Sonos brought back the phone controls your speaker has been missing for years

Credit: Tyler Hayes / How-To Geek Published Aug 17, 2026, 2:50 PM EDT Jon is a seasoned journalist who has written definitive coverage of consumer tech at publications like Engadget, Android Authority, and BetaKit. He's an expert on making tech accessible ranging from mobile and PCs to emerging platforms like wearables. When he's not writing, he's going on adventures with ihis family and is an avid photographer. Sign in to your How-To Geek account Sonos' two-year quest to rescue its app now includes a feature that some speaker owners have been missing for much longer. The company has finally returned lock screen music playback controls to the iPhone, albeit in a different way. The updated software uses iOS' Live Activities to control audio for the most recently active room or speaker group. You can pause or skip tracks without launching the app, and you'll know just what's playing. The controls currently require unlocking your iPhone for more than a song name, but you won't have to launch the app. Sonos Era 100 8/10 Display No Dimensions 7.18 × 4.72 × 5.14in (182.5 × 120 × 130.5mm) Lock screen controls were available on iOS until summer 2023, when Sonos pulled the functionality after it didn't meet Apple's guidelines at the time. The May 2024 app redesign also took that convenience away from Android users, although they came back with an app update in February this year. There are limitations. You currently need to enable the Live Activity under Account > App Preferences, and you'll make sure More Frequent Updates are active in the iOS app's settings for this to be useful. And while the controls technically show up on an Apple Watch and in CarPlay, they aren't supported so far. Is the Sonos app good again? The controls are part of a larger recovery Sonos' 2024 app redesign was widely criticized as it both replaced a stable (if old-feeling) experience with buggy code that omitted even some basic features, such as playlists and sleep timers. The move led to the departure of CEO Patrick Spence and a back-to-basics campaign where the company provided near-constant app progress updates. The app has improved dramatically in the past two years, and the return of lock screen controls for both iOS and Android reflects this: it's a favorite feature brought back through the latest methods. This theoretically keeps you aboard if you're a fan, and might draw in skeptics who've wanted speakers like the recent Sonos Play but were concerned about missing features. However, Sonos is still competing in a fierce smart speaker market that now includes more obvious rivals like the Amazon Echo Studio, and an app update won't help by itself. Thankfully, the company knows it — Sonos CEO Tom Conrad has teased a September event where new, AI-friendly products will make their debut. Think of the lock screen controls as part of a larger renaissance that will include new hardware.