Hey all! It's been a few weeks since we all chatted and went through Tabs and more with some of the team who worked them. This time we're going old school with an old fashioned AMA with just the team of myself(Liz), Andrew, Tim, Keith, Atom, and Andrew. This time we are all in the office together where we will be in the same room (and not virtually)!

https://preview.redd.it/dodynyf3ldkh1.jpg?width=8064&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5dfec98408241d7009c43a22440e8cc42f8faa81

We have released a new feature recently, iOS Live Activities, which we know you have all been waiting on so feel free to ask questions about that or anything else you've got.

🗓️ Office Hours Details

📅 Date: Thursday, August 20th
⏰ Time: 1p Eastern until 4p Eastern

How This Works

1. Post your questions in this thread ahead of time
2. Tune in on the scheduled date/time
3. The Sonos team will reply directly in-thread

A few quick housekeeping notes to help things go smoothly:

• We’re not Sonos Support, but we may be able to offer some troubleshooting context or point you in the right direction.
• We can’t dive into product roadmaps or anything that hasn’t already been publicly shared.
• We’re also not PR, Legal, or Finance, so there are some topics we simply won’t have visibility into or be able to comment on.

Our goal is to respond to as many of you as possible, so please try to keep each comment focused to one question. For folks who stack a whole bunch of questions, we will pick one of the questions that hasn’t been previously answered.

The team can’t wait to hear from you at 1PM on Thursday, August 20th!

Hey all, today is the day! iOS Live Activities are here. We’re excited to finally bring back Sonos control from the iOS lock screen, but in an all-new way with iOS Live Activities. We know this is a much requested, anticipated, and needed feature, and we can’t wait for you to try it out.

First things first. Live Activities are off by default and you will need to enable it before you can use it. Here’s what to do:

• Make sure you’re logged in as the system owner
• Account > App Preferences > Live Activity
• “Always Allow” first time you see the Live Activity 
• “Allow Live Activity” and “More Frequent Updates” in iOS Settings for the Sonos app

How do Live Activities work and look?
Once enabled the activity will appear after you initiate playback and then close the app. It will show the current room or group you were last playing audio from. When playback stops, the live activity will disappear after 15 minutes. While the iOS Live Activity can be viewed from your Lock Screen, you must first unlock your iPhone with FaceID or a Passcode before being able to make playback changes.

On the Lock Screen:

https://preview.redd.it/lugie909pxjh1.png?width=744&format=png&auto=webp&s=c4810770b93e4bd3ef2ade338b01ec8fa85ceab8

https://preview.redd.it/vwndgb09pxjh1.png?width=376&format=png&auto=webp&s=62ce95c2bc89a98d0d4842ab270394f18c8602e1

Expanded in the Dynamic Island:

https://preview.redd.it/6x0qe909pxjh1.png?width=756&format=png&auto=webp&s=1ddee406d397f59cd3c3efc64931b4860441b4b7

What if I don’t want the Live Activity to be showing on the screen?
If you want to keep Live Activities enabled but not have it appear on your screen you can swipe it away. To get it back go to App Preferences > Live Activity and toggle it on/off or force quit the app and relaunch it.

What if my Live Activity is only showing outlines?
If you are only seeing outlines you most likely need to change the iOS setting under Face ID & Passcodes > “Allow Access When Locked” > Toggle on “Live Activities”.

We’re super excited that the feature is now out, but that doesn’t mean the team has stopped working on it. 

• Right now we are unable to support album art on the Live Activity, but alternative ways to enhance the lock screen experience are being explored.
• Live Activities include support for Apple Watch and CarPlay so the Live Activity will show up on your Apple Watch or car, but right now the controls aren’t supported.
• If you prefer to initiate playback on Sonos from outside the Sonos app (Direct Control from supported services, Bluetooth, or AirPlay) you can still use the local playback controls that appear on screen or the Live Activity. You can choose which you prefer to use.

Two more things before we leave you to explore the feature:

• For Android users: we hope you’re still enjoying the lock screen notifications the team shipped out in February. Be sure to let us know if you have any feature requests and look forward to more good things coming your way. 
• iOS 27 is coming later this year from Apple and the teams have been exploring the new capabilities it has in Beta. No news to share right now but keep your eyes peeled and ears open!

As always, please let us know any of your questions, concerns, or feedback! We’ll take it all. 

Edit: Added a question regarding if your Live Activity is only showing outlines.

Hey all 👋🏻

Quick heads up. We're doing some backend work with Amazon tomorrow, 8/12, from about 7–9 AM ET. During that window, you might notice some hiccups with Amazon services on your Sonos system.

Everything else like music playback (other than Amazon Music), the Sonos app, and your speakers, should work as normal. This is just a short maintenance window and everything should be back to normal shortly after 9 AM ET.

Thanks for hanging with us.

