Sonos is finally improving its app but its not moving fast enough, so people are building new alternatives to solve big gripes about home theater setups and more customizable sound

Date:
Wed, 08 Jul 2026 15:53:42 +0000

Description:
Sonos users are making their own alternatives to the official app and sharing them on the Sonos subreddit

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter People continue to build alternative Sonos apps with features Sonos hasn't offered Recent creations include customizable room correction that works with front surrounds Most aren't widely available, and are being shown in invite-only betas In the last few months, Sonos has finally moved on from fixing its app's tech issues to improving it with new navigation and adding some useful new techy features, such as a key new network troubleshooting option .

But many Sonos users are just tired of waiting for long-requested features such as the ability to add front surround speakers so they're building their own alternatives instead. We covered some user-created apps to improve the Sonos ecosystem not too long ago, and the list of available options continues to grow. Latest Videos From Watch full video here: More Sonos apps than you can shake a soundbar at First up there's "the app Sonos should have made" according to its creator: Somos InControl . It's an iOS remote for Sonos home theater products with custom EQ, saveable sound presets, surround height levels and music features too.

The big draws here are that it supports adding front left and right surround speakers, and the ability to save EQ options for different use cases the example screen shot has slightly tweaked sound for 5.1 surround versus Dolby Atmos versus music listening that you instantly switch between. It's an Apple TestFlight work in progress so availability is limited, but it looks very impressive. You may like Sonos users are vibe coding alternatives to the app, with some cool results The Sonos app is finally getting its long-awaited upgrades to make it easier to use Okay Sonos, where is my TV sound system
with real left and right front speakers? The app Sonos should have made. Try it for free. from r/sonos Moosic is a self-hosted music server app that
offers an alternative to Trueplay's room tuning, with the always-welcome ability to display charts of the room correction, plus more customization options for the tuning.

It also enables you to switch your Sonos configuration such as switching a pair of Era 300s from working as rear speakers to working as stereo music speakers but to keep separate room-tuning profiles for each configuration, which again is something Trueplay doesn't offer. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

If you're wondering why not just use TruePlay, creator AffectionateFox5907 explains : "Sonos does not provide a way to switch between home theatre and music setup seamlessly. My app does, but as part of that I lose Trueplay.
When you unbond and rebond a speaker, each time it will lose its Trueplay configuration. My app basically builds a better Sonos app that adds features I've been wanting for a while without having to have a bunch of different apps. This now works with multiple subs and should work with fronts added as well."

One of the big downsides of using third-party apps that add front surrounds
is that it disables Trueplay, so this is a win for people coloring outside
the usual Sonos surround lines.

It also looks ideal for anyone who's found using their home theater for music to be a bit of a pain, and there are plenty of people who do: there's a whole Reddit thread asking for a simple switch between movie mode and music mode without having to reconfigure your system every time you do it. I built my
own version of "Trueplay" from r/sonos Last but not least, MajorAtmosphere
has created Kyuu (pronounced "queue"), an iOS Sonos controller that enables you to use UPnP for local files, which the Sonos app doesn't support.

As they explain: "Kyuu runs a lightweight local server that handles speaker discovery via SSDP, polls playback state, and sends commands directly to your speakers. The iOS app talks to that server over your LAN no cloud, no Sonos account, no external dependencies." I built a local-first Sonos controller
iOS app using the UPnP API no account required [Beta] from r/sonos Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/televisions/home-theater/sonos-is-finally-improving- its-app-but-its-not-moving-fast-enough-so-people-are-building-new-alternatives -to-solve-big-gripes-about-home-theater-setups-and-more-customizable-sound


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