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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User694694

Enthusiast II

Maybe Sonos is listening to criticism. Good on them:

https://www.engadget.com/2020/03/05/sonos-kills-its-device-bricking-recycle-mode/

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MusicLuver

Lyricist I

Maybe Sonos is listening to criticism. Good on them:

https://www.engadget.com/2020/03/05/sonos-kills-its-device-bricking-recycle-mode/

This is a massive walk back. Good on them for fixing a flawed program. I'm impressed.

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K

Kumar

Maybe Sonos is listening to criticism. Good on them:

https://www.engadget.com/2020/03/05/sonos-kills-its-device-bricking-recycle-mode/

This is a massive walk back. Good on them for fixing a flawed program. I'm impressed.

I agree. Good for them and for the planet, even though some folks here will be upset. This is such a sensible step, that is at least a month late, but better late than never.

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K

Kumar

Further to the above, this, from a Verge report:

The trade-up program still exists, and customers who own eligible legacy products can get the same discount, but they’re no longer required to permanently brick devices that might still work just fine.

With the change, Sonos is now giving customers full control over what happens with the older gadgets they’re “trading” up from. They can choose to keep it, give it to someone, recycle it at a local e-waste facility, or send it to Sonos and let the company handle the responsible recycling part. Sonos quietly removed Recycle Mode from its app last week and replaced it with language asking anyone seeking the discount to call customer service. Within the next few weeks, Sonos will update its website with a new flow for the trade-up program that no longer includes Recycle Mode, and you won’t have to call anybody.

Bolded bits are by me; why this is has to be done silently is a mystery and disappointing as well. This is good news!

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K

Kumar

A couple of days after the now famous Spence back-pedalling in January, I had sent him an email commending him on that, but suggesting that for the backpedalling to be taken as more than just spin, a step exactly on the lines Sonos has taken today, be also taken.

When I reported that elsewhere on this site, those that feel compelled to defend just about everything that Sonos does, laughed at me by wishing me luck in getting a response.

One now hopes that - assuming that the latest reports are not fake news - Sonos does not drag its feet and take weeks to disseminate this decision as the Verge report seems to suggest.

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attacama40

Headliner I

So it seems it was possible to communicate an effective message with the audience.

The reasonable expectations of the 80% were exactly that, reasonable.

And it’s a solid call by Sonos. It will (as said many times) restore confidence in the high price paying user base.

It will make zero difference to the evangelists and the frustrated folk may still be frustrated. But for the rest of us, it’s a very solid call.

I can now go ahead and ‘buy more Sonos stuff’ …. life is simple.

That was all that was needed.

Now we can wait till May for the details, the nuances, the bland tech detail etc.

So, so simple and CE marketing 1-0-1.

And none of this was technical, it was business, Simple. But good news.

Let’s keep this new straight line Sonos. And lets factor the clear feeling from the buying public going forward into product positioning.

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K

Kumar

The reasonable expectations of the 80% were exactly that, reasonable.

I can now go ahead and ‘buy more Sonos stuff’ …. life is simple.

Erm..not quite that simple. Modern products and legacy ones will still need to be on split systems for the former to get the updates paid for and included in their price. But I don't see that changing, unfortunately; that seems to be a technical limitation. Of course if you have line in jacks in both systems, you could still have them play music in perfect sync across all via a couple of Echo Dots wired to a line in jack in each system, by grouping the two Dots.

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smallstool

Enthusiast I

The back pedalling by that Spence bloke is I fear too little too late.

The way sonos has treated it’s loyal customers is a joke.

Share price has dropped by about 35% since January’s announcement and I’m sure will only drop further as large shareholders (who are only in it to make money) realise what a complete mess the sonos board has made of this.

Time for heads to roll or a takeover I think.

What a shame!

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attacama40

Headliner I

The reasonable expectations of the 80% were exactly that, reasonable.

I can now go ahead and ‘buy more Sonos stuff’ …. life is simple.

Erm..not quite that simple. Modern products and legacy ones will still need to be on split systems for the former to get the updates paid for and included in their price. But I don't see that changing, unfortunately; that seems to be a technical limitation. Of course if you have line in jacks in both systems, you could still have them play music in perfect sync across all via a couple of Echo Dots wired to a line in jack in each system, by grouping the two Dots.

Sure, agree that of course … it’s not a 100% solution but it is enough to allow potential buyers to have enough data to make a decision …. buy more stuff, walk and go elsewhere.

It at least shows some listening and commercial common sense and environmental decency.

No the tech stuff about split systems etc I can accept a little wait and see.

But no, entirely accept the point that it’s not addressing the split system discussion. That certainly remains open, alive and well and with high expectation for the May solution.

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K

Kumar

It at least shows some listening and commercial common sense and environmental decency.

But no, entirely accept the point that it’s not addressing the split system discussion. That certainly remains open, alive and well and with high expectation for the May solution.

To the first: agreed, and it shows more listening than from some Sonos defenders on this thread.

To the second: if the May solution addresses this it will be a very pleasant surprise. To an extent to think that keeping it secret till May will have cost Sonos significantly, because with that solution in place there are no real issues left attached to this event.

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