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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andy_120

Enthusiast II

God I’ve lost the will to live, I not been here few a couple of weeks and it seems the thread is descending into a slanging match. Remember where our anger should be directed, I seen many comments about support periods. I brought a system that made no mention of support periods and the goal posts were moved later. If I buy a product with support, a time period is specified at the time of purchase not after the event of purchase.

Where did you get the idea that support is ending for any Sonos products?

I give up, and throw my hands up in disbelief😱

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John B

God I’ve lost the will to live, I not been here few a couple of weeks and it seems the thread is descending into a slanging match. Remember where our anger should be directed, I seen many comments about support periods. I brought a system that made no mention of support periods and the goal posts were moved later. If I buy a product with support, a time period is specified at the time of purchase not after the event of purchase.

Where did you get the idea that support is ending for any Sonos products?

I give up, and throw my hands up in disbelief

It does depend on what you mean by ‘support’. The speakers will still function, and receive bug fixes and security updates. That apart there will be no new software support. I would not call that ending support entirely. But the semantics don’t matter provided we all understand what is and isn’t happening. It is just that the impression has often been given on here that the speakers will not work after May.

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jgatie

I give up, and throw my hands up in disbelief

Why? Legacy products will not receive new features. New feature are not “support”, they are new features. You will still receive bug fixes and security updates for legacy products. You will still receive support via phone, Twitter/Facebook, and this website. Call the hotline about a Play:5 Gen 1 after May and you will get the exact same support as before May.

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andy_120

Enthusiast II

I give up, and throw my hands up in disbelief

Why? Legacy products will not receive new features. New feature are not “support”, they are new features. You will still receive bug fixes and security updates for legacy products. You will still receive support via phone, Twitter/Facebook, and this website. Call the hotline about a Play:5 Gen 1 after May and you will get the exact same support as before May.

Will my system still stream music after May, the answer is possibly not, possibly will but depends if anything changes with the stream service. Sonos have not committed any definite information on this so in my book support for my product ends the day my system stops doing what I brought it for. If you wish to invest your hard earned money into a now flawed concept that’s your choice, as I mentioned some time ago the concept of smart devices is open to the whims of the manufacturers. I don’t really want to go over old ground but I’ll recap. Was sonos promoted as a smart speaker, no. Was it promoted as a system to be built on, yes. Was it stated that these products would stop receiving updates to make them function for the purpose they were brought for, no. Was it stated there be and end life to these products due to updates stopping, no. Do I want new features, no. Should it be upto a user if they want new features, yes. Or do I need to put it even more simply would you ever buy a car from a dealer that has ripped you off previously. As I said your money your choice my money will go else where until such time sonos decides to change this ridiculous policy.

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Smilja

Drawing comparisons between cars and multiroom systems is nonsensical, since cars are neither multiroom-enabled nor do they receive storage space consuming firmware updates.

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»And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space, Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.« (›Windmills Of Your Mind‹ [1967]. Music by Michel Legrand ; English lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman)

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andy_120

Enthusiast II

Drawing comparisons between cars and multiroom systems is nonsensical, since cars are neither multiroom-enabled nor do they receive storage space consuming firmware updates.

The Comparison was how a company treats and views its users. And just for info most modem cars have firmware and at times is updated

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jgatie

Will my system still stream music after May, the answer is possibly not, possibly will but depends if anything changes with the stream service. Sonos have not committed any definite information on this so in my book support for my product ends the day my system stops doing what I brought it for. If you wish to invest your hard earned money into a now flawed concept that’s your choice, as I mentioned some time ago the concept of smart devices is open to the whims of the manufacturers. I don’t really want to go over old ground but I’ll recap. Was sonos promoted as a smart speaker, no. Was it promoted as a system to be built on, yes. Was it stated that these products would stop receiving updates to make them function for the purpose they were brought for, no. Was it stated there be and end life to these products due to updates stopping, no. Do I want new features, no. Should it be upto a user if they want new features, yes. Or do I need to put it even more simply would you ever buy a car from a dealer that has ripped you off previously. As I said your money your choice my money will go else where until such time sonos decides to change this ridiculous policy.

Your idea of support and my idea of support are two different things. After May, I can still call up Sonos’ Support number and talk to them about my Play:5 Gen 1 or my ZP80.

And once again, they are not going to “stop receiving updates to make them function for the purpose they were brought (sic) for”. The CEO expressly promised that legacy Sonos will receive bug fixes and security updates to keep them working as they do today for as long as possible. That’s 100% the opposite of “stop receiving updates to make them function for the purpose they were brought (sic) for”.

So I’ll recap - I get it that you wish to paint Sonos in a bad light, but you are painting with a very broad, and very misleading brush. So forgive me if I don’t buy your seemingly feigned surprise when someone calls you out on it.

