Retired Sonos Staff

End of Software Support - Clarifications

December 8, 2022 at 11:29 AM
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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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H

Hiltonline

Lyricist II

Utter disgrace. I deliberately spent more with Sonos as I trusted their ‘build your speaker network’ message. 1000s of pounds invested and I discover that half my system only bought in 2014 is out of date. NOT ACCEPTABLE. I have 30 year old speakers that still play quality music - I don’t expect very expensive speakers to be out of date in 6 years. What a joke. I will immediately stop recommending your brand and I’m sure you’ve just killed the future of Sonos.

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attacama40

Headliner I

Bloody hell I never thought of it like this but …..

Article - ‘The Morning After: Sonos 'legacy' plan makes smart homes look silly’ ….. have a read.

https://www.engadget.com/2020/01/22/sonos-legacy-morning-after/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHezhX7s0Vm6aL9-3rZy5WEK3M_UnCwOVEcc57QXwjiKtFc0v4PNk8TfgVxgsrpMFDvwKB_e3OrOymZbyEP2Hk6kYDtf3CKNt_azzFhFudWGSGL06VMSow1GBu7KsO0Evd3e94CNU9MiDlef0MjRoCKxtAd0w1o71kHVnbLF0nCB

Widens the debate somewhat.

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AMattyG

Lyricist I

£3000 spent - now I know what you are doing no longer will I recommend your products or buy anymore!

what are you doing SONOS?

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ledbyexample

Enthusiast I

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.

You missed out a vital point, does this mean the legacy and modern will be interoperable? Or completely seperate? I am fine with my legacy speakers not getting updates, but I want my modern speakers to get updates and new features. I then EXPECT to be still able to group music between legacy and modern.

David, you’ve hit the nail on the head here. The screaming lack of detail from Sonos is appalling.

@Ryan S Sonos expect all it’s loyal customers to wait five months until you can tell us how our very expensive audio systems are going to work?! Your leaders have rocks in their heads.

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triskellion

Contributor I

Wow!

Thanks! Thanks a lot! Sonos!

Over.

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taylor16v

Lyricist I

As with most comments, utterly outraged by how they’ve treated loyal customers. The 30% discount is beyond offensive. My Play 5 is barely 5 years old and works just as well today as when it was first purchased. Why would anyone consider scrapping something when there’s nothing wrong with it? I’ve gradually built up our collection of Sonos speakers throughout the house and had my eye on several new devices. In light of this announcement I won’t be making further purchases as don’t want to carry the risk of this happening again in the near future. There are plenty of competitors in the market now and considerably cheaper prices, why alienate your customer base so crudely? Massive failure of a brand overnight. Disgraceful.

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bikenut

Producer I

As I relax this evening and listen to my Connect streaming Spotify to my Audio Note Dac, Cary tube pre amp, and DIY tube amps on some really nice speakers, I’m surfing the web for my Connect replacement, using a Google tablet which Sonos just told me 2 weeks ago was no longer getting any updates either. How nice.

I’ve been considering what to do next for about a year now. I’ve been a very happy Sonos customer for over 10 years now. All my music has been ripped to digital, and working nicely. Sonos can stream up to FLAC file formats, but I’ve wanted to explore hi-res formats, with a system like Roon tied into it all.

One thing about Sonos history, they never told you anything about what was planned or in the works. With this announcement I guess my decision has been made for me. I was hoping with the new products released there would be news about support for hi-res streaming support, but alas silence.

So, I end up with 3 Connects, 2 Amps, and 3 speakers that have one foot in the grave for now. I could keep the now obsolete hardware and run a stagnant musical environment and/or upgrade to newer, better technology for streaming purposes at least. It’s a shame, I really love my Sonos, but like a cheating women, she doesn’t look so good any more.

I hope there’s a better ending to all of this for you folks who have so much more into their Sonos gear than I do. Good luck, keep bashing them, there might be hope yet.

Oh, what’s this, I see this Bluesound thing on my none supported tablet, gotta run guys.

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KingPin

Enthusiast II

I truly believe that this is the beginning of the end for Sonos. The loyalty and promotion by us long time customers has built a great reputation and confidence in a business which made expensive equipment that still was deemed a good buy because it was an investment.

If Sonos now loses 1) Its loyal fan base, 2) The promotion of said fan base, and 3) the view that the products are an investment (now it’s not anymore- it’s perishable goods) the only road forward is down.

The next implication of this is that it will amplify the fall. Who dares buy products that only works at the mercy of the manufacturer if said manufacturer is seen as doomed? I for one don’t. It’s a sad reality, all happening because of one I’ll fated, poorly considered corporate decision.

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larsj

Enthusiast II

I just tried browsing the upgrade site to see what components can be upgraded - are only specific combinations of new/old players allowed for the trade-up?

To be clear, this is for the purpose of putting together a comparison for a whole-system replacement of Sonos vs. the alternatives.

However, it’s a very scary website - clicking the recycle button didn’t give me the next stage (upgrade options with pricing), but just a scary, final confirmation - do you want to recycle your component within 21 days. Goodness knows what would happen if I mis-clicked.

Beware!

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bonervz

Enthusiast II

Utter disgrace. I deliberately spent more with Sonos as I trusted their ‘build your speaker network’ message. 1000s of pounds invested and I discover that half my system only bought in 2014 is out of date. NOT ACCEPTABLE. I have 30 year old speakers that still play quality music - I don’t expect very expensive speakers to be out of date in 6 years. What a joke. I will immediately stop recommending your brand and I’m sure you’ve just killed the future of Sonos.

I am sure all the other smart speaker manufacturers are sitting up and taking notice. I would think they would not repeat the same mistake, especially when all the ex-sonos base turn to them for solutions.

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Sonos from leader to loser in 2020.

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