5 things to know about the new Sonos app

Sonos has taken the wraps off of its newly redesigned mobile app, which is set to launch on May 7. In a new blog post, the company has outlined its extensive efforts to overhaul the entire experience from start to finish.

“As a leader in sound experience that’s focused on creating a better way to listen, Sonos intentionally redesigned the app on a modern software platform for an easier, faster and better experience that can support more rapid innovation,” says Sonos.

The redesign, as well as the May 7 launch date, were both rumored ahead of time courtesy of The Verge. With official confirmation from the company now available to us, here are 5 things to know about the new Sonos app.

1 The new app simplifies navigation

It’s all about the redesigned home section

Sonos

One of the focal points of Sonos’ app redesign is its focus on improving the user interface. The old app was tab-based, and made you cycle between various screens to access many of its features.

With this new app, the main home section has been redesigned from the ground up. Sonos says it’ll surface more of your content, as well as controls and other various functionalities.

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A visual overhaul and a streamlined device setup are set to revamp the app experience in a big way.

Hopefully, this streamlined interface will make it easy to jump right into your audio content at a moment’s notice. We’ll have to test out the UI in the real world to get a better idea of just how successful Sonos has been at reducing interface friction.

2 The new home screen is modular

It’s been designed with customization in mind

Sonos

While Sonos may have taken the time to update the home page experience of its new app, the company says it’ll now also let you customize the layout to your liking.

“Pin rows of your favorite content and services; then move, edit, or rearrange them to your liking,” says Sonos.

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It can be a tough balancing act to bring forth both a simple and intuitive user interface, while also maintaining flexibility and customization. On paper, modular design sounds like an excellent idea — hopefully it meshes well with the rest of the new experience when it’s tested in the real world.

3 The new app makes controlling your equipment easier

System controls are brought front and center with a single swipe gesture

Sonos

Beyond the redesigned and newly-customizable home screen, Sonos has also taken another stab at its system control interface. The company says it’ll be accessible via a simple upward swipe from the bottom of the home page.

The new interface is set to provide a quick overview of your connected speakers and other audio equipment, along with accessible volume sliders for each device in question. An option to quickly group multiple Sonos speakers together will also be found in this menu.

Gestures tend to make for a more fluid user interface, and it’s certainly been the direction that mobile software has been going in recent years. It’s no surprise to see Sonos lean into the UI paradigm with its new app.

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A swipe from the bottom of the screen sounds like it’ll be one-handed friendly, though it has the potential to interfere with the ability swipe back to your phone’s home screen. This is something that’ll have to be tested in the real world before coming to any conclusions.

4 The new app prioritizes search

A new universal search box sits loud and proud on the home page

Sonos

If you’re the type of person who can’t be bothered with fiddling through and customizing interfaces, Sonos has you covered with its updated search functionality.

The new search bar is featured right on the app’s home page, and the company has upgraded it with universal search functionality. That’s to say, you can use the bar to find artists, songs, podcasts, and audiobooks across all supported streaming apps.

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Just how many third party streamers jump on board and integrate with this new universal search feature is anyone’s guess. Sonos boasts support for ‘100+ streaming services,’ but it’s unclear if they’ll all integrate seamlessly with the new search.

The main goal here, according to the company, is to fight fragmentation across content platforms. As an aside, a universal search that taps into all streaming services would be lovely if it was built-in at the OS level — take note, Google!

5 The new experience isn’t just for mobile

A brand-new web app is being released, too

Sonos

Sonos has confirmed that alongside the May 7 release of its new mobile app for iOS and Android, a progressive web app (PWA) will also be released.

“The web app will replace the existing Sonos desktop controller and will be available alongside the redesigned mobile app on May 7, 2024,” according to Sonos.

Like all web apps, the new Sonos experience will be accessible through any modern web browser, and will work across various desktop operating systems with no hitch.

Whether the web app approaches feature-parity with its new mobile counterpart is still up in the air. Web apps sometimes offer scaled-down experiences, but here’s hoping Sonos goes all-in on web tech for this release.

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