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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Solo Nur Ali

Contributor I

Dear Sonos,

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

I could spend the money to replace the legacy products with new ones, but I won't. You will NOT get another dime from me because you don't deserve it.

I hope your stocks tank and you end up in bankruptcy, because THAT is what you deserve since making your announcement.

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Squidgy

Lyricist I

Sonos,

I am struggling to understand the logic here. As you have seen by the response from your loyal customers, everyone is extremely unhappy. Whilst I understand the support of “old hw” is expensive as many have stated, audio equipment should last 30 years. My thoughts are clear on what you need to consider. Each speaker is just that, a speaker. They are wifi enabled and allows you to stream music or connect to an amp/bridge. Rather than manage these as individual devices, Sonos should create the Sonos Hub or Sonos Satellite. This means this connects to the internet takes the FW, streams music to it and then the speakers connect to that device. Then, this means any legacy device can connect as it doesn’t need to. Connect to a controller. To future proof users upgrade that hub as a single device and not the whole setup as you’re proposing. This to me makes more sense and much more palatable.

thanks

Tim

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V

Vimto

Contributor I

Disgraceful behaviour Sonos.

I've been a huge fan and advocate of Sonos since owning my first units in 2015. I've added to my system over the years and generally been really pleased with every purchase.

Today's announcement, whilst not affecting any of my units right now has made me nervous about purchasing any further Sonos products in the future.

Been researching other alternatives to Sonos and am seriously considering eBaying my products and moving elsewhere before they become obsolete (I prefer to use the correct word, rather than Legacy as that is nothing more than marketing speak).

It seems the company is hellbent on creating negative news right now. It's not helping the brand or giving consumers confidence to invest in what are expensive items

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Retro Kid

Lyricist II

If Sonos legacy devices cannot keep up with complex software and streaming service API requirements, why not remove that requirement from the speaker itself? Can they not build a bridge (or controller) that integrates with the app and streaming services, and then streams the music to the speakers using existing streaming methods? It seems like this is a simple solution- remove the hefty processing requirements from the speaker, and move them to a different (more capable) device.

This. If legacy speakers don’t have the processing power for all your fancy bloat, take the processing OFF the speakers and provide an additional bit of hardware that does the processing that can communicate with the speakers. I just want speakers to be speakers. I suggested this as a workaround to the 65,000 limit when it hit me in the face. Sort of like a “Sonos Server” with oomph and processing power that can stream output to the speakers. However, instead of Sonos providing a solution, i ended up using Plex Server for that workaround.

That would solve all our issues? Provide the fancy new features - but keep the legacy speakers doing their job - as speakers.

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Colincc

Lyricist III

Sonos,

Don't go down the rabbit 🐰 Hole of a throw away society!

All I'm saying!!!

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D

DH76

Lyricist I

I’m glad the bbc have picked up on this story.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-51206604

Both myself and my family have each invested £1,000s in Sonos products only to now find out they have a short shelf life! This is not on. Sonos, you really need to rethink this ASAP or you could risk alienating your customers and almost destroying your brand overnight. Plus, the trade up offer of 30% is completely inadequate, especially if you expect customers to by spend even more on products which will eventually suffer the same fate. If you are making products obsolete you need to offer those customers a very good trade-up package (more like 80% discount) to stay tied to Sonos. After all, it’s not the loyal customers fault. Really frustrated. If your customers mean anything you will know what to do.

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Ryan SAuthor

Retired Sonos Staff

Ryan, how accurate is the information about the legacy products still working after May? When Sonos stopped support on the Dock all four of mine bricked and I’m just money out the window. I have 6 Play 5 speakers on your list and they weren’t exactly inexpensive speakers when I bought them.

Hi @MayorMike, the information is accurate and there’s a pretty huge difference betwen what’s happening here and what happened with the Dock. The Dock was discontinued and disconnected from the system with no design for it to keep working. The legacy devices will keep on playing music and operating as they currently do before the update. They just won’t be getting new software updates and features. Because they won’t be getting regular updates, over time they will eventually stop being able to connect with certain services, but it’ll be a gradual decline over time. And some things are unlikely to stop working until the hardware starts to fail, such as the line-in on those Play:5s.

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F

FrontRangeTraveller

Lyricist I

So, what functionality exactly will I lose if I just hold onto my 1st Gen Play:5? I take the software updates but am really unclear as to what that does for me.

Please answer this. Perhaps I, and many others, will be less angry if we know the answer to that question.

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RichTeaBiscuit

Contributor I

I have installed whole home audio using mainly connect:amps and connects. Imagine my thoughts when I read this announcement. I won't be "upgrading". I'll be looking for non Sonos alternatives. Sonos can do one for all I care. Greedy company who won't be getting any more of my money.

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Tony_23

Lyricist I

Seriously considering getting the whole set up on eBay as soon as possible.

Wont be buying any more SONOS products.

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