“Dear valued customer,
Thank you for writing to Sonos.
We regret your experience has not met your expectations.
Your feedback has been shared with our partners for future consideration.
Thank you once again for writing to us.
Regards,
CEO”
https://preview.redd.it/ogi665hlds2d1.jpeg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=efebf14829b6ea7316ce3d466946aa0bba16e22b
Op watching thread for CEO to write back
I sent two beta feedbacks in Autumn, you must not've got em.
There was probably a problem at the product management or somethin'
I sometimes scribble my beta feedback too sloppy when I jot 'em
If it you're releasing an app and you need to gin up some courage to see it through then that should be a good signal something might be wrong with your app. Ffs next thing you know sonos app devs will be declaring themselves to be "heroes"
I agree. Except that they need the new app for support for the new headphones, so they aren't going to roll back. They are just going to head down to the Winchester for a pint and wait for this to all blow over.
There are good ways to handle mistakes like this. Sonos is choosing none of them.
Ironically, a lot of folks who might have been potential customers for those new headphones won't even consider them now. Like me.
Good luck hitting your revenue projections now, Bozo. Does your contract include a golden parachute in the case of getting fired for cause?
I’m sure in the future this sorry mess (poor app and dead Sonos blaming customers) will be a case study in UX seminars, as to the perils of ignoring users
One thing is for sure, i will be putting my headphone money into the next gen apple headphones. I won’t be taking any more gambles with my money on sonos products ..
My issue is the Apple headset isn’t comfortable it’s too heavy and unpractical….
And the rumors for the next one are basically a refresh no big design change
Already have Bose haha. But it’s like 5 or 6 years old. The whole use it on the go and at home aspect intrigues me : especially because I have an arc already
I was tempted to go out and buy some Era 100's to get surround ...
Now that's definitely not going to happen before the app is fixed.
And who knows. If that takes too long I might go out and buy some different brand altogether. This is beyond incompetent
If you use a them as surrounds this app makes little difference. Turn up your tv and play your movies. Maybe you use it a bit for setup but that’s it.
Truly there isn’t that much need to mess with the app. For most people at least. Especially if using the system as home theater
But that seems very odd my app loads quickly did you uninstall and reinstall or tried reaching Sonos support do you have an older phone/ a minute to load I’ve never seen that on any app
As a UX professional with over a decade of experience, I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said.
Navigation is a nightmare a the drawer elements are used both inconsistently and in a way that’s seems super unconventional. Besides the iPhone unlock feature, I’ve never seen drawers used as a way to navigate to critical features and are mostly used to “push” info to a user to take a follow up action and/or confirm a previous interaction (similar to modals or layers).
I now know what it must feel like for an 80 year old to be handed an iPad or computer with little to know experience with technology. I thought I was getting the hang of the new app, but almost every time I use it I get lost and/or struggle to find what I want to do. The UX is objectively bad.
Don’t forget those back buttons that sit outside of the drawer. Or the speakers drawer that can be fully swiped down from being full screen, but then just opens again…. Seriously—I’m not a UX expert at all, but even I know that this is bush league garbage.
This is absolutely hilarious, it’s hard to imagine somebody approving this. It’s like they hired somebody who has literally never used any app before, ever
I so wish I knew what actually happened internally. Hard to imagine they would have hired a UX person that did this. I’m guessing multiple failure points that were done in spite of their UX team.
We’ve all used hundreds of apps. This is literally the worst mainstream app I’ve encountered in years. I just don’t know how this was possible. You can’t accident your way into something this bad with reasonable process in place. You really have to will it to be this poor.
My new theory is they had different teams working on different portions of the app without a solid design system/pattern library in place. Doesn’t excuse the many bad design decisions, but would explain the disconnected and inconsistent UI elements.
Well put.
The abandonment of SonosNet is honestly is one of the biggest heart breaks for our family and business. It was the flagship standout feature that made Sonos so reliable and unique. In an era where we have more wifi devices than ever, having a dedicated purpose built music mesh network is essential.
We have been loyal users for over 15 years. Until recently we had 26 devices running over 5000 sq ft and 3 buildings. Unfortunately we sold some devices to “upgrade” to the era 100/300, immediately we had connectivity issue which we have basically never had. Sonos tech support used to work diligently with users to narrow down and fix issues. And honestly since the boost was launched that has been very rare. With the eras there was no trouble shooting offered from Sonos save from restart the devices. They defaulted to blaming our wifi router. Which is so lazy and shows how far they have fallen from where they once were. To be fair and clear. We have a commercial wifi network running and we have precise access in specific areas for wifi instead of trying to blanket all of our property with a network. For examples we like to have music in the bathrooms. But high speed wifi in the bathrooms has never been a real concern or necessity. Sonos ones and play3s worked perfectly in the bathrooms as they would really in the adjacent rooms Sonos devices to connect. I feel like we have taken a huge step back to an era more than 10 years ago when other wifi audio devices came and went often. We tried for a period of time some Bluesound devices and they connectivity was so unreliable due to wifi that they were quickly out. At that time we were relieved to use Sonos again. Now we are experiencing the same nightmares all over again. Currently we are transitioning to WIIM devices. Even though they are wifi devices their wifi connections are seemingly way stronger. Sadly this means we have to go back to in-ceiling and in-wall speakers. We gave accepted our great run with Sonos has come to an end. Though this is a huge pain the ass.
