Retired Sonos Staff

End of Software Support - Clarifications

Dec 8, 2022 11:29 AM UTC
4256 replies
270387 views
Translate All

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

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

Show previous replies

MB

Lyricist III

"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."

Everytime I read this I get more and more annoyed. They will not work as they do before, if I plan to keep my non-legacy products updated then I cannot group them with my legacy products. So my Connect, Connect amp and play 5 will no longer work in my SYSTEM. The whole ethos is that they group together and offer me seamless music throughout my house. My turntable is connected to the Connect Amp in my living room, but often have it on playing through my Beam Sub combo in the Kitchen. After May if I want my Beam and Sub up-to-date that won't be possible.

Translate

J

Jeremy Allison

Enthusiast I

Split brain it is.. (sorry, computing cluster term from my work). From Sonos support on Twitter:

“Sonos Support Team

@SonosSupport Replying to @Breadmaker6 Understood, If the Legacy and Modern players are all running on the same software version, they can be on the same system and will still be able to group together as they do now. Modern players updated beyond Legacy software will not be able to group with Legacy players.”

So - no grouping. Sonos has decided to keep their “everything must run the same version of the OS/Application” mandate. Let’s be clear - that’s to make it easier for Sonos, not for users. It cuts down on their test matrix and engineering costs. I’m out. Exploring Bluesound to replace my Zoneplayers/Connects - will move to second hand Chromecast audio devices with powered monitor speakers for the Play:1’s and Play:5’s. I’ll give away my current Sonos kit to relatives / friends I made the unfortunate decision of encouraging to buy Sonos as some small measure of apology, with the strong advice they don’t buy any more.

Translate

E

ewolkoff

Enthusiast II

Thanks Danny. No I did not get an email telling me my Connect:Amp is a legacy product. I read the Sonos announcement which included the Connect: Amp in the legacy list. I’m confused - how do I tell?

This changes things. If you have a play/pause button on the front it’s a post-2015 connect:amp with 256mb of memory (8x the pre-2015 Connect:amp). You are still modern/will get software updates. They were selling these through 2018 or early 2019, so under their policy, you’ll be supported until at least 2023.

Not true. My connect Amps have a play pause button, but are all listed as legacy.

They look like this? With that symbol on the play/pause button? Are you in the US?

Am in the UK - Im sure I have a mix of those with a mute button and those with a play/pause button. Will check when I get home. All five listed as legacy, so Im looking at £somewhere in the region of £2,100 to keep my whole home working together (I also have anothr 12 devices mixture of play1 and play:one).

Thanks. Would be helpful to know if you have a legacy with a play/pause icon! I’m in the US and had a wide mix of different aged models and all my play/pause ones were modern. However, that could just be my experience, or it could be a distinction limited to the US market. Would be nice to have a confirmation from Sonos as to the visual distinctions!

Translate

R

Royally_shafted

Lyricist III

Pick a product and leave 1 star review: Product obsolete within 5 years. Sonos stop supporting their products after 5 years!

https://www.sonos.com/en-gb/reviews/consumer/form?pr_page_id=one&pr_merchant_id=411151&pr_api_key=cc48e875-2a83-4fb9-a513-164a041971fa&pr_merchant_group_id=14196

When i try to leave a 1 star review i get this

We're sorry, an error has occurred while loading necessary components. We are looking into the problem. Please try again later.

I wonder if this somehow broke down, by “accident”

Yep same error. They don’t like a mob with pitch forks and torches!

Absolutely done on purpose.

Works for me - just make sure you fill in all the boxes. However, they vet comments they don’t get automatically published

Translate

P

PBobUK

Trending Lyricist I

Stock is down nearly 10% this week. Has dropped fairly heavily this morning. How much more does it need to drop before the message hits home? Breaking the whole home brand promise is a huge degradation of the user experience. It’s not acceptable. Sure, my speakers still work as speakers, but they don’t work as an integrated infrastructure - which is why I bought them in the first place.

CEO statement yesterday was basically flannel reiterating what we already knew. I’m still not buying anything else at this point.

Translate

G

Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

"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."

Everytime I read this I get more and more annoyed. They will not work as they do before, if I plan to keep my non-legacy products updated then I cannot group them with my legacy products. So my Connect, Connect amp and play 5 will no longer work in my SYSTEM. The whole ethos is that they group together and offer me seamless music throughout my house. My turntable is connected to the Connect Amp in my living room, but often have it on playing through my Beam Sub combo in the Kitchen. After May if I want my Beam and Sub up-to-date that won't be possible.

Yes this seems completely misleading

Translate

chickentender

People are funny….

There are a lot off used Connect:Amp's coming for sale now in the Netherlands (40 x since yesterday) for around € 275,00 - 350,00 !!!!

“Hardly ever used, perfect condition, like new!” But no word about legacy products…..

Wenn asked about it, they tell you it is working perfectly and critical updates will be available. So they all know but are trying to get rid of their legacy product for big money :rolling_eyes:

This is also bad pr for the Sonos brand! you have to be a “specialist” before buying second hand Sonos products. It is becoming an even bigger risk now…..

Yeah, in Denmark, there were atleast 15 Play 5’s put up for sale as “Working fine”

One guy even has a package of 2 Play 5’s, one Play 3 and one Amp.

Poor sod that buys that package, only to find that he essentially bought a Play 3 and a bunch of landfill material.

Not to mention that there is a great risk that some of these play 5s will be “sold” to Sonos for a 30% off, right before being shipped to the poor buyer that will then have a paperweight, 3 weeks later.

Same is happening in my local area, but on the contrary… I actually made offer on a set of gen-1 Play5 speakers (for what would 2 weeks ago be considered an insulting lowball offer), noting in my offer what was going on with Sonos and reiterating that I’d need to see it powered on and connected to a controller to ensure it’d not been tagged for Recycle-mode. Judging from his response/reaction, he knew well the legacy situation announcements and he accepted my offer grudgingly. My aim is to simply expand my speaker network on the crazy-cheap, recognizing it will be legacy for the foreseeable future.
Point being, there’ll likely be some poor sods out there, but there’s also now going to be giant opportunity for those that know exactly what they’re getting into.

Translate

MB

Lyricist III

Here’s an extract from today’s Evening Standard:

Spence said the company is working on a way for customers to split these systems so the speakers still work together but receive the appropriate updates for each device.

This reiterates my earlier speculation from a BBC article that its the legacy units’ inability to handle greater memory requirement updates which necessitates creating two populations of Sonos units - legacy and modern. The ES article goes further by saying that the speakers still work together but receive the appropriate updates for each device.

If the storm (hopefully in a train cup) is ONLY about handling software updates and they can indeed work together after having been updated, I’m HAPPY again.

The speakers WILL NOT work together if you choose to update. See reply that I got via Twitter today.

Translate

K

Kazan

Lyricist I

Bad bad move!!!…. a long time Sonos customer and fan here but you lost my trust, Sonos. People are getting rid of their devices fast. Sales of new devices will hurt for sure as more people find out what’s going on and how greedy Sonos is.

Regards….

Translate

P

PeteD

Enthusiast I

Stock is down nearly 10% this week. Has dropped fairly heavily this morning. How much more does it need to drop before the message hits home? Breaking the whole home brand promise is a huge degradation of the user experience. It’s not acceptable. Sure, my speakers still work as speakers, but they don’t work as an integrated infrastructure - which is why I bought them in the first place.

CEO statement yesterday was basically flannel reiterating what we already knew. I’m still not buying anything else at this point.

Q1 earnings report due shortly, obviously it won’t be affected by this lot - could even be quite healthy given the period it covers. Q2 (3 months to end March) should be fascinating.

Translate

Show more replies

Sign up

Login to the community