The New Sonos App and Future Feature Updates

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L

No access to my locally saved music is the least of my problems. The new App on my Android phone won't even see my sonos devices. The only System Settings screen I can get to wants to set up a new system.  And it just found them. The unreliability of the new App is very disconcerting.

M
Userlevel 1
Badge +1

Just sent this to your CEO - after all, he does ask for feedback:

 

Hello -

 

I run a 5-zone SONOS system and has been happy for years. It’s based on a 9,500 song personal library (Apple Music / NAS) combined with Spotify. 

 

As per the extensive feedback on especially the shortcomings of the new app with a personal library, I had decided to wait until the mid-June releases announced that should alleviate this.

But then SONOS forces through a hardware update on my two Amps. Basically, they couldn’t be reached in any way until they were updated .

Contacted tech support and was informed that I could reset the Amps and add them back to the S2:

Not really, just follow the reset process for the Amp, you can find the steps for the factory reset on this link: https://support.sonos.com/article/reset-your-sonos-product , and when the LED light of the Amp starts flashing green just open the Sonos S2 app, and go to Settings > System > Add Product, and follow the prompts.

Reset the first Amp. Tried to add it to S2. Met with a requirement to upgrade to the new app.

New tech support case.

Our engineers have advised that sadly it is not possible to update/add a product with the old app version. 

So, the first advice was factually wrong. Not that it would have mattered much as I couldn’t use the Amp as it was. But still not a nice experience.

(Note: I am not blaming this on any of the two tech guys. It is the company approach and procedures that are wrong here)

 

1) You have clearly missed connecting to a large segment of your user base; those who do not fully spend on streaming but use personal libraries. Bad user experience work.

2) Once you realised that the app was met with a (scientific term 😉) metric crap ton of negative feedback and resistance, forcing through a hardware update that force-triggers the new app to be installed is just plain wrong. By doing so, you have effectively taken away users’ ability to wait until the next releases solve the major issues in usability. Those updates should have been held back or rolled out through the new app only, leaving S2 users to wait.

3) Your tech service knowledge bases (that I assume your techs work from) need to be correct. Getting incorrect information once you believe you have been advised a workable solution is just such a disappointment when you realise that no, you hadn’t.

 

Case references (again: to allow you to fix procedures, the tech guys did what they could but to no avail when your procedures let them down): ****** & the second one I apparently downloaded before getting the case ref - it was done by ****** . Both attached.

 

Not so kind regards

J

WHY??

Why do you do a “top to bottom” reset...without…

  1. Using it first on a BETA group...and getting them to a point where THEY are happy?
  2. Eliminating numerous features.
  3. Allow users to KEEP the old version...without insisting an “UPGRADE is Needed” 

There aer SO many prior cases of software upgrades...gone bad...you’d think. you could learn from them...instead of making your own (predictable) mistakes.

R

After spending €2500 on Sonos equipment, the new app refuses to play any album in my library that contains a colon (:) or forward slash (/) in its album title. Which is about half my library, as these symbols are common in classical albums.

Changing album titles is of course no option, since we cannot update our libraries any more either.

Any chance of this bug being fixed? Or is switching brands the only option to play my own library again?

R
Userlevel 1

I rarely stream. My NAS and my Sonos were my music, not anymore. I would bin my Sonos speakers but it would be a waste and doesn’t comply with my sustainability policy.

T
Userlevel 4
Badge +6

Our engineers have advised that sadly it is not possible to update/add a product with the old app version. 

I had a related problem and my solution could work for you.

I tried to add a device which had the newest firmware on it to my system (my system is controlled with the S2 app).  The device added, but I was unable to use it because the 16.2 firmware on the new device was not consistent with my other devices (which all had 16.1) - trying to play music to that device led to a prompt to update the device, and that required an update to the newest app.

However, I was able to get it all working with the S2 app.  It’s not ideal, and could break at any time, but here’s what worked for me:

  1. Updated my Android phone to the latest app
  2. Used that app to add devices to my system and update those devices.  My devices ended up with firmware 79.0-52294.
  3. Deleted the new app from my Android phone.
  4. Used apkmirror to install the S2 version 16.1 APP on my phone
  5. Confirm that the old S2 app is configured so that auto-updates are disabled

My phone now has the 16.1 APP, and it works fine with my devices (which are showing up with 16.2).

