Some of you might have questions when you have had a week to get to know the new Sonos App interface. Because of that, we want to give you all a chance to ask some of the people who were integral in its creation and design, the questions that have come to mind while you have used the app.
Diane Roberts, Senior Director of Software Development
Kate Wojogbe, Senior Director of User Experience
Tucker Severson, Director of Product Management
It will be hosted on the 14th of May from 11:00 until 14:00 GMT -07.
But instead of me telling you what they do and what their role with the app update has been, here are their own introductions:
Diane
Diane Roberts is the Senior Director of Software Engineering and Product Management at Sonos responsible for the Sonos Apps. Her group of cross-disciplinary teams build Configuration, Control, and Content experiences on a foundation of Core mobile application technologies. She received dual Bachelors’ of Science in Computer Science and Music from WPI. Diane holds 6 granted patents as a co-inventor.
Kate
As Senior Director of User Experience, Kate leads the UX team responsible for Sonos’ home audio hardware, software, and app user experiences. This includes user interfaces on speakers and soundbars, setup for hardware and services, first and third party content experiences, and a variety of methods of control of the Sonos system. Kate graduated from the University of California Los Angeles with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Design.
Tucker
Tucker Severson is the Director of Product Management and leads the PM team responsible for the Sonos Apps. Tucker received his BA from Bates College and his MBA from the University of Vermont.
We will do our best to answer as many of your questions as possible within the 3-hour window, but we can’t promise to answer every question, especially those you know we can’t discuss.
But if we see a question repeated or a reply getting a lot of likes, don’t worry. We will prioritize those to ensure that many people get the answers they seek.
Remember, we can’t talk about things on the roadmap - but if you have questions or feedback about the app redesign, want to know more about our panelists, like their background or favorite band, then the sky is the (cough cough.. NDA) limit!
Thank you, everyone, for participating. We covered as many of the most asked questions as possible. We know tracking the responses wasn't as easy as we had hoped. But we wanted to let the community air frustrations and have their questions answered.
I got a lot of DMs during the AMA, and I will be sure to answer them when I can. Thanks for reaching out!
Keith and I will work on recapping all the questions and feedback we have responded to, and we will update the post here when that is complete. If we didn't get to your question, don't worry. Keith and I are grabbing all the feedback from this thread, even the things we didn't respond to, and ensuring the right people will see the message. This was the first time we created a live AMA in the community, and we learned a lot for future AMAs.
We appreciate all the feedback and questions you gave through this AMA. It helps us understand your most significant feedback and your reasoning. We hear you, and we will ensure the right teams get your feedback. They are listening.
We look forward to seeing your reactions to our future app developments. We hope you all appreciate the work our developers are putting into making the app as fast and easy to use as possible for the general user.
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Ich bin mir nicht sicher ob ich dieses Format der AMA verstanden habe, aber ist das ernst gemeint, dass es kein zoom, teams oder ähnliches gibt, sondern nur über diese Beiträge hier läuft?
In welchem Zeitalter findet diese Veranstaltung statt?
Zu dem update kann ich nur sagen, ich bin kein alpha Tester. Wenn ich das machen soll, möchte ich Geld dafür haben.
Das update ist ein Rückschritt in allem, außer dass es besser aussieht. Wie kommt man nur auf den Gedanken so etwas zu veröffentlichen? Wenn das fehlen der Funktionen nicht aufgefallen ist, dann liegt organisatorisches Versagen vor. Wenn es nicht an den Entwicklern liegt, dann geht die Verantwortung dafür nach oben. Hier wurde den Kunden ein ganz schlechter Dienst erwiesen. Fehler können passieren, aber bei der Menge ist die Frage wer dafür die Verantwortung trägt und welche Konsequenzen das hat.
Ist ja nicht so, dass ein Totalversagen das erste mal ist.
Der Zeitplan ist jedenfalls unmöglich, um alte, schon vorhandene Funktionen zurückzubringen. Genau genommen totales Versagen auf allen Ebenen.
Wann ist damit konkret zu rechnen eine funktionierende neue App zu haben, oder alternativ die Funtkiotnsfähigkeit mit der alten App auch bei iphones herzustellen. Bei Android gibt es Möglichkeiten.
I’ve only observed up till now. There are only three respondents to, what — 400 users here ? While the Sonos replies are too few and too infrequent, they each generate further exponential posts, many just to get in a snarky response. This was never going to work. There have been plenty of pertinent questions posed, but also far too much mud-slinging which was never going to add anything. Maybe next time, a different platform for the Q&A, and hopefully a few more adults in the room.
I feel like majority of the thread has been valid concerns and complaints, with minimal responses. It doesn’t help when the answers warrant further questions. Sonos didn’t read the room.
Also helps no one that you have to sift through every page and comment just to see where responses lie. This was poorly thought out.
