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Update on the Sonos App from Patrick Spence

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Update on the Sonos App from Patrick Spence
SONOS

Hello everyone,

We wanted to take a moment to address concerns regarding our new app that launched in May. At Sonos, delivering an exceptional experience is paramount to all that we do. Unfortunately, your experiences over the past several weeks have fallen short of our commitment to you.

Today, our CEO Patrick Spence published a letter that includes a detailed update on the progress we’ve been making and plans going forward. You can read the full letter here.

We sincerely appreciate your patience and continued support. We are working hard to earn back your trust and are more committed than ever to delivering a consistently great Sonos experience for everyone.

Thank you all for your patience,
Your Sonos Team

Did you find what you were looking for?

975 replies

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  • Prodigy II
  • 1862 replies
  • July 25, 2024

I applaud the note and taking responsibility. Good to see that note being issued (a bit later than people might have expected but good nonetheless). 

But despite the contrition, and if this forum over the last couple of months is any indicator, I fear this thread will still shortly become a breeding ground and echo chamber for abuse and toxicity…. 


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  • Trending Lyricist I
  • 12 replies
  • July 25, 2024

I love @SONOS and love the CEO making a statement. The issue I have is that Patrick states that when the app was released you “found” a number of issues. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that you literally removed features people used every day. That was a deliberate decision by the developers. So, the apology rings hollow because this statement makes it sound like a software bug and not an oversight or a conscious decision. 


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  • Headliner I
  • 370 replies
  • July 25, 2024

This is likely to prove to be too little too late for many.

On that time line we will have suffered a sub standard reduced function app for 5 months. That of course assumes that they manage to deliver to the schedule.

Lets not forget that it has taken Patrick Spence nearly 12 weeks to admit that the frustrated users have been let down by Sonos.


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  • Trending Lyricist I
  • 14 replies
  • July 25, 2024

Well, I‘ll keep it polite this time, but I have other words in mind. It would be great if the app was released after fully functioning and severe testing. For months I’m struggling and it is still not working as expected. Sonos must do a much better job to gain my trust again 


press250
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  • Prodigy III
  • 633 replies
  • July 25, 2024

Hey @Rhonny, of course your prediction is accurate. Silver lining: folks venting here on this topic might bring a measure of ‘peace’ to other topics. Silly thought, I know, tho’ one can hope? 😅


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  • Collaborator II
  • 41 replies
  • July 25, 2024

I agree. If there only had been issues I think the uproar would not have been that big. The fact that basic functionality that was part of Sonos (like editing queues) from the very beginning was left out from the app is what made people upset.

And I now notice that bringing back the functionality for editing playlist / queue has now been delayed again. It was promised for August, now it is September / October.

So I don't expect this letter will calm down the storm ….


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  • Local Superstar
  • 1721 replies
  • July 25, 2024

I'm not gonna comment too much but to be honest I'm astonished that “Restoring edit mode for Playlists and the Queue” is now September and October.  Sure, everyone has different priorities and ‘needs’ but actually editing what you're listening to is a core Sonos function.  That it was removed in the first place was incredible, to wait a possible 5 months to restore it, wow!! 😔😔😔


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  • Prodigy II
  • 1862 replies
  • July 25, 2024

Yes, it would be remiss of me to ignore that the app should never have been released without being ready (problems will have been known beforehand as the app shown in the social video ads was not the one they rolled out), and also August remedial work shifting to Sept/October will be a red rag to a bull…

But the acknowledgement is positive. I just suspect the next few pages won't be.

 

 


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  • Local Superstar
  • 1721 replies
  • July 25, 2024

I genuinely wonder if I'll still have to individually select Apps to update in Sonos come Christmas instead of ‘Update All’ that I've done for a decade plus.  Ball ache.


  • Lyricist I
  • 7 replies
  • July 25, 2024
sjw wrote:

I genuinely wonder if I'll still have to individually select Apps to update in Sonos come Christmas instead of ‘Update All’ that I've done for a decade plus.  Ball ache.