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andy_120

Enthusiast II

Will my system still stream music after May, the answer is possibly not, possibly will but depends if anything changes with the stream service. Sonos have not committed any definite information on this so in my book support for my product ends the day my system stops doing what I brought it for. If you wish to invest your hard earned money into a now flawed concept that’s your choice, as I mentioned some time ago the concept of smart devices is open to the whims of the manufacturers. I don’t really want to go over old ground but I’ll recap. Was sonos promoted as a smart speaker, no. Was it promoted as a system to be built on, yes. Was it stated that these products would stop receiving updates to make them function for the purpose they were brought for, no. Was it stated there be and end life to these products due to updates stopping, no. Do I want new features, no. Should it be upto a user if they want new features, yes. Or do I need to put it even more simply would you ever buy a car from a dealer that has ripped you off previously. As I said your money your choice my money will go else where until such time sonos decides to change this ridiculous policy.

Your idea of support and my idea of support are two different things. After May, I can still call up Sonos’ Support number and talk to them about my Play:5 Gen 1 or my ZP80.

And once again, they are not going to “stop receiving updates to make them function for the purpose they were brought (sic) for”. The CEO expressly promised that legacy Sonos will receive bug fixes and security updates to keep them working as they do today for as long as possible. That’s 100% the opposite of “stop receiving updates to make them function for the purpose they were brought (sic) for”.

So I’ll recap - I get it that you wish to paint Sonos in a bad light, but you are painting with a very broad, and very misleading brush. So forgive me if I don’t buy your seemingly feigned surprise when someone calls you out on it.

Obviously your not getting what I’m saying. People brought into a system that was promoted as a music hi fi system, that would be updated, no mention of legacy systems or end of life because they want to introduce new features. I’m not painting sonos in a bad light there doing a good job of that for themselves. If they want new features and users want that then all good but don’t shaft your exsisting users who have supported sonos like I have and exalted the virtues of sonos. I’m sorry but with two rather inept statements from the ceo don’t just cut it, or that I’m bothered with your thoughts on my feigned surprise.

I’m not bothering here anymore if this thread as it’s becoming to acidic.

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User694694

Enthusiast II

Will my system still stream music after May, the answer is possibly not, possibly will but depends if anything changes with the stream service. Sonos have not committed any definite information on this so in my book support for my product ends the day my system stops doing what I brought it for. If you wish to invest your hard earned money into a now flawed concept that’s your choice, as I mentioned some time ago the concept of smart devices is open to the whims of the manufacturers. I don’t really want to go over old ground but I’ll recap. Was sonos promoted as a smart speaker, no. Was it promoted as a system to be built on, yes. Was it stated that these products would stop receiving updates to make them function for the purpose they were brought for, no. Was it stated there be and end life to these products due to updates stopping, no. Do I want new features, no. Should it be upto a user if they want new features, yes. Or do I need to put it even more simply would you ever buy a car from a dealer that has ripped you off previously. As I said your money your choice my money will go else where until such time sonos decides to change this ridiculous policy.

Your idea of support and my idea of support are two different things. After May, I can still call up Sonos’ Support number and talk to them about my Play:5 Gen 1 or my ZP80.

And once again, they are not going to “stop receiving updates to make them function for the purpose they were brought (sic) for”. The CEO expressly promised that legacy Sonos will receive bug fixes and security updates to keep them working as they do today for as long as possible. That’s 100% the opposite of “stop receiving updates to make them function for the purpose they were brought (sic) for”.

So I’ll recap - I get it that you wish to paint Sonos in a bad light, but you are painting with a very broad, and very misleading brush. So forgive me if I don’t buy your seemingly feigned surprise when someone calls you out on it.

Bug fixes are not “updates”. In the original communications, it was stated that “updates” would be required to keep streaming music services going. In the clarification a few days later, it was reiterated that Legacy devices would not receive updates, but they would receive “bug fixes”. So, this statement does nothing to ameliorate concern about streaming music services deprecating.

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User810040

Lyricist I

I can tell this forum is plagued with paid PR crisis response agents. Which really sucks. This troll style responses to trigger silly argumentation over semantics. Typical. if anything it shows how concerned Sonos is and aware they screwed up.

Leaving the Trolls aside. I would love to understand why a Play:5 is legacy and a Play:3 isn’t. Or why a bridge which doesn’t DO anything but “bridge” the network with the sonos grid is also legacy. Or why a connect is legacy. All I want to to do is distribute my music over the grid. Spotify works on very little resources. Audio coming from my own sources is just a digital transfer which they have been doing very well for all these years. All of a sudden I need to break my grid in different groups of legacy Vs not if I want to get software updates (aka Spotify will eventually stop working). So, please clarify… will you guarantee that Spotify will continue to work in a legacy grid ? (No updates). Don’t force me to break my Sonos network for updates I don’t need for services I don’t use or worse, break a service I do use who I am sure doesn’t want to release any updates that require different hardware (Spotify).

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