I suspect that as firmware continues to be updated on my devices, it will at some point become unusable with the S2 16.1 app.  I have all updates turned off for now, but it could become a problem at some future date -- I ever want to add another device to my system I may have to update all of my devices to match the firmware on that device.

A

I would just like to play music in my house. Why have you rendered my speakers useless? This is kind of thing is why I can’t even unload your stock and break even!

S

The new app is awful and when you call for help is a 70 min wait. What has this company become?

Sonos offers a Bot that doesn’t understand basic issues.

Why would anyone buy this brand that has such a great reputation?

B
Userlevel 5
Badge +2

Just sent this to your CEO - after all, he does ask for feedback:

 

Hello -

 

I run a 5-zone SONOS system and has been happy for years. It’s based on a 9,500 song personal library (Apple Music / NAS) combined with Spotify. 

 

As per the extensive feedback on especially the shortcomings of the new app with a personal library, I had decided to wait until the mid-June releases announced that should alleviate this.

But then SONOS forces through a hardware update on my two Amps. Basically, they couldn’t be reached in any way until they were updated .

Contacted tech support and was informed that I could reset the Amps and add them back to the S2:

Not really, just follow the reset process for the Amp, you can find the steps for the factory reset on this link: https://support.sonos.com/article/reset-your-sonos-product , and when the LED light of the Amp starts flashing green just open the Sonos S2 app, and go to Settings > System > Add Product, and follow the prompts.

Reset the first Amp. Tried to add it to S2. Met with a requirement to upgrade to the new app.

New tech support case.

Our engineers have advised that sadly it is not possible to update/add a product with the old app version. 

So, the first advice was factually wrong. Not that it would have mattered much as I couldn’t use the Amp as it was. But still not a nice experience.

(Note: I am not blaming this on any of the two tech guys. It is the company approach and procedures that are wrong here)

 

1) You have clearly missed connecting to a large segment of your user base; those who do not fully spend on streaming but use personal libraries. Bad user experience work.

2) Once you realised that the app was met with a (scientific term 😉) metric crap ton of negative feedback and resistance, forcing through a hardware update that force-triggers the new app to be installed is just plain wrong. By doing so, you have effectively taken away users’ ability to wait until the next releases solve the major issues in usability. Those updates should have been held back or rolled out through the new app only, leaving S2 users to wait.

3) Your tech service knowledge bases (that I assume your techs work from) need to be correct. Getting incorrect information once you believe you have been advised a workable solution is just such a disappointment when you realise that no, you hadn’t.

 

Case references (again: to allow you to fix procedures, the tech guys did what they could but to no avail when your procedures let them down): ****** & the second one I apparently downloaded before getting the case ref - it was done by ****** . Both attached.

 

Not so kind regards

I sent the CEO an email days ago and no response. I think they welcome your email but never read or respond.

 

K
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

^^ That’s why I sold the last of my Sonos stock.  Going the way of BlackBerry (oh and guess where the CEO came from before Sonos??)   Soon to be MBA course on how to destroy another once great tech company!  Now even The Washington Post is covering this epic fail! 

A
Userlevel 3
Badge

They rushed this to get it out this financial year. That’s it.

 

there’s no reason to rush a delivery before end of may unless it was for this reason. 
 

screwing us over in the first place but they don’t care about that. 

 

Any legal action groups started?

 

the only benefit this update has done is make people more engaging on their forums. 

J
Userlevel 1
Badge

I would just like to play music in my house. Why have you rendered my speakers useless? This is kind of thing is why I can’t even unload your stock and break even!

I would like two of my devices to just play whatever audio on the input smoothly again.  Since they are expensive paperweights, I’m going to migrate a couple of amps to a WiiM Amp and just them to AirPlay 2 to wherever else that still works.  No more Sonos for me.

amblue02
Userlevel 4
Badge +3

My god this app update just awful.  I have a dozen products that are barely functional, and we use the alarm feature every day.

 

Heck, I can’t even get to my kid’s “good night” playlist now without pulling my hair out because it’s NOT EVEN LISTED alphabetically anymore.  It’s like a jumbled mess of tiles that some idiotic AI organized for me?  You guys… how did this happen?

at least you can see your playlists, mine are not listed, in the “ether” as Pete Townshend would say.

amblue02
Userlevel 4
Badge +3

We set out to create a more personalized and effortless listening experience with the updated Sonos app. It was rebuilt from the ground up to ensure it could support future innovation in the years to come. For its initial rollout, we focused on how we could answer some of the most common requests from our customers, including increased reliability, performance, and faster access to music.