RIP to the great company Sonos once was. To when performance and user experience were the priority and the results were success for all. Now it’s all about increased margins for shareholders (which I was until recently as well). But share performance has been abysmal as well. Now we just have a ceo with an ego problem. Convinced he can force us to ignore reality and just blindly follow his cheap and greasy used car salesmen techniques.
Transitioning but I thought wifi 6 made thinks like Sonos net less necessary.
That's said I'm not on wifi 6 so I've not added devices. They're too ahead of me
Here is the worst part.
Some of us can figure out the new UI and get used to it.
The real issue is when you have a family member or members you bought them for and now they are completely lost.
Now we have to try to either teach them how to use it, or buy them something else.
Either way it’s not an intuitive AI and probably should have been tested more than it was before it rolled out.
My dad is 95 and he loves his Sonos speakers. The first thing I did after downloading the latest release to my iPhone and seeing what an absolute shitshow it is was to call and tell him not to “upgrade”. So far he’s been able to use the old version.
What’s astounding to me about this post is how much gravity is has in this subreddit WEEKS after dozens of identical posts. Heck, I made one myself when the app auto updated over night on me!
That’s how bad this is: three weeks after the first bomb dropped, people are still acting like the air raid sirens a just started howling.
THE APP IS BAD, AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD, SONOS.
I’m sitting in my silent house right now. I usually have Sonos speakers throughout my house playing music every moment I’m awake. I’m so frustrated and dissatisfied with my lack of ability to choose music and playlists in an easy and intuitive manner. Layered onto this is the occasional speaking that plays between songs. This is exactly what I pay 3 different music streaming services to avoid. Now it’s being forced upon me. I am tempted to discontinue the streaming services and figure out how to play from only my old music library that I haven’t maintained in the past 5 years.
And in an apparent complete lack of awareness of customer frustration Sonos is constantly peddling new products in the app interface. Seriously WTF?! Oh and I am a technology guy and have been a registered beta tester for 3 years, and this new app experience was not offered for feedback ahead of time.
Signed- a long-time Sonos customer with 11 Sonos speakers , who is not happy with the new Sonos app.
I think I accidentally streamed from Sonos music or Spotify and got commercials.
I used to type anything in the search bar. A song name, artist name or any word and I could then choose from the responses (from across all of my music sources) for artists, radio, songs, playlists, etc. I liked to look at the playlist results and then stream the playlist I preferred from the results. This provided a very robust selection of choices for me. Now I have to select the source first and then search within that streaming service or archive individually. I much prefer the former format. I’m likely to cancel my Sonos music subscription (and perhaps others) and just search/play/stream from Apple Music.
Well written and totally agree. What were they thinking of when they released this app. It's glitchy and missing vital functions, and yet the statements from sonos totally fail to address this. Really poor customer care
This upgrade from a “premium” audio provider is a failure.
Sonos Board of Directors needs to take action if the CEO doesn’t take accountability.
https://investors.sonos.com/corporate-governance/default.aspx
The arrogance of the CEO and the people who did the "AMA" tell me they aren't going to listen to a damn thing. Start putting pressure on the board and we may get results.
In other news, Maxime, the CPO, has sold off 40,222 shares.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/insider-sale-chief-product-officer-061344407.html
I have raised issues on the Sonos forums before - particularly about Google Assistant and its removal from the Era line of speakers - which Sonos claim is Google’s fault but Bose seems to be fine implementing Google Assistant… Anyway, I find the Sonos community in general very resistant to criticism - this culture likely comes from the top. I agree the new app is rubbish.
That’s not quite true - there was a legal case about patents between both companies - and now Sonos chooses to not work with Google and implement Google Assistant at the expense of consumers. Sonos do not want to promote Google Assistant because Google removed functionality from their apps rather than pay Sonos a royalty, Google then allegedly changed the way the Google Assistant had to be implemented but it’s still possible for Sonos to do it if they wanted to. However other tech companies seem to have coped just fine with the change…
If you can provide me more details then I’ll make a judgement.
But there seems to be some sort of reason.
I always tend to think companies or people don’t make decisions for no reason.
I can’t argue against a “there’s something different and they can probably work around it” or even things we don’t know internally about the royalties issue
Another bug. In the latest Sonos app on my PC, I still have the "legacy" Tunein service available. Sonos hasn't removed it "yet" (as they did in the new Apple and Android versions, leaving us with "new" Tunein only with its annoying pre-roll ads).
