For a long time, Android users had the option of playing their own music quickly and easily from their smartphone to their Sonos speakers. But now the company is canceling this function without replacement.
Sonos WiFi speakers offer a wide range of music playback options. One benefit over the competition was the option to play files stored on the phone via the On This Device menu in the Sonos app. However, this is now gone. TECHBOOK explains what this means for Android users.
Sonos app for Android loses functionality
Sonos announced the changes in an unassuming update on its support page. If you are looking for the help article on playing local music, you will find the following instead Notice: “As of May 23, 2023, it will no longer be possible to play audio files directly to Sonos via the ‘On this device’ menu in the Sonos app for Android.” To work around the loss of this function, the help site offers a number of alternatives – however, these are associated with considerable additional effort.
Sonos justifies the decision in his support forumas follows: “With the release of newer versions of mobile operating systems, the way information is exchanged between devices can sometimes change and this function is then no longer compatible with newer versions of the Android operating system.”
TECHBOOK has asked Sonos for an explanation and what users who cannot use the alternatives below can do. Once we get a response, we’ll update this article accordingly.
What alternatives do Android users have with Sonos now?
In order to play music stored on the smartphone itself in the future, Android users basically only have two options. If you have one Sonos speaker with bluetooth function have, they can connect the smartphone to it and play their titles. So far, however, only four models support Bluetooth: Era 100, Era 300, Move and Roam.
A second option is playback via an aux cable. Sonos Play:5, Connect, Connect:Amp, Amp as well as Era 100 and Era 300 (only with adapter) have a corresponding audio input. This allows the smartphone to be connected directly to the speaker, provided it has a jack socket. Otherwise, the connection is only possible via an adapter.
The other alternatives only work if users save their music somewhere other than their smartphone. Sonos recommends using streaming services that allow you to upload your own music. This is possible with YouTube Music, Apple Music, Deezer and Plex, for example. If the music is stored in the cloud, the services can then be added in the Sonos app. This allows you to stream your own tracks through the speakers. In order to be able to use these services to their full extent, however, a subscription is usually required.
A final option is to store your own music on a NAS drive. Many Internet routers – such as the Fritzbox – allow the use of a hard drive or a USB stick as Network Attached Storage (NAS). Alternatively, there are complete NAS systems, which are usually quite expensive. The Sonos app can recognize NAS drives and play music stored on them directly.
TECHBOOK means
“Sonos has been in litigation with Google for some time. This has no direct effect on the decision to no longer allow local files to be played. However, the bad relationship between the two companies is one reason why there is no alternative for Android users. If Sonos loudspeakers simply had access to Chomecast built-in like many other models from the competition, playing stored music would not be a problem at all. In the end, the users bear the consequences again.” Adrian Mühlroth, editor
Are iPhone users also affected?
iPhone users have been unable to play locally stored music directly through the Sonos app for several years. Unlike for Android users, this is hardly a limitation, since almost all of the company’s speakers support Apple’s AirPlay standard. This means that music stored on the iPhone can also be played back on the playback devices without any problems.
There’s no such option for Android, as Sonos products don’t have Google’s Chromecast AirPlay counterpart. Therefore, without this feature, there is no alternative to stream local music to the speaker.