When will the PRO Apps
become available outside the US ?
Any news on when the lockscreen and notification control will be back on Android??
For now I rolled back to the old version, since I don't want to unlock my phone and start the app just to pause skip or control something.
PS. Pocket Cast sync doesn't work either
Two hours into this AMA and @tuckerseverson has offered a total of three replies, THREE, to the hundreds of posts here.
I have huge problems with adjusting volume between devices and unbelievable delays on track recognition - up to 30 seconds! I’ve tried adjusting group volume, it just does one device, then I just do that device and the whole system crashes and no music plays. What the actual f@ck have you done to my listening experience? Absolutely destroyed it, that’s what. You need to fix this very quickly or those buying new products will be getting their money back and going to Bose. this is a bigger clusterf@ck than the transition From S1 to S2 and the lack of support for older products.
You are so right. All we are getting in the way of feedback is how things fell apart on the launch-day for the alarms, and how everybody pulled togethere, blah, blah, blah. No mention of all the other mess, including your above volume issues. I thought that that was just me - glat it wasn’t. I went back to 16.1 and everything worked fine immediately.
Will Sonos apologise? Obviously not.
What has been the general mood of the Sonos team/staff since the new app was released? Was the team surprised at the negative reception or was it expected?
@GuitarSuperstar
Thanks for asking. We have all been deeply invested in this project for a long time. We are all Sonos owners. Many people on the team had Sonos in their homes before they joined the team. We all use the experience every day.
Any time we change an experience or delay a feature, we know that some people will have negative sentiments. We also saw in our usability testing that people appreciated the new user interface, adaptability, and faster time to music.
We have been reading your posts and seeing your feedback.
Once the release went live, the mood could be described as “energized.” The activity on the team is high as people share what they’ve built for the next releases. We are excited that we can bring these continuous regular updates. It’s easier and faster now for us to share what we’ve built with you. That started with today’s release and will continue on May 21st with releases to follow.
Two hours into this AMA and @tuckerseverson has offered a total of three replies, THREE, to the hundreds of posts here.
Member since
May 13, 2024
Please upvote this post: Can you please provide an immediate easy way to rollback the mobile app to the prior version for those who can’t make the current version meet their needs.
Thanks @bkk. Also, @nelliott and others had similar questions.
Rolling back to the previous version of the Sonos app is likely to cause issues. As Sonos continues to advance forward with new updates to the firmware, the old apps will fall out of compatibility quickly. Our priority is to release improvements to the Sonos app rapidly to address your needs.
@tuckerseverson But rolling forward to a new release is certain to cause even more issues. So why not just package the v16.1 app as a seperate legacy release and leave us all to decide for ourselves?
@webmink Its because they want everyone on the new architecture for their new APIs, and im assuming they wanted it out when they did for a new product launch coming up that the big wigs were unwilling to move back to accommodate the new app to finish baking first.
This reminds me a bit of my former Wink home automation system. Worked great until they went belly up and all of the equipment went in the trash.
Someone needs to figure out how to build a localized server platform that could hijack communication from Sonos equipment and speakers before it gets to the Sonos network to create an open ecosystem. Or hijack the firmware update mechanism and develop an open firmware.
I am wondering what ultimately happens when Sonos goes bankrupt and I have 32 audio bricks in my home?
Some of you might have questions when you have had a week to get to know the new Sonos App interface. Because of that, we want to give you all a chance to ask some of the people who were integral in its creation and design, the questions that have come to mind while you have used the app.
Diane Roberts, Senior Director of Software Development
Kate Wojogbe, Senior Director of User Experience
Tucker Severson, Director of Product Management
It will be hosted on the 14th of May from 11:00 until 14:00 GMT -07.
But instead of me telling you what they do and what their role with the app update has been, here are their own introductions:
Diane
Diane Roberts is the Senior Director of Software Engineering and Product Management at Sonos responsible for the Sonos Apps. Her group of cross-disciplinary teams build Configuration, Control, and Content experiences on a foundation of Core mobile application technologies. She received dual Bachelors’ of Science in Computer Science and Music from WPI. Diane holds 6 granted patents as a co-inventor.
Kate
As Senior Director of User Experience, Kate leads the UX team responsible for Sonos’ home audio hardware, software, and app user experiences. This includes user interfaces on speakers and soundbars, setup for hardware and services, first and third party content experiences, and a variety of methods of control of the Sonos system. Kate graduated from the University of California Los Angeles with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Design.
Tucker
Tucker Severson is the Director of Product Management and leads the PM team responsible for the Sonos Apps. Tucker received his BA from Bates College and his MBA from the University of Vermont.
We will do our best to answer as many of your questions as possible within the 3-hour window, but we can’t promise to answer every question, especially those you know we can’t discuss.
