Skip to main content
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.
​​

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.

770 replies

Avid Contributor I
May 14, 2024

No apologies from SONOS ????????

Enthusiast I
May 14, 2024

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.

 

Thanks for the insight, @DianeRoberts. 

Now, why wasn’t this explanation provided a week ago? It would’ve alleviated a fair amount of frustration/speculation.

We understand that things happen/break.

A little bit of communication would have reduced the amount of blowback.

Contributor I
May 14, 2024

Where can I find the link to this interview? Searching for it opens up a whole new experience for me....

Renowned Enthusiast II
May 14, 2024

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. 

 

I do appreciate being able to customize items on the home screen by rearranging them. Now I would also like:
 

  • to be able to rearrange the Favorites screen in the same manner
  • to be able to add Sonos playlists that we’ve created to the Home Screen for quick access
webmink
Prominent Collaborator I
May 14, 2024

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.

Well, I rolled back to the previous version a couple of hours after the upgrade, and I have had no issues at all. 

Same here.  I rolled back and will stay rolled back.  The issue is that I will keep being told to upgrade.  I would prefer to not have that constant niggle.  However, I’m the same as you - rolled back and staying at 16.1.

 

This post is right on the money..but..pls just tell me..how did you roll back to the previous version? I am desperate to do that?

There’s a note in an earlier posting a few pages back on how to roll back to 16.1 - but it’s Android only.

 

Doesn't work on Chromebook Android unfortunately - and neither does the new app.

Support musicians by buying music instead of streaming.
Lyricist III
May 14, 2024

@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

 

Oh wow, major breaking bug and they still released it.  As I software engineer for 25 years, I’m pretty sure I would have been fired for this B.S.

Enthusiast I
May 14, 2024

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.

It reminds me of the Xbox game called Redfall which had awesome PR but failed to be a ‘good’ game. 

Even worse. The game was $70. Most of us here have blown more on Sonos products.

Enthusiast II
May 14, 2024

Time for some serious questions, the type they seriously thought they were going to be asked...

 

Hey guys! Amazing new app! Who are your favourite bands?

Lyricist I
May 14, 2024

 

Why was the upgrade released when it was clearly not ready, with so many features planned for later this month & June?

 

Enthusiast I
May 14, 2024

Will we see numbers re-added to the volume adjusters or is Sonos sticking with this UI decision?

@danull  Yes - volume numbers will be returning to this UI. We are continuing to refine our volume UI based on user feedback and will soon be providing an update to these controls.  Volume numbers should be visible now in the grouping menu.

Imagine that.  One of the “improvements” coming soon to the new app is the ability to adjust the volume.  Will the wonders of the new app never cease?