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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John B

But what is it you are trying to achieve? What problem are you trying to solve? Why not just use your whole system post-May for a while, until such time as you really need to do anything, which might be years away? Why have you upgraded one device?

Have you seen any guarantee from Sonos, that they are going to keep honoring the 30% upgrade discount ?

Can i be sure that if i wait until May, that i will get that discount….And what about if i wait until something “breaks” for legacy devices...For example if Spotify changes something ?

Am i guaranteed that i can trade it in at that time.

Please see the first post in this thread , from Ryan S.

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robbieduncan

Lyricist III

Yes but you don't need your current iPhone to work cooperatively and in sync with your previous three iPhones, do you?

Perhaps not my previous three iPhones. That’s hardly an Apples to Apples (sorry) comparison as most people sell their old iPhone when they buy a new one. However if you want to use some new features on iOS/Mac OS you do need all your devices to be on the current release of that OS or you end up with a split system (a bit like what Sonos are proposing). For example I currently have:

iPhone 11 Pro Max

iPad Pro 12.8 (2017)

MacBook Pro 15” (2010)

Hackintosh Desktop (currently running High Sierra due to nVidia graphics)

I only have working Apple Notes sync between the iOS devices as iOS 13 massively updated Notes and it will now only sync with devices on iOS 13/Mac OS Catalina. Even for notes that use no new features.

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melvimbe

@MIBUK, it would take years to develop and test such a “box”. It’s not coming.

They could do this very quickly for the Connect”amp and the play5. All they need to do is take the electronic guts from a current play1 and put it into a small package like an echo dot with line out. It does not even need speakers. This would keep those two legacy devices going for years. If they sold it at a very low margin, they could even win back some of the people who have said “never buying Sonos again.”

I don’t have any experience in manufacturing, but I don’t think it’s anywhere near as easy as you paint it here. I doubt the ‘electronic guts’ can just be wholesale used as is. without significant redesign to fit in to a new box with new power supply, etc. Then the new code would need to be written. The whole thing tested and manufacturer. All this for a relatively small market that will only get smaller in time. I just can’t accept the assumptions you’re making here. I would be absolutely shocked if such a device is ever sold.

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Danny

melvimbe

But what is it you are trying to achieve? What problem are you trying to solve? Why not just use your whole system post-May for a while, until such time as you really need to do anything, which might be years away? Why have you upgraded one device?

Have you seen any guarantee from Sonos, that they are going to keep honoring the 30% upgrade discount ?

Can i be sure that if i wait until May, that i will get that discount….And what about if i wait until something “breaks” for legacy devices...For example if Spotify changes something ?

Am i guaranteed that i can trade it in at that time.

There isn’t any end date for the program, which doesn’t mean it’s going to last forever, but it’s highly unlike that it’s just going to completely disappear without notice one day. The odds of this program going away before May has to be very, very low. That would clearly turn away many customers. As well, I imagine the cost of the program is already accounted for as a liability in some way.

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Danny

jgatie

Have you seen any guarantee from Sonos, that they are going to keep honoring the 30% upgrade discount ?

Can i be sure that if i wait until May, that i will get that discount….And what about if i wait until something “breaks” for legacy devices...For example if Spotify changes something ?

Am i guaranteed that i can trade it in at that time.

From (bold added): https://en.community.sonos.com/announcements-228985/end-of-software-support-clarifications-6835969

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.

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rwrgeo

Renowned Enthusiast II

@MIBUK, it would take years to develop and test such a “box”. It’s not coming.

They could do this very quickly for the Connect”amp and the play5. All they need to do is take the electronic guts from a current play1 and put it into a small package like an echo dot with line out. It does not even need speakers. This would keep those two legacy devices going for years. If they sold it at a very low margin, they could even win back some of the people who have said “never buying Sonos again.”

I don’t have any experience in manufacturing, but I don’t think it’s anywhere near as easy as you paint it here. I doubt the ‘electronic guts’ can just be wholesale used as is. without significant redesign to fit in to a new box with new power supply, etc. Then the new code would need to be written. The whole thing tested and manufacturer. All this for a relatively small market that will only get smaller in time. I just can’t accept the assumptions you’re making here. I would be absolutely shocked if such a device is ever sold.

One of the problems is Sonos has such a device - its called a Port (previously Connect) and its not a cheap device. Selling a cut down version is going to significantly cut into its market, plus reduce sales from those who would otherwise upgrade to new speakers. Sonos won’t do that unfortunately.

A Google or Amazon can deliver a cheap device as mostly they care about getting service customers not hardware customers but Sonos aren’t in the same position, they make no ongoing profit after sale.

