Retired Sonos Staff

End of Software Support - Clarifications

December 8, 2022 at 11:29 AM
4256 replies
269709 views

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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StephanG2321

Lyricist I

Interestingly, Sonos encourage you to email there CEO directly if you want to talk to them.

However the link is greyed out today… https://www.sonos.com/en/contact

Maybe his email box is full from irate customers like myself.

I did ring, and left a voicemail for him…. as we cant email him anymore

For me, the email link still works...wrote to him as well but as expected no reply.

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patbla

Enthusiast II

Hello to Sonos and their community.

I haven’t read every single comment on this thread, but it would seem that a lot of people are unhappy. My comment, for what it’s worth, is that I bear no animosity towards Sonos. It is inevitable that this will happen to every “smart” device at some point. Sonos, are just the first to do it. To name a few, we have had Bose, Yamaha, Denon, and B&O speakers over the last couple of years. We were in search of superior sound and only found it in Sonos. Where Bose is concerned, they do have a relatively good sound, but the software and services that are included in both their SoundTouch, and Smart devices, is incredibly limited. We had many negative experiences, with every device, until we bought Sonos. Yes, their “legacy” announcement was a shock, but it is not going to be the only company to do this. Sonos are just the first to do it. The hardware in their “legacy” devices, has simply reached its limit and can no longer be “confidently” updated. If Sonos are to remain ahead of their competitors, in a saturated market, then they have to make controversial and difficult decisions such as this.

I would like to say that Ihave not bought a Sonos “smart” speaker. I have avoided the Sonos one for the exact reason that I figured that it would be a device with a shorter lifespan as a result of the “smart” integration. None of my 30 components (including 2 Play 5 (Gen1), 1 connect Amp, 2 Connect, 2 Play 3 (Gen 1), 3 play 1, 2 playbars, and 2 subs) are “smart”. Yes they are internet connected but that is a very different thing in my mind. I can buy a stand alone amazon Echo or Google nest mini if I want smart control of my Sonos speakers which I did to limit the number of “disposable” items.

I purchased Sonos because it allowed me to have an integrated experience and didn’t require that I run wires around my house. I use them for a limited number of services (streaming personal library, Spotify, and TuneIn) and don’t need more than maintenance of the current services. I don’t believe that this is too much to ask. I don’t expect Sonos to keep upgrading my current components if there are technical limitations but I also don’t expect them to simply say that they will no longer support older equipment because the new equipment will have additional functionality.

I think it’s a misscaracterization to say that the legacy equipment can no longer be “confidently” updated. There is no evidence that the equipment could not continue to receive updates should there be small updates to the APIs of the services assuming, what they may not be able to do is “confidently” upgrade legacy components, which I for one can accept. What they appear to be saying is that the legacy components will simply be set adrift to die a slow death as providers tweak their APIs.

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User443206

Contributor I

So I have THREE Play 5 units but only two are eligible for trade in. Why? My Sonos Connect is not eligible but my Connect Amp is! What kind of support is that?!!!

D

duncanesmith

Lyricist II

Sonos is following in Boeing’s foot steps !! :rage:

Ryan SAuthor

Retired Sonos Staff

I suspect this has been asked elsewhere, but with so many posts to read through, it’s easier to just ask again.

How long will the 30% off trade-in program last? If a person waited until May to see how well the software works that will separate legacy equipment from newer equipment, decided that he or she wasn’t satisfied with the experience, and thus wanted to upgrade, would the discount still be in effect?

@Brickbat70, it’s an ongoing offer, Trade Up will still be available in May.

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.

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Parafly

Trending Lyricist I

I'm so confused. The first lines says this:

"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. "

then they say this:

" You can continue to use your whole system in legacy mode - in this case, it will stop receiving updates and new features. "

So, will they continue to support the existing experience on legacy speakers, or not? I’m OK with Sonos not providing new features on legacy equipment. But I’d like to keep using what I am using today for streaming services. The first sentence seems to indicate you will be committed to keeping the existing experience going (yay) but then the second sentence says you won’t do any more updates.

Which is it?

L

Landerson

Avid Contributor III

This announcement is having an impact on online reviews. https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.sonos.com

I’ve added a review and I encourage everyone else to do the same. Sonos will probably decide to suppress this forum discussion sooner or later, but they can’t remove the reviews on other sites.

Good plan.

Like most Silicon Valley-type CEOs, I suspect Patrick Wotsit is totally unaware of what goes on in these forums - it’s poor Ryan and Co. that are left to face the music.

The only thing that PW watches will be the Share Price - so until that starts tanking (hopefully) there will probably be zero movement. And for the share price to descend it will need the press to start broadcasting the discontent. I notice that most of the tech press are following the rather naive and weak ‘well, these things are bound to happen with fast-moving tech’ line.

It will also take a bright person to realise that having literally hundreds of thousands of loyal supporters flip to being anti-brand overnight is definitely going to hit future purchases - and so income.

In fact, conspiracy theorists may even start wondering if all this wasn’t a deliberate move by some execs - since it would make Sonos a handy target for Amazon, Google or others down the road if profits do go south.

On a practical note - all my Sonos stuff has an ethernet connection at least, so is there any room for an enterprising hardware company to come up with a central unit that will at least work with wired Sonos kit? I’m assuming wireless is out as that will be encrypted.

Alternatively, for someone to offer a service whereby you send in your Sonos kit and for a fee they physically add a line-in type socket (or maybe a custom wifi chip) which could then be connected to a 3rd party system? At the end of the day, whatever Sonos do, there are tweeters, woofers etc. in there which can be made to produce sound someway, somehow.

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JAV

Lyricist III

Bad Move Sonos… I just purchased a new Beam and now I’m very sorry I did after learning how Sonos decided to treat their early loyal customer, like me… I have turned on countless friends and family to the Sonos solution and now I’m very sorry I did that. A 30% discount is hardly enough given the very high replacement cost… This is what happens when Greed takes over a once-great company. This is truly a Blackmail/extortion scheme… I'm so sick and upset. about this… I am not purchasing another unit until Sonos does good by us all.

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Johnnydot

Enthusiast I

Joke of the day:

I replied to this thread saying "none". Strangely this thread just closed to further comments. And mine disappeared! Lol❗

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morgan4x4

Enthusiast II

Everyone needs to go to trust pilot.com, and every review site they can think of, and let Sonos know how they feel!

Just been there. Still had to give the b<&^/#s one star, though.

Just left my review. They are at a 1.4 trust score. Seems right.

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