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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C

castalla

Local Superstar

Fair enough, but there is a way to address privacy concerns by simply keeping the mic off, or, in the Show, just the camera covered. And either Echo device is still able to work from the phone via casting where Amazon Music is concerned.

If you are going to stay in legacy mode till units burn out, as I am, there will be no need to convert the 1 units when they turn legacy.

I added Pi because I found out via @castalla that it offered a way that even I could make work, to start getting album art for my NAS - again, something that Sonos does not offer today.

Can one use Pi, with Sonos speakers that lack line in, using them as dumb speakers? I doubt it, but am open to be corrected.

How do you suggest that i make sure the microphone is off ?

There is no physical button that cuts the connection to the microphone, just a soft button that tell’s the software to turn off the microphone and turn on a LED to indicate this.

You may talk about tin foil hats, and you might call me crazy, but i am NOT willing to install microphones in my house, and certainly not microphones from a USA based company, that has been known to collaborate with NSA.

They all collaborate with whatever national state security … that’s what’s so hypocritical about the US (Trump’s) ban on Huawei. It’s just that the Chinese are are world-leaders in surveillance.

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

D

DK_Madsen

Enthusiast II

They all collaborate with whatever national state security … that’s what’s so hypocritical about the US (Trump’s) ban on Huawei. It’s just that the Chinese are are world-leaders in surveillance.

I agree.

I dont really care if it is the NSA or the Chinese government listening in, i dont want it and i am certainly not going to install any device that has a microphone and/or a camera willingly in my house.

When i bought the playbar and needed rear speakers, i bought som Play 1’s even though the Play One was released, for the very reason that i did not want microphones in my speakers.

Seems like Sonos is putting microphones in almost anything they sell these days, so maybe i was not gonna buy any new sonos devices anyway.

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melvimbe

Seems like Sonos is putting microphones in almost anything they sell these days, so maybe i was not gonna buy any new sonos devices anyway.

Since Sonos introduced the Sonos One, the devices with mics include the Sonos One, Beam, and Sonos Move. During the same time, they’ve introduced the Amp, Port, and Sonos One SL. So 50%. That doesn’t include the two ikea speakers or the sonance speakers, or the speakers they still sell that were introduced before the Sonos One.

That said, I imagine that new products they come out with this year will likely have mics in them.

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Danny

A

attacama40

Headliner I

Seems like Sonos is putting microphones in almost anything they sell these days, so maybe i was not gonna buy any new sonos devices anyway.

Since Sonos introduced the Sonos One, the devices with mics include the Sonos One, Beam, and Sonos Move. During the same time, they’ve introduced the Amp, Port, and Sonos One SL. So 50%. That doesn’t include the two ikea speakers or the sonance speakers, or the speakers they still sell that were introduced before the Sonos One.

That said, I imagine that new products they come out with this year will likely have mics in them.

You’d imagine there could be an option within the app to switch the mic option on and off?

Is that a little simplistic? Non tech comment :-)

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Airgetlam

Not within software. No, I’d expect a hardware switch. So that people who believe the mic can be turned on remotely via software wouldn’t need to worry.

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Bruce

A

attacama40

Headliner I

Not within software. No, I’d expect a hardware switch. So that people who believe the mic can be turned on remotely via software wouldn’t need to worry.

Solid point. Yes.

Not something I loose a huge amount of sleep over but can understand why folks might. And a hard switch would certainly be a reassuring option.

And indeed a socially responsible differentiator for Sonos to offer and Sonos users to have the option to deploy.

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Smilja

And indeed a socially responsible differentiator for Sonos to offer and Sonos users to have the option to deploy.

For further information…

Glad you got your answers Clive. I would like to make it very clear that you can 100% use the Sonos One and simply turn off the microphones by pressing the button on top of the microphone, and that's if you go through and set up Alexa.

We designed the Sonos One with a light linked to the microphones to be extremely clear when you microphones are on or off. There isn't a software way to turn the microphones on without the light engaged. If one has power, both do. This way you will always know if the microphones on the Sonos One are on, and will know when it might be listening.

https://en.community.sonos.com/what-to-get-228989/i-dont-want-alexa-6796584#post16180966

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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)

K

Kumar

My view is that if the NSA or China or Aliens have nothing better to do than listen to all the banal things that go on all day in billions of households such as mine, this means they are sleeping on threats to security or on opportunities to invade. I doubt they are that stupid.

The Huawei kind of things are far too complex and layered for me to comment on in any way, and there may well be merit in those concerns.

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K

Kumar

I read just now about Netflix being asked to review HD streaming because of the risk of overloading/breaking the net at these times - Netflix responded, so this isn't fake news - and I recalled being laughed at here for suggesting that streaming services may face issues in the coming days. That concern of mine sounds a tad less far fetched now.

Two down, one to go.

Even if anything like that comes to pass, hopefully it will only affect Hi Res audio streaming :grinning:

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A

attacama40

Headliner I

And indeed a socially responsible differentiator for Sonos to offer and Sonos users to have the option to deploy.

For further information…

Glad you got your answers Clive. I would like to make it very clear that you can 100% use the Sonos One and simply turn off the microphones by pressing the button on top of the microphone, and that's if you go through and set up Alexa.

We designed the Sonos One with a light linked to the microphones to be extremely clear when you microphones are on or off. There isn't a software way to turn the microphones on without the light engaged. If one has power, both do. This way you will always know if the microphones on the Sonos One are on, and will know when it might be listening.

https://en.community.sonos.com/what-to-get-228989/i-dont-want-alexa-6796584#post16180966

Many thanks, useful stuff. Not an area I’d considered before but interesting points raised and to be aware of for sure.

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