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John_54

Trending Lyricist I

From what I’ve read Sonos is due to release a Play:5 gen 3 in the foreseeable future,which, if they’ve learned anything from this fiasco will be built to accomodate changing technology, thus giving them a much longer life expectancy.

From The Verge:

Sonos is Gearing Up For New Hardware

“In terms of existing devices, I think the Play:5 is the most likely candidate to be upgraded. The second-gen Play:5 launched in 2015 — so it’s certainly due for a revision — and Sonos could easily add a voice mic array to its most premium and best-sounding speaker in the same way it did with the Sonos One. The company would include other enhancements to audio performance in a potential Sonos Five since it has previously said that it doesn’t upgrade products unless there’s plenty of reason to do so.”

So rather than replace my gen 1’s with gen 2’s, which may only last for a few years, I‘m willing to stick with them until they die, at which point I can live with my 2 ones and 2 threes until I can gradually replace the whole thing with gen 3 Play:5’s, which, if Sonos has any brains, should be designed to last a long time (or at the very least 5 years after release plus 5 after end of sale = 10yrs).

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atebit

Avid Contributor I

The world divides into two groups.

1. Those who accept that Sonos is s tightly integrated system, not just a collection of devices, and that therefore certain core requirements are needed in every device if the system is to do more and more things. The fact that the legacy devices have the smallest memory is consistent with this.

2. Those who believe that Sonos is making that up and are a bunch of profiteering, disloyal, lying cheats who are only doing this to sell new products.

Never the twain shall meet. Let's just stick to our own tribes.

It was beaten into me in school many decades ago that unless there were very good reasons for it (like preserving life and limb), tightly coupled systems were baaaad. I’ve been thinking about this recently, for reasons that are all now too apparent.

Consider a 3d camp: those who agree with #1 but believe that there are acceptable work-around compromises for Sonos to unpaint themselves from that corner, certainly at some cost to them but a worthwhile investment in integrity that would dissuade old & new consumers from joining camp #2.

Tick-tock.

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rldigby

Lyricist III

@MIBUK, it would take years to develop and test such a “box”. It’s not coming.

They could do this very quickly for the Connect”amp and the play5. All they need to do is take the electronic guts from a current play1 and put it into a small package like an echo dot with line out. It does not even need speakers. This would keep those two legacy devices going for years. If they sold it at a very low margin, they could even win back some of the people who have said “never buying Sonos again.”

I don’t have any experience in manufacturing, but I don’t think it’s anywhere near as easy as you paint it here. I doubt the ‘electronic guts’ can just be wholesale used as is. without significant redesign to fit in to a new box with new power supply, etc. Then the new code would need to be written. The whole thing tested and manufacturer. All this for a relatively small market that will only get smaller in time. I just can’t accept the assumptions you’re making here. I would be absolutely shocked if such a device is ever sold.

The code exists. The hardware exists. In a play 1, it is attached to a speaker that needs to be a line out. This is not rocket science. The hardest part is making it look nice and figuring if it is worth keeping old customers or build the future on new customers.

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G

Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

@MIBUK, it would take years to develop and test such a “box”. It’s not coming.

They could do this very quickly for the Connect”amp and the play5. All they need to do is take the electronic guts from a current play1 and put it into a small package like an echo dot with line out. It does not even need speakers. This would keep those two legacy devices going for years. If they sold it at a very low margin, they could even win back some of the people who have said “never buying Sonos again.”

I don’t have any experience in manufacturing, but I don’t think it’s anywhere near as easy as you paint it here. I doubt the ‘electronic guts’ can just be wholesale used as is. without significant redesign to fit in to a new box with new power supply, etc. Then the new code would need to be written. The whole thing tested and manufacturer. All this for a relatively small market that will only get smaller in time. I just can’t accept the assumptions you’re making here. I would be absolutely shocked if such a device is ever sold.

The code exists. The hardware exists. In a play 1, it is attached to a speaker that needs to be a line out. This is not rocket science. The hardest part is making it look nice and figuring if it is worth keeping old customers or build the future on new customers.

There have always been two types of people in this world “doers” and those who always search for and find a reason why something cannot be done.

BTW not only does the hardware exist but if you look inside a play 1 its modular already so extracting the elements you need would be even easier than you might expect.

That said I don’t expect Sonos will do this or sell / manufacture anything to overcome the issue.

When you look at the price of Google Home and Alexa and the functionality they provide including stereo pairing and grouping, it sorta becomes hard to justify spending more on Sonos who’s products are very expensive by comparison. If I lose support for a google\amazon device its much cheaper to replace than a sonos device and its given me much more functionality during its lifetime.

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