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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K

Kumar

then give those proceeds to the good folks actually trying to help customers and the community.

Per my experience of it, the suggested goes against prevailing ingrained US corporate culture. Pity, but there it is.

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Quadcab

Contributor I

So i’m heavily invested in Sonos, but seeing as they’re making bricks of a lot of products, as to whether I stay with the brand in future is heavily in the balance. I keep one of my (Gen1) Play 1speakers for use in the garden, so it sits in a closet a lot of the time. Came to use it outside a couple of nights ago, and on my not upgrade original Sonos app it said it needed an upgrade. Caviat with this was that I’d have to upgrade my app to do this……...Hmmmm! I don’t have automatic updated on my phone but my wife does, so that got me thinking. By using her app to update the Play 1, I was then able to control from the original app and it works fine. So I guess what I’m saying is you can still find a work around if you find yourself in this situation.

Still think it’s poor strategy on the part of Sonos. This stuff isn't cheap, and a 30% discount to upgrade? I have a connect, and the only way to upgrade is to buy an amp. Now the Connect was the most expensive piece of my original installation, but the amp is off the scale expensive, and 30% off an amp ain’t doing it for me. As part of a business future proofing model, this stinks!

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jgatie

So i’m heavily invested in Sonos, but seeing as they’re making bricks of a lot of products, as to whether I stay with the brand in future is heavily in the balance.

Legacy products are not bricked. You can use them under S1 just as you could all along.

I keep one of my (Gen1) Play 1speakers for use in the garden, so it sits in a closet a lot of the time. Came to use it outside a couple of nights ago, and on my not upgrade original Sonos app it said it needed an upgrade. Caviat with this was that I’d have to upgrade my app to do this……...Hmmmm! I don’t have automatic updated on my phone but my wife does, so that got me thinking. By using her app to update the Play 1, I was then able to control from the original app and it works fine. So I guess what I’m saying is you can still find a work around if you find yourself in this situation.

Still think it’s poor strategy on the part of Sonos. This stuff isn't cheap, and a 30% discount to upgrade? I have a connect, and the only way to upgrade is to buy an amp. Now the Connect was the most expensive piece of my original installation, but the amp is off the scale expensive, and 30% off an amp ain’t doing it for me. As part of a business future proofing model, this stinks!

The replacement for the Connect is the Port, not the Amp.

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C

Cladman

Trending Lyricist I

My bigger beef with Sonos in Australia now is, their support used to be in Melbourne and was excellent, now it’s in the Phillipines. Took me 3 hours and 3 different people to find someone i could understand and knew how to help my problem yesterday.

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Ken_Griffiths

My bigger beef with Sonos in Australia now is, their support used to be in Melbourne and was excellent, now it’s in the Phillipines. Took me 3 hours and 3 different people to find someone i could understand and knew how to help my problem yesterday.

What day of the week was this? Wasn’t yesterday a Sunday?

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C

Cladman

Trending Lyricist I

My bigger beef with Sonos in Australia now is, their support used to be in Melbourne and was excellent, now it’s in the Phillipines. Took me 3 hours and 3 different people to find someone i could understand and knew how to help my problem yesterday.

What day of the week was this? Wasn’t yesterday a Sunday?

No Monday here.

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Ken_Griffiths

My bigger beef with Sonos in Australia now is, their support used to be in Melbourne and was excellent, now it’s in the Phillipines. Took me 3 hours and 3 different people to find someone i could understand and knew how to help my problem yesterday.

What day of the week was this? Wasn’t yesterday a Sunday?

No Monday here.

Perhaps it’s a time zone issue? At least you’ve always got the user-community here to help resolve most issues.

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C

Cladman

Trending Lyricist I

My bigger beef with Sonos in Australia now is, their support used to be in Melbourne and was excellent, now it’s in the Phillipines. Took me 3 hours and 3 different people to find someone i could understand and knew how to help my problem yesterday.

What day of the week was this? Wasn’t yesterday a Sunday?

No Monday here.

Perhaps it’s a time zone issue? At least you’ve always got the user-community here to help resolve most issues.

No they have just outsourced to Asia as its cheaper like most other big companies here now.

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K

kiwibob

Lyricist II

Just a follow up about the Bose soundbar for my TV. I went ahead and it works just great, does just what I need (sound from the TV) plus some cruft which I don’t need.

It made me realise why I bought Sonos in the first place. I wanted the same music to play from my computer in several rooms simultaniously using wireless to connect. All this new stuff that it does is sometimes interesting but really it’s not why I bought it.

I’m stuck with S1 and as long as it keeps working I’ll keep the kit. When it stops, as I’m sure it will, I’ll buy a replacement but you can be sure it won’t be replaced with anything from these clowns.

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R

RDR63

Contributor I

I 2nd that….these guys are Brutal...it will catch up to them..They charge big money then slowly make the product obsolete…

looking for options that last!!

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