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Ryan S
Ryan S
Retired Sonos Staff
January 22, 2020

End of Software Support - Clarifications

  • December 8, 2022 at 11:29 AM
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End of Software Support - Clarifications

We announced yesterday that some of our oldest Sonos products will be moving into a legacy mode in May of 2020. Our commitment is to support products with regular software updates for a minimum of five years after we stop selling them, and we have a track record of supporting products far longer. 

Here is some public information we’ve shared, gathered into one place to respond to some of your questions in one easy thread, so that people can find the correct information easily.

Beginning in May, software updates and new features from Sonos will only be delivered to systems with only modern products.

After May, systems that include legacy products will continue to work as before - but they will no longer receive software updates or new features. 

Sonos will work to maintain the existing experience and conduct bug fixes, but our efforts will ultimately be limited by the lack of memory and processing power of these legacy products.

We don’t expect any immediate impact to your experience, but access to services and overall functionality will eventually be disrupted, particularly as partners evolve their own services and features. 

 

Customers with both legacy and modern products have time to decide what option is best for them. You can continue to use your whole system in legacy mode - in this case, it will stop receiving updates and new features. 

You will also be able to separate your legacy products from your modern products, so that the modern products can still receive updates and new features, and legacy products can still be used separately. We’ll have more information on how to do this in May when you can take that action.

Another option available to all customers with legacy products is to take advantage of the Trade Up program, which allows you to upgrade older Sonos products to modern ones with a 30% discount. Trade Up will be open to customers at any time should they decide to upgrade. 

We recognize this is new for Sonos owners, just as it is for Sonos. We are committed to help you by making options available to you to support the best decision for your home.
 

If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate with asking.

Update 2/22: A message from our CEO

We heard you. We did not get this right from the start. My apologies for that and I wanted to personally assure you of the path forward:

First, rest assured that come May, when we end new software updates for our legacy products, they will continue to work as they do today. We are not bricking them, we are not forcing them into obsolescence, and we are not taking anything away. Many of you have invested heavily in your Sonos systems, and we intend to honor that investment for as long as possible. While legacy Sonos products won’t get new software features, we pledge to keep them updated with bug fixes and security patches for as long as possible. If we run into something core to the experience that can’t be addressed, we’ll work to offer an alternative solution and let you know about any changes you’ll see in your experience.

Secondly, we heard you on the issue of legacy products and modern products not being able to coexist in your home. We are working on a way to split your system so that modern products work together and get the latest features, while legacy products work together and remain in their current state. We’re finalizing details on this plan and will share more in the coming weeks.

While we have a lot of great products and features in the pipeline, we want our customers to upgrade to our latest and greatest products when they’re excited by what the new products offer, not because they feel forced to do so. That’s the intent of the trade up program we launched for our loyal customers.

Thank you for being a Sonos customer. Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback. I hope that you’ll forgive our misstep, and let us earn back your trust. Without you, Sonos wouldn’t exist and we’ll work harder than ever to earn your loyalty every single day.

If you have any further questions please don’t hesitate to contact us.

 

Patrick Spence
CEO, Sonos

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    4256 replies

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    brrrr
    Lyricist I
    January 23, 2020

    I regret the day I bought my first SONOS device (2012) and invested quite a lot of money (> 4000 $) on SONOS products (CONNECT, 4x PLAY:1, 3x PLAY:3, 1x PLAY:5, SUB, PLAYBASE) since then.

     

    SONOS is finished for me and I will not buy any products from SONOS ever again. 

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      Greg66
      Avid Contributor I
      January 23, 2020

      The Sonos email containing the now infamous announcement told me that my ZP100s, and ZP120s would become legacy in May.

      But I have a ZP120/Connect Amp (NOT the new black AMP) which I bought from Sonos earlier in the year. This was to replace a failed ZP100 or ZP120 (I can’t now recall) and sold at a discount.

      That wasn’t on the list in my email. Which makes me think that the hardware shortcomings in my ZP100s/ZP120s have been remedied in the most recent version of the Connect Amp.

      Why can’t Sonos offer a hardware upgrade for legacy equipment? Or perhaps better: why *won’t* Sonos offer a hardware upgrade for legacy equipment?

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      Gazer
      Gazer
      Enthusiast I
      January 23, 2020

      Well i have 5 products that will not receive software updates from May …. But hay sonos its only £2000 worth of gear that works just fine and they look as new the day they came out of there boxes and you what me to put them in a land fill site…. But on the other hand my controller 100 is still classed as a modern products...Hmmm might switch it on when i get home tonight and see.

       

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        AdamAitch
        Lyricist III
        January 23, 2020

        Interesting that with all the furore ongoing there’s no hint of crisis management PR getting involved. Leaves the impression that this reaction has been factored in and doesn’t require any additional handling.

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          PeteD
          Enthusiast I
          January 23, 2020

          Still a deafening silence from Sonos with any coherent technical explanation. Most of us just want to be able to stream music reliably from the internet and/or a NAS. What has changed/will change so dramatically that legacy products will not be able to provide this capability?

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            peter gerst
            Enthusiast I
            January 23, 2020

            Absolutely NOT! Never again!#boycottSonos

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              Arct1k
              Contributor I
              January 23, 2020

              Sonos also increased the cost of the amp $50 just before this announcement so the 30% discount is now off of something that is 10% more expensive.  Nice!  
               

              I like to think the best of people but there is either a lot of bad management or lots of shady practices and a lot of coincidences (aka large stock sales just before announcements)
               

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                SteveNic1016
                Lyricist I
                January 23, 2020

                I guess it’s true to say that in many ways this situation is irreversible. Can anyone buy Sonos in the future and expect them not to do this again.

                I want a quality sound system, I thought I had one. I don’t want one that talks to Alexa or Siri or anyone else for that matter. My Sonos was brilliant with the processor it has - no need for a better/bigger one.

                Good bye Sonos - it was nice knowing you. Parting is such sweet sorrow…..

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                  andy_120
                  Enthusiast II
                  January 23, 2020

                  Had response from customer support, same typical corporate line still being taken they are just not getting how peed off we are.

                   

                  still no reply from the CEO guess that’s two fingers up to us

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                    sharpy14
                    Lyricist I
                    January 23, 2020

                    I suppose the issue, is that with old hifi, it was components, but Sonos is a ecosystem, if a core part becomes obsolete, it impacts the rest. I will need to ditch my Bridge, but it does not appear to be in the trade up category for a Boost. When will my two Play 1s become legacy? My connect, well, that won’t be replaced with Sonos, maybe an Audiolab. I get that being streaming, technology moves on, and I also get that Sonos only make money from hardware, and I get that any streamer, may have the same issue eventually, but when you sell an ecosystem, this seems a pretty blunt way to handle it.

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