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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smstnitc

Lyricist III

Sounds like what you need to do is fork your software for the “legacy” (read: old) hardware, or make it modular based on device it’s installed on. Add some feature flags so the device and controllers know what it does and doesn’t support, and let customers make sane decisions about when hardware upgrade time is.

I would be contented with my now scheduled for obsolescence Connect not supporting “cool new feature X”, because it’s job is to be an input for my CD changer (yes, I still buy cd’s) and nothing else.

I’ve been a software developer for over 20 years, I understand this problem, but I’ve also spent about $4k on Sonos products over the last 5 years, so now I’m very concerned about their lifespan.

I’m not happy, these components are *expensive*, but I’m going to wait and see what this legacy system separation looks like before I make any decisions. Right now it looks like my options are 1) replace the old items, and just accept that I will need to keep replacing them over time, or 2) use what I have until each item is no longer supported and replace them with non-smart speakers as that time comes.

I’m not going to return the two Play:5’s I just purchased for my home office, they sound great. But my further Sonos purchasing plans are on hold until you announce more.

You goofed with this announcement, especially right after all the media buzz about people being unhappy with your trade-up bricking process. You should have had the legacy separation well defined and ready to release first. You’ve created far too much uncertainty, which fosters anger. Customers don’t want to hear “your stuff won’t be supported anymore, but we’ll have some sort of solution to make it less painful by then”, which is exactly the message you’re sending right now.

I find myself wondering if any Sonos employee will actually read this...

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Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

It seems to me that Sonos have not thought out how this will work. I use Spotify and think there is a risk that (“legacy”) Sonos won’t work with that anymore.

Ryan, Can you say what Sonos are doing with Spotify to keep legacy products working? Are you talking to them about this?

I disagree (sorry), but it seems Sonos has thought about it carefully for some time, warning investors of the impact of doing it beforehand.

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HelterSkelter

Enthusiast II

Ability to sell additional products to existing customers.

As our customers add Sonos to their homes and listen to more audio content, they typically increase the number of our products in their homes. In fiscal 2019, follow-on purchases represented approximately 37% of new product registrations. As we execute on our product roadmap to address evolving consumer preferences, we believe we can expand the number of products in our customers’ homes. Our ability to sell additional products to existing customers is a key part of our business model, as follow-on purchases indicate high customer engagement and satisfaction, decrease the likelihood of competitive substitution and result in higher customer lifetime value. We will continue to innovate and invest in product development in order to enhance customer experience and drive sales of additional products to existing customers.

They’ve messed that up then!

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luvlylou

Lyricist III

As others have said, this is a brilliant way to destroy the reputation of the Sonos Brand. To think I was just yesterday thinking about buying two Play Move for outside use - only today to find that they would be forced into a legacy system because Sonos has decided that my perfectly operating kit will no longer be supported.

Absolutely disgraceful behaviour and I will NEVER purchase any Sonos Kit in future unless the company reverses this appalling decision.

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jdepraetere

Lyricist I

I feel robbed…

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Steve F54

Lyricist I

If we have to spend all this money to upgrade will we have to do it all over again in five years? There is definately a lack of trust here.

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matthew.bacon

Lyricist III

Ability to sell additional products to existing customers.

As our customers add Sonos to their homes and listen to more audio content, they typically increase the number of our products in their homes. In fiscal 2019, follow-on purchases represented approximately 37% of new product registrations. As we execute on our product roadmap to address evolving consumer preferences, we believe we can expand the number of products in our customers’ homes. Our ability to sell additional products to existing customers is a key part of our business model, as follow-on purchases indicate high customer engagement and satisfaction, decrease the likelihood of competitive substitution and result in higher customer lifetime value. We will continue to innovate and invest in product development in order to enhance customer experience and drive sales of additional products to existing customers.

Well that is unlikely to happen by 100% of the customers on this forum which probably make up (and/or influence) a good percentage of that 37%. If you are shareholder or trader reading this… sell, sell, SELL!

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JamesHutch

Lyricist I

We you to support the best decision for your home.

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

Up until yesterday I would have recommended Sonos products and looked to buy more. Now I would certainly not recommend them and will be looking to move on. A great shame. I can understand not supporting older hardware, but you have twisted a knife - and removed any confidence that your products will be worth giving house room to. Arbitrary decisions to punish loyal customers seem destined to annoy, irritate and deter. Such a shame, but there it is. You had a good product and you have damaged your own brand. Sonos is off my list.

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Witthaus

Trending Lyricist I

Haha...Sonos stock price for the last week! I hope they go under.

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Mac-Dragon

Lyricist I

I bought a Sonos Connect in 2018 to enable my husband to play his LPs on a turnable (which doesn’t have an amp) and his other other Sonos speakers.

Is is true that you will not be supplying software updates for this product (the Sonos Connect) and if so does this mean that his other Sonos speakers ( 1 Play 5, 3 Play 3, and 1 Play 1) will aslo no longer receive software updates.

I sinverely hope this is not the case. We spent a lot of money with Sonos 2 years ago and if ithe devices are to become obsolete I don’t know what we will do .

We are a retired couple in our early 70’s and can’t afford to replace the system.

I am very worried.

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