There ’s no worse feeling when it comes to technical school than that common sense of hopelessness that we ’ve all felt at one time or another . When your phone wo n’t associate . When your screen shatters through no fault of your own . When your printer is … being a printer . When you still love that product but are stuck waiting for it to work .
Sonos owners have been in their own special traffic circle of hell since mid - May , when a now - infamous update to the Sonos app and the political platform as a whole went very , very faulty . Not help matter is that the rise - that - wasn’t has hit folks in dissimilar ways . Some have describe few trouble . Others have serious issues get their Sonos organisation — which until now had been mostly rock solid in its ability to bring euphony wirelessly throughout a business firm — to do anything at all .
There are a slew of moving part to the Sonos ecosystem . And the simple fact is that those of us on the customer side of the equality have no idea what really happened , just how broken things are , and what Sonos needs to do to get back on the correct track .
Here ’s the real catch : If you ’ve bought even a single Sonos merchandise , you ’re potential to have invested at least a couple hundred bucks in the ecosystem . If you have multiple rooms fit with Sonos speaker , multiply your undone cost by that much more . If you ’re also into Sonos ’ fantabulous home - dramatic art setups , you ’re likely well into the thousands of dollar .
And these are speakers that are pretty much tied to Sonos . That ’ll vary a bit depending on what you have . But for anything but the most recent coevals of speakers , the option to use them as a set of dumb speakers via Bluetooth is n’t really an pick . You would n’t be wrong in feeling like your Sonos scheme has held you hostage a little bit . Sure , you ’re not actually tie down to anything and can take the air out the door anytime , but you ’ll be poorer for it . Or you may stick things out and trust for the best .
In Sonos' own words …
What happened
On April 23 , 2024 , Sonosannouncedits “ most extensive app redesign ever , creating an unprecedented cyclosis experience that allows listeners to organise their best-loved playlists , post , record album and more from over 100 services on one customizable habitation sieve . ”
That was exciting stuff and nonsense , pay that the Sonos app — an integral part of the Sonos experience — has , shall we say , never been a shining example of user experience . Consolidating the five check of the onetime app experience and making them approachable on the base filmdom itself sounded like a dependable idea , in theory .
“ As we are always push ourselves to innovate , and heed to feedback from our passionate customers , we felt now was the meter to reimagine our app experience , ” Sonos CEO Patrick Spencesaid in a press releaseannouncing the update . “ After thorough evolution and examination , we are confident this redesigned app is easier , faster and right . It once again enhance the bar for the rest home music listening experience , and sets up our ability to flourish into new family and experiences . ”
Sonos ’ ‘ thorough development and testing ’ fell unforesightful .
Read that again : “ After thoroughgoing development and examination , we are confident this redesigned app is easier , faster and better . ”
One thing that had us a piddling bit nervous was that Sonos announced the major update for the S2 organization two calendar week before the app update was become to be available to the world . And it did n’t give journalists early access . Fine . We ’re not especial . But that ’s also the kind of affair that makes you wonder just how close to the deadline Sonos was going to be cutting it . Chances are , wreak on the update go forward up until the last second . And so outside of some screenshots — which conveyed how the new app would attend , but not how it would work — everyone was going to get their first impression at the same time come May 7 .
The two weeks rolled by , and everyone start out update . There were quick topic . Some had to do with feature — some basic , some recession — having been removed from the app . Use a sleep timekeeper to mechanically turn off the line after a set amount of prison term ? Sorry . Not there . necessitate to bring off a local library of music alternatively of only run through the cloud ? That was gone , too .
Those are just two instance from the inclination of thing we knew about . Worse , still , was that for many of us the Sonos system was all but unusable . switch speaker did n’t run more often than it did . Or it ’d tack , and then switch back . near fortune making group again .
“ I really think it was that we just got exact by surprisal , ” Eddie Lazarus — Sonos ’ chief strategy officer and chief legal ship’s officer — told me in an interviewin late September 2024 . If we had know that we were belong to have these stability and performance issues , we never would have launched this app . But we did n’t , and now we ’re just heads down to doctor it . ”
Not to be overly striking , but it was a technical school nightmare . And it was far more than just an “ extensive app redesign . ”
The mea culpa
Sonos did n’t initially in public notice the issues that so many were patently find . But The Internet does n’t work on on the same timetable . TheSonos subredditwas quickly deluge with reports . miss features . Broken experience .