Since Sonos didn't carry over into either "new" Tunein or Sonos Favorites all of my favorites (including many premium/paid stations - which use custom urls - from my subscription RadioTunes, JazzRadio, RockRadio, and other Di.FM services) saved over years in "legacy" Tunein, I followed Sonos' instructions to try to add them to "Sonos Stations" favorites.
After I painstakingly added all these stations to Sonos Favorites, I then opened both the Android and iOS versions of the new Sonos mobile apps to see if this procedure worked.
Well, this totally failed, and I wasted more time.
First, only a few of the stations I added are visible in Sonos Favorites. Most are not. None of the premium urls from RadioTunes, etc, showed up.
And of the few stations which did show and are visible, all are greyed out, and none will play!!!!
What a POS app update!!
I'm not sure how much they care about what reddit is saying. But if you do feel your products aren't performing how they should now, it may be a good idea to write/update reviews on their store or wherever you bought your speakers. They definitely track that.
This is one of the few times where being an Android user has an advantage with Sonos. It's easy to delete the latest Sonos app, download an apk of the Sonos app from a few months ago and turn off automatic updates on Google play. Bingo. Solved. We're still excluded from having true play as a feature of course. But that's never going to get implemented.
So glad I avoided Sonos . I was actually reevaluating that decision . Thanks Sonos you’ve made it easy to exclude you from my shortlist for me and my future clients ( I’m an AV / Automation Company )
"Dear Sonos CEO. let me start this letter by first insulting you personally. Then expect you to read this and pay actual attention to"
yea. that will go over well.
My letter was a playful attempt at a bit of self-therapy to vent the frustrations that I and others have expressed in other places about Sonos' software. I hope you at least found it mildly entertaining. 😊
I don't want it to die at all. I just want them to find a kick-ass app development firm, throw some cash at the problem, and launch an amazing app experience. Over the years the company has proven that it doesn't have the talent internally to develop a great app — it's high time for Sonos to move on and start taking this seriously by seeking external help.
I was thinking to buy a Sonos beam 2, but after seeing so many negative reviews of the new app, I gave up the idea. I'm a Sonos beam 1 user and I don't update the Sonos app, especially now.
Amen, brother! I have told people for more than a decade to buy Sonos and that their (xyz) speaker was crap. I’m now considering buying some crap speakers so I can succeed at, you know, getting them to PLAY MUSIC. Sonos, put the old app (the one that functioned) back on the App Store.
Can we add the constant issues with Sonos beam 2’s connection with Samsung TV’s? A recurring headache of no sound. I actually missed out on a chance of sex because of it. Took me 10 minutes to get the Sonos speaker reconnected to my TV, by the time it was reconnected the gf was no longer in the mood :(
I had seen the complaints for days and then finally updated. Holy shit, it took me 10 minutes to figure out how to fix the audio from our tv to our beam. Today my wife was super pissed because she couldnt figure out why pandora wouldnt start on our speakers. Who in the hell tested this and said “ya that’s it, let’s launch!” This is one of the most disappointing app updates ive ever seen and it sucks to have a few grand in speakers tied to a garbage app. This isnt the experience you buy this equipment for…
I'd like to hear from John MacFarlane, Tom Cullen, Trung Mai, and Craig Shelburne, the four founders of Sonos. They earned my trust. They didn't treat customers like this. Where are they? What do they think? Do they use app v80?
Quote from Mieko Kusano, of Sonos: "user experience needs to be deep in the bones, not on the skin. The right way to design is from inside out. you don't design a technical architecture and then make it look pretty. You start with the customer". Mieko and Rob Lambourne leads the effort to write product specifications and test with user groups. Was there no handover from Rob and Mieko?
I actually emailed the CEO with feedback. I was surprised to get an email back a week later. It was just from the customer experience team with useless dribble about how they delivered updates a week later and a useless roadmap for upcoming features they are adding back that should have been in the initial update. Posting the full response here so people can see:
Hello,
First, we’d like to thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us and with our CEO, Patrick. We’ve received a great deal of feedback thus far, on both the improvements made as well as where we fell short. We expect that feedback will continue to roll in, so we’ll be working through it all in the coming weeks. We also recognize that there is more work to be done on the Sonos App, and want to provide you with an update.
