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Sonos Controller app adds darker UI, simplified navigation, more frequent updates promised

In a blog post today, Sonos announced the rollout of a new version of their Sonos Controller app for iOS and Android. The update intends to simplify navigation and refresh the app’s user interface.

If you’ve used the Sonos app before, you won’t notice any groundbreaking changes in today’s update, but rather tweaks and adjustments across the board. Most notable is a darker UI for the app’s Now Playing screen, which looks seamless when viewed on the iPhone X’s OLED display.

Also new in today’s update is a redesigned Rooms tab that makes it easier to view more of your rooms at once. Sonos says they have listened to user feedback and will be providing more frequent updates in 2018.

Some details from Sonos:

This update makes the Now Playing screen black and embeds the navigation bar at the bottom of the app. The Room menu now displays more rooms and makes it easier to identify which speakers are grouped.

Overall, we expect these changes will be a nice improvement for most users and a start at addressing many of the most requested updates following our 8.0 release. In coming releases, we’re doing more work on Now Playing, specifically how you navigate in and out of that screen and how you group or ungroup rooms. We’ve gotten a lot of compelling feedback in this area as well. We’ll be sharing some more details about what’s coming up next soon. Stay tuned!

The Sonos Controller app before and after today’s update.

Today’s refresh comes on the heels of Apple’s announcement earlier in the day that HomePod will be available for pre-order this Friday, with sales beginning on February 9th.

Apple’s entry into the smart speaker market comes after the introduction of the Sonos One last fall, powered by Amazon’s Alexa assistant. Both Sonos and Apple have promised that AirPlay 2 support for their speakers will be coming in the future, although neither company has committed to a specific date at this time.

You can grab today’s Sonos Controller update in the App Store.


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Avatar for Michael Steeber Michael Steeber

Michael is a Creative Editor who covered Apple Retail and design on 9to5Mac. His stories highlighted the work of talented artists, designers, and customers through a unique lens of architecture, creativity, and community.

Contact Michael on Twitter to share Apple Retail, design, and history stories: @MichaelSteeber