Sonos investigating random muting issues following latest update

Update 02/07/24 10:00 am (IST): Responding to a query about the bug where Sonos speakers get muted automatically, a Sonos employee shared the following details:

This one has been creeping up on our radars between Social, Community and here (as you’ve noted). The team has a ticket spun up, we are actively investigating this one.

No ETA at the current moment, but if you’d like to get a front row seat to the action – I’d recommend getting in contact with our support team. They will be able to tag your case with the appropriate ticket and you’ll be notified when that issues been solved and your case is closed. In some cases, having a ticket can lead to us asking you to test the solution before it hits public.

Alternatively, when this does get resolved, I will also be calling it out in the release notes when we get there. Either way I’ll make sure people here are aware when we ship that fix.

Original article published on June 24, 2024 follows:

Many Sonos users are grappling with an unexpected glitch following the latest software update, as reports flood community forums and social media platforms detailing instances where Sonos speakers mysteriously mute themselves. This perplexing issue, prominently observed after the rollout of version v80.03.03, has sparked widespread confusion and frustration among users

According to affected users, the problem manifests with Sonos speakers resetting their volume to zero autonomously, often accompanied by the illumination of a green LED indicator—a clear signal, according to Sonos’ documentation, that the speaker has been muted by the system.

“My entire system mutes randomly and without touching any buttons, The voice Assistance is not activated and that’s not what appears to be causing it,” shared one user on a Sonos community forum, echoing the sentiments of many who have encountered similar experiences. Another user on Reddit lamented, “Since a couple of days the volume of the two Sonos speakers (IKEA Symfonisk units) default to 0 volume after a while.” Even a Sonos staff member claimed that they experienced the problem on their devices too.

In response to mounting complaints, a Sonos staff member responded, stating, “Thank you all for your assistance – we have identified an issue making speakers randomly set their volume to 0 and are investigating. We will update this thread once a fix has been implemented.”

While the investigation progresses, speculation suggests the issue primarily affects users on Android devices, although Sonos has yet to confirm specific platform impacts. I couldn’t find reports that mention the current Sonos version number for iOS, which is v80.03.06. That said, it’s possible that the issue impacts the iOS app too.

There are no known workarounds right now for the volume bug. This means affected users will likely have to wait for a fix to go live from Sonos’ side. Granted that the team is investigating the problem, it’s likely that a resolution will arrive shortly.

While this bug managed to slip through with the latest update, Sonos did bring some quality of life improvements too. For starter’s, Sonos has added back the much-requested numerical indicators on the volume slider. The update also brings the mute button, which first went live on the iOS app, to the Android counterpart. Here’s the complete changelog for reference:

– Introduced mute button on Android.
– Added numerical values to the volume and group-volume sliders.
– Updated the volume icon to reflect the volume level on iOS.
– Added stereo or mono configuration for Amp/Port output on iOS.
– Improved TalkBack screen reader support for volume sliders on Android.
– Added support for SonosNet channel selection on iOS.
– Expanded support for service reauthorization on Android.

That said, if you managed to find a workaround for the muting bug, feel free to share it in the comments section below. Thanks in advance!