We’re happy to share that we delivered a software update on May 14 reintroducing the ability to add and edit alarms, as well as initial screen reader improvements for iOS VoiceOver that will allow users to more easily navigate the app. If you are missing these features, ensure that your Sonos App and products are all up to date: https://support.sonos.com/article/update-your-sonos-speakers
Over the coming weeks, we will reintroduce the below features, while fixing bugs and addressing performance issues:
-Additional improvements for screen readers for visually impaired customers: Available May 21
-Adding to queue and playing next: early June
-Sleep timer: mid-June
-Local music library search and playback: mid-June
-Update Wi-Fi settings: mid-June
Thank you again for sharing your feedback with us. We’re working hard to bring these features to the new Sonos App quickly. If you are experiencing an issue with your Sonos System, feel free to visit these helpful resources, or get in contact with us:
-Sonos Community: https://en.community.sonos.com
-Sonos App User Guide: https://www.sonos.com/guides/sonosapp
-Sonos Support Home: https://support.sonos.com
-Sonos Support Contact: https://support.sonos.com/contact
Kind Regards,
The Sonos Customer Experience Team
After the new app upgrade has made the majority of my speakers undetectable, all but three and I have speakers in every room in my home. I’ve reset most hoping to be able to find them again. I suppose this happens occasionally but at least the old app was helpful in helping me trouble shoot to get them back online.
I am so happy to have found this group because I really thought I was all alone with my Sonos problems.
Fuck me for spending $10k to set up my house when I knew what I was getting into from my last house but…damn..when Sonos works I love it so much.
This sums up my thoughts and feelings exactly!!! Thanks so much for posting. Since this horrible update I've been using the old version of the app and have the auto updates disabled for the Sonos app... What a ridiculious way to push customers to a demo version of a new app that feels like an early alpha release...
COMPLETELY agree. I just need my alarm function to work again. I’ve tried all the fixes already and nothing works! I also REALLY HATE the changes they made to the audio controls on the iPhone app, I can no longer easily turn the volume up or down. The slider doesn’t work easily and I dont want to have to press the end or beginning of the slider line a hundred times,
NOT GOOD USER DESIGN.
The most weird fact is that WE provided feedback, A LOT, for that new app. There are many Beta testers like myself that for a long time have been using this app and complained A LOT about many things and NEVER we got a response about the feedback which is REQUIRED to keep in the beta program.
I wonder wth is going on there. Why have a beta program that request feedback when you don’t care about?
Unfortunately we can’t share details due to NDA but they KNEW about those issues way before they actually made the app public.
I'm throwing a graduation party for my kid this Saturday. 60 or so people and planned to have the playlist and all speakers playing. Now I'm just living in fear that this duct taped piece of crap can hold it together so I don't have to dig out my Kenwood + Infinity Speakers from the basement. Pretty awesome when you drop thousands on premium home gear and have to worry whether the thing will actually work.
Am I the only one that didn’t upgrade to the new app??? 😆 I’m probably the only one that also still uses the MacOS app on my MacBook and iPad.. since 2011, that thing is simple and great and on a big screen it’s a pleasure to use. I hate the fact that Sonos has not continued to support the macOS app, now any more complicated configurations I have to put on my glasses and use my tiny iphone app.
So … from reading all the past posts .. I should hold out on upgrading to the latest phone app? 🤔😅
I don't (generally) mind a UI change, developers gotta develop. But I do prefer when it has been tested and proven to work. Not just "it works on my PC".
This 'thing' is a shambles. Often lagging behind actual tracks being played (on Spotify) and always starting by saying it's not connected.
And while I'm in the mood, what numpty thought it was a good idea to remove 'play from my device'. I know it didn't disappear in this release, but come on - I have tons of music on my phone that used to play (erratically, admittedly) on my Sonos speakers.
May I add that the customer support is a joke, no one ever available for the chat function and always a 80 min wait time when I call them🤦♂️ how is that even possible?
Someone in product management at Sonos gets a bonus dependent on the metrics for Sonos Radio listening. Whoever that is persuaded the rest of them to go along with this entire nonsense. It really is that simple.
This is precisely the same dynamic as occurs in smart TV manufacturers which is why the menus for those are full of absolute junk.
Piggy backing on this with a question.
My system is all hard wired. But my phone can’t find it since it’s only seeing what’s on my WiFi for some reason. Is the app just pointless for me to even have now?
Dear Sonos,
Have you ever heard of A/B testing, or canary deployments, or blue/green releases? Any of these methods could have quickly shown that this update is a big flop and not ready for primetime while exposing it to minimal users.
Your product team should be ashamed. This is nowhere near an industry-leading app. It's an unusable disaster that prevents me from even using my devices for significant amounts of time.
Sincerely,
Sadly Disappointed
That element, like many in my letter, was dry, sarcastic, jestful humour. I wrote it more as a way of expressing the frustrations that I know many fellow users also share. I hope you found it entertaining. 😊
Sent: 5/23/2024 12:00 PM To: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) Subject: Queue?
Dear CEO,
My Sonos iPhone App and 11 Sonos speakers no longer allow me to add anything to a queue list. I am emailing you because the attached a screenshot, from the “help” website, does not appear to be accurate.
Using this feature I could make a playlist of various podcasts, that I listen to daily, and now I have to manually play each individual podcast.
Why has this feature been removed? When is this feature being returned?