I predict no. 


jgatie
  • 27443 replies
  • July 25, 2024
scottdwinter wrote:

I love @SONOS and love the CEO making a statement. The issue I have is that Patrick states that when the app was released you “found” a number of issues. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that you literally removed features people used every day. That was a deliberate decision by the developers. So, the apology rings hollow because this statement makes it sound like a software bug and not an oversight or a conscious decision. 

 

As has been explained before, the app was a ground up rewrite, using an entirely new architecture (mDNS) from what was used before (UPnP).  So nothing was “removed”, it just wasn’t finished in time for the planned release date which not so coincidently was 2 weeks before the release of the new headphones.


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  • Trending Lyricist I
  • 12 replies
  • July 25, 2024
jgatie wrote:
scottdwinter wrote:

I love @SONOS and love the CEO making a statement. The issue I have is that Patrick states that when the app was released you “found” a number of issues. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that you literally removed features people used every day. That was a deliberate decision by the developers. So, the apology rings hollow because this statement makes it sound like a software bug and not an oversight or a conscious decision. 

 

As has been explained before, the app was a ground up rewrite, using an entirely new architecture (mDNS) from what was used before (UPnP).  So nothing was “removed”, it just wasn’t finished in time for the planned release date which not so coincidently was 2 weeks before the release of the new headphones.

Semantic argument. If they chose to release it without legacy features, they were removed regardless of any plan to add them back in at some point.

Either way, as I said, it was a conscious decision not “found errors” as Patrick stated. 


  • Lyricist I
  • 7 replies
  • July 25, 2024

I feel like this letter would land better if they send owners some 50% off vouchers and 12 months free Sonos HD Radio. 


jgatie
  • 27443 replies
  • July 25, 2024
scottdwinter wrote:

Semantic argument. If they chose to release it without legacy features, they were removed regardless of any plan to add them back in at some point.

Either way, as I said, it was a conscious decision not “found errors” as Patrick stated. 

 

Semantic to you, the consumer.  Not even close to a sematic argument to the people who designed, developed, and were forced to release a half-baked app. 


jgatie
  • 27443 replies
  • July 25, 2024
Anon689327 wrote:

I feel like this letter would land better if they send owners some 50% off vouchers and 12 months free Sonos HD Radio. 

 

Or they could just give every Sonos owner a 10 lb. solid gold bar and a 5 karat diamond.  They’d be out of business real quick, but boy would that letter land well!


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  • Local Superstar
  • 1721 replies
  • July 25, 2024

Of course it was removed, users could do something beforehand and their ability to do them after the update was removed - never mind the incredible number of bugs that were introduced.  Although, by the same logic can it be said they weren't introduced?  How Sonos came about to that is completely irrelevant to users.

I'm just trying to imagine explaining to a user why they can't do something in my code isn't because it's been removed but because I started again and re-wrote it.  Bizarre logic.

They should maybe just release the App that Patrick has used since Christmas because that was great apparently.


jgatie
  • 27443 replies
  • July 25, 2024
sjw wrote:

Of course it was removed, users could do something beforehand and their ability to do them after the update was removed - never mind the incredible number of bugs that were introduced.  Although, by the same logic can it be said they weren't introduced?  How Sonos came about to that is completely irrelevant to users.

I'm just trying to imagine explaining to a user why they can't do something in my code isn't because it's been removed but because I started again and re-wrote it.  Bizarre logic.

They should maybe just release the App that Patrick has used since Christmas because that was great apparently.

 

Now who is making a sematic argument?  


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  • Headliner I
  • 370 replies
  • July 25, 2024
jgatie wrote:
scottdwinter wrote:

Semantic argument. If they chose to release it without legacy features, they were removed regardless of any plan to add them back in at some point.

Either way, as I said, it was a conscious decision not “found errors” as Patrick stated. 

 

Semantic to you, the consumer.  Not even close to a sematic argument to the people who designed, developed, and were forced to release a half-baked app. 

Let’s not forget that the half baked app was released on 7th May and that, if they did not know it was half baked when they released it, they found out it was half baked as soon as users started using it. They knew that we had concerns within minutes/hours of the release but Patrick Spence refused to acknowledge those concerns fully until now. 

