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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castalla

Local Superstar

On Android (could be iPad or whatever touch-screen), you can enable finger swipe up//down to adjust volume … very nice feature

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It's the courageous bee's knees - all 6 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝. - - - - - Make Sonos Great Again - - - - -

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castalla

Local Superstar

I think a separate thread for Pi/LMS alternatives might be worthwhile.

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It's the courageous bee's knees - all 6 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝. - - - - - Make Sonos Great Again - - - - -

G

Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

On Android (could be iPad or whatever touch-screen), you can enable finger swipe up//down to adjust volume … very nice feature

Thanks - that’s another cool function turned on

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John_54

Trending Lyricist I

I plan to keep keep using a mixed system of moden and legacy speakers on S1 for as long as that is viable.

Will the 4 modern speakers that I have not updated in order to keep them compatible with the 2 legacies for use on S1 be “updatable” to use with new moderns on S2 when the time comes that I have to replace the 2 legacies?

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K

Kumar

Will the 4 modern speakers that I have not updated in order to keep them compatible with the 2 legacies for use on S1 be “updatable” to use with new moderns on S2 when the time comes that I have to replace the 2 legacies?

Hard to say because when you will do this is an unknown. Play 1 units started off at 64 Mb, so these may be the next to go - so the answer depends on two future events at different and uncertain time points.

Why does it matter today though, to your decision being made today?

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J

John_54

Trending Lyricist I

Will the 4 modern speakers that I have not updated in order to keep them compatible with the 2 legacies for use on S1 be “updatable” to use with new moderns on S2 when the time comes that I have to replace the 2 legacies?

Kumar wrote :

Hard to say because when you will do this is an unknown. Play 1 units started off at 64 Mb, so these may be the next to go - so the answer depends on two future events at different and uncertain time points.

Why does it matter today though, to your decision being made today?

John says : Obviously I was predicating the question on the assumption that the speakers currently considered modern will still be such at the time of the second future event. Otherwise the hypothetical wouldn’t make any sense. And it matters today because I’m interested in the answer today.

Kumar wrote:

Would you please confirm that if we say once to the quoted and bolded prompt in the quote above, that we will prefer to stay on S1 across the entire system, we will not be again prompted to update? In a way that carries a risk that inadvertently we will end up stuck with a split system?

John asks : Why does that matter today though, to your decision being made today, when you don’t have to know until June?

Probably because you’re interested in the answer today.

Get it?

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K

Kumar

No, and I will not take it further either.

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K

Kumar

For me, available June = great, available a bit later also = ok. It just did not jump out at me as being clear.

My reading suggests the latter, though June is also latter compared to a scheduled May release for S2. Sonos marketing will be more keen to have Hi Res than you, I imagine!

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castalla

Local Superstar

For those interested in the Pi/LMS alternative, my earlier thread has been resurrected. A place for your experiences and questions.

https://en.community.sonos.com/smart-home-integrations-229108/logitech-media-server-3rd-party-addition-for-sonos-devices-6835500

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It's the courageous bee's knees - all 6 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝. - - - - - Make Sonos Great Again - - - - -

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attacama40

Headliner I

For me, available June = great, available a bit later also = ok. It just did not jump out at me as being clear.

My reading suggests the latter, though June is also latter compared to a scheduled May release for S2. Sonos marketing will be more keen to have Hi Res than you, I imagine!

I’d say so Kumar. And in fairness that would be ok for me.

It just seems reasonable to clarify that.

Sonos have made a credible announcement which I like. I don’t need technical purity and nano detail but credible broad strokes to keep my interest or not.

And this is a little classical. Just honing the answer on the High Res will head off more threads, Q&A, frustrations later, maybe Sonos folks jumping ship as well.

A simple confirmation of that would be significant. Why? Well lets take a look back at the last 20 odd posts … Sonos enthusiasts who have wandered some and found their own form of enlightenment … you and I included to differing degrees.

To make a delivery statement would kill ‘some’ of that. You can’t let the genie half way out the bottle.

I think deep down, if the Sonos guys were to say High Res comes in September (for example) that I may be won over enough to dampen playing (and buying) alternatives.

Do I need High res? Who the hell knows 🙂 but it may buy my loyalty.

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