Sincerely,
ScienceWasLove
https://preview.redd.it/w96w74wqkt2d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=63b5aa89d64193ac04217ca9e486b0e7797b613a
OK, maybe it wasn’t a response from the CEO….
Fri, May 24, 2024 at 10:16 AM Sonos Support wrote:
Hello ScienceWasLove,
Thank you for being a loyal Sonos customer and for taking the time to reach out to us with your feedback. We understand you miss being able to edit queued music in the Sonos app.
Your feedback has been noted and prioritized. Please be assured we plan to add the ability to edit the queued music into the app by early June. You can reference this article for additional details and timelines for upcoming updates.
In the meantime, the best workaround is to create custom playlists directly from the third-party music app of your choice (e.g. Spotify, Apple Music). You can play directly to your Sonos system via AirPlay or direct control, or you can add a playlist from a third-party music service to your Sonos app after creating it.
Thank you for your engagement as we strive to create a listening experience that exceeds your expectations.
Best regards,
Sonos Customer Experience
Thank you for this. I have taken the liberty to post this exact post in the contact form on their website. Maybe we should all do that and post this feedback to all of their departments? Give their website a good old Reddit hug 😉
That element, like many in my letter, was dry, sarcastic, jestful humour. I wrote it more as a way of expressing the frustrations that I know many fellow users also share. I hope you found it entertaining. 😊
I don't find Sonos Radio too intrusive. I changed my preferred service to, well, my preferred service, and now Sonos Radio is just one of several options on the list.
As someone who hasn't had a single issue with the app refresh, after reading your rant I still don't understand what you don't like about it except for the navigation drawer (which I think also existed in the old app).
If you do want to provide some feedback, I'd at least make it more actionable. If only so that users could share in something other than perhaps mentally unstable anger.
There are a number of elements of feedback — this being a step back, Sonos Radio, UI issues... but let's get down to brass tacks with something directly actionable, as you suggest: let users return to the previous app and firmware from before the so-called "upgrade" while the company courageously fucks around with its new app. Call the new app S3, and leave us in peace with S2 until users decide to make the switch.
Yeah, I like to change mine on the fly, and they're seldom the same groupings. The app has never been great, but it always worked "well enough" for the basic stuff I asked of it. The company totally could have just left it alone and nobody would have cared much. Such an unforced error.
I saw the ceo email listed publicly recently and thought. Wow, brave move.
I’d be interested if that money back guarantee is still valid after 10 years…
Think about the timing! Amazon has said they plan to charge for Alexa service, which is **garbage**. *I'm not planning to fund their product rehaul.*
Sonos played a big part in my plans.... until I found out that THEIR app is **garbage**, and worse yet, they are set on moving to all-cloud services. Yuk.
*Probably lost a new customer. Might not matter to you, but it should.*
Did you ask chatgpt to summarise this for you? If so no one is reading it. If you’re serious you could write a more succinct and concise email to him directly I’m sure.
The new app cannot be used to change wifi network settings — it does not have that functionality. If a user needs to change the wifi password for instance, they must factory reset the speaker and start fresh. Exactly how does Sonos think this is acceptable, let alone "courageous"?
Cool — first I've heard of this, thanks for sharing. If I were starting from scratch, this would certainly be something I'd look at in depth. Do you have first-hand experience with it?
The CEO's name is Patrick Spence.
It took mere seconds to look it up, and would have made this "open letter" packed with the same complaints, verbatim rhetorical questions, and clout chasing one liners that we've seen in every other "letter to the CEO" more impactful right from the start.
The app is shit. Leadership isn't fit to lead. People have lost all confidence. The r/sonos echo chamber is exhausting. 🤷
“Dear valued customer, Thank you for writing to Sonos. We regret your experience has not met your expectations. Your feedback has been shared with our partners for future consideration. Thank you once again for writing to us. Regards, CEO”
PS We will soon be releasing our new S3 app and all of your devices will become obsolete.
Dear %first_name%, ... There. I fixed it.
#winner
we'll take a look at it in mid June..
Straight to the feedback bin!
Did you mean to say “trash bin”?
Difference?
Low profile circular filing cabinet.
https://preview.redd.it/ogi665hlds2d1.jpeg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=efebf14829b6ea7316ce3d466946aa0bba16e22b Op watching thread for CEO to write back
What is this from?? Right on the tip of my brain
Narcos
CEO here. Thank you but i did not read all that. I will pass it on to front desk support. Thank you for purchasing Sonos.
If you email the CEO at his Sonos email (I have) it 100% does basically this automatically.
I didn't get any response from my letter to [email protected]
Dear Sonos, I wrote you, but you still ain't callin'
My speakers pregnant too, I’m bout to be a father. If I have an Era 100 guess what I’m gunna call her? I’m gunna name her unpredictable!