But if we see a question repeated or a reply getting a lot of likes, don’t worry. We will prioritize those to ensure that many people get the answers they seek.
Remember, we can’t talk about things on the roadmap - but if you have questions or feedback about the app redesign, want to know more about our panelists, like their background or favorite band, then the sky is the (cough cough.. NDA) limit!
Hello and welcome everyone,
Before getting started I’d like to thank you all for RSVPing and attending. This is the first of many events going forward where members of our Community can talk directly to members of the Sonos team and learn about the development and design behind our products. Keep in mind that@Mike R. H. and myself will be heavily monitoring this topic to ensure we keep this train on its tracks. Please keep the conversation respectful and constructive.
It’s not lost on me (or the team) that this most recent Sonos app update has caused a torrent of feedback topics here on the Community and across the web. We want to make sure you get the most out of the next three hours, so we’ve decided to focus our efforts on the questions with the most likes. Please use likes to “upvote” the question you want answered. By combining similar topics and questions, we will be able to cover more and hopefully cover the wide breadth of conversation you are looking for.
Note: Be sure to check out our most recent update to the Future Feature Update post where we will continue to update you on the road going forward.
Thank you and see you around the Community! Keith
This quote is the best example I can think of, showing the arrogance behind this new version. Tucker, this is Not Us against Them!…. Were your users, were the people who built up an amazingly loyal Sonos Community, and the arrogance your team showed in the manner in which this whole sad chapter of the conp@ny’s history is staggering.
It’s not courage to release a poorly designed app that reflects appalling assumptions about what your user base wants. It’s not courageous to spend all that money on promoting this new version when you spent zero in showing users why it was so good, and HOW it is supposedly better. It is not. This is New Coke.
Show some real courage and allow users to roll back to the old version. That will show you just how badly your team misjudged this new version. It is New Coke. Admit you got it wrong. Show some humility.
I posted on the subreddit that my hope was you guys would do a good enough job of being honest, admitting the mistakes and that people wouldn’t come away from this AMA angrier than before.
That didn’t happen.
You guys really need to iron out how you communicate with your consumers. As somebody who works in the corporate office of a Fortune 100 company this is our nightmare. Whoever is making the calls to handle this in this way is doing all employees and all shareholders an incredible disservice right now. This is bordering on case study catastrophe right now. Somebody grab hold, accept responsibility or this is going to get worse.
Hi,
I use a NAS with all my music in directories. When can I select all in a directory as a playlist and then (or immediately) get it to shuffle?
Can I get the next / previous track buttons back in the miniview?
Are you going to make things cloud dependent? I want to be able to continue to run my Sonos environment in a secure VLAN with no internet connection at all.
Thanks and here’s hoping you can make my music equipment play music again.
Two hours in and here we are (numbers in brackets are the count at 1 hour)
@DianeRobertsApps - 4 (0)
@KateW - 5 (3)
@tuckerseverson - 3 (2)
One has to wonder if they have to run every response past corporate laywers given the amount of time it seems to take them.
And some stats of my own counting:
Respect shown to customers - 0
Horrific discoveries - 2
Data corruption issue in alarms didn’t stop a release.
All speakers now available on the public internet protected only by a users password.
Feedback/suggestions actually taken by Sonos - 0
…. damit ...
The only word I recognized - but very well put.
Will there be an “order album by release date” option in artist pages?
Hey Team, loving the app refresh so far! I use Apple Music primarily and love Dolby Atmos. I have 3 Atmos capable rooms, and 4 non Atmos capable rooms (hallway/Bathroom/office etc with One/Roam/Move).
When I listen to Atmos through Apple TV and group all rooms, it works great as Atmos plays in Atmos rooms, and I still hear great quality music through the 4 non Atmos rooms. Playing through the Sonos App does not allow this which means I can only have Atmos on 3 of 7 rooms. Can you explain why this decision was made and if there’s any change of changing in the future? Maybe poll the users? Thank you!
Any time we change an experience or delay a feature, we know that some people will have negative sentiments...
‘We just simply don’t care! Our overpaid arrogant CEO wants a bonus for deploying a product in a new category and we needed to push this new version to support that upcoming hardware. The executive bonus structure is obviously more important than “users” getting what they “paid for”.’
What has been the general mood of the Sonos team/staff since the new app was released? Was the team surprised at the negative reception or was it expected?
@GuitarSuperstar
Thanks for asking. We have all been deeply invested in this project for a long time. We are all Sonos owners. Many people on the team had Sonos in their homes before they joined the team. We all use the experience every day.
Any time we change an experience or delay a feature, we know that some people will have negative sentiments. We also saw in our usability testing that people appreciated the new user interface, adaptability, and faster time to music.
We have been reading your posts and seeing your feedback.