Many of you have shared valuable feedback on both the improvements that have made your experience better, as well as the areas where we fell short. We are listening to all of your comments and working to address them as quickly as possible. Over the coming weeks, we will reintroduce the below features, while fixing bugs and performance issues. Thank you for your engagement and we look forward to building upon this first step to create a listening experience that meets everyone’s needs.
 

 

Available now

To access these changes, check for updates in the iOS / Android app store to download the latest version of the Sonos app. Make sure your Sonos products are also up to date.

  • Adding and editing alarms
  • VoiceOver on iOS now properly interacts with individual elements of the Sonos app's home screen.


 

Coming soon

  • Additional improvements to screen reader for visually impaired customers: May 21
  • Adding to queue and playing next: early June
  • Sleep timer: mid-June
  • Snooze alarms: mid-June
  • Local music library search and playback: mid-June
  • Update WiFi settings: mid-June

 

Known issues and workarounds

 

“Fix It” option does not successfully complete new product setup

  • Workarounds:
    • Sign out of the Sonos app, sign back in, and try again.
    • Force quit the Sonos app and try again.

 

“Sonos needs local network access for setup” looping on the Sonos app for iOS

  • Workaround: Use another mobile device to set up Sonos products.

 

“No products found” error on systems with a Sonos Boost wired to the router

 

Unable to play local library content from Folders view

 

"Sign in as the System Owner" error while updating products during setup

  • Workaround: No workaround currently available.

I am thoroughly perplexed - how can you release a software update that breaks and/or eliminates many features that loyal users have used for years, features that differentiated Sonos from its competitors?  Sonos started as a solution to bring digital music from the computer to the stereo, now that’s been eliminated with a soft target only 1 month away.  So much for the Party playlist for my Memorial day BBQ (I can’t even find my Sonos playlists, they are all GONE).  

This was such a half assed effort, that it was only 1/10th assed.  It’s as if no one in the company actually tested the software update and just trusted the engineers who said all is good.  This is such a big F Up the CEO, Senior Mgmt and the Senior tech team should all be fired.  Btw, is Sonos offering refunds for the 4 beams, 1 playbar, Roam, 2 One’s, and 2 Move’s that don’t work for me? Your senior managment team is just plain stupid to release a software update that crashes your entire eco system.

Chapter 11, or Chapter 7, would be a fair comeuppance for this careless treatment of customers, and your shareholders.  If I was an investor I would be lining up with a pitchfork, a lighter, and a bail of hay!

SONOS SENIOR MGMT 
SONOS SENIOR ENGINEERS

 

amblue02
Userlevel 4
Badge +3

Btw, I can’t wait to spend $400 on the Sonos headphones!  That was the product we were really looking forward to, but there is almost no chance I would every buy anything else.  Let’s go to DC and picket in front of the DOJ to clean this mess up!!!!👎🏼

amblue02
Userlevel 4
Badge +3

As a former software CEO who led development of much more complex systems than Sonos, I see all the signs of failed agile development and agile management methodology.

The decision to ship broken software (suspiciously timed to coincide with a quarterly earnings announcement and product launches) shows a senior mgmt team that is disconnected from the software development work. And, the decision to commit to delivery dates for several missing features will likely inflame the existing issues.

The lack of an apology is clearly the result of meddling from Sonos legal, as any admission of mistakes would create exposure for the likely class action lawsuits that may be inbound shortly.

I suspect the old S2 app had mounting technical debt issues and the decision was made to “rip the band aid off” and re architect the solution, with much of the resource investment going towards underlying infrastructure… that most users won’t care about. This could be a good decision long term, but it shows that mismanagement of the platform was happening long before last week.

I’ve “been there” in my career after a failed product reboot of a platform that was “mission critical” for a large user community. I can tell everyone from my own hard-earned experience that the solution is NOT to allow lawyers to craft external messaging, or for execs to run the release roadmap via executive fiat while forcing dev teams to commit to deployment dates of upcoming features in a time of intense user dissatisfaction.

I predict it’s going to be a VERY bumpy ride for all of us who use our Sonos systems.

 

Wagz - sign me up for the class action lawsuit.  If it gets the senior mgmt clowns fired I will accept the $10 check i get at the end.

amblue02
Userlevel 4
Badge +3

From the email I received on 23rd April 2024 - entitled

A big update is coming to the Sonos App

 

How will this affect my system?