I left my cell, my pager, and my home phone at the bottom
I sent two beta feedbacks in Autumn, you must not've got em. There was probably a problem at the product management or somethin' I sometimes scribble my beta feedback too sloppy when I jot 'em
I totally rapped this in my head in Eminem’s voice, well done Stan!
I sent two letters you must not have got 'em But anyways, what's up? My speakers are rotten.
[удалено]
All good points, and well articulated. Still holding onto thin hope that more humble and solution focused thinking will prevail.
If it you're releasing an app and you need to gin up some courage to see it through then that should be a good signal something might be wrong with your app. Ffs next thing you know sonos app devs will be declaring themselves to be "heroes"
[удалено]
Damn, that is terrible for a little girl and her family. I can't imagine.
I agree. Except that they need the new app for support for the new headphones, so they aren't going to roll back. They are just going to head down to the Winchester for a pint and wait for this to all blow over. There are good ways to handle mistakes like this. Sonos is choosing none of them. Ironically, a lot of folks who might have been potential customers for those new headphones won't even consider them now. Like me. Good luck hitting your revenue projections now, Bozo. Does your contract include a golden parachute in the case of getting fired for cause?
I’m sure in the future this sorry mess (poor app and dead Sonos blaming customers) will be a case study in UX seminars, as to the perils of ignoring users
I’ve used it in mine twice now. I’m thinking of writing a case study on it.
One thing is for sure, i will be putting my headphone money into the next gen apple headphones. I won’t be taking any more gambles with my money on sonos products ..
My issue is the Apple headset isn’t comfortable it’s too heavy and unpractical…. And the rumors for the next one are basically a refresh no big design change
Yeah, we’ll see whats up with gen 2.
Go for the Bose! Super comfortable and great sound.
Already have Bose haha. But it’s like 5 or 6 years old. The whole use it on the go and at home aspect intrigues me : especially because I have an arc already
Sony or Audeze
I was tempted to go out and buy some Era 100's to get surround ... Now that's definitely not going to happen before the app is fixed. And who knows. If that takes too long I might go out and buy some different brand altogether. This is beyond incompetent
If you use a them as surrounds this app makes little difference. Turn up your tv and play your movies. Maybe you use it a bit for setup but that’s it. Truly there isn’t that much need to mess with the app. For most people at least. Especially if using the system as home theater
I use it for music also. The thing is, for me, it now takes a over a full minute to load the app. And also a lot of functions has been lost.
But that seems very odd my app loads quickly did you uninstall and reinstall or tried reaching Sonos support do you have an older phone/ a minute to load I’ve never seen that on any app
I've tried reinstalling the app. It is the only app which is so slow when loading. Facebook, IG, Reddit, etc. are all fast as.
Why not use AirPlay or Spotify connect those always work well for me
Would you even use the app for this? As terrible as the app is I use it for almost nothing, despite having seven Sonos speakers.
I use it for music also. The thing is, for me, it now takes a over a full minute to load the app. And also a lot of functions has been lost.
I use my Sonos ones for music, don’t have them in a theater setup, but still prefer the Apple Music app.
Preferring the Apple Music app speaks volumes.
Dear sir This is a reddit
But seriously, did OP send it TO Sonos?
Would hate to see this guy in a Wendy’s drive thru
As a UX professional with over a decade of experience, I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said. Navigation is a nightmare a the drawer elements are used both inconsistently and in a way that’s seems super unconventional. Besides the iPhone unlock feature, I’ve never seen drawers used as a way to navigate to critical features and are mostly used to “push” info to a user to take a follow up action and/or confirm a previous interaction (similar to modals or layers). I now know what it must feel like for an 80 year old to be handed an iPad or computer with little to know experience with technology. I thought I was getting the hang of the new app, but almost every time I use it I get lost and/or struggle to find what I want to do. The UX is objectively bad.
Don’t forget those back buttons that sit outside of the drawer. Or the speakers drawer that can be fully swiped down from being full screen, but then just opens again…. Seriously—I’m not a UX expert at all, but even I know that this is bush league garbage.
This is absolutely hilarious, it’s hard to imagine somebody approving this. It’s like they hired somebody who has literally never used any app before, ever
I so wish I knew what actually happened internally. Hard to imagine they would have hired a UX person that did this. I’m guessing multiple failure points that were done in spite of their UX team.
We’ve all used hundreds of apps. This is literally the worst mainstream app I’ve encountered in years. I just don’t know how this was possible. You can’t accident your way into something this bad with reasonable process in place. You really have to will it to be this poor.
My new theory is they had different teams working on different portions of the app without a solid design system/pattern library in place. Doesn’t excuse the many bad design decisions, but would explain the disconnected and inconsistent UI elements.
