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Mike H
Retired Sonos Staff
May 14, 2024
Interview

Sonos App Redesign AMA

  • May 14, 2024
  • 770 replies
  • 65996 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

Headliner I
May 14, 2024

How did you prioritise the feature set of the new app?

Contributor I
May 14, 2024
  • The popping up sliders for each zone in the group is important!
  • It was quite nice, that the former app could kind of foresee, that you might be starting music in the wrong room/zone, so it rather asked you by popping up the overview in order for you to select a different one.. 

Could you please bring that back?

Inquiring_Bark-Bark
May 14, 2024

Hi, long time user of Sonos products here.  Primary use mode is a large local library from shared directory on internal hard drive.  So far have been able to navigate the new app, with some learning curve.  It looks nice.

 

The queue management features are important to me, primarily: 

  1. Ability to add music to end of queue
  2. I do like to edit (move position and delete) songs in the queue. 

Until these features return, I've found a workaround which is to create larger custom imported playlists and then update the music library from the PC app. 

Can you tell me if these desirable queue management features will be returning, and if so, approximately when?  Thank you devs.

 

edit:  the ability to ‘Update Music Library' from the app is also very desirable to have back

-TS
Lyricist I
May 14, 2024

Does courageous mean something else at Sonos?  It’s not the first word that comes to mind when you rush out an app and then don’t show up for your AMA.  Serious question, what was your definition of ready for the release?

Renowned Enthusiast II
May 14, 2024

Re: Messages to update on iOS devices - Afraid to update right now!

 

I have so far only updated one device. Since I couldn’t do what I needed on that device, I’ve prevented my other devices from updating. So far, I can still use the older app on other devices, which I’m happy about. But now one of the other devices tells me I need a systems update. Is this a firmware update to the speakers, or an app update? If I continue to update the one device with the new app, will this ruin my ability to use the older app on the other devices? 

 

 

 

Lyricist III
May 14, 2024

Perhaps they are all drunk down the pub….

Lyricist II
May 14, 2024

After the latest update, I am unable to play my local files (Synology NAS server) because “Music Library no longer in “Your Sources.” How do I access my Local Library again. 

Lyricist III
May 14, 2024

If the event is starting late for some reason it would at least be nice if Sonos staff could let everyone know what’s happening. 

Enthusiast II
May 14, 2024

I don’t understand why you would go to such lengths to publicize this event and then, just...not show up?!

Contributor I
May 14, 2024

Is there a new PC/Mac version on the Road map...?