Once the release went live, the mood could be described as “energized.” The activity on the team is high as people share what they’ve built for the next releases. We are excited that we can bring these continuous regular updates. It’s easier and faster now for us to share what we’ve built with you. That started with today’s release and will continue on May 21st with releases to follow.
@DianeRoberts and @tuckerseverson -
Your responses aren’t the best. You seem to avoid directly answering questions posed.
What about the part of the question asking if the team was surprised by the negative reception?
Hi, the app just feels like it’s for a whole different product now; I would’ve thought you wanted to have your hardware be the center of it all, now it’s just so visually crowded that I cant bother opening it..
So very much this.
The missing features thing is annoying and pathetic. The UX is gross, spiteful on a phone, and their vision for the future on SONOS. A future I want no part of.
Two hours in and here we are (numbers in brackets are the count at 1 hour)
@DianeRobertsApps - 4 (0)
@KateW - 5 (3)
@tuckerseverson - 3 (2)
One has to wonder if they have to run every response past corporate laywers given the amount of time it seems to take them.
And some stats of my own counting:
Respect shown to customers - 0
Horrific discoveries - 2
Data corruption issue in alarms didn’t stop a release.
All speakers now available on the public internet protected only by a users password.
Feedback/suggestions actually taken by Sonos - 0
Destruction to the company’s goodwill: Priceless.
Please upvote this post: Can you please provide an immediate easy way to rollback the mobile app to the prior version for those who can’t make the current version meet their needs.
Thanks @bkk. Also, @nelliott and others had similar questions.
Rolling back to the previous version of the Sonos app is likely to cause issues. As Sonos continues to advance forward with new updates to the firmware, the old apps will fall out of compatibility quickly. Our priority is to release improvements to the Sonos app rapidly to address your needs.
I can imagine that a rollback can cause issue. But so did your roll forward for lots of people. I think the worst by far is the lack of accessibility. (It does not concern me personally, but it just seems unacceptable to me.)
You could make the old app available in parallel for a while. Timebomb it, so that people don’t use it forever.
Personally, I like the style of the new app. But it is not ready for prime time. It should have been released as a public preview.
What has been the general mood of the Sonos team/staff since the new app was released? Was the team surprised at the negative reception or was it expected?
@GuitarSuperstar
Thanks for asking. We have all been deeply invested in this project for a long time. We are all Sonos owners. Many people on the team had Sonos in their homes before they joined the team. We all use the experience every day.
Any time we change an experience or delay a feature, we know that some people will have negative sentiments. We also saw in our usability testing that people appreciated the new user interface, adaptability, and faster time to music.
We have been reading your posts and seeing your feedback.
Once the release went live, the mood could be described as “energized.” The activity on the team is high as people share what they’ve built for the next releases. We are excited that we can bring these continuous regular updates. It’s easier and faster now for us to share what we’ve built with you. That started with today’s release and will continue on May 21st with releases to follow.
“faster time to music”? That has not been my experience. As a simple example, selecting a Recently Played Spotify Station or a Sonos Favorite from the Home screen requires another window to open and pressing play. That’s one too many clicks.
As someone who was about spend a not inconsiderable amount of money to replace my NAS please can Sonos please provide some clarity on future functionality in the near future.
Specifically is SMB v1 gone (confused as my very old NAS seems to be working still)? Are the SMB v2 bugs I heard people using SMB v1 to avoid fixed? Will search and navigation in the app be fixed to make using a NAS and local library worthwhile again?
Thanks
SMB v1 is gone. I can confirm SMB v2 works just fine. Keep in mind though, once you approach 65,000 tracks it can get dicey.
Same. Been running SMB 3 for almost a year. My NAS is a Synology.
Interestingly, my NAS has been set for SMB v3 exclusively (server and client) and Sonos wouldn’t connect from the Windows controller. Bumped the NAS back to SMB v2 and Sonos immediately connected. This was for a new connection.
I use(d) Navidrome and Bonob for Subsonic connection to Sonos and that’s broken as of this update.
I’m running macOS, but that’s interesting. I just checked my SMB access today and it was running 3.1.1.
I’ve only observed up till now. There are only three respondents to, what — 400 users here ? While the Sonos replies are too few and too infrequent, they each generate further exponential posts, many just to get in a snarky response. This was never going to work. There have been plenty of pertinent questions posed, but also far too much mud-slinging which was never going to add anything. Maybe next time, a different platform for the Q&A, and hopefully a few more adults in the room.
I feel like majority of the thread has been valid concerns and complaints, with minimal responses. It doesn’t help when the answers warrant further questions. Sonos didn’t read the room.
Also helps no one that you have to sift through every page and comment just to see where responses lie. This was poorly thought out.
You can find the replies by looking at the user profile for each of the execs:
