Retired Sonos Staff

End of Software Support - Clarifications

Dec 8, 2022 11:29 AM UTC
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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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Ralpfocus

Prodigy III

So did not receive the update email, maybe it will come later. I suspect most here, in truth, understand that it is not possible to continue to update the older equipment for ever. But the “solution” proposed just does not go far enough. And given the response it is clear that a split two independent systems solution will not be sufficient as the answer. Many including myself have said that you need to find a way to enable Legacy and Modern work together. Clearly the legacy will not get new features and will not be able to initiate activity that is ‘modern’ but should be able to fully participate in groups. If the initiating device is modern it should be possible for it to send the audio stream to legacy devices.

It might even just be acceptable to push further devices into legacy if the amount of code required to recognise that modern is talking to legacy pushes the ‘old’ modern device to its limit

I am not a Sound bar user but I can see valid logic that says a new sound bar could only be paired with modern devices or even a more limited set of the modern product group.

It is still possible to turn this situation around

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KingPin

Enthusiast II

I have 4 modern and 2 legacy units. If I can freeze the whole system from new functionality and have it work like it does now, I can accept that. I can under no circumstance accept if I am forced to split it. Then the whole point of Sonos is lost. So, the question is: Are we going to be able to have a complete system as now or not? If not, I’m out.

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amun

This is my first time to comment on ANYTHING on a blog ever!

Just want to say “well done” Sonos for owning your mistake and trying to make it right. Admitting you were wrong is so rare, and those of us who love and enjoy your products appreciate it.

Perhaps you should re-read it - without blinkers this time…

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UKUser

Enthusiast I

This is my first time to comment on ANYTHING on a blog ever!

Just want to say “well done” Sonos for owning your mistake and trying to make it right. Admitting you were wrong is so rare, and those of us who love and enjoy your products appreciate it.

Sonos knew this would be contentious - they said as much in their 10k filing. They went ahead anyway. I’ve not seen anything in the statements that allays my fear that my sonos kit, on which I have spent thousands will not be bricked in the very near future. I’m not looking for new features, just that it continues to operate as it did when I purchased it.

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TommieG

Lyricist III

“...There is a lesson in all this and it extends beyond Sonos. Many of us have “invested” heavily on Sonos and other smart products like lighting. The truth is that buying Sonos and other smart products is not an investment, it’s spending on disposable goods. What’s happening will continue to happen and it is causing me to rethink my approach. Less is more, and all I really want is to listen to music across my home in a pain free way. I once needed Sonos for that, but that is no longer the case. With a little work I can build a new system that works the way I need and doesn’t put me at the mercy of any one company.”

My sentiments exactly. Said another way: “Buying smart speakers is DUMB!”

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User694694

Enthusiast II

As many have mentioned, the most recent letter from the CEO does not help us in any new way and provides no new concessions. “We hear you, we are sorry that we didn’t communicate properly. To make it up to you, we are going to allow you to buy more of our product for 30% off of items we recently raised the price by 30% on.”

But, what I find the most annoying is the way he tries to make it seem like the legacy products will continue to work with streaming music services like Spotify, Pandora, etc by saying come may, they will work. What he doesn’t address is that yes they will work in May, but how about June, when Spotify makes a small change to their streaming service that would require a line of code rewrite by Sonos to continue working properly. This won’t happen, so while Mr. Spence isn’t telling us anything false, he is essentially lying by omission and intentionally deceiving us in an attempt to quell the rebellion. I find this particularly offensive. It’s likely that he feels that it’s less likely that there will be a critical mass of angry users after May when the streaming services stop working one by one, but unlikely to be all at the same time like the current situation.

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UKUser

Enthusiast I

Hey guys don’t just post here… leave reviews on Amazon, John Lewis (UK) - all the big suppliers where you live... people need to know they cannot buy this stuff anymore - or at least know the risks that in a few years it will stop working…

people are already doing this

until Sonos fix this their 5star reviews need crashing...

App reviews & trustpilot are other options

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John V

Enthusiast I

Dear Patrick

Who thought Splitting your Sonos systems was a good idea? I would find that person and escort he or she out the front door.

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CA-Brett

Lyricist III

Hey guys don’t just post here… leave reviews on Amazon, John Lewis (UK) - all the big suppliers where you live... people need to know they cannot buy this stuff anymore - or at least know the risks that in a few years it will stop working…

people are already doing this

until Sonos fix this their 5star reviews need crashing...

Yeah, I bought all my Sonos gear from Amazon from 2012 to 2019. Just wrote a warning on Amazon for all 9 purchases with a one star review, explaining about split systems, how a system bought just 2 years ago will ruin a whole speaker installation, etc . . . and provided a link to this string. Hope everyone else does the same . . . let’s drive the Amazon reviews of Sonos down to 2-3 stars (it will take a lot of us) . . . if that happens Sonos will be decimated and have two choices - listen to their customers or die. I know the only way my one star reviews and warnings go back to 5 is if split systems does not happen, new equipment gets new software updates even with legacy units in grouping, or they create a box to allow legacy pairing with new if they can’t figure out how to do the above with Software, or the replacement discount goes to 50% or higher. I feel like a chump for spending so much money on Sonos over the last 8 years (timing saved me from worse as I was about 2-3 days from buying 4 more components). I also feel bad for probably convincing 10 other friends to deck out their houses with it too over the years. If you bought it on Amazon, go make your review 1 star - say why, and link to this string.

I hope Sonos doesn’t go out of business because then I’ll really have bricks, but I can be rather spiteful when someone makes me feel stupid like they have, and at the moment I’d be OK if they did fail because of this debacle . . .

Go to Amazon if you bought from there!

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mboydftw

Lyricist III

Is it just me, or does the CEO letter change nothing? They are forecasting a split system that everyone knows is antithetical to what Sonos is all about. Why do all the work to make a split system even operate? They know that sucks!

I feel like they know way more than they are letting on. I found it odd that they were creating gen 2 product labels for the Play1with no discernible benefits. Something is coming and they know exactly what it is. It will cause them to split your system to keep it working.

What is coming, Sonos? Your ecosystem has appealed to some pretty sharp folks. They see through all of this, especially the latest BS apology letter. You wouldn’t even suggest a split system solution unless you know what’s about to happen.

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