Anyone with more than one speaker in the house knows the moment: a speaker drops off the network and disappears from the device list as though it had never been there. After which you do not know which one dropped, or how to bring it back.
Sonos changed that behaviour in its August update.
Three months instead of an instant
A disconnected device now stays visible in settings for three months rather than vanishing the moment it drops. The list keeps its name and its place until you act, rather than forgetting it on your behalf.
And a button to hide it when you want
If the device really has left the house — sold or broken — there is a new “hide” option that removes it from settings by your decision rather than the app’s.
Paired speakers
The same update addresses a narrower case: a bonded pair when one half drops off. The behaviour there is now clearer than it was.
The numbers
- The app version carrying these changes: 88.00.43 on Android, on 11 August. The iPhone version followed after polishing.
- Speaker firmware: 96.1-79270, arriving in batches rather than all at once. The company describes the rollout as a “wave”, so it does not reach everyone at the same time.
- And on 25 August, versions 88.01.10 on Android and 88.01.9 on iPhone were released, with one change for desktop users: the Mac app now runs on Apple processors directly and no longer depends on Rosetta.
Why this matters in practice
Updating the speaker is not the same as updating the app. Your speakers may have new firmware without any update showing in your app store. Telling the two apart is what makes diagnosing a problem possible.
Photo: the grille of a home speaker. By Skyline400R, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Source: the official Sonos community, app and player update announcement of 11 August 2026, and the app release notes page on the Sonos support site.
Kuwait One, once a week.
The most useful stories we published this week, in your inbox.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