Hey all! We've got a new update live for both iOS and Android. Here's a quick breakdown of what's changed. Want the full history of what we've been up to? Check out our App Release Notes here and System (Player) Release Notes here.

As always, this is a Phased Rollout, think of it like a wave; not everyone gets it at the same time.

What's New:

App Update

Android - 88.00.43

• Smarter handling of offline products - We tuned up the settings experience for products that go offline:
  • Offline products now stick around in Settings for 3 months instead of disappearing right away, giving you time to reconnect them.
  • Improvements to how bonded sets behave when part of the set drops offline.
  • Added a "hide" option so you can tidy up Settings by removing offline products you don't plan to bring back.

Player Update

• Modern: 96.1-79270

And for iOS, we didn’t forget about you. Just some last minute polishing on the update. It’ll be here soon.

As always, feedback is welcome. The good, bad, or in between. We read it all. 🙏

Hey all! We've got a new update live for both iOS and Android — here's a quick breakdown of what's changed. Want the full history of what we've been up to? Check out our App Release Notes here.

As always, this is a Phased Rollout — think of it like a wave; not everyone gets it at the same time. If you're on iOS and want to nudge it along, head to the App Store, pull down on your Account page (the one showing pending updates), and give it a refresh. That usually does the trick.

What's New:

App Update

Android & iOS - 86.01.5

• Fix related to a card popping up in the app to Enable SonosNet even if SonosNet has never been disabled.

Along with that, we made some backend changes that resolved a few smaller bugs. 

As always, feedback is welcome. The good, bad, or in between. We read it all. 🙏

Hey all! 👋🏻  A couple weeks back I shared the news about the new app update (the in-app SonosNet on/off toggle and the Connection Type info under About My System), and you all came through with some great questions. I promised I'd bring them back and follow up so here we go.

Quick reminder on where the toggle is: System Settings → Networks → Disable SonosNet (you need to be updated to the latest app version to see it).

SonosNet is the private network the speakers would build for themselves back when one of them or a Boost was wired to your network to help the speakers communicate better. For a lot of modern setups, you don't need it anymore and now you can turn it off without it being all-or-nothing.

 

Questions & Answers:

"Can I wire a couple speakers and leave others wireless without accidentally spinning up SonosNet?"

Yes, that’s exactly the purpose. Before, plugging an Ethernet cable into a SonosNet-capable product would automatically flip your entire household onto SonosNet. With it disabled, that no longer happens and you can wire the speakers you want wired without dragging everything else onto the mesh.

"Will it flip over to Wi-Fi like a light switch? How smooth is the transition?"

It should be smooth. When you run the Disable SonosNet wizard, it confirms that every speaker currently on SonosNet can reach the app over your home router instead. As long as all the connections get made, SonosNet gets switched off for your current speakers and any you add later. Then it stays off, your system won't fall back to SonosNet unless you deliberately run the Enable SonosNet wizard down the road. So it's a clean, intentional, ‘set it and forget it’ change rather than something that flickers on and off on its own.

"How does this affect surrounds, stereo pairs, and home theater?"

No changes to your surrounds or Sub. They still connect directly to your primary soundbar exactly like they do today, with or without this setting. That low-latency link is its own thing and isn't part of SonosNet, so disabling SonosNet doesn't touch it. The one nuance: if you had a soundbar connected over Ethernet, with SonosNet off it'll stop bridging SonosNet out to your other Sonos players (it'll still talk to its own surrounds and sub). And heads up — disabling SonosNet is not the same as "disable Wi-Fi" on a single speaker; that one does cut a surround or Sub off entirely. Different settings, different results.

"I'm on UniFi, can I finally mix wired and wireless without the network going crazy?"

With SonosNet running, it could create extra network paths back to your UniFi gear and if spanning tree wasn't enabled on all the ports with Sonos players (with the right port cost), that's where a lot of the chaos came from. Turning SonosNet off removes those alternate paths and should clear up that common scenario. I can't promise it fixes every UniFi issue. That really depends on your topology and the specific problem, but for the "wired + wireless makes my network misbehave" headache, this is the fix a lot of you have been waiting for.

"What about older or all-in-one speakers? Does it behave differently for them?"

Nope. It works the same for older and newer products. (Some newer products don't use SonosNet at all, so there are no changes to make there.) If you've got pre-One Gen 2 standalone speakers, a Playbar/Playbase, or the latest gear, the toggle treats them consistently.

A few pro tips before you run the wizard:

• Update firmware and software first so everything's current.
• Have your Wi-Fi credentials (2.4 + 5GHz) saved in the app so every player has a clear path home.
• Check About My System to confirm everyone landed on Wi-Fi (or wired) the way you expect.

I am still chasing down the answer on how the Network Matrix reads once SonosNet is off. I'll update as soon as I have a clear answer.

