent.
 
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Don’t upgrade to 80.05.04 it uses up your battery at a high rate doing background processing even if you disable background processing and force terminate the app.
 
n-evo said:
My Sonos are set to auto-update so if there are any firmware updates that changed anything my Sonos Ones must have gotten it as well. AirPlay continues to work perfectly on my end.

I genuinely wonder why people use the Sonos app and feel they’re at the mercy of them. With AirPlay enabled Sonos speakers you can pretty much stream anything from any audio app. Is there anything special de Sonos app does that other media apps can’t?
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Because i am not only one in my establishment and others cant do AirPlay. With v16 S2 app it worked like charm. Now it ***** even with AirPlay.

To be honest, youtube music streaming is by far most stable right now. Spotify skips, AirPlay is unstable.
 
Opinion time (sorry in advance). People rely too much on tech in my opinion. Like I know a few people that are HEAVILY invested in Sonos products. It is pretty cool but I've seen this same type of thing happen a lot with various products. App or product update or the company says - "oh we have gone with the new new new tech so the older products are now obsolete." I know a few people that bought the original Apple HomePod (several of them) and they later bricked after an update.

This is why I still buy physical media. Yes, I am that middle aged guy who buys vinyl, cassettes and CDs (yep, I still do)... part of it is to "collect" but the main reason is 1 - I like WAV sound on the CD 2 - content can be pulled at anytime. A few of my favorite albums have been removed from streaming only to be bought back on one platform as an exclusive.. Having a nice old school mid 1990s system is where it is at for me. I have hundreds of CDs, vinyl and cassettes that all sound fantastic. I have a CD player in my full size truck.. in my mini truck I have an Alpine CD player + an Alpine CD changer (who remembers those). Go ahead and bash me.. I'm ready for it.. Ok, I will also continue to be honest and say I also stream music. This is because some albums that I can buy a physical copy of (Eminem TDOSS) are not pressed and shipped until months after the initial release. So I can stream it until the physical media gets here.

I realize I am not going to persuade anyone into my thought process here.... but some will get it.. it is the same reason many still buy Blu-Rays, etc. They have a really good (often better than a high quality stream) copy of their favorite film. Same goes for my music. I'm a HUGE fan of music and knowing I can fill the CD changer with several albums and listen to my music is important to me.

Lastly, this ties into this story as it does with any tech. I mentioned above app changes or discounting products... I refuse to spend a ton of $$ on products that will simply go away or receive an app update that pi$$es me off.

Note: I do like the Ring products but I have a friend who has an entire wired security system - he thinks I am nuts for paying x amount a year to Ring when his is all wired and he pays $0.00. Bottom line you can slice and dice anything (especially tech) and we are not all going to agree on things. :)
 
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sandman42 said:
Of course there will be people for whom the new app works fine because they didn’t rely on the features that were gutted, or came to the system after new app was released and don’t know what the old app offered. And of course the new app probably actually is better for some people, depending on which features were relevant to their particular use case.

Then there are people like me, who used things like my large personal music library, queues, and playlists, for whom the app update was a disaster. Essentially completely broke my system. Those features were the reason I bought more and more Sonos products, because they worked so well for me.

The problem for me, and I’m sure others, is that even if Sonos does fix everything in the app, what they’ve demonstrated is that I’m at their mercy when it comes to maintaining my user experience with the ~$3k worth of their products I’ve purchased, and now I don’t trust them not to break the system again. The fact that they were willing to release an app that wasn’t ready, removed features, and presented it as a routine update — that’s the real problem. They’ve forced me to fully realize how “my” system is not really mine, and they’ve lost my respect and trust. The problem for them is that I used to enthusiastically recommend their products to people, and I won’t do that anymore.
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This ties into my comment above. This is the exact reason I stopped buying into tech ecosystems in a major way. I saw similar issues when smart accessories first started coming out (I was in the cellular industry for 20+ years). It was hey buy this new awesome doorbell, speaker, garage door opener, etc. A year goes by... oh that product won't be getting the update and it won't work with "xHome" app/ecosystem/etc. What was the solution? But the new NEW product that will allow you to connect to Google Home/Apple Home apps, etc. Even bigger name companies would pull this crap at the infancy of the smart accessory revolution.. and I was like I am not buying into this when the company will change something hoping all the faithful customer will just accept it and start over.

I do have AppleTVs in our house but we have come to appreciate the fact that the do last a LONG time. Sure the older ones are not paperweights in our house but I am very caution of buying into most ecosystems. We have a few Google Home Minis (one we got for free) and they are pretty cool but anyways... that is my thought on the subject.
 
ifxf said:
Don’t upgrade to 80.05.04 it uses up your battery at a high rate doing background processing even if you disable background processing and force terminate the app.
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Had to look up the version number to believe that app is on 80.x! Apparently I'm still on 15.11, and have no need to upgrade. Also because I don't use the app; I AirPlay. Which actually isn't a nice experience; music stops playing at some point, within an hour of playing. Even while all my Sonos speakers are wired. And it doesn't matter if I stream from my MacMini, MP, MBA, iPad or iPhone.
 

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n-evo said:
My Sonos are set to auto-update so if there are any firmware updates that changed anything my Sonos Ones must have gotten it as well. AirPlay continues to work perfectly on my end.

I genuinely wonder why people use the Sonos app and feel they’re at the mercy of them. With AirPlay enabled Sonos speakers you can pretty much stream anything from any audio app. Is there anything special de Sonos app does that other media apps can’t?
Click to expand...
It's the ONLY way to play true Dolby Atmos from Apple Music- Why the app IS important.
 
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