And yes I am venting because Sonos need to hear us. That letter has taken 12 weeks to write, 12 weeks.


  • Lyricist I
  • 7 replies
  • July 25, 2024
jgatie wrote:
Anon689327 wrote:

I feel like this letter would land better if they send owners some 50% off vouchers and 12 months free Sonos HD Radio. 

 

Or they could just give every Sonos owner a 10 lb. solid gold bar and a 5 karat diamond.  They’d be out of business real quick, but boy would that letter land well!

Yeah gold bars and diamonds are totally the same thing. 


jgatie
  • 27443 replies
  • July 25, 2024
Gaham wrote:

Let’s not forget that the half baked app was released on 7th May and that, if they did not know it was half baked when they released it, they found out it was half baked as soon as users started using it. They knew that we had concerns within minutes/hours of the release but Patrick Spence refused to acknowledge those concerns fully until now. 

And yes I am venting because Sonos need to hear us. That letter has taken 12 weeks to write, 12 weeks.

 

You’ve been around long enough to know that it was shown to be half-baked in Beta testing, but was released anyway.  And I couldn’t care less to have a letter from Spence or anyone else.  When I need warm fuzzies, I don’t turn to the CEO of a nameless, faceless corporation to let me know how I should feel.  Sonos screwed up.  It’s now up to me to decide if I want to dump them, or wait it out, and no stupid PR stunt like a letter of apology is going to make one difference to me in that decision.


jgatie
  • 27443 replies
  • July 25, 2024
Anon689327 wrote:

Yeah gold bars and diamonds are totally the same thing. 

 

Might as well be when you are asking them to give away the store at 50% off. 


jgatie
  • 27443 replies
  • July 25, 2024
Rhonny wrote:

I applaud the note and taking responsibility. Good to see that note being issued (a bit later than people might have expected but good nonetheless). 

But despite the contrition, and if this forum over the last couple of months is any indicator, I fear this thread will still shortly become a breeding ground and echo chamber for abuse and toxicity…. 

 

Heheh, that didn’t take long . . .


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  • Local Superstar
  • 1721 replies
  • July 25, 2024
jgatie wrote:
sjw wrote:

Of course it was removed, users could do something beforehand and their ability to do them after the update was removed - never mind the incredible number of bugs that were introduced.  Although, by the same logic can it be said they weren't introduced?  How Sonos came about to that is completely irrelevant to users.

I'm just trying to imagine explaining to a user why they can't do something in my code isn't because it's been removed but because I started again and re-wrote it.  Bizarre logic.

They should maybe just release the App that Patrick has used since Christmas because that was great apparently.

 

Now who is making a sematic argument?  

You, by saying that ‘So nothing was “removed”’?

I’d say not being able to so something I could previously (even if it is going to be re-added at some point) means it’s been removed.  These were not bugs but deliberately left out.


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  • Enthusiast II
  • 161 replies
  • July 25, 2024

Can someone please tell me what this means? According to Mr. Spence, in September/October the following will be accomplished:

  • Restoring edit mode for Playlists and the Queue
  • Improving functionality in settings

A major concern — still not directly addressed, as far as I can tell — is that on and after May 7, 2024, Sonos playlists do not display in the app; they cannot be accessed in the app; they cannot be edited, re-saved or created and saved anew in the app. There is a 3rd party app that allows a user to pull a playlist from a text list of our pre-existing Sonos playlists; that chosen playlist will then appear in the Sonos app as a queue that can be played, and to which new tracks can be added but not saved.

Does ‘restoring edit mode for Playlists and the Queue’ mean that ‘Sonos playlists’ will be restored and can be created, edited and archived as they were prior to May 7; or does it mean something else? A direct, candid answer to that question would be helpful.


  • Lyricist I
  • 7 replies
  • July 25, 2024
jgatie wrote:
Anon689327 wrote:

Yeah gold bars and diamonds are totally the same thing. 

 

Might as well be when you are asking them to give away the store at 50% off. 

No not the same thing. 


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