Why Widgets and Live Activities Matter
The fastest way to control anything on your iPhone is from your Lock Screen or Home Screen. No app hunting. No loading screens. Just tap and it happens.
This matters when your phone rings and music is playing – you need to silence it instantly. It matters when you're cooking and need to skip a song – tap the Live Activity on the lock screen with wet hands, no unlocking required. It matters when you're working and want to see what's playing – just glance at the lock screen Widget.
The official Sonos app makes you go through the full unlock-find-open-wait sequence every single time. For something as simple as pause or skip, that's absurd.
The Problem: Sonos Doesn't Support This
Despite years of user requests, the official Sonos app has never added Widget support. Not Home Screen Widgets. Not Lock Screen Widgets. Not Live Activities. Not Dynamic Island integration.
The Sonos S2 app redesign was Sonos's opportunity to add these features while rebuilding everything from scratch. They didn't.
👉 You need a third-party app that integrates Sonos with iOS the way Apple would.
How Lyd Makes This Possible
Lyd gives you instant Sonos control through Widgets and Live Activities across your entire iPhone interface.
What you get:
Home Screen Widgets in small, medium, and large sizes
Lock Screen Widgets for one-tap access
Live Activities showing current playback
Dynamic Island integration on iPhone 14 Pro and later
Key Features
Home Screen Widgets
Control playback directly from your Home Screen without opening the app. Available in small, medium, and large sizes to fit your layout perfectly.
Home Screen Widgets are one of the fastest ways to control Sonos when your phone is already unlocked. Glance at your screen and tap to play, pause, skip tracks, or adjust volume.
Medium and small Lyd Widgets on the iPhone Home Screen
Dynamic Island
On iPhone 14 Pro and later, Lyd displays in the Dynamic Island – giving you persistent, glanceable music controls that stay visible while you use other apps.
The Dynamic Island shows album artwork and playback info in its compact state. Tap and hold to expand it for full playback controls including play/pause, skip, and volume. The controls stay accessible no matter what app you're using.
Sonos controls in the Dynamic Island allow access from any other app
Live Activities & Lock Screen Widgets
When you start playing music through Lyd, a Live Activity automatically appears on your Lock Screen showing album artwork, the current track, artist, and full playback controls. The Live Activity persists across app switches, screen locks, and Focus mode changes – it's always there until you explicitly close it.
Lock Screen Widgets provide one-tap access to playback controls right from your Lock Screen. Wake your iPhone and tap. That's it.
Live Activities and Lock Screen Widgets control Sonos playback without unlocking the iPhone
Why Lyd for Widgets?
Lyd built its reputation as the best-in-class Apple Watch app for Sonos – trusted since 2019 for speed and simplicity. That same focus on instant, effortless control now extends to iPhone Widgets and Live Activities.
Unlike Widget-only competitors that charge subscriptions or lack Apple Watch support, Lyd gives you Widgets alongside full Watch control, Shortcuts integration, and Live Activities – all with a one-time purchase and no subscription.
Not Convinced Yet?
Browse more of Lyd's features:
