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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.
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I noticed that the re-introduction of alarms actually required an update to Sonos devices as well as the app today. Does this mean that the new UI revamp was in fact much more than just a revamp to the UI? Are there currently bigger changes happening on the device side as well?

@Aleksander H

The app is definitely a revamp, but it’s not just the UI that changed! This new app is using new features on the speaker firmware and new cloud services as well. Let me share a bit more about what happened with alarm settings. 

On the morning of the app launch, we discovered a data corruption error around the new Alarms APIs. The corruption could cause alarms to go off in the wrong room at the wrong volume with the wrong content! In order to save your alarms, we made the difficult decision to remotely disable the alarm settings feature and then completely lock it out. It allowed us to make sure your alarms stayed as they were - but at the steep cost of taking away your ability to change them yourself.

The team rallied to make sure we could turn this feature back on safely - and today we are so delighted to say that we have re-enabled alarm settings. To get this feature, you must do a full system update. 

But that’s not how we expect to introduce features every time. We have built the new app to be able to update independently of the speaker firmware. As we go forward, you can expect us to bring out new features with smaller, less intrusive, updates.

Wow @DianeRoberts did you just admit that on the morning of the release you knew that important functionality was flawed so you pulled the function not the App?

Please add the option to remove Sonos Radio, just like every other service.

Hi AMA team!
I almost always use my Sonos devices in groups, and with the new app, handling of group volumes is worse. Not only does it not change in real-time like the former app, you end up with a UI pop-up on top of the volume slider I am using to adjust the volume. See the video below of before and after. Will this be fixed in a future app update? 
New app:

 

Old App:
 

 

@mdpeterman   I recognize that we have a ways to go to improve this tablet layout. Full stop. We will be continuing to improve this display and other UI improvements for tablets. No exact timing yet to share here, but the team shares your desire to make this and other layout improvements.

I noticed that the re-introduction of alarms actually required an update to Sonos devices as well as the app today. Does this mean that the new UI revamp was in fact much more than just a revamp to the UI? Are there currently bigger changes happening on the device side as well?

@Aleksander H

The app is definitely a revamp, but it’s not just the UI that changed! This new app is using new features on the speaker firmware and new cloud services as well. Let me share a bit more about what happened with alarm settings. 

On the morning of the app launch, we discovered a data corruption error around the new Alarms APIs. The corruption could cause alarms to go off in the wrong room at the wrong volume with the wrong content! In order to save your alarms, we made the difficult decision to remotely disable the alarm settings feature and then completely lock it out. It allowed us to make sure your alarms stayed as they were - but at the steep cost of taking away your ability to change them yourself.

The team rallied to make sure we could turn this feature back on safely - and today we are so delighted to say that we have re-enabled alarm settings. To get this feature, you must do a full system update. 

But that’s not how we expect to introduce features every time. We have built the new app to be able to update independently of the speaker firmware. As we go forward, you can expect us to bring out new features with smaller, less intrusive, updates.

That says a lot about the Sonos testing regime.  If data corruption is only found on the day of the launch, then there was insufficient testing.  

But that’s just the alarm function.  What about all the other missing functions.  Did these fail as well on the launch day and therefore have to be removed?

Please stop treating your customers as fools.  Do as they ask.  Release 16.1 as an official version.  Like you did for S1 to S2.  This whole story can then be put to bed.  I’m using 16.1 perfectly soundly still.  Allow others to do likewise.

I noticed that the re-introduction of alarms actually required an update to Sonos devices as well as the app today. Does this mean that the new UI revamp was in fact much more than just a revamp to the UI? Are there currently bigger changes happening on the device side as well?

@Aleksander H

The app is definitely a revamp, but it’s not just the UI that changed! This new app is using new features on the speaker firmware and new cloud services as well. Let me share a bit more about what happened with alarm settings. 

On the morning of the app launch, we discovered a data corruption error around the new Alarms APIs. The corruption could cause alarms to go off in the wrong room at the wrong volume with the wrong content! In order to save your alarms, we made the difficult decision to remotely disable the alarm settings feature and then completely lock it out. It allowed us to make sure your alarms stayed as they were - but at the steep cost of taking away your ability to change them yourself.

The team rallied to make sure we could turn this feature back on safely - and today we are so delighted to say that we have re-enabled alarm settings. To get this feature, you must do a full system update. 

But that’s not how we expect to introduce features every time. We have built the new app to be able to update independently of the speaker firmware. As we go forward, you can expect us to bring out new features with smaller, less intrusive, updates.

How did it get past QA that i assume should have been happening for the last few months if there was a corruption issue with your new api? if this had been communicated to the community with the update that went out shortly after the 80.x release there would have been so much less blowback on the issue but it wasnt and no info was given as to why we couldnt see alarms or even turn them off if needed… Communication is key

@DianeRobertsApps can you confirm the new app is built using Flutter rather than native apps to make a one-size-fits-all app?
What was the reasoning behind this? To save development costs?
I’m failing to see the advantage to the user, it’s slower to open and laggy, missing widgets, when installed on a large screen like a tablet it doesn't make good use of the extra screen real estate. 

