Popular home audio company Sonos has majorly updated its smartphone app for iPhone and Android in a redesign that promises better personalisation, faster access to controls, and a clearer view of all your streaming services and favourite music.
For the uninitiated, Sonos is a US company that makes excellent quality Wi-Fi-connected speakers that you can link together via the app to create stereo pairs, or dot the speakers throughout your home to easily control multi-room audio. The app can link to services such as Spotify and Apple Music depending on your subscriptions, and it’s easy to tune into global radio stations.
The problem is, the app has always been quite clunky and unreliable, and older speakers only work on an older version of the app called S1. But this update to the newer S2 app looks like it could have fixed some of the issues we had with it before.
“After thorough development and testing, we are confident this redesigned app is easier, faster and better,” said Patrick Spence, CEO of Sonos. “It once again raises the bar for the home music listening experience, and sets up our ability to expand into new categories and experiences.”
The company hopes that the redesigned app can collect all the places you listen to music and present them in a clearer and more personal way. So, if you have favourite playlists spread across various streaming platforms and also like to tune into LBC every morning, Sonos hopes the new app will surface all of your preferences more clearly, when you want to see them.
The new search bar will cleverly search across all your subscribed services for artists, songs, podcasts, and audiobooks, while you can pin your favourite content and services however you like to always have them to hand.
“As the only audio brand with an open platform offering extensive choice, Sonos makes it easy to control your system and curate your favourite sounds all in one place,” said Maxime
Bouvat-Merlin, Chief Product Officer of Sonos. “Our reimagined app delivers the industry’s most streamlined streaming experience by bringing a world of content and intuitive control to the Home screen.”
You’ll be able to swipe up to see a new visual overview of your Sonos setup to see what’s playing on each one, allowing you to set new groupings and adjust volume – handy if you have several Sonos speakers.
This free app update is coming to iPhone and Android on 7 May, but the old Windows and Mac controller apps are being retired. Instead, the new interface will be available to access from a web browser for anyone who wants to control their Sonos system via a computer.
