Sonos Official

Update on the Sonos App from Patrick Spence

Related content:CommunitySonos

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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

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T

Toolio

Prodigy II

The old app was wonderful. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

Old app: easy to use, intuitive. No instructions required.

New App: Clumsy, needs 30-page instruction manual, inferior responsiveness.

Threads on the “easy to use, intuitive. No instructions required” old app when first released:

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/the-new-app-is-really-bad-6792651

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/comments-on-recient-updates-6792627

How disingenuous.You need compare the number of negative comments about the latest version with the number of negative comments about the old app.

Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.

C

chambolle

Enthusiast II

jgatie sez: I think you are being deliberately obtuse.

If I’m obtuse, it’s inadvertent rather than deliberate. And I’ve been called a whole lot worse than ‘obtuse’ before so I won’t take it personal. I still do marvel that instead of veiled, ‘obtuse’ corporate techie-speak they don’t just say ‘your Sonos playlists will be restored and you’ll be able to create, save, edit and resave them.’

Sometimes ya hafta color by numbers for the slower kids in the class.

G

Gavis

Lyricist I

Classy move to acknowledge the issues, but this app should have never been released. You would be better off releasing the old app until this was finished.

B

Bigfire

Lyricist I

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….

This is an utter disaster, one that was preventable if the company had put their customer’s needs first, and fixable if they’d simply released the old app alongside the new one. All of this indicates that they are making spectacularly bad decisions at the top, and an indifference to the nightmare they’ve inflicted on their users. Imagine if a live service, like Uber, released an app that made it problematic to use. Do you think they’d take almost a year to fix it?

At this point, the apology should be the old app released in parallel and a new CEO explaining why they made the mistakes they did, and why it won’t happen again.

G

GC3

Headliner I

Too little, too late

AjTrek1

The old app was wonderful. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

Old app: easy to use, intuitive. No instructions required.

New App: Clumsy, needs 30-page instruction manual, inferior responsiveness.

Threads on the “easy to use, intuitive. No instructions required” old app when first released:

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/the-new-app-is-really-bad-6792651

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/comments-on-recient-updates-6792627

How disingenuous, Chief Fanboi. You need compare the number of negative comments about the latest version with the number of negative comments about the old app.

I think you’re missing the point presented by @jgatie . No matter the time...people are going to complain that whatever was in place before the change was better. It’s not about numbers but more so the resistance to change when things aren’t as smooth (or so imagined) as they were before.

For you or anyone else with an open mind please consider reading the book in the link on change. You have to be willing to view/read the book metaphorically.

https://www.amazon.com/Moved-Cheese-Spencer-Johnson-M-D/dp/0743582853

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.

T

Toolio

Prodigy II

The old app was wonderful. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

Old app: easy to use, intuitive. No instructions required.

New App: Clumsy, needs 30-page instruction manual, inferior responsiveness.

Threads on the “easy to use, intuitive. No instructions required” old app when first released:

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/the-new-app-is-really-bad-6792651

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/comments-on-recient-updates-6792627

How disingenuous, Chief Fanboi. You need compare the number of negative comments about the latest version with the number of negative comments about the old app.

I think you’re missing the point presented by @jgatie . No matter the time...people are going to complain that whatever was in place before the change was better. It’s not about numbers but more so the resistance to change when things aren’t as smooth (or so imagined) as they were before.

For you or anyone else with an open mind please consider reading the book in the link on change. You have to be willing to view/read the book metaphorically.

https://www.amazon.com/Moved-Cheese-Spencer-Johnson-M-D/dp/0743582853

Who would not consider the removal of much-used features and delayed promises to bring them back to be worse? This time it's not about personal preference, it's about breaking what was not previously broken. What has transpired is not “resistance to change”, it is a logical reaction to the sudden deterioration of a product. Do you think the fact that that the head of the company has personally apologized is because of resistance to change? Hardly. It's because of resistance to stupidity.

P

pauljmumford

Lyricist I

Aug - Sep before addressing basic volume control… lost for word! Just roll it back; the pre May version was fine thanks!

Finish building the new app, test it properly, roll out a beta, get feedback and then launch. You’re not a small company anymore; agile’s great but this is not how you do it .

Who is applying the pressure to release when you’re not ready? Sounds like an internal cultural issue that needs to be addressed.Patrick?

S

Silverthorn

Prodigy II

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….

Why do you care? The CEO gave no thought to you. All they had to do was push the headphone back a quarter.

"I saw the Stooges and the MC5"

R

Rhonny

Prodigy III

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….

Why do you care? The CEO gave no thought to you. All they had to do was push the headphone back a quarter.

I don’t care. The app and all my speakers work perfectly well. I just know how disgruntled people think and act, and I’ve been proven right.

Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.

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