 

As always, keep the feedback coming. The good, bad, or in-between. We read it all. 🙏🏻

Hey all! We've got a new update live for both iOS and Android. Here's a quick breakdown of what's changed. If you want to see what the teams have been up to check out our App Release Notes here and System (Player) Release Notes here.

As always, this is a Phased Rollout — think of it like a wave; not everyone gets it at the same time. If you're on iOS and want to nudge it along, head to the App Store, pull down on your Account page (the one showing pending updates), and give it a refresh. That usually does the trick.

What's New:

App Update

iOS - 86.00.41

Android - 86.00.35

• iOS App Intents - You can now create shortcuts that integrate with Siri and Apple Home. This includes playback control, grouping, volume control, and playback initiation.

Player Update

• Modern: 95.1-78010

We'd love to hear from you! If you've already started building shortcuts, drop them in the comments — we'd love to see what you've come up with. And if there's something you wish App Intents could do, let us know. Your feedback helps shape where this feature goes next. 🙏

Edit: Thanks for the requests for a little how-to on setting up a shortcut. Here is a quick one I did to put on music for the dogs when I leave the house. This shortcut opens the app, groups my Living Room and Move, and starts playback of the Hit List station. Your stations, artists, songs, rooms, and other options will differ based on what you have set up in your app.

https://reddit.com/link/1u16qmj/video/wy4rwj4qdh6h1/player

Hey all! We've got a new app update live for both iOS and Android — here's a quick breakdown of what's changed. Want the full history of what we've been up to? Check out our App Release Notes here and System (Player) Release Notes here.

As always, this is a Phased Rollout — think of it like a wave; not everyone gets it at the same time. If you're on iOS and want to nudge it along, head to the App Store, pull down on your Account page (the one showing pending updates), and give it a refresh. That usually does the trick! Note that these features are also part of the Phased Rollout. Even if your app up to date you may not see the feature as available.

What's New:

App Update

iOS — 85.01.2

Android — 85.01.4

• In-app setting to enable or disable SonosNet - This will let you enable or disable SonosNet per household. 
• About My System Connection Type - The About My System page now shows how each Sonos product is connected to your network.

Got technical questions about any of these features? Drop them below — I'll be bringing them back to our engineering team for more detailed answers. 👇

SonosNet Q&A

What is SonosNet? SonosNet is Sonos' original dedicated wireless mesh network that lets your Sonos products talk to each other. Think of it like Sonos building its own private Wi-Fi just for your speakers — it was especially useful back when home Wi-Fi wasn't as reliable. A wired Sonos product acts as the bridge that keeps everything connected.

Should I disable SonosNet on my modern network? For most modern, high-speed routers, disabling SonosNet can actually help things run smoother. Newer routers use Wi-Fi technology that can sometimes conflict with SonosNet's mesh, so turning it off lets your system lean fully on your home network instead.

How do I disable SonosNet? Head to System Settings → Networks → Disable SonosNet in the Sonos app (version 85 or higher required).

Is turning off SonosNet the same as disabling Wi-Fi on one speaker? Not quite. Disabling Wi-Fi on a single speaker is a local change, while globally disabling SonosNet is a system-wide shift — it stops your entire Sonos system from trying to build its own internal mesh network. This can help resolve connectivity issues on more complex home network setups.

As always, feedback is always welcome — good, bad, or in between. We genuinely read it all. 🙏

Hey all! We've got a new update live for both iOS and Android — here's a quick breakdown of what's changed. Want the full history of what we've been up to? Check out our App Release Notes here and System (Player) Release Notes here.

As always, this is a Phased Rollout, think of it like a wave; not everyone gets it at the same time. If you're on iOS and want to nudge it along, head to the App Store, pull down on your Account page (the one showing pending updates), and give it a refresh. That usually does the trick. 

What's New:

App Update

Android & iOS - 85.00.31

• About Your System Refresh (iOS only) - We've given the About Your System page a makeover.
• TuneIn Removal from Home Screen - If you have Old TuneIn shortcuts saved in your Home we are starting to remove any broken links. There will be a prompt to “Fix It” to help you migrate links to the new TuneIn. 
• iOS/iPadOS 17 Support Ending - If your device is running iOS or iPadOS 17, the app will no longer receive updates on those versions. Updating to iOS/iPadOS 18 or higher will allow you to keep receiving app updates on that device.
• Additional Grouping Option in Music Library Settings - Album Artist sorting now includes "Both" as an option, making it easier to group albums the way you'd expect.
• Sonos Radio Ad Personalization - US listeners on Sonos Radio's free tier may see a pop-up for device-specific privacy settings. Opting in helps serve more relevant ads to your listening habits.
• Back end changes related to messaging, content refresh, and home screen.

Player Update

• Modern: 95.0-77060
• Legacy: 86.7-77050

As always, feedback is welcome. The good, bad, or in between. We read it all. 🙏