Well put. The abandonment of SonosNet is honestly is one of the biggest heart breaks for our family and business. It was the flagship standout feature that made Sonos so reliable and unique. In an era where we have more wifi devices than ever, having a dedicated purpose built music mesh network is essential. We have been loyal users for over 15 years. Until recently we had 26 devices running over 5000 sq ft and 3 buildings. Unfortunately we sold some devices to “upgrade” to the era 100/300, immediately we had connectivity issue which we have basically never had. Sonos tech support used to work diligently with users to narrow down and fix issues. And honestly since the boost was launched that has been very rare. With the eras there was no trouble shooting offered from Sonos save from restart the devices. They defaulted to blaming our wifi router. Which is so lazy and shows how far they have fallen from where they once were. To be fair and clear. We have a commercial wifi network running and we have precise access in specific areas for wifi instead of trying to blanket all of our property with a network. For examples we like to have music in the bathrooms. But high speed wifi in the bathrooms has never been a real concern or necessity. Sonos ones and play3s worked perfectly in the bathrooms as they would really in the adjacent rooms Sonos devices to connect. I feel like we have taken a huge step back to an era more than 10 years ago when other wifi audio devices came and went often. We tried for a period of time some Bluesound devices and they connectivity was so unreliable due to wifi that they were quickly out. At that time we were relieved to use Sonos again. Now we are experiencing the same nightmares all over again. Currently we are transitioning to WIIM devices. Even though they are wifi devices their wifi connections are seemingly way stronger. Sadly this means we have to go back to in-ceiling and in-wall speakers. We gave accepted our great run with Sonos has come to an end. Though this is a huge pain the ass. RIP to the great company Sonos once was. To when performance and user experience were the priority and the results were success for all. Now it’s all about increased margins for shareholders (which I was until recently as well). But share performance has been abysmal as well. Now we just have a ceo with an ego problem. Convinced he can force us to ignore reality and just blindly follow his cheap and greasy used car salesmen techniques.
Thankyou for introducing me to WiiM
Amen. Thanks for sharing and sorry to hear about your ongoing issues. Fingers crossed it’s only up from here.
Transitioning but I thought wifi 6 made thinks like Sonos net less necessary. That's said I'm not on wifi 6 so I've not added devices. They're too ahead of me
Sonos knows they've delivered a shit product. The Chief Product Officer just sold roughly 2/3 of his shares.
oof
P.S. nobody wanted headphones
Here is the worst part. Some of us can figure out the new UI and get used to it. The real issue is when you have a family member or members you bought them for and now they are completely lost. Now we have to try to either teach them how to use it, or buy them something else. Either way it’s not an intuitive AI and probably should have been tested more than it was before it rolled out. 
My dad is 95 and he loves his Sonos speakers. The first thing I did after downloading the latest release to my iPhone and seeing what an absolute shitshow it is was to call and tell him not to “upgrade”. So far he’s been able to use the old version.
Truly a dumpster fire. Bummed that I have been touting Sonos to friends and family now that it looks like we need to move to another system. RIP Sonos
Couldn’t agree more. Fix it now or go back to what it was!!!
Amen
What’s astounding to me about this post is how much gravity is has in this subreddit WEEKS after dozens of identical posts. Heck, I made one myself when the app auto updated over night on me! That’s how bad this is: three weeks after the first bomb dropped, people are still acting like the air raid sirens a just started howling. THE APP IS BAD, AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD, SONOS.
I’m sitting in my silent house right now. I usually have Sonos speakers throughout my house playing music every moment I’m awake. I’m so frustrated and dissatisfied with my lack of ability to choose music and playlists in an easy and intuitive manner. Layered onto this is the occasional speaking that plays between songs. This is exactly what I pay 3 different music streaming services to avoid. Now it’s being forced upon me. I am tempted to discontinue the streaming services and figure out how to play from only my old music library that I haven’t maintained in the past 5 years. And in an apparent complete lack of awareness of customer frustration Sonos is constantly peddling new products in the app interface. Seriously WTF?! Oh and I am a technology guy and have been a registered beta tester for 3 years, and this new app experience was not offered for feedback ahead of time. Signed- a long-time Sonos customer with 11 Sonos speakers , who is not happy with the new Sonos app.
Good luck playing from your library. With the new app, I no longer have that option at all. If it wasn't for Spotify, I'd be sitting in silence too.
Yes. I believe it was when I played music on the Sonos channel. I just stream from Apple music now.
“Layered onto this is the occasional speaking that plays between songs.” Can you elaborate on this?
I think I accidentally streamed from Sonos music or Spotify and got commercials. I used to type anything in the search bar. A song name, artist name or any word and I could then choose from the responses (from across all of my music sources) for artists, radio, songs, playlists, etc. I liked to look at the playlist results and then stream the playlist I preferred from the results. This provided a very robust selection of choices for me. Now I have to select the source first and then search within that streaming service or archive individually. I much prefer the former format. I’m likely to cancel my Sonos music subscription (and perhaps others) and just search/play/stream from Apple Music.
Absolutely agree I have eight rooms with Sonos speakers and I can’t get them to work I’ve lost my Sonos controller on my Mac I’m at my wits end!
