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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jwinther

Lyricist III

Now you have admitted you no longer control some aspects of your own environment - having submitted to the big streaming companies - your value proposition is greatly diminished.

Huh? Did Sonos stated that they are dropping support for legacy products (at least in terms of added features) because of some sort of pressure from big streaming companies?

Is this rhetorical?

No. I have not seen a statement from Sonos stating that they had to drop support in any way because of pressure from big streaming companies.

How about this statement?:

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.

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“This is a chance now to come up with a system that doesn’t cause massive planetary damage in exchange for disposable stuff,” Proctor said. (https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3a8dpn/sonos-makes-it-clear-you-no-longer-own-the-things-you-buy)

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Mike J B

Lyricist III

Now you have admitted you no longer control some aspects of your own environment - having submitted to the big streaming companies - your value proposition is greatly diminished.

Huh? Did Sonos stated that they are dropping support for legacy products (at least in terms of added features) because of some sort of pressure from big streaming companies?

Is this rhetorical?

No. I have not seen a statement from Sonos stating that they had to drop support in any way because of pressure from big streaming companies.

It’s clearly implied from the wording around their reasoning and the vagueness of their timeframes. Sonos can’t be more specific about how long Legacy devices will last because they have no control (or a worsening relationship thanks to legal action) over the APIs and requirements of the likes of Spotify, Amazon and Google.

in short an environment they once controlled almost completely has slowly been eroded as we all demand more Streaming and Voice services. Their failure is in not negotiating or developing a technical solution that maintains core functionally while foregoing new advancements.

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jwinther

Lyricist III

Just had this from Sonos .…

Hello Michael,

...

You don't have to even think about possibly upgrading anything until those older products can no longer do something you need them to do. If a time comes where you do need to upgrade we can talk about discount options. But there is no reason to spend any money while the system is still doing what you need it to do.

...

If this statement would be communicated directly to everybody who has got the infamous email in the first place, I bet that much of the current fury would change to a less upbeat worry about the future.

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“This is a chance now to come up with a system that doesn’t cause massive planetary damage in exchange for disposable stuff,” Proctor said. (https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3a8dpn/sonos-makes-it-clear-you-no-longer-own-the-things-you-buy)

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hushkahome

Lyricist I

Two of my products purchased and registered to my account in 2017(!!!) are now listed as “legacy”. Two and a half years later… I, like many others here, have invested thousands of dollars in Sonos products and even more personal capital in recommending your products to friends and family. I am now an angry customer no longer interested in purchasing additional Sonos products, but even worse - I am embarrassed I recommended this brand.

My original position of “Yeah, they are expensive but the UX is great and the quality of the product is worth the premium price” has turned out to be completely wrong. If your competitors are paying attention, (and I’m sure they are!) they have a great opportunity to eat your lunch.

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RobLG

Contributor I

Please explain what you mean when you say that you will support products that you sell for at least 5 years. I bought a CONNECT:AMP in 2018 to add to the 3 CONNECT:AMPS ans 2 CONNECTS that I bought in 2015 (less than 5 years ago - but it will be 5 years in May when you discontinue support). If the one I bought in 2018 is still “Modern”, why aren’t the others?

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B

Bunner

Lyricist I

Bottom line. I'm not recommending your products anymore and I won't spend another dime on your products. This is sad because I loved these products.....

Shame. Shame. Shame.

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Riffiam

Lyricist I

Been with Sonos from early on, have (4) Play 5s, (2) Play 3s, Connect Amp, Playbar & Sub. Just purchased my two adult children each a Beam and (2) One SL for Christmas. Am absolutely devastated by this. I have been a very vocal supporter of Sonos through their obstinate refusal to even discuss Dolby Digital Plus or DTS, let alone Atmos. And this is how they reward that loyalty? Well...I for one am going to spend the approximately $1,500 it would cost me to upgrade (even with the 30% discount) to continue with exactly what I have now towards a hardwired Klipsch 5.1 speaker system and Denon AVR receiver. I have until May to research this further, but I am not going to get sucked into another wireless system where corporate greed dictates planned obsolescence as a means of meeting stockholder approval. I have spent the last 24 hours telling people to stay completely away from any Sonos product.

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goblue

Trending Lyricist I

Sonos is headed for bankruptcy.

That’s not hyperbole. The product is way too expensive to be disposable. It’s simple Sonos, preserve the existing functionality of the equipment we own at all costs. We will understand if a new streaming solution won’t work on a legacy product. That said, existing solutions like Apple, Amazon and streaming personally owned music needs to continue.

If you can’t make this work - a 30% discount is a joke. 50% for a 10 year old product and increasing 5% per year of ownership from there is what it will take to stay in business. 20 years is a reasonable expectation for audio equipment of this cost.

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Stanley_4

Grand Maestro

Please explain what you mean when you say that you will support products that you sell for at least 5 years. I bought a CONNECT:AMP in 2018 to add to the 3 CONNECT:AMPS ans 2 CONNECTS that I bought in 2015 (less than 5 years ago - but it will be 5 years in May when you discontinue support). If the one I bought in 2018 is still “Modern”, why aren’t the others?

There were apparently some hardware changes without a corresponding device name change. Sonos realizes this was a very bad idea and probably won’t do it again.

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jrgmcb

Lyricist I

Badly thought through. Badly rolled out. Like others, I’ve spent thousands of dollars on Sonos gear over the last decade. But no reason to stay in a restricted ecosystem that will get obsoleted periodically when there are lots of other good wireless speaker options that sound as good or better. When you get crushed by the tech giants whom you’ve been complaining about in Congress recently nobody will care. You’re treating your customers the same way.

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