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Sonos app relaunch won’t bring back its most missed iOS feature
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Update 24/4: A Sonos spokesperson confirmed to Trusted Reviews that while the company is exploring bringing back iOS lock screen controls in the future, there is nothing to share today.
Original story continues below…
Therelaunch of the Sonos appfor mobile devices will bring a fresh interface and a slew of improvements for controlling media output – including faster access to your tunes.
However, it appears as if one integral feature that departed from the iOS app last year, will not be making a return.
In the Sonos app v15.6 for iOS last year, the company removed the ability to control the Sonos app from the iPhone and iPad Lock Screen. It also stopped supporting the hardware buttons on iOS/iPadOS devices for controlling volume.
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Sonos effectively said it wasn’t meeting Apple’s expectations for media controls, so those features were pulled from the app last July.
In therelease notes, the company wrote: “We’ve removed the ability to control the Sonos app for iOS using lock screen controls and device hardware buttons. The way these features were architected do not meet Apple’s experience guidelines for developers and no longer offer a reliable control experience.”
The removal of the feature from the S2 app meant users needed to open the Sonos app if they wish to skip tracks or change up the music, or adjust the volume. That’s if they wish to stream the music to the speaker directly from the Sonos app.
Of course, there are alternatives. You can use Alexa or Sonos Voice commands, or you can stream via your app of choice viaAirPlay 2. However, the anecdotal evidence is that you lose some audio quality this way.
Given Sonos has had since July last year to improve the user experience for Lock Screen controls, one might have expected any significant app upgrade would have reintroduced the feature. Especially considering the idea of the app is to get to your tunes faster than before.
Sonos doesn’t mention the return in its press release today so our working assumption is this absence hasn’t been resolved, but we have contacted the company for confirmation.
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Chris Smith is a freelance technology journalist for a host of UK tech publications, including Trusted Reviews. He’s based in South Florida, USA. …
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Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.
Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
