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I'm a Sonos hater. I will never ever buy a speaker again that comes pre-bricked unless you "activate it". I will never ever buy a speaker again that demands I

I'm a Sonos hater. I will never ever buy a speaker again that comes pre-bricked unless you "activate it". I will never ever buy a speaker again that demands I enable precise location in order to "discover" the speaker on my network. Approximate location is not enough. Sonos demands your home address before it permits you to use your speaker. Even aux line-in. I will never ever buy a speaker again that requires I log-in before I can set certain things unrelated to online use, such as the volume limiter. I will never ever buy a speaker again that has an obscene amount of delay even when using the aux line-in. And yes I toggled the setting in the app to "reduce delay" and followed all the steps to reduce the delay as much as possible, but the delay was still there. Forget about using a Play5 gen2 for home theatre or anywhere you need low-latency. Rant over!

jjcob 2y ago
Requiring "precise location" is probably necessary because it wants to use Bluetooth to discover speakers. Any app that uses direct bluetooth could theoretically get your precise location from a Bluetooth geotag, so Apple requires apps to get "precise location" permission before being allowed to use bluetooth.
- exodust 2y ago
  Not correct, not even close.
  - jjcob 2y ago
    I checked the docs, and you are right, I mixed something up. Bluetooth does not need "precise location". Bluetooth has its own permission dialog since iOS 13. I confused it with the "Access Wi-Fi Information Entitlement". If an app wants to scan for nearby Wifi networks, it needs the "precise location" permission [1], because the names of Wifi networks can be used to determine precise location. Maybe the Sonos app wants to scan for Wifi networks? [1]: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/networkextension/nehotspotnetwork/fetchcurrent(completionhandler:)?language=objc https://developer.apple.com/documentation/networkextension/n...
    - mrWiz 2y ago
      Sonos speakers set up their own WiFi network that's used to configure them before they join the final network, doing that probably requires "Access Wi-Fi Information Entitlement".
      - exodust 2y ago
        I guess that's why they ask to move the speaker "close to the router" when setting up. Honestly, if they had a checkbox saying "do not share my location with Sonos" it would have eased my anxiety. But they don't, they default everything to "we collect data". Relying on an unread "privacy policy" as the pinky swear for protecting the data they force users to give up, is bad privacy. You can't even delete your own Sonos account, the "delete account" button doesn't actually perform that function.
    - NoPicklez 2y ago
      This is the answer for one of the arguments as to why Sonos needs precise location. It needs to scan for WiFi networks because they connect to your WiFi network and Apple to do that requires precise location. But it won't matter saying that because some people refuse to believe that some companies genuinely need to use that.
      - exodust 2y ago
        > need to use that But they don't need to [use location services]. I only wanted the 3.5mm line in on the Sonos Play5, but was denied unless I jumped through their app "onboarding" routine. It's essentially a loudspeaker with 3.5mm input. But you must complete the mandatory Sonos induction dance before the input signal is permitted the path to output. Like I said, never again. It's a shame because I quite liked the sound of the Play5. It's bright, but the wide dispersion is good for certain types of listening at low to medium volume.
        NoPicklez 2y ago
        Then I think you may have misread the product line for Sonos and perhaps the core product just isn't for you. Sonos is about wireless speakers that can connect with other speakers in your home and can be controlled over your WiFi network, that is the heart of Sonos. Heck the Play 5 is called "Our most powerful wireless Hi-Fi speaker". Line in is an additional component of the speaker however the entire ethos is controlling the speaker over WiFi by anyone in the home.
NoPicklez 2y ago
That's fine, you then don't need to use Sonos and have the ability to use the many other wireless audio products that have been developed since Sonos.

jjcob 2y ago

Requiring "precise location" is probably necessary because it wants to use Bluetooth to discover speakers. Any app that uses direct bluetooth could theoretically get your precise location from a Bluetooth geotag, so Apple requires apps to get "precise location" permission before being allowed to use bluetooth.

exodust 2y ago
Not correct, not even close.
- jjcob 2y ago
  I checked the docs, and you are right, I mixed something up. Bluetooth does not need "precise location". Bluetooth has its own permission dialog since iOS 13. I confused it with the "Access Wi-Fi Information Entitlement". If an app wants to scan for nearby Wifi networks, it needs the "precise location" permission [1], because the names of Wifi networks can be used to determine precise location. Maybe the Sonos app wants to scan for Wifi networks? [1]: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/networkextension/nehotspotnetwork/fetchcurrent(completionhandler:)?language=objc https://developer.apple.com/documentation/networkextension/n...
  - mrWiz 2y ago
    Sonos speakers set up their own WiFi network that's used to configure them before they join the final network, doing that probably requires "Access Wi-Fi Information Entitlement".
    - exodust 2y ago
      I guess that's why they ask to move the speaker "close to the router" when setting up. Honestly, if they had a checkbox saying "do not share my location with Sonos" it would have eased my anxiety. But they don't, they default everything to "we collect data". Relying on an unread "privacy policy" as the pinky swear for protecting the data they force users to give up, is bad privacy. You can't even delete your own Sonos account, the "delete account" button doesn't actually perform that function.
  - NoPicklez 2y ago
    This is the answer for one of the arguments as to why Sonos needs precise location. It needs to scan for WiFi networks because they connect to your WiFi network and Apple to do that requires precise location. But it won't matter saying that because some people refuse to believe that some companies genuinely need to use that.
    - exodust 2y ago
      > need to use that But they don't need to [use location services]. I only wanted the 3.5mm line in on the Sonos Play5, but was denied unless I jumped through their app "onboarding" routine. It's essentially a loudspeaker with 3.5mm input. But you must complete the mandatory Sonos induction dance before the input signal is permitted the path to output. Like I said, never again. It's a shame because I quite liked the sound of the Play5. It's bright, but the wide dispersion is good for certain types of listening at low to medium volume.
      - NoPicklez 2y ago
        Then I think you may have misread the product line for Sonos and perhaps the core product just isn't for you. Sonos is about wireless speakers that can connect with other speakers in your home and can be controlled over your WiFi network, that is the heart of Sonos. Heck the Play 5 is called "Our most powerful wireless Hi-Fi speaker". Line in is an additional component of the speaker however the entire ethos is controlling the speaker over WiFi by anyone in the home.

NoPicklez 2y ago

That's fine, you then don't need to use Sonos and have the ability to use the many other wireless audio products that have been developed since Sonos.