We've taken great care to ensure that this update only enhances your Sonos experience. Your products, features and services will work as they always have, and all your settings will be saved.

 

Marketing & communications completely decoupled from reality ????? Great care ???? !!!! At best utter incompetence - at worst a downright lie which misled the userbase ?

Evidence for the forthcoming class action lawsuit

amblue02
Userlevel 4
Badge +3

THIS APP UPDATE IS A DISASTER!!! I SPENT THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS SO I COULD LISTEN TO MY PERSONAL MUSIC COLLECTION ON MY COMPUTER AND NOW YOUR ‘UPGRADE’ IS THAT I MIGHT BE ABLE TO DO THAT SOMETIME IN A MONTH OR TWO????? You are stealing my Sonos from me. The entire management team should resign in shame.

You should be able to do that now, not in a month or two. Maybe this link will get your library working for you…

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-and-music-services-229131/adding-a-windows-smb-share-step-by-step-6892060

What about for a Mac?  Wait till June, that is utter BS!  

amblue02
Userlevel 4
Badge +3

Sonos consensus revenue estimates for Q2 24 are $391M, up 54% from the Q1 24.  Good luck hitting that number, without financial wizardry!  When Sonos misses Q2 24 (Aug 8th estimated earnings release), the institutional investors will vote, and say goodbye to the $2 billion market cap.  Just a disgrace to screw every important customer the company has, and scare away any acquirors.

E
Badge

Sonos consensus revenue estimates for Q2 24 are $391M, up 54% from the Q1 24.  Good luck hitting that number, without financial wizardry!  When Sonos misses Q2 24 (Aug 8th estimated earnings release), the institutional investors will vote, and say goodbye to the $2 billion market cap.  Just a disgrace to screw every important customer the company has, and scare away any acquirors.

 

I was waiting for Memorial or Father’s Day sales to maybe at a few speakers to my system. Well, forget that Sonos. Unless you give me a 50% discount I am not expanding: the used market looks pretty good right now.

 

Although I am not sure if I can actually add any new speaker anyway to my system.

 

How sad.

J
Userlevel 1
Badge

Sonos consensus revenue estimates for Q2 24 are $391M, up 54% from the Q1 24.  Good luck hitting that number, without financial wizardry!  When Sonos misses Q2 24 (Aug 8th estimated earnings release), the institutional investors will vote, and say goodbye to the $2 billion market cap.  Just a disgrace to screw every important customer the company has, and scare away any acquirors.

 

I was waiting for Memorial or Father’s Day sales to maybe at a few speakers to my system. Well, forget that Sonos. Unless you give me a 50% discount I am not expanding: the used market looks pretty good right now.

 

Although I am not sure if I can actually add any new speaker anyway to my system.

 

How sad.

I’m about to put two Sonos paperweights on eBay to get rid of--PlayBase and Connect:Amp Gen 2.  Streaming and input audio is unusable due to audio skips/dropouts so far.  I’ve already ordered a WiiM Amp and am about to order an Atlantic Technologies 3.1 HSB to replace the PlayBase.  Even if Sonos magically fixes my 2 broken products, they will be out of the house in the next month.

K
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

Has ANYONE, anyone who wrote directly to the CEO heard back ANYTHING so far?  Please let us know (even if you’re under NDA ;-)   Did he offer to give you a discount, buy you lunch, god-forbid apologize? 

This is MUCH worse than the April 2020 debacle, yet radio-silence (just like my Sonos system now)! 

Check out the overwhelmingly negative comments on today’s Washington Post article from this downgraded app. 

D
Userlevel 1

I don’t even know where to go with Sonos Support anymore.. but seems like there’s major issues with the Roam and this update.. would be nice to at least know it’s a known issue?

E
Badge

I don’t even know where to go with Sonos Support anymore.. but seems like there’s major issues with the Roam and this update.. would be nice to at least know it’s a known issue?

 

It’s not only the Roam. It’s all “older” Sonos devices (basically, anything non-ERA).

I
Userlevel 4
Badge +1

 

I sent the CEO an email days ago and no response. I think they welcome your email but never read or respond.

 

Don't worry. You'll get a generic response telling you the good news about how it's going to take at least another month to fix basic functionality soon. I did.

It even contained the words "where we fell short". That almost sounds like they realised they made a mistake.

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