Retired Sonos Staff

End of Software Support - Clarifications

December 8, 2022 at 11:29 AM
4256 replies
269741 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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jmm27

Lyricist I

I have been a huge supporter of Sonos from day 1 and have bought some 15 components

this news could have been handled so much better and to me it shows their focus on their customers is over. I can accept that my early speakers may not have all the functionality but freezing a system is just wrong. I think we are seeing the end of Sonos as it used to be and I think this will costs them the loyal support they have built up over all the years.

I personally have cancelled my recent orders and will look for a new system that appreciates their customers

closing yesterday’s thread is another sign of what Sonos has become

D

dipp0

Trending Lyricist I

A string a bad decisions lately. Time for a new CEO?

C

chris_h1957

Enthusiast I

I’ve been Sonos customer for years and like many on here I have spent over $5,000 pulling my system together piece by piece. The slap in the face by Sonos shows that they are more concerned with forcing existing customers to purchase new temporary products knowing that they will be obsolete in 5 years or less.

I will be reaching out to Best Buy to see what their return policy is and what promotions they will be offering for Sonos competitor products. I’ve had my Bose products for over 20 years in my media room and they offer lifetime product support and replacement.

Depending on what I hear I will have the following equipment for sale at 50% of what I paid for them.

Beam	1
Bridge	1
Connect AMP	1
Move	1
Play 1	6
Play 3	1
Play 5	4
Playbar	1
Sub	2

Happy to take the sub and the move off your hands at 50%! Best Buy’s return policy is 15 days or 45 if you are elite plus.

Are people really going to toss whole systems and outlay all that cash for a new, even more expensive one, made by a company that could disappear or discontinue their line (e.g. Bose) at any time? Of all of the companies that make these systems, Sonos seems to be the most stable to invest your money into for products, despite this announcement.

Sorry but when you spend a lot of your hard earned money on a system, just to have a large part of that investment junked with little notice is shocking. I for one will slowly move to another solution as I have lost all trust in Sonos. I won’t just throw it all out but will plan and move as and when I can or when I need to. I won’t be held hostage to a company that treats its customers in this manner. Would also add that 30% discount is an insult, 50% would be a joke.

P

Parafly

Trending Lyricist I

I bought my Connect: Amp in 2017, 2 years later it’s “Legacy”? I didn’t know I should have been super careful about the manufacture date.

What happened to the “keep adding to your system each year” way of thinking?

$455 after a 30% discount is a slap in the face to replace a perfectly functioning amp.

Now there’s conflicting information as to whether or not “legacy” products will get software updates.

This sucks.

Yeah, I bought my Connect:Amp in June 2018. I’ve had it for a year and half and it’s tagged as Legacy.

M

morgan4x4

Enthusiast II

Joke of the day:

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

Me too! Can’t disappear us from all social media though!

U

upstatemike

I received an email from SONOS yesterday which states that I have six legacy products. I just logged into my account and the news got even better. Turns out I have nine legacy products.

“You have 9 legacy products that do not receive regular software updates and new features as of May 2020.”

Better than what I found…

Just logged into my Sonos acccount and went to “System” and saw:

“You have 31 legacy products that do not receive regular software updates and new features as of May 2020”

As I understand it I would have to upgrade every single one of them and if I don’t then nothing in the system can be updated? How realistic is it to expect that I’m going to replace 31 Sonos products before May?

Local music library with carefully constructed playlists - no shuffling!, Integration with Homeseer Automation, No touch screen devices, No streaming services, No Apple products ever

C

curlypaul

Lyricist I

Would Sonos be able to roll out an initiative that would allow legacy speakers to be sent back to Sonos for an electric upgrade for a better discount that 30% off newer speakers? Incidentally, I'm worried which of my non-legacy speakers will no longer be supported after x amount of years… Can you give us the data on all your speakers to show which models you think will be phased out and when?

I have a very old Rega Planer 3 turntable, which with Rega's help, I have been able to buy drives, mechanisms, arms and stylus, etc, which helps them keep up with the latest Rega technology. If they can do this, why can't Sonos?

I will be investing in more Sonos speakers to cover my whole house - 4 new rooms and a garden. Should I look to alternative brand speakers with a more sustainable ethos, which would be supported by (alternative brand) for longer?

Ryan SAuthor

Retired Sonos Staff

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?!!!

@User443206, they all should be, you might need to contact our team directly to look into what might be causing the trouble with your account. I do know that recently registered devices might not show as trade up eligible for an hour or so after registration if you just plugged those in.

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

exdirtfarmer

Enthusiast II

Long term, I am thinking of keeping my Sonos speakers on Legacy, and using the Sonos controller just to group and ungroup speakers and control their volume.

For music streaming, I’ll set up Emby or Plex on a cheap Linux system (maybe a Raspberry Pi) and send the output to my Connect’s line in. Then all I need to do is group my Connect with the other rooms where I want music to play. We almost never stream two different services at the same time--in fact, I don’t think we ever have--so no problems there with a single source system.

It adds an extra UI step: go to Emby/Plex for the music selection, and Sonos Controller for volume and grouping, but the Sonos UI on mobile devices is so bad now that it feels like a lateral move, anyway.

This is my thoughts at this point as well. I could build my own control with my current Homeseer Integration.

As long as they don’t break the UPNP, there will be plenty of ways to integrate/automate with 3rd party smart hubs, to control grouping and even playing. Smartthings, Control4, Homeseer, etc all have working integrations.

I just hope and pray that we can add Legacy units to our Legacy system, or even better, purchase new equipment and run in Legacy Mode.

Interesting times ahead.

Powered by Firmware/Software 8.4 with Classic Blue Desktop Controller + CR100 + Ipod Dock + Homeseer 3 Sonos UPNP Plugin by dcorsus

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Wyatt_1

Contributor I

I am facing 23 zones of Sonos and no real way to ditch or keep the system. Funds to use the paltry 30% deal just don’t exist. ABANDON your unified code on all devices architecture and make it possible to control legacy and new equipment inside your app. You own both sets of code, just get the engineers to make this happen. Don’t force the 92% of legacy equipment still in use to go in the trash, and, lose a huge portion of your user base at the same time!

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