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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Show previous replies

D

DK_Madsen

Enthusiast II

Why would Sonos care? Denon is still paying them licensing fees for stealing Sonos’ tech. Also, the Denon multi-room speakers have never cracked the Top 10 here:

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Electronics-Wireless-Multiroom-Digital-Music-Systems/zgbs/electronics/12097482011

Because before #sonosgate, a lot of people were not even looking at alternative options when they needed a new speaker, the loyal sonos crowd believed sonos when they said that their system was a multiroom system that you could build on to a little like lego bricks, over the years.

Now these people have gotten a wakeup call, and begun looking around for other options instead of dumping more money into the black hole that now is sonos, with the clear prospect that any money you spend will just buy you a little bit of time until the next kit needs replacing even if there is nothing wrong with it.

Even if they only take a few percent of sonos’s earnings that is still gonna hurt.

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jgatie

As the Best Sellers page at Amazon shows, this thread is not a microcosm of the market.

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User694694

Enthusiast II

If i were Sonos i would be peeing my pants even more right now

Why would Sonos care? Denon is still paying them licensing fees for stealing Sonos’ tech. Also, the Denon multi-room speakers have never cracked the Top 10 here:

Link that shows they are still paying them?

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A

A Guy In a Place Doing Things

Lyricist I

The problem here, is Sonos has a proven track record of lying to it’s customers. When they first announced they were collecting user metrics they said if you didn’t opt in you would stop getting updates and your devices would stop working.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/sonos-accept-new-privacy-policy-speakers-cease-to-function/

I have been blocking the Sonos metrics domain for years and everything has continued to work just fine.

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attacama40

Headliner I

As the Best Sellers page at Amazon shows, this thread is not a microcosm of the market.

Maybe so but as a less tech focused, less angry member of the thread, and a wall to wall Sonos guy with many devices and having been previously exceptionally happy … I am also one of those that have found alternatives that I would never even have looked for or at. And I think that was DK’s point.

Fact; since this horror show started, I am now a Roon subscriber, a Tidal user and am looking at the world of DAC’s amps and all that cocktail of stuff. And it looks far from bad.

Will I go that way, not sure. What I am damn sure of is that had Sonos played the game just a little better then I’d never even thought of looking and trying or buying.

And Indeed that with the right statements and full clarity from Sonos I may very well remain a Sonos user and let those subs and experiments hang. But somewhat less in love with than I was.

As said in another post, not divorced yet, and would prefer fix the relationship. But if the right words and actions don’t come then there are very eligible fish in the distributed audio sea.

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R

richiemiami

Contributor I

for over 12 years I have been a dedicated Sonos dealer. They screwed us on so many levels now it’s hard to imagine them being truthful and have good intentions. First, they circumvented their distribution network by going to BestBuy. Next, they fired all the representatives that were with the company for 10 years or so. Now they are cutting support to those products that they deem too old.

I remember when updates were to fix problems in the software and were done frugally now they seem to come out every other month. You know damn well how this is going to play out. Your phone is going to force you to update. With the new firmware, the old Sonos app will no longer work you will then be instructed to update the app which will then no longer be supported by your legacy equipment.

I hope the coding community will make patch files that will allow this equipment to still exists, even if we have to use a dedicated controller like a jailbroken ipad or android tabletl

Sonos you have pissed off the masses now

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melvimbe

for over 12 years I have been a dedicated Sonos dealer. They screwed us on so many levels now it’s hard to imagine them being truthful and have good intentions. First, they circumvented their distribution network by going to BestBuy.

It seems to be that opening up sales to Best Buy and other retail markets was necessary in order to reach consumers. Seems like they would be limiting thier market, and pointing them at a disadvantage with competitors, if they did not.

Next, they fired all the representatives that were with the company for 10 years or so.

Are you referring to the layoffs Sonos had a few years back?

Now they are cutting support to those products that they deem too old.

I remember when updates were to fix problems in the software and were done frugally now they seem to come out every other month. You know damn well how this is going to play out. Your phone is going to force you to update. With the new firmware, the old Sonos app will no longer work you will then be instructed to update the app which will then no longer be supported by your legacy equipment.

Highly doubt the above will happen. I expect that they controller apps will be designed to work with legacy and modern systems or they will produce two version of the app. Sonos has not offered specifics for this situation though, so we will wait and see.

I hope the coding community will make patch files that will allow this equipment to still exists, even if we have to use a dedicated controller like a jailbroken ipad or android tabletl

The equipment isn’t going to cease to exist. Sonos is supporting a legacy system of Sonos, so there really isn’t a need for any other 3rd party version of software at this point. I’m not a legal expert, but I imagine any jailbroke version of Sonos would need to tread very carefully to avoid Sonos patents.

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Danny

J

JimmyT_Sonos

Trending Lyricist I

Maybe someone has already thought of this, but here is what I think Sonos should do that I think most people could live with. They should design a Boost-like device that houses all of the advanced processing required for the new features that supposedly are beyond the capability of the old devices. That would be able to be grouped as a current generation device and allow for all of the advanced features. It would then connect to all of the deprecated old generation devices as sort of a sub network.

This would allow for old and new devices to be in the same group with advanced functionality. I’m no technician, but there has to be a way to do something like this if they really wanted to.

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J

John B

Maybe someone has already thought of this, but here is what I think Sonos should do that I think most people could live with. They should design a Boost-like device that houses all of the advanced processing required for the new features that supposedly are beyond the capability of the old devices. That would be able to be grouped as a current generation device and allow for all of the advanced features. It would then connect to all of the deprecated old generation devices as sort of a sub network.

This would allow for old and new devices to be in the same group with advanced functionality. I’m no technician, but there has to be a way to do something like this if they really wanted to.

Why does there have to be? How much do you or I or anybody else posting on here really understand about how Sonos does all that it does? 1%? 2%?

In what sense would this be a ‘Boost-like device’? As in a something box-shaped with buttons on the outside and electronics inside it?

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J

JimmyT_Sonos

Trending Lyricist I

Maybe someone has already thought of this, but here is what I think Sonos should do that I think most people could live with. They should design a Boost-like device that houses all of the advanced processing required for the new features that supposedly are beyond the capability of the old devices. That would be able to be grouped as a current generation device and allow for all of the advanced features. It would then connect to all of the deprecated old generation devices as sort of a sub network.

This would allow for old and new devices to be in the same group with advanced functionality. I’m no technician, but there has to be a way to do something like this if they really wanted to.

Why does there have to be? How much do you or I or anybody else posting on here really understand about how Sonos does all that it does? 1%? 2%?

In what sense would this be a ‘Boost-like device’? As in a something box-shaped with buttons on the outside and electronics inside it?

Because really smart people (including those at Sonos) have accomplished a lot more challenging things than this. Of course, it’s a matter of how much someone is willing to invest like anything else. And by “Boost-like device”, I mean one with creates a type of mesh network just like the Boost, but for the specific purpose of connecting old generation devices.

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