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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jdale

The new message is much more artfully stated and it does promise “bug fixes and security patches for as long as possible” which is an improvement, despite being super vague. But ultimately the message did not change. Legacy devices still won’t get software devices, they still are going to need a split system, etc etc. It’s not stated but it’s apparent they will still block updates to other devices if the system is not split. There are still no details about how that split will work in practice. (Grouping? Same or different app?) It’s the same message as before, wearing a nicer suit.

Anyone mollified by that apology clearly didn’t read it.

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TommieG

Lyricist III

Currently playing a ripped Indigo Girls CD that I bought whenever. Not a stream from a playlist. But I get it, SONOS has been watching everything I have -- and have not -- played over the past 10 years. Sonos knows when the speakers are in use or not. Exactly like Amazon and Google devices do. And scum FB and its tech. Makes you wonder -- is what you get from them really worth it?

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John V

Enthusiast I

Patrick your apology today was a joke and you know it. do you remember when Sonos touted this non-obsolescence strategy during the runup to its 2018 initial public offering: “People are used to buying commodity tech that needs to be replaced, but we’re differentiated because our product persists,” Mike Groeninger, Sonos’ vice president of finance

and there you go it’s all about money and customer loyal is just a BS notion to get us to buy a companies product

If Patrick doesn’t do the right thing we can only hope Sonos loses the Google lawsuit so that Goggle can flood the market with a similar Sonos product line at an affordable price.

and then Patrick can say he was part of the demise of both the RIM Blackberry and Sonos.

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Saucerman

Enthusiast I

Can you just image if Tesla did this….

I’m sorry since you have an older Tesla in your garage, you won’t be able to update your current model because they are incompatible with one another btw you’ll have purchase another charging station because just like apple we change the plugs with each new upgrade.

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patbla

Enthusiast II

This whole fiasco has be rethinking all my Sonos investments (even that word feels strange now). A few minutes ago, in an earlier post, I compared a Sonos component to an Nvidia Shield, but the more I think about it the closest equivalent (the Port) is more than double the price with less memory, processing power, and capabilities. I really was fooled by the myth that Sonos was not an electronic company but something more.

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Cladman

Trending Lyricist I

Only thing saving me is my 2 x legacy play 5’s are in rooms that i don’t link, 1 is connected to my iMac in my home office, a Play 3 is in my daughters bedroom was told today by support they have newer tech even though its older than my play 5’s.

Bridge i don’t really need to be using.

Sad to think though my playbar/sub and 2 x 1’s in my lounge room could become legacy soon.

I wouldn't buy anymore now.

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NeedSleep

Renowned Enthusiast I

This whole fiasco has be rethinking all my Sonos investments (even that word feels strange now). A few minutes ago, in an earlier post, I compared a Sonos component to an Nvidia Shield, but the more I think about it the closest equivalent (the Port) is more than double the price with less memory, processing power, and capabilities. I really was fooled by the myth that Sonos was not an electronic company but something more.

The original Nvidia shield came out in 2015 - still getting system updates- Sonos Connects from 2015 not in a few months.

Connect 32mb ram lol

Shield 2gb ram

Sonos just trying to make a buck 32 mb Ram lol

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NiallMcConville

Contributor I

I really appreciate that Sonos listens to the customer base. I am a huge fan of Sonos and relatively heavily invested - three Sonos 1s, 3 Sonos 3s a Sonos 5 and a Playbar. But I have also bought Sonos for both kids - a 2nd Gen Play5 for daughter and Sonos One for college aged son. It means a lot that you will stick with me and support me. Your product support (I’ve used you guys every time I’ve moved and there is no better support team anywhere) is awesome and I feel like no matter what you make the system work. That’s huge.
I do want to grow my Sonos system. I’d like to do another Play5 and tie it to my turntable like my daughter sis with hers. I’d like to buy a couple Moves to use by the pool. I will continue to grow and eventually replace. But it also important to me to do it at my pace, on my terms. I appreciate so much that you heard that from others and are figuring out how to keep us all in the gold and all happy.
After all that, I’m going to check out the trade up program too. Maybe that new Play5 will be sooner rather than later.

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cavan

Lyricist I

I am a long time Sonos user and have spent thousands of dollars on your products. I am no longer going to spend a single penny on your products any more.

I don’t even own these ”obsolete” products. I’m just worried now you’re going to do the same thing to the speakers I bought only 4 years ago. I can’t trust any speaker you sell today will become obsolete in a couple of years. I want my system to continue to receive updates and work with older speakers.

What a shame. I felt so much loyalty to Sonos

I am with Mike886. I too have spent a lot of money on Sonos 3,5,beam, etc etc. These were sold as a premium product and so I expected that to be respected by the company too.

Clearly after dumping Apple Music you now want to dump your own brand.…

Thanks for making my investment in you worthless.

I one decision you have done the one thing that when lost is both priceless and impossible to recover. You have lost our trust....

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MusicMan7

Lyricist II

Do you really think that 30% off inflated prices for “upgraded speakers” is the way to reward loyal customers that have been subjected to planned obsolescence? I bet you cant wait to see the next read out of your NPS score. My entry is 0.0. Way to screw up your fan base guys!

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