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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A

aejeff

Lyricist II

That is not what Sonos said...they said you could not go back..Tell me more.

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jgatie

sted and it works (That is not what Sonos said...they said you could not go back..Tell me more.

A couple posters have tested and it works (or worked, haven’t seen anything about after the latest update). They factory reset a unit that had been upgraded to S2. After the reset, they were able to add it to their S1 system.

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aejeff

Lyricist II

Might be worth a try…..

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K

Kumar

I am told that most of the Sonos community team was laid off yesterday. More reasons to stay on S1/older existing versions, until there is clarity around the reasons for what seems a drastic step.

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K

Kumar

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/24/sonos-says-its-cutting-12percent-of-global-employees-because-of-covid-19.html

That this includes most of the community folk does not seem to be in the public domain.

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Airgetlam

I’m not sure I understand the connection between reducing work force due to COVID-19 and the reasons to stay on S1. They seem to be completely unrelated things.

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Bruce

K

Kumar

With most Sonos community staff laid off as I am reliably informed, that means reduction in support at a time of transition, split systems and the like. One can only speculate about corresponding reductions in other user support staff, I have no insight into that.

Ryan is one of those that are no longer in the company, by the way. The one Sonos employee with the most visible contributions here is gone. He will be missed.

Having worked with US corporations in other downturns I have always wondered why management does not take deep cuts - 20% is NOT deep in my book - and retain more of the customer facing people at a time of crisis.

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amun

Ryan is one of those that are no longer in the company, by the way. The one Sonos employee with the most visible contributions here is gone. He will be missed.

He will indeed… The sort of ambassador that a company just can’t afford to lose, I’d have thought.

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K

kassey22000

Enthusiast II

Long time Sonos fan (mostly) with 19 devices and all now upgraded to S2 compatibility. Despite the many warnings on the the Apple App Store about S2, I stupidly ran the “Compatibility Test” and now the iOS/Win apps require I upgrade to S2 which I had to do. WOW, EPIC FAIL!

-Start with the visuals. Gone is eye-strain-reducing black background, now it’s Navy Gray background, Army Green infobars, and Desert Storm Khaki icons etc. Was this the Pentagon version accidentally rolled out to the general public? Sonos please give us control over this ugly UI misstep.

-NO improvements for HD/UHD from streaming services.

-New grouping feature is cool, EXCEPT it won’t work with the Win 10 S2 app. You can set up group names and select one, but the Win app won’t show that or the name choices.

-When Sonos bricked the CR100 we purchased 3 Amazon Fire tablets for dedicated controllers. Of course those are now DEAD to Sonos S2. Seriously a few lines of code to warn people during the Compatibility Check process could have saved us time, frustration, and Money!

-And it took over an hour to get the various devices and apps recognizing each other even though S1 was working perfectly for weeks on end!

And that’s just the initial discoveries!

Honestly, this LONG AWAITED upgrade is a backward step and so disappointing after the breathless promotion from marketing/management on the promises of the S2 paradigm.

Amazing hardware, disappointing software/apps (probably contracted out now) and an out-of-touch management/executive team.

How long will we have to wait till they sort it out? The reviews on the app store are pretty negative and yet realistic.

While I’m very sad to hear Ryan and other stalwart Sonos employees have been furloughed, Sonos management made these madding decisions, so they should forfeit any 2020 bonuses, stock grants, and pay raises, then give those proceeds to the good folks actually trying to help customers and the community.

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V

Veeper

Prominent Collaborator I

My Windows controller just auto updated itself and is now trying to push me to update to S2. NOT A CHANCE. Holy smokes are you kidding me?!

EDIT - Okay smooth guys. I have to uninstall S2, and go download S1, in order to get the S1 application but BOTH the windows application and the iOS application are strewn with nagging to update to the trash S2. Awesome. :rolling_eyes:

EDIT2 - YOU MOTHER SONOFA. Your app stealth updated half my speakers to S2. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!?!

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AMPx2, One SLx6, Play5x2, SUBx2, Play1x2, Move, Roam (Yuck), ARC, PlayBar, Beam, SYMFONISKx2, Awful New App.

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