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My Sonos app experience is probably the worst of any smart devices I’ve owned. Dropped connections, unable to connect or stream, just all-around inconsistencies

by hbarka 2y ago

My Sonos app experience is probably the worst of any smart devices I’ve owned. Dropped connections, unable to connect or stream, just all-around inconsistencies. Great speaker when it’s hardwired but the “smart” app is bad. Why did it take years for the chickens to come home to roost?

yurishimo 2y ago
Well, it didn’t used to be bad. OG Sonos was awesome. If the ceo kept leading investors on with “just one more quarter/we are almost ready to launch the big fixes/etc” then I can understand why it took so long. AFAIK this is the first ceo that Sonos has ever ousted so I think it’s a pretty big deal. Hoping the new one will have more foresight to not screw over existing customers in the face of the new shiny. In other news, I hear Framework is looking to get into other hardware niches… if they ever made a networked speaker, I’d buy it.
ryanianian 2y ago
FWIW there are several third-party mobile applications that work just fine to operate Sonos equipment. The speakers expose a few SOAP-based APIs to any clients on the LAN. Those allow for track control, grouping, etc. They don't allow adding new music services, but they can do the vast majority of daily interaction. These APIs continue to work nearly flawlessly even for my Play:1 devices that are 10 years old. Streaming via AirPlay is indeed hit-or-miss, but it hasn't gotten worse in the past couple years. I control my Sonos from a jQuery-based web application I wrote nearly 10 years ago that runs on a raspberry pi in my closet. I have not had to change anything in several years, and I use my 15+device Sonos system all the time. The new app is indeed a dumpster fire. Somehow the company managed to make their first-party application worse than any of the third-party applications.
- mandibles 2y ago
  Any links to good third-party apps?
  - fidotron 2y ago
    I've been using Sonophone on iOS since all this kicked off. Not great, but it works. (For me Sonos breaking NAS media server support was killer, and Sonophone can handle it). Had this not happened sledgehammers would have been going through speakers. I would still prefer they rolled back to the old app, or made it as an optional re-release.
    - jeromeparadis 2y ago
      Thanks for your recommendation! With Sonophone, my group of one Sonos Outside + 2 old Play:3 speakers now reacts almost instantly instead of waiting minutes for that group to be ready to be controlled. Awesome.
    - killion 2y ago
      You can roll back to the old app and firmware. It does take awhile to do but it is listed as "Sonos S1" in the app store. Because it is older it has problems with dark mode/light mode. But it is as fast and reliable as ever. https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/downgrade-a-sonos-product-to-s1 https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/downgrade-a-sonos-pr...
      - fidotron 2y ago
        Wow I had no idea you could actually “downgrade” things to be compatible with S1. (My units all came with the later app that force updated itself, but appear to be compatible with S1). They had given me the idea the device firmware was ratcheting forward, so once upgraded no way back. Did this change during all the noise? (Entirely possible I was oblivious)
    - reverend_gonzo 2y ago
      I’ve been using SonoPhone and SonoPad. It now works instantly. Even my customsd sources work, and they work better than the previous app too. Only thing is I had to go to the desktop app to get the customsd sources working on a new network. I haven’t used the official App in months now.
  - 2y ago
sergiotapia 2y ago
I wonder how much of that is Sonos sucking vs bluetooth just being an absolutely terrible connection protocol. it's always a raindance prayer that bluetooth will work, even harder to have it pair. bluetooth makes printers seem like NASA level quality software.
- Darkskiez 2y ago
  Only the newest sonos speakers have bluetooth, the problems with Sonos are nothing to do with it. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-happened-sonos-app-technical-analysis-andy-pennell-wigwc/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-happened-sonos-app-techn... has a good write up.
- feyman_r 2y ago
  Most of my Sonos speakers and soundbars worked before the app update and right after, all that became unreliable, across devices. I’d say that leads me to believe it’s an app issue versus just Bluetooth. Agree that BT by itself has a reputation to match, but in this case Sonos is to blame. The other apps recommended in the post work well.
notatoad 2y ago
>Why did it take years for the chickens to come home to roost? because the problem with sonos is that they're actually really really good. dollar for dollar, it's some of the best sound quality you can find for home audio, and it doesn't require a month of product research to figure it out. it's easily available in most big-box stores, and unlike some other brands they don't have a shit-tier line of products that look indistinguishable from their good stuff so you have to be cautious as a consumer to buy only the good stuff. if you go to best buy and spend $500 on sonos products, you're going to get your moneys worth. it's too bad their app sucks, because their hardware doesn't.
- omnimus 2y ago
  I dont think this is true. I am no audiophile but Sonos is actually quite expensive vs getting some streamer like Wiim with basic cheap amp and any solid speaker brand - KEF, Elac, Klipsh, Polk… I know its some choices but any of them are good choice its mostly flavours. What you get for same money will sound better and 100% last longer because you have modular system instead of glued box that stops working when Sonos stops caring about the product (like they did before).
  - notatoad 2y ago
    yeah, so you've gone from walking in to a store and coming out with a single box that you can plug in to power and connect to wifi and get music on, to decision on what amp to buy, and a decision on which of the hundred nearly identical bookshelf speakers to get, a question on whether your amp will drive those speakers. and then you've got to find a store to actually sell you all that stuff. it's an entirely different market from what sonos is providing to customers. fwiw i did exactly what you're suggesting for my personal use, i've got a wiim pro and a fosi v3 and kanto 5" speakers and i'm very happy with my setup. but i'm a nerd who likes shopping for things like that, and i know enough to know that most people would rather not. and it's not like i saved anything compared to going with a sonos. edit: and, as i just learned a little further down the thread, you've also got to be careful which model of wiim you buy - the newest and nicest ones don't have airplay.
tiltowait 2y ago
We used Sonos at a place I used to work, and it was easily one of the worst tech experiences I've ever had. Constant issues. We had a 10-step troubleshooting guide that had to be referenced daily (until everyone had memorized the steps out of repetition), with a bonus (half-)joke step that was "dash it to the ground". Even during the infrequent and intermittent working periods, it was nothing special. I've always been amazed at how different my experience apparently was to everyone else's, because I only ever see glowing praise (before the apparently disastrous new app rollout, which still sounds like a better experience than I had). I can only assume there were significant updates and improvements in the time since, because the company wouldn't have lasted a month if our experience was typical.
- hbarka 2y ago
  The app experience was bad for years even before this new app. The strange thing is when I was complaining then there were always defensive voices ready to deny any bad experience. I’m glad it’s finally come to light. Spent so much for Sonos.

