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Mike H
Retired Sonos Staff
May 14, 2024
Interview

Sonos App Redesign AMA

  • May 14, 2024
  • 770 replies
  • 65992 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

Trending Lyricist I
May 14, 2024

I just now launched the new Sonos app and it told me my system could not be found. (I have blurred my network name in the screenshot for privacy.)

But just below, under Nearby Systems, it showed that it had found my system on the same network. What the heck?

 

Enthusiast I
May 14, 2024

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

 

webmink
Prominent Collaborator 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.

@KateW Will you also be bringing back the group volume slider pop-up so we don’t have to go back to grouping to adjust volume ratios?

Support musicians by buying music instead of streaming.
CronoCX
Enthusiast II
May 14, 2024

As someone who was about spend a not inconsiderable amount of money to replace my NAS please can Sonos please provide some clarity on future functionality in the near future.
 

Specifically is SMB v1 gone (confused as my very old NAS seems to be working still)? Are the SMB v2 bugs I heard people using SMB v1 to avoid fixed? Will search and navigation in the app be fixed to make using a NAS and local library worthwhile again? 
 

Thanks

SMB v1 is gone. I can confirm SMB v2 works just fine. Keep in mind though, once you approach 65,000 tracks it can get dicey.

Same. Been running SMB 3 for almost a year. My NAS is a Synology.

Lyricist III
May 14, 2024

How is kowtowing to investor interest in a new product category and forcing a release of a clearly undercooked and unfinished app instead of delaying the new product until the software is ready “courageous”?

Enthusiast II
May 14, 2024

How do i stop this AMA from emailing me every reply????? 

Yes I wondered that too….but if you open one of the emails there is a link to remove it from your Favourites (not that you knew you had added it) - then peace will be restored (a bit like alarms not going off ;-))

 

Lyricist III
May 14, 2024

How do i stop this AMA from emailing me every reply????? 

Here, have another one 🤣

Lyricist I
May 14, 2024

Can I return my Sonos One since I can’t add my NAS to it and therefore it’s completely useless to me?

May 14, 2024

How do I roll back to a prior iOS controller.  The current controller broke too many of the functions and features i use (or used to use) every day.

Enthusiast I
May 14, 2024

How do i stop this AMA from emailing me every reply????? 

Here, have another one 🤣

You can go into your personal settings and turn off replies in the top right corner of the page (You should see an initial that’s the start of your username.  Click that.  Go into your settings and you can turn off replies.