Issues with the updated Sonos app may mean you’re better sticking for now
The all-new Sonos app update started landing on 7 May for iOS and Android but, if you’ve not already tapped the update button yet, then you should probably hold fire for now… at least until you’ve read this guide.
The updated Sonos app is the Santa Barbara streaming giant’s biggest app redesign yet, completely changing how you access music, content and your Sonos system.
It will, of course, take some getting used to, and new updates in tech always mean that some users feel aggrieved that features they know and love go by the wayside.
But with the 2024 Sonos app update, there are numerous issues that could be absolute deal breakers for some.
I would state now that Sonos is likely to re-add and fix most, if not all, of the problems listed below but take a look first before tapping that update button as you may be committing yourself to a system lacking the features you need for a few weeks or months.
New Sonos app issues, missing features and more
Music library woes
Once upon a time your locally stored music library – i.e. digital tracks you have stored on a hard-drive, NAS or computer – were the beating heart of a Sonos system. Long before the days of streaming services like Apple Music, Spotify and Tidal, it was MP3s, FLACs, AACs and the like that powered the multi-room audio experience on Sonos.
Obviously as times changed and streaming services became the most common way to listen to music, Sonos evolved, adding all of the major platforms to the mix as music providers.
However, with the new Sonos app, the old fashioned music library has taken a bit of a kicking, being relegated to a the ‘Your Sources’ section of the app, rather than the ‘Your Services’.
That means your local music files now live alongside Line-in and TV, rather than living with Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Sonos Radio and the like.
Why does that matter? Because it’s only the ‘Your Services’ gang that are searchable. You can’t search for songs, albums or artists within your music library, you can just browse them.
There are also issues when trying to modify or add a NAS drive to the new Sonos app, as the option doesn’t appear on either of the new mobile apps, nor the new web app.
You can still use the old desktop app to do this though and we’ve asked Sonos for an update on the situation.
Queuing for a queue
Waiting for a queue to start sounds like a British pastime but it is exactly what Sonos users are going to have to do when it comes to their new app.
That’s because the ability to add songs to a queue has gone, you can now only replace the current queue.
The Sonos help pages confirms this, stating: “This feature is not currently available in the Sonos app for iOS or Android, but it will return in a future update.”
The good news here is that we’ve been told that “queue editing in the newly updated Sonos app should be rolling out in the coming weeks.”
TruePlay crashes
Hop onto the Sonos subreddit and you’ll notice users flagging a bunch of issues with the new app, which is to be expected with a new launch.
One issue that’s generating quite a lot of chatter is bugs spotted within the TruePlay tuning feature.
When trying to retune a speaker, users are finding that the process crashes before it’s complete.
Not a major issue this one but one to consider, especially if you have a new speaker waiting in the box ready to be added to your Sonos system.
No alarms and no surprises
As confirmed by Sonos, the new “Sonos app can enable or disable alarms, but cannot currently create new alarms or edit existing alarm settings. These features will return in a future update.”
The new app also doesn’t allow for sleep timers either.
On both of these points Sonos states: “As a temporary workaround, you can use the Sonos app for macOS or Windows to set a sleep timer on your system.”
