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Mike H
Retired Sonos Staff
May 14, 2024
Interview

Sonos App Redesign AMA

  • May 14, 2024
  • 770 replies
  • 65990 views
Sonos App Redesign AMA

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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770 replies

Lyricist I
May 14, 2024

In addition to all the other well-documented missing features, why is something as simple as muting specific speakers, or groups or speakers, not in this new app? The app has been nothing but buggy and missing features but no muting is baffiling. 

Trending Lyricist I
May 14, 2024

With this new layered UI, the back arrow always being at the top and outside of the layer you are in is confusing. The back arrow should be inside of the layer I am interacting with to make it clear what section of the UI the back arrow is controlling. Will this be fixed? 

 

Lyricist I
May 14, 2024

Can you talk about what development platform you are using for the new app. I am assuming that the new app is a green field dev that is built on something completely different than the previous app. 

Enthusiast I
May 14, 2024

13' minutes in and I haven't seen an answer yet. Am I missing something?

Lyricist III
May 14, 2024

Hello, thank you for offering us to ask you almost anything. Have you found the time yet, to figure out some answers??? 

Prominent Collaborator I
May 14, 2024

Am I going to be reading about this AMA on the tech news tonight? Yes. 
 

don’t upvote this

Headliner I
May 14, 2024

Why was the new app released when the overall quality, reliability and performance is so poor?

Lyricist I
May 14, 2024
1. Widgets are gone. Sonos no longer supports it at all. CS told me S2 is supposed to be superior but that's false. Missing functionality is not superior.
2. Volume numbers are gone. I rely on this because the TV doesn't show it. The app and widgets both had it. Again, missing functionality is not superior. The website shows the volume numbers so it's inconsistent on the app.
3. Additional settings won't ever load. It constantly just says "Unable to load. Some information is missing from this content." It's as if the devs never tested it. Missing functionality.
4. New app just has bad UI. No scrolling for a library? Do your devs even listen to music? Most people who buy Sonos are audiophiles. They have huge libraries.
5. Family members are being removed from their devices. The update is not doing permissions correctly.
Renowned Enthusiast I
May 14, 2024

Was any thought given to iPad (and tablet) specific app features.  The iPad is a step back in usability.  Especially in terms of a controller as something that replaces the CR100/200 that no longer work.

 

The new app feels a lot more like spotify or apple music, but less about servicing an existing local library.

Lyricist I
May 14, 2024

Are the podcast interfaces going to be fixed?

Episode position no longer syncs between Pocket Casts and Sonos, but I listen to podcasts in the car and on walks in addition to Sonos, and now I can't easily pick up where I left off in an episode.

Episode lists in the app no longer show the date and the episode progress for each episode. I use that info daily when figuring out which episode I want to listen to.

Honestly it felt like Sonos could do more with podcast integration even with the old app. E.g. there were no episode descriptions, I couldn't search for a particular episode, I couldn't see a list of episodes I have downloaded. I'd like to see more improvements with podcast functionality in general.