[Stephen]

I agree with much of what you wrote in your ‘App Appearance’ thread, MM .

https://forum.beoworld.org/forums/topic/3-generations-of-the-bo-app-which-one-would-you-prefer/

I took you at your word and am writing these comments here.

The B&O App Development Team undoubtedly have their own priorities although the rationale behind the recent changes to the App that render versions 5.4 and 5.5 so awful is beyond me. It often seems that the beta versions are released as ‘official’ prematurely, and I worry that the developers are not taking user problems reported seriously. Just read the many negative and frustrated comments about the B&O App in the Apple App Store.

However, the B&O Support team always responds when I report a problem, albeit the answer is often ‘we have reported this to our developers and we cannot give you a specific time when (or if) it will be fixed’. They have however also provided solutions to other problems.

I reported the missing play queue in v5.4 via the Support link in the app. This was ‘fed upwards’ to the developers and, after a few weeks, I was informed that the missing play queue was specific to the BeoSound Moment. Accordingly, I was concerned that this alone would put it low on the developers’ list of fixes but, lo and behold, the play queue reappeared in v5.5. I feel like they did respond to my plea.

I like Beoworld a lot and have read some really useful information here. It is also less confusing than the Beotalk And B&O server on Discord which also contains a huge amount of information. My experience with other Discord servers is that they are equally convoluted and hard to negotiate but, if you use it, you quickly find which folders are most relevant to you. You can ignore the others. Also, new unread messages are highlighted. I think both Beoworld and Discord have useful but different places in the B&O users’ world. I don’t see them as competing.

Like MM, I will stick with App v5.3 for as long as I can, even after it expires. My hope is that they will fix most if not all of the problems in subsequent versions. Fingers crossed…

Location: Switzerland

[Stephen]

Update to the message above. Test Flight for Mac shows the previous builds of the B&O app but it does not allow one to install any of them, including the most recent. It notes that the app is ‘for iOS devices only’. (See attachment,) Presumably , this is because the B&O app is not approved for Mac computers. I wish it was.

Stephen

Location: Switzerland

[Stephen]

Millemissen wrote:

Stephen wrote:

p.s. I am interested in the App Feature Request thread in Discord mentioned by MM. How do I access that?

By the way….how do you (re)install the previous app versions on a Mac? I guess some of us might want to learn more about that. MM

Hi MM,

Thanks for letting me know about Sandy. He already sent me an invitation to Discord.

I haven’t  installed any version of the app later than v5.3 on my Mac. I have been testing the beta versions on my iPhone and iPad. Given what a disaster these are, I am hesitant to install these on my Mac until there are significant improvements. The version in the App Store is 5.5.2. I might give it a try on the Mac since my biggest complaint was the disappearance of the play queue in 5.4, which is now back.

Incidentally, there is a Test Flight app available for Macs in the App Store but I haven’t downloaded that. I just use my iPhone as the testbed for the B&O app before updating the Mac. Or not!

Location: Switzerland

[Stephen]

Sandyb wrote:

Stephen, I’ve sent you a message with an invite etc., and small explainer. Let me know if you have any q’s.

Got it, thanks Sandy

Location: Switzerland

[Stephen]

Sandyb wrote:

Stephen, I’ve sent you a message with an invite etc., and small explainer. Let me know if you have any q’s.

Got it, thanks Sandy

Location: Switzerland

[Stephen]

I forgot to mention that I mostly use my MacBook Air as the B&O App interface, even though the app isn’t really designed for use on a Mac. I wish it was; My MacBook has basically replaced my iPad as device of choice. I use my iPhone B&O app when I’m upstairs in bed.

Location: Switzerland

[Stephen]

This is an interesting and important topic, thanks for starting the discussion. In my own system, I have only my trusty, 23-year old Beosound 9000 6-CD player and my Beosound Moment which, for unknown reasons, B&O discontinued shortly after producing it. I listen to music all the time so a smoothly functioning system is very important to me.

Regarding the B&O app, things were working perfectly with v5.3. It took them long enough to get the app to that stage! With the introduction of v5.4 and then 5.5, the app went pear-shaped: what a catastrophe. It doesn‘t work as well as it did; it doesn’t even look as good as previously either.

In fact, today I spent at least two hours wrestling with the app as it did not function properly at all. Eventually, I informed B&O Support who tell me that there is “an app outage and our team is working to get this fix as soon as possible”. Life is too short to have to troubleshoot continual and repeated problems like this, especially given the cost of B&O equipment.

So, obviously, my favourite generation of the app is v5.3 which I have reinstalled on all of my devices: iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air. Although they finally restored the music play queue in v5.5.1, it doesn‘t allow me to select a track and go to the artist … as it used to. I don’t even have the option to delete the entire play queue any longer.

p.s. I am interested in the App Feature Request thread in Discord mentioned by MM. How do I access that?

Location: Switzerland

[Stephen]

I confess that yesterday I asked if anyone had been brave enough to install v5.5.1. I started a new thread as I hadn’t noticed that this thread here had been renamed to handle all topics on v5.x.x. Sorry about that.

I’m on vacation in Australia so there’s little point in dealing with the B&O app until I get back home. Based on your comments, however, it seems like there’s been little improvement with 5.5.1. I may stay with v5.3 for a while yet.

Location: Switzerland

[Stephen]

YannChris wrote:

Maybe should we ask a delay for the 5.3 version availability? Or at least explanations on the current situation. Mr Andersen… Where are you? Yann.

I agree. I have installed and uninstalled each of the iterations of v5.4. It is just awful. I reverted to 5.3 which, in my opinion, works perfectly well – at least with my Beosound Moment.

Having read the comment above, there is no way I’ll risk v5.5. What is going on with the B&O App Development guys? This is ridiculous. Someone has screwed the app up royally! I’m sticking with 5.3 until B&O fixes this mess. I hope that they will prolong its availability on Test Flight.

Stephen

Location: Switzerland

[Stephen]

Stephen wrote:

I dislike the beta version 5.4.1. It’s horrible and the changes from v5.3 seem unnecessary. And it doesn’t work well at all. I hate the ugly horizontal volume control; the previous circular one was easier to use, especially for fine tuning the volume. It also looked much nicer. Moreover, unlike previous versions of the app, there is no obvious way to access the play queue in v5.4. This is a significant reduction on the app’s functionality which I find inconvenient. I have reported these issue to B&O but all I get are polite replies from Support that they will inform their app developers. I have reinstalled v5.3.1 and will keep it until B&O fix this problem. I use the app on iPhone and iPad, connected to my trusty old BeoSound Moment.

Update: According to B&O Support, the disappearance of the Play Queue in v5.4 affects only the BeoSound Moment. I guess that, since they decided for no apparent reason to discontinue the Moment shortly after it was released, it has  lower priority now. They have promised a fix but I have no idea when…

Location: Switzerland

[Stephen]

I dislike the beta version 5.4.1. It’s horrible and the changes from v5.3 seem unnecessary. And it doesn’t work well at all. I hate the ugly horizontal volume control;  the previous circular one was easier to use, especially for fine tuning the volume. It also looked much nicer.

Moreover, unlike previous versions of the app, there is no obvious way to access the play queue in v5.4. This is a significant reduction on the app’s functionality which I find inconvenient. I have reported these issue to B&O but all I get are polite replies from Support that they will inform their app developers. I have reinstalled v5.3.1 and will keep it until B&O fix this problem.

I use the app on iPhone and iPad, connected to my trusty old BeoSound Moment.

Location: Switzerland

[Author]

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