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Today is the day of the AMA!

The new app design has been out for a week, and most of you have had a chance to get used to the new UI.

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.

As we mentioned in the event.

Our panelists will be:

  • 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 rolling out the updates with features (new and old) as soon as they are ready. Keith shared an overview of the timeline for expecting these features to return to the app. Today was the first update, reintroducing alarms and improving the iOS voiceover.

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.
​​

Will there be an opportunity to roll back on IOS while you get the app into proper shape?


This appears to be just a Q when I thought it was going to be a Q and A?


What was the logic to releasing an app that does not have functional parity with the previous version?

  • What was the consultation process?
  • Did it include external stakeholders?
  • Do you use usage metrics from the S1, S2 users base?

How do I get to live event?

 

Starting to think this thread is it..


What do you believe was the most courageous aspect of the new app release? 


why did Sonos not inform customers up front about a release without basic functions?

 


How do you view this? This is flipping crazy- why is it so difficult?

 


Did you really think this AMA was a good idea so soon after this abysmal rollout 


Are alarms coming back? When?


How long will you allow users to remain on the previous version of the app?


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?


Hi,

 

Could you tell me how I can listen to an artists “top tracks” on Deezer using the new Sonos app. I used to be able to do this on the previous version, but now it only lets me listen to one track, and then I have to manually select the next track! I’m sure this must be user error. Can you please advise what I should do to listen to an artist’s top tracks on Deezer.

thank you!


Why didn’t Sonos opt for a public beta release of the update considering it lacked features which would be considered essential to some? Both the App Store and Play Store support this. 


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.


Off-topic but I want to note that this forum is not well suited for an AMA event. Reddit is much better since the most upvoted questions will rise to the top of the thread on Reddit. Perhaps consider for next time.


this is not a live event and no one who made this update has the courage to stand in front of a camera and answer the questions?
weak from a premium manufacturer i am very disappointed...


In the new UI when running the app on iPadOS, there are no longer transport controls in the menu at the bottom of the UI. This means to skip a track I have to tap the system bar, then tap next track, the tap outside the layer to get back to where I was. 3 taps for what used to be a single tap from anywhere in the UI. Can this be brought back? It was very handy and utilizes screen space better.
New App Status Bar

 

Prior app status bar

 


I understand the need to monetize your user base.  However ripping out features of a beloved platform as first step seems counter productive.  Who told you that releasing a broken app would not alienate customers?  Better, IMO, would have been to charge everyone $5 a month, use the money to build and deploy a working app, then invite customers to transition over a couple months.  I feel like the 10 speakers I own are headed for the trash if I have to depend on a broken app to play music 


Is this discussion that actual AMA event? Where is the live discussion with the three Sonos reps?


Why did you kill Subsonic integration?

 

I’ve been using SONOS since 2017, which is not long in the scheme of things, I know. From then till now I’ve built up a system of 24 speakers. The whole reason I got into SONOS back then was the good support for a local music library. I do not stream at all. With this update SONOS has killed Subsonic integration, thus my local library is not available. All 69,000 tracks, poof! No warning. No emails. Nothing.

 

When will you be fixing this?


This AMA is going about as well as the App redesign.  

 

Is anyone at Sonos going to reply?


Pease make the S2 App available to download and use until the new app is fully functional.


 Hey everyone! Today is the day of the AMA!

The new app design has been out for a week, and most of you have had a chance to get used to the new UI.

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.

As we mentioned in the event.

Our panelists will be:

  • 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!

 

Why are we 10 minutes and you haven’t answered anything?


Why did you decide to take away the old app when you knew that the new app was going to remove a lot of features that have been in the Sonos app for longer than I’ve even had Sonos since 2015? It’s obvious there was some reason to rush out the new app, but I can’t see why you had to remove essential features when you had an app that included those features already out and working. Then to double down on it and say you’re “courageous” to make the thousands of dollars of Sonos speakers much less functional is absolutely ridiculous. If this was done because of a new product release, this is definitely not making me want to spend any more money on Sonos products.


Why did the advertising screenshots show features that did not exist in the initial launch? Were they only figma mockups?