I just want to say there has been allot of negativity surrounding the new app launch. I just want to say the app is fantastic. I've been using it everyday since it came out last week. I know there is some future additions coming in the next weeks and will just be patient with the future roll out. Thank you Diane, Kate, Tucker, and the rest of the Sonos development team for everything you do. 

This is a joke - correct? We should be patient while we wait to get back to where we were? 

I suppose if you have one speaker and use Sonos Radio alone, it’s probably a great release.  

 

When you have 20 speakers, a NAS, and multiple streaming services, it is...not so much.

First off you obviously have no idea how to click on a persons profile to see how many Sonos products a user has or you would of not made such a ridiculous statement. Also if you had clicked on my profile you would known I DON'T use Sonos Radio. So next time do your homework. 

Second over 20 speakers? Bro you don't have 20 speakers so stop over exaggerating your circumstance. You ain't Peter Pee. 

Third, no this not a joke. I've have multiple Sonos products also multiple streaming services. Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Sirius XM, Home Theater setup, etc. All of them are working great since the 80.0 update. 

Fourth, people are complaining about the missing features like the alarms, personal playlists, etc on the Sonos app. Who uses Sonos speakers for an alarm when we all have cell phones where we can customize what we wake up to in 2024? Many streaming services have personal playlists that you can customize for yourself. Why the heck would anyone want to take up tons of memory on their phone with music when it's available on streaming music services?  Also who the heck buys music anymore?  This isn't 1994 anymore. These features that are missing are for people that don't know it's the 21st century. 

Not that I NEED to prove anything to you, @SonosSpotifyLover, I’m going to choose to because you’re being a dick.  Some people DO use their systems different than you do and you saying “It’s 2024 and use your watch and quit complaining about your systems doing less than they did yesterday if they work at all”.  That’s 28 if you don’t want to do the math.  Okay, okay, TWO are Boosts, but some of us can back up what we say in public.  So, maybe STFU.

 

 

Prove anything? Come on bro you came at me with saying I only had one speaker. Next time look at yourself before attacking people online.

 

Lastly look who couldn't contain themselves without using explicit language. Have fun with your comment's being deleted. 

“Explicit language”  Bless your heart.  Really, we need a block function here.  I’m done.  Bye, now.

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 was able to roll back on android without issue and I’m staying rolled back.

 

SJBill, could you please post for everyone how you rolled back to the earlier version.  I’m sure most customers would prefer to do that at this point.  I think I’ve heard that only works for Android, but let’s at least get the word out how to do that.  Hopefully someone can also figure out a way for Apple users too.

From the reddit thread on this: 

 

From the link below download/install the 16.1 (arm64-v8a) version of the APK file and turn off auto updates.

https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/sonos-inc/sonos-for-android/sonos-for-android-16-1-release/sonos-16-1-android-apk-download/

do you really think  people are going to update anything to do with their systems at the moment, all auto updates turned off and no updated will be installed until you sort this mess out. why didn’t you just wait a couple of months until all the issues were resolved?

 

Will My Library be added back to Global search?

@Richard Schiffman Yes! We will be adding your local music library to search in the coming weeks.

I appreciate why people are “liking” this.  But, come one, you should get absolutely zero credit for bringing back something “in the coming weeks” that already existed in your old app.  And I suspect that it was your intent all along to just eliminate this functionality entirely and are just now holding out the possibility of bringing it back after realizing that there are actually a lot of customers using that functionality.  I also still suspect that it may never come back and you are just going to bide your time and hope that people just get used to not having it.

How can a feature as critical as managing your WiFi network, on a WiFi speaker not be in the initial app release? Then how can you think it acceptable to not remedy this for over a month?

Can Sonos not even organise a proper AMA? This is a pathetic waste of everyone’s time.

its clear for me, listening to your “valued’ customers is not what we can expect.

 

I would expect an apology, and a solution to solve this by Sonos created mess at once

not solving it in the coming months/weeks.

 

Arrogant behavior

I’ve been a Sonos user for around 15 years and keen that Sonos remains a success and continues to be supported so am really disappointed with how the last week has gone. How do you explain the communication below given what actually turned out to be the case? What was the thinking here? Thanks


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.

Will or can you please make an APK or API for sonos hardware available, so people can build there own app / UI?

I noticed that the re-introduction of alarms actually required an update to Sonos devices as well as the app today. Does this mean that the new UI revamp was in fact much more than just a revamp to the UI? Are there currently bigger changes happening on the device side as well?

@Aleksander H

The app is definitely a revamp, but it’s not just the UI that changed! This new app is using new features on the speaker firmware and new cloud services as well. Let me share a bit more about what happened with alarm settings. 

On the morning of the app launch, we discovered a data corruption error around the new Alarms APIs. The corruption could cause alarms to go off in the wrong room at the wrong volume with the wrong content! In order to save your alarms, we made the difficult decision to remotely disable the alarm settings feature and then completely lock it out. It allowed us to make sure your alarms stayed as they were - but at the steep cost of taking away your ability to change them yourself.

The team rallied to make sure we could turn this feature back on safely - and today we are so delighted to say that we have re-enabled alarm settings. To get this feature, you must do a full system update. 

But that’s not how we expect to introduce features every time. We have built the new app to be able to update independently of the speaker firmware. As we go forward, you can expect us to bring out new features with smaller, less intrusive, updates.

@DianeRoberts Why has it taken until today for this to be communicated? Why not a simple announcement on the day of app launch (“due to a bug we discovered late, alarm settings will not work in this release, but we hope to fix them with an update very soon”)? Transparency is vital.

There are plenty of other “parity features” missing. Can we have similar transparency as to what happened with those? Better late than never...

The one thing I'm grateful for in this ama has been other users explaining how to roll back. The new app has completely kneecapped my system. Used to use alarms to queue my child that it was time to get ready for bed/nap... alarms are gone. Only used local music library... local music library is gone. My speakers only show up half the time... does the new app hate mesh networks as much as thw old one originally did? Maybe an update is coming... that will fix some of this... maybe... but it's a huge step backward. I don't think I'll be buying any more sonos products, but it certainly sucks knowing that something I own - something I bought - can be crippled simply because 'hey we redesigned lol'

I missed this! How do I roll back?

 

This new app is using new features on the speaker firmware and new cloud services as well.

Please elaborate what these new features and cloud services are.

 

What data did you draw on to justify this new design? Was there any information architecture analysis done? Was there any investigation at all, like user interviews, analytics, usage data, etc?

The marketing materials tout “no more tabs” as a selling point, but for me it’s one of the biggest UX regressions. The new home screen is worse than useless; it’s just a new barrier between me and the favorites screen, which is by far the most common place I’m trying to go in the app besides the now-playing screen.

 

Hello @f8dee28e-f9a0-4157-a141-ce8859 

We did go through multiple phases of assessing the current S2 structure, modified versions of it, and the tabless version that we have today. Our work has engaged existing and new Sonos users throughout, and we have pursued the path that felt the most useful and intuitive to the largest number of users overall. We understand that every user is an individual with unique needs and circumstances. My hope is that your specific needs can be addressed by personalizing your home screen so your Sonos Favorites module shows up front and center on your home screen. Doing so should make this the first thing you see when launching the app. A single tap should take you to the full view of that collection. 

 

Where is this “largest number of users” you mentioned? They’re certainly not in this chat, and they’re not leaving glowing reviews in the App Store either.

Sonos now claims that some of the most serious defects will be corrected in the 21 May release, but hopefully the panel can understand that there are a lot of blind people who can’t trust Sonos anymore. Given that Sonos got it so horribly wrong with this current release, why should we expect anything better in the next?

Will Sonos offer an apology to its blind users and accept that it got this wrong, and will Sonos commit to creating a Chief Accessibility Officer as a tangible commitment to ensuring this never happens again?

 

@jmosen

Thank you for your heartfelt feedback. 

 

We invested our user experience and engineering energy on supporting VoiceOver throughout this project. Unfortunately near the end, we took our eye off the ball and missed a couple of key bugs. Those bug fixes have been shipped in a release today.

 

That doesn’t mean we’re done. We have more that we want to do and will do to fine-tune the experience. This is the same kind of fine-tuning we are doing for the visual experience. In a visual UI that means adjusting the gutters between items on screen. In a spoken UI it means adding more hints about how to navigate. We look forward to tweaking those and making the experience get continually better.

I understand that we have to rebuild your trust. We will only be able to do that by improving the experience. Any words we say will be incomplete. I am sorry that we missed this.

 

Our next step involves building a hearty beta community of vision impaired users. Today we have 30 visually impaired users on the beta of the next version of the app. The next version already has several improvements beyond the bug fixes we shipped today.


 

 

Customer: “Will Sonos offer an apology to its blind users?”

Sonos: “We took our eye off the ball”

Will Patrick Spence have the courage to make an open apology to all the SONOS users in regards of the new app release?

The new app left me without my carefully curated URL-based internet radio favorites. How is this supposed to be accomplished in the new app?

To add radio stations via a custom url, you will need to add the station in the Tune-In app first. Then you can add this station as a favorite from the Tune-In app in Sonos. I hope that helps!

So does this mean I need a paid TuneIn subscription to play a freely available stream URL from the Internet without injected advertisements from TuneIn?

Edit: And how is this better, faster, easier and more what users want than it was in the old app?

Just let us roll back to the previous version until you get this mess figured out

Im hoping for the sleeptimer on the Mainscreen.

add better volume controls for the iPhone. 
widgets?

Repeating my question in case it has been overlooked….how can I play an artists’ top tracks in Deezer (and other streaming services)? It no longer works. If the answer is “you can’t”, please advise if/when this functionality will be reintroduced.

Thank you.

What was the thought process behind releasing the app update in an obviously unfinished state, instead of waiting for critical issues to be resolved?

This new version is New Coke. It’s an idea hatched in an echo chamber without any thought for the vast audience who love Sonos…it does NOT enhance use of Sonos, it severely hinders it. To say Sonos showed “ courage” in releasing this is the height of arrogance. 
 

Admit you’ve made a huge mistake. Allow users to install the old version and withdraw this pretentious beta version until it does genuinely improve the user experience.

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