Basically the tough thing anyone at Sonos could have imagined — a broken chopine , and very raging customers .
There were sign that Sonos have sex what was up and was on the case . We started to see postal service in the Sonos subreddit from“KeithFromSonos,”shedding some light on upcoming app updates , when microbe would be fixed , and feature return .
A public apology from Sonos — and its CEO — did n’t add up for two months .
That was honorable than nothing , but it still was n’t a public acknowledgement from Sonos . Thatfinally come on July 25 , two full months after the package update was announced , and near three calendar month after it was released . It came in the form of a blog place from Spence .
“ We know that too many of you have experienced substantial problem with our new app which roll out on May 7 , ” he wrote . “ And I want to lead off by in person rationalize for let down you . There is n’t an employee at Sonos who is n’t pained by having rent you down , and I assure you that prepare the app for all of our client and partners has been and continues to be our turn - one priority . ”
Other than the actual excuse , the web log place did n’t check much new ground . It included a rough update schedule — something that ’d been in the Sonos subreddit all the while .
What about the future?
It ’s of import to remember that there are a couple of things at work here . One is the Sonos app itself . feature of speech were missing . The app ’s UX — an industry acronym for user experience — was not great , and arguably a step backward from the old S2 app , which already was n’t what would be deal a shining example of how to do things . But at least it worked .
Speaking of which , there ’s been scuttlebutt thatSonos may resurrect the S2 appto tide folks over until everything is worked out . That came out of areport from The Verge . In all likeliness , that was just someone at Sonos spitballing , and not something I ’d consider likely to materialize . And that ’s because the other — and vainglorious — matter going on is that this muckle also involves an update to the Sonos platform itself . The app , for all its problems , is just a tool by which we moderate the platform .
Sonos users are being held hostage by a break system they want to sleep together again .
update are a scary proposition for companies even when everything go well . They take a deal of work . ( Work Sonos obviously did n’t do properly in this subject . ) They cost money , and update do n’t usually return revenue on their own . To roll back the Sonos app would likely intend rolling back the weapons platform update , too . And if that were to happen , there are no guarantees it would n’t break affair even further . Or that the new Sonos Ace phone would n’t work any longer . And on August 6 , Sonos pushed an update that activate the Ace headphones to work with the ease of Sonos ’ soundbars . It ’s hard to imagine Sonos bump off that functionality .
And this app and chopine update was putting the piece in place for the next generation of Sonos intersection — two of which have now been delayed until the software is sorted . Sonos said they ’re quick to go and were planned for vent by October . Now ? Who know when we ’ll see them .
No , the only way out is through . That ’s going to require some more patience on the part of customers as Sonos update — and fixes — the raw weapons platform and app .
Customers are move to grumble . A lot . And very loudly . They ’re not wrong to do so . And what other choice do they have ? Sonos setups are n’t cheap , even in their smallest looping . And unless you do n’t mind mark money on fire , you ’re likely just going to rag this one out and hope matter get better rather rather than after . But until then , everyone ’s being held surety by a fall apart system of rules they desire to love again .
Spence , on the August 7 earnings call , spoke about winning back its customers and married person after this debacle . “ We are enacting programs this quarter to both support and give thanks our customers and partners for perplex with us through this flow , and reverse their dissatisfaction to delight , ” he said .
We do n’t yet know what that means — orhow Sonos could possibly “ revel ” its current customersanytime soon — but we do know that support - and - thank programme will run through the oddment of the year , which gets Sonos into the first quarter of its fiscal twelvemonth 2025 .
We also do n’t know if Spence will go on to lead the company , which he ’s helmed since 2017 . We ’ve made the argumentation thatSpence should no longer be CEOonce all this is over .
No matter who is in charge on the other side of this debacle , one affair is clear : Sonos has some major legal injury ascendance to do .