by hbarka 2y ago

yurishimo 2y ago

Well, it didn’t used to be bad. OG Sonos was awesome. If the ceo kept leading investors on with “just one more quarter/we are almost ready to launch the big fixes/etc” then I can understand why it took so long. AFAIK this is the first ceo that Sonos has ever ousted so I think it’s a pretty big deal. Hoping the new one will have more foresight to not screw over existing customers in the face of the new shiny. In other news, I hear Framework is looking to get into other hardware niches… if they ever made a networked speaker, I’d buy it.

ryanianian 2y ago

FWIW there are several third-party mobile applications that work just fine to operate Sonos equipment. The speakers expose a few SOAP-based APIs to any clients on the LAN. Those allow for track control, grouping, etc. They don't allow adding new music services, but they can do the vast majority of daily interaction. These APIs continue to work nearly flawlessly even for my Play:1 devices that are 10 years old. Streaming via AirPlay is indeed hit-or-miss, but it hasn't gotten worse in the past couple years. I control my Sonos from a jQuery-based web application I wrote nearly 10 years ago that runs on a raspberry pi in my closet. I have not had to change anything in several years, and I use my 15+device Sonos system all the time. The new app is indeed a dumpster fire. Somehow the company managed to make their first-party application worse than any of the third-party applications.

mandibles 2y ago
Any links to good third-party apps?
- fidotron 2y ago
  I've been using Sonophone on iOS since all this kicked off. Not great, but it works. (For me Sonos breaking NAS media server support was killer, and Sonophone can handle it). Had this not happened sledgehammers would have been going through speakers. I would still prefer they rolled back to the old app, or made it as an optional re-release.
  - jeromeparadis 2y ago
    Thanks for your recommendation! With Sonophone, my group of one Sonos Outside + 2 old Play:3 speakers now reacts almost instantly instead of waiting minutes for that group to be ready to be controlled. Awesome.
  - killion 2y ago
    You can roll back to the old app and firmware. It does take awhile to do but it is listed as "Sonos S1" in the app store. Because it is older it has problems with dark mode/light mode. But it is as fast and reliable as ever. https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/downgrade-a-sonos-product-to-s1 https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/downgrade-a-sonos-pr...
    - fidotron 2y ago
      Wow I had no idea you could actually “downgrade” things to be compatible with S1. (My units all came with the later app that force updated itself, but appear to be compatible with S1). They had given me the idea the device firmware was ratcheting forward, so once upgraded no way back. Did this change during all the noise? (Entirely possible I was oblivious)
  - reverend_gonzo 2y ago
    I’ve been using SonoPhone and SonoPad. It now works instantly. Even my customsd sources work, and they work better than the previous app too. Only thing is I had to go to the desktop app to get the customsd sources working on a new network. I haven’t used the official App in months now.
- 2y ago

sergiotapia 2y ago

I wonder how much of that is Sonos sucking vs bluetooth just being an absolutely terrible connection protocol. it's always a raindance prayer that bluetooth will work, even harder to have it pair. bluetooth makes printers seem like NASA level quality software.

Darkskiez 2y ago
Only the newest sonos speakers have bluetooth, the problems with Sonos are nothing to do with it. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-happened-sonos-app-technical-analysis-andy-pennell-wigwc/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-happened-sonos-app-techn... has a good write up.
feyman_r 2y ago
Most of my Sonos speakers and soundbars worked before the app update and right after, all that became unreliable, across devices. I’d say that leads me to believe it’s an app issue versus just Bluetooth. Agree that BT by itself has a reputation to match, but in this case Sonos is to blame. The other apps recommended in the post work well.

notatoad 2y ago

>Why did it take years for the chickens to come home to roost? because the problem with sonos is that they're actually really really good. dollar for dollar, it's some of the best sound quality you can find for home audio, and it doesn't require a month of product research to figure it out. it's easily available in most big-box stores, and unlike some other brands they don't have a shit-tier line of products that look indistinguishable from their good stuff so you have to be cautious as a consumer to buy only the good stuff. if you go to best buy and spend $500 on sonos products, you're going to get your moneys worth. it's too bad their app sucks, because their hardware doesn't.

omnimus 2y ago
I dont think this is true. I am no audiophile but Sonos is actually quite expensive vs getting some streamer like Wiim with basic cheap amp and any solid speaker brand - KEF, Elac, Klipsh, Polk… I know its some choices but any of them are good choice its mostly flavours. What you get for same money will sound better and 100% last longer because you have modular system instead of glued box that stops working when Sonos stops caring about the product (like they did before).
- notatoad 2y ago
  yeah, so you've gone from walking in to a store and coming out with a single box that you can plug in to power and connect to wifi and get music on, to decision on what amp to buy, and a decision on which of the hundred nearly identical bookshelf speakers to get, a question on whether your amp will drive those speakers. and then you've got to find a store to actually sell you all that stuff. it's an entirely different market from what sonos is providing to customers. fwiw i did exactly what you're suggesting for my personal use, i've got a wiim pro and a fosi v3 and kanto 5" speakers and i'm very happy with my setup. but i'm a nerd who likes shopping for things like that, and i know enough to know that most people would rather not. and it's not like i saved anything compared to going with a sonos. edit: and, as i just learned a little further down the thread, you've also got to be careful which model of wiim you buy - the newest and nicest ones don't have airplay.

tiltowait 2y ago

We used Sonos at a place I used to work, and it was easily one of the worst tech experiences I've ever had. Constant issues. We had a 10-step troubleshooting guide that had to be referenced daily (until everyone had memorized the steps out of repetition), with a bonus (half-)joke step that was "dash it to the ground". Even during the infrequent and intermittent working periods, it was nothing special. I've always been amazed at how different my experience apparently was to everyone else's, because I only ever see glowing praise (before the apparently disastrous new app rollout, which still sounds like a better experience than I had). I can only assume there were significant updates and improvements in the time since, because the company wouldn't have lasted a month if our experience was typical.

hbarka 2y ago
The app experience was bad for years even before this new app. The strange thing is when I was complaining then there were always defensive voices ready to deny any bad experience. I’m glad it’s finally come to light. Spent so much for Sonos.