New Sonos App

Flattliner
Userlevel 6
Badge +5

The new Sonos app is so bad that I will be spending the rest of today looking at 3rd party controller apps for iOS and iPadOS. Truly the worst update of their entire software history, there are so many bugs that I’m not wasting time detailing them (others have already done so).

Any good bits?

Er…

I like the reversion to a black icon.

Hmmmm…

Album covers fill the available area more than they did on the iPad version.

That’s it. I’ve never had a worse case of update remorse and feel like an idiot for updating all my software; at least the macOS app still works...

5 replies

Flattliner
Userlevel 6
Badge +5

Tried the main competitors and for the iPhone, SonoPhone is the runaway winner. Doesn’t have alarm/sleep functions but works flawlessly with local libraries, queues etc.

Their sales must be booming!

L

The new Sonos app is so bad that I will be spending the rest of today looking at 3rd party controller apps for iOS and iPadOS. Truly the worst update of their entire software history, there are so many bugs that I’m not wasting time detailing them (others have already done so).

Any good bits?

Er…

I like the reversion to a black icon.

Hmmmm…

Album covers fill the available area more than they did on the iPad version.

That’s it. I’ve never had a worse case of update remorse and feel like an idiot for updating all my software; at least the macOS app still works...

Thanks for the tip, Flattliner.

May I ask: How did you add NAS on Sonophone? I’ve downloaded it, and I can see “Folders” and “Refresh music library” in “my music”, but I cannot figure out how to actually add my NAS collection. I’ve emailed Stefan at Sonophone, but thought posting here might help other people (though it seems that I might be the only one who can’t do this)

(IOS)

Thanks

B

Stefan from SonoPhone here (thanks for the recommendation).

For those wondering, how SonoPhone accesses the library: 

Under the assumption, that you have setup your music library before with Sonos, on the main menu of SonoPad/SonoPhone you should see a menu item "My Music", where you will find everything.
 

If that is not the case you need to repeat the setup process from Sonos.
My app doesn't come with administrative settings for the first time setup of the Sonos boxes. So you will still need Sonos to configure the library (which got a bit hard with their latest app release).

the good news: the Windows (or Mac) App from Sonos (you can download it here https://support.sonos.com/downloads) still supports configuring the music library.

image.png

 

image.png

The reason why my app needs you to configure your music library via Sonos is, that in the end it's the Sonos boxes, that need to connect to your music to play it. The app alone 'just' selects tracks, it's the Sonos boxes, that download and play the music.

Please be aware, that Sonos dropped support for the (old and insecure) "SMB1" protocol. SMB3 is now required. So if Sonos cannot access your files … it’s eventually not ‘just’ the new App, eventually you also need to check your NAS, if it can also support this newer format of file shares. This new restriction cannot be bypassed by my app - as written above - it’s the Sonos box that downloads and plays the files (because obviously you want to hear music, also when you turn off the app).

Once your library has been setup properly, my app supports the library fully. This includes the search, changing the playlist, triggering a rescan. So everything you need in daily life.

 

Hope this helps, 

Kind regards

Stefan

Flattliner
Userlevel 6
Badge +5

Thanks for that Stefan - have you noticed an increase in sales?

Also, is it true that SonoPad only works in landscape orientation? If it did portrait I’d buy that as a well!

Keep up the good work.

B

SonoPad right now only support portrait mode.

Let’s say I received 3 supportmail / month in the last years, while right now I get about 20 mails / day.

So yes - people proactivly look for alternatives right now, and as you can see in the latest AppStore comments, most of them are happy as they are able to make their local library work again.

That is: except those, who run very old NAS server. The app cannot workaround Sonos latest requirements of having an SMB2 network share at least. Being a developer I can totally understand, why Sonos increased this requirement.

At the same time I also realize right now that there is a huge user-base out there, that set-up their NAS and music library in the times, where we all heavily ripped CDs - and never upgraded since then, as it just worked without any flaws for a very long time.

 

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