Retired Sonos Staff

End of Software Support - Clarifications

December 8, 2022 at 11:29 AM
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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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Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.sonos.com

Wow 76% of all reviews are 1*

How to win customers and influence people

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rAndison

Enthusiast I

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.

Yeah…. loved that controller. Brings back good memories when I first bought the system. Shame about how it’s gone now.

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livininhhi

Lyricist I

Let me give a simple explanation of how evolution works.

We will start with

END OF PRODUCT SUPPORT

this evolves to

END OF CUSTOMER FAITH &TRUST

this evolves to

END OF CUSTOMERS

this evolves to

DEATH OF A COMPANY

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djaustin

Lyricist II

Remind me of the upgrade cost from Windows 7 to 10?

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derekdavies

Contributor I

As you binned my original comment here it is again and i will add it infinitum until you come to your senses.

I am absolutely incensed by the shear insensitivity and blatant Marketing effort under the guise of ‘End of Software Updates’ This is totally unjustified - the amount of software involved is minute compared to something like MS Windows and they manage to support £100 products for 10 years and TVs last just as long. My Connect:Amp is probably only a few years old and cost £400 and now you want me to upgrade for an insulting and derisory 30% off a hugely inflated price of £600!!!!!!!!!!!

I will NOT Upgrade and will now be actively looking for alternative products especially as it now obvious you are going to do this to all my other products in the expectation of dubiously getting even more money from loyal Sonos owners.

Until this moment I held your Company and products in high regard, now I am appalled by your behaviour and will NEVER buy any more. You greedy b*******s have shot yourselves in the proverbial foot.

In addition you are encouraging massive eco waste - shame on you - you must be in the same camp as that bloody lunatic Trump where everything’s fine as long as you’re making money.

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cosmo35166

Enthusiast I

Another interesting note, the CEO’s increase in Salary and salaries to attract the highly qualified executives. Guess that’s why I’m destined to be a Plebe, wouldn’t be able to treat the hand that feeds me (Customers) this way;

Name	FY18 Salary ($)	FY19 Salary ($)	% Increase
Patrick Spence	$350,000	$550,000		57%
Brittany Bagley	0	$475,000		0
Matthew Siegel	$375,000	$400,000		7%
Nicholas Millington	$350,000	$375,000		7%
Edward Lazarus	0	$375,000		0

Salaries for Ms. Bagley and Mr. Lazarus were negotiated as part of the package to attract each of these newly hired executives to Sonos.

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attacama40

Headliner I

This isn’t sarcasm but a genuine question …. how do you turn the updates option to off on a Win 10 device please?

Or if not possible then on an android phone?

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oilydavid

Lyricist I

Why should I buy equipment which in 5 years time will become obsolete,,utterly cynical approach by Sonos...NEVER by Sonos again unless you want to pour money down the Sonos drain

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sm75382

Enthusiast II

in my sonos you can see a nice pie chart on how much u stream music / use tv (i have a 5.1 and 1x play1 in the kitchen)

tv around 99.5%

music around 0.5%

so clearly i would be ok with a bog standard, second hand 5.1 av and wired speakers.

so, incase anyone wanted to decide whether they actually need music streaming

ona side note, not sure ive read so many forum posts in a 24-48hour period, i guess its a live interactive soap opera unfolding before our eyes.

#SonosAteMyHamster

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dashton75

Lyricist I

I have 10 Sonos products - including one play 5 gen 1. Thinking of just selling it all now whilst it still has some value. The products cost thousands and don’t want to be stuck with it all when another announcement is made for legacy wave 2 and the whole lot is worthless. Gutted as loved my Sonos system but rather invest in something that will last

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