Retired Sonos Staff

Interview

Sonos App Redesign AMA

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
May 14, 2024
770 replies
65996 views

The New Sonos App - Community AMA Recap post is now live!

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.

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

Show previous replies

B

Brucead

Contributor I

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

I am stunned that Sonos released what appears to be an early Beta of the new app to such a big lead up with so many assumptions about what users were looking for.

This is Audio New Coke ! There was zero “courage” in releasing this new version…rather it was pure “ atrogance”. If you want to show genuine courage, allow users to roll back to the old version and see how many do it. You would overwhelmed.

It was extreme arrogance to spend so much on the online promotion of the new app…and barely a cent on a New Version User Guide.

I have been using Sonos since it launched. I am a very experienced user of apps, and previously used Sonos everyday. Five days on I still cannot work our how to do most of what I was able to do in the old version.

How did you test this? In a echo chamber, where the app designers were the testers.

So again, if you think this new version is so wonderful, allow users to roll back to the old version. That is courage. You’ll be stunner by the backlash.

btw clever to release this version when you’ve just announced strong quarterlies to the stock market. The bump in share price it caused will be nothing compared to the slump once investors realise the backlash coming from users because of the arrogant manner in which this new version has been released.

D

darksage94

Enthusiast I

Can Sonos answer the top comments/concerns that were posted on X, Sonos Community, and Reddit that @Keith - Sonos said many times that they were monitoring? At this point people are so frustrated with having to post on so many threads that we’re all just sick of it at this point.

When will the EQ be back on the volume bar

Truplay and distance for surround sounds for Android

individual volume option when speakers are grouped on the main volume bar

Fix lag

Move Speaker doesnt pop up as an option if turned off

There’s other’s Im forgetting

Trueplay is also broken on iOS, at least for the arc/home theater setups. Doesn’t get past second phase.

K

kassey22000

Enthusiast II

Tucker, you don’t have to roll back the App. You just need to place v16.1 back into the App store and download sites with a different name like S2.16.1

That way both Sonos and it’s Customers can have access to prior and new Apps simultaneously.

I don’t know that they CAN anymore. They rolled out a firmware update today that limits what the old app can do. Like, I can’t update my music library anymore with the iPad app.

I think we’re stuck with “in the coming weeks” at this point. Not great, but I guess AirPlay will work for now. I’m not HAPPY with that result, but I’m a realist at this point.

This is more Malware than a legit app improvement. You’ve really screwed the pooch this time!

C

cpalmer74

Prominent Collaborator I

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.

Personalisation does not compensate for missing functionality.

There is too much ‘scared corporate lawyer’ in the answers. We know you are not robots, but I do understand this is actually a public relations (PR) and Investor Relations (IR) event that could end up in the Wall St Journal tomorrow. We know you are trying, and would feel better if the Sonos Leadership team were also here -not watching - but helping.
thank you

S

superbob

Lyricist I

I think everybody can appreciate that an app is “never finished” and if anything that there would be continual evolution of the platform.

The disappointment is about the app not being *ready*. It’s not feature equivalent with the old app and removes functionality.

I think there are two issues here:

The attitude that SONOS is exhibiting towards its established customers over this. No choice, no communication ahead of time of what would be removed, just a rolled out release that actually removes some fairly fundamental functionality that many people enjoyed and took for granted as being supported. To respond to this with “an app is never finished” is condescending and fuels frustration. We know. That is not the point. We are your customers and some of us have invested heavily in this platform for several years getting on for decades). We bought in to your platform because we thought you were better than this.
The competency of SONOS going forward. Being a closed ecosystem being entirely dependent on your closed source proprietary software means we’re a hostage to your ability to sustain this software. This app release is just *so* badly implemented that it really undermining to having any faith in your ability to support us in the long term. Again, we though you were better than this.

My question (as this is an AMA) is this: Do you factor in this loss of trust? Has this been costed? Was there a risk benefit analysis of releasing the app in such an unready state? Or did the the response to this app come as a surprise to you?

I don’t know which is worse currently, and I expect you will not respond due to commercial sensitivity. But a bit of genuinely engagement would be helpful to rebuild trust in your platform if you expect us to continue to invest in your system and buy new units going forward.

D

Derrick Kaleta

Enthusiast II

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?

No Derrick it is not a joke.

Wow SSL you are an easy one to please.