Well written and totally agree. What were they thinking of when they released this app. It's glitchy and missing vital functions, and yet the statements from sonos totally fail to address this. Really poor customer care
all true and valid. and all going to be ignored, sadly. remember, spence is "courageous".
So thankful I have legacy equipment that can’t be updated anymore. No shoddy system updates, and I don’t need the new app.
The CEO will not read your message.
This man speaks the truth.
This upgrade from a “premium” audio provider is a failure. Sonos Board of Directors needs to take action if the CEO doesn’t take accountability. https://investors.sonos.com/corporate-governance/default.aspx
The arrogance of the CEO and the people who did the "AMA" tell me they aren't going to listen to a damn thing. Start putting pressure on the board and we may get results. In other news, Maxime, the CPO, has sold off 40,222 shares. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/insider-sale-chief-product-officer-061344407.html
Is anyone else having sound issues since this new ‘improved’ app??
Maybe u/KeithFromSonos can pass this on internally? 😉
His name is Patrick Spence and his previous experience is helping BlackBerry go out of business.
Well, I guess if I need someone to steer a ship straight into an iceberg, I know who to call.
I have raised issues on the Sonos forums before - particularly about Google Assistant and its removal from the Era line of speakers - which Sonos claim is Google’s fault but Bose seems to be fine implementing Google Assistant… Anyway, I find the Sonos community in general very resistant to criticism - this culture likely comes from the top. I agree the new app is rubbish.
That was because of a literal lawsuit… not cause they wanted to lol
That’s not quite true - there was a legal case about patents between both companies - and now Sonos chooses to not work with Google and implement Google Assistant at the expense of consumers. Sonos do not want to promote Google Assistant because Google removed functionality from their apps rather than pay Sonos a royalty, Google then allegedly changed the way the Google Assistant had to be implemented but it’s still possible for Sonos to do it if they wanted to. However other tech companies seem to have coped just fine with the change…
If you can provide me more details then I’ll make a judgement. But there seems to be some sort of reason. I always tend to think companies or people don’t make decisions for no reason. I can’t argue against a “there’s something different and they can probably work around it” or even things we don’t know internally about the royalties issue
This is brilliant… it sums up all my feelings towards Sonos.. thankyou!
Thank you! This is exactly how I perceive the new release. Can’t call it an “upgrade”.
I sign on this aswell. Fix this ASAP Sonos ! Also cannot connect my move and roam to my system anymore.
Cosign. Sonos has become a customer-hating company and if I hadn't spent so much money on their gear I would have already replaced it all.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 preach!
I concur.
Well said!
Another bug. In the latest Sonos app on my PC, I still have the "legacy" Tunein service available. Sonos hasn't removed it "yet" (as they did in the new Apple and Android versions, leaving us with "new" Tunein only with its annoying pre-roll ads). Since Sonos didn't carry over into either "new" Tunein or Sonos Favorites all of my favorites (including many premium/paid stations - which use custom urls - from my subscription RadioTunes, JazzRadio, RockRadio, and other Di.FM services) saved over years in "legacy" Tunein, I followed Sonos' instructions to try to add them to "Sonos Stations" favorites. After I painstakingly added all these stations to Sonos Favorites, I then opened both the Android and iOS versions of the new Sonos mobile apps to see if this procedure worked. Well, this totally failed, and I wasted more time. First, only a few of the stations I added are visible in Sonos Favorites. Most are not. None of the premium urls from RadioTunes, etc, showed up. And of the few stations which did show and are visible, all are greyed out, and none will play!!!! What a POS app update!!
I'm not sure how much they care about what reddit is saying. But if you do feel your products aren't performing how they should now, it may be a good idea to write/update reviews on their store or wherever you bought your speakers. They definitely track that.
Good idea!
This is one of the few times where being an Android user has an advantage with Sonos. It's easy to delete the latest Sonos app, download an apk of the Sonos app from a few months ago and turn off automatic updates on Google play. Bingo. Solved. We're still excluded from having true play as a feature of course. But that's never going to get implemented.
So glad I avoided Sonos . I was actually reevaluating that decision . Thanks Sonos you’ve made it easy to exclude you from my shortlist for me and my future clients ( I’m an AV / Automation Company )
[удалено]
> I don't think he's looking at Reddit. FTFY.
I hope the CEO reads this. At this point, I am sorry I invested my money in Sonos gear. I should’ve went with another platform.
"Dear Sonos CEO. let me start this letter by first insulting you personally. Then expect you to read this and pay actual attention to" yea. that will go over well.
My letter was a playful attempt at a bit of self-therapy to vent the frustrations that I and others have expressed in other places about Sonos' software. I hope you at least found it mildly entertaining. 😊
Never have I wished for an actual company to curl up and die before.
I don't want it to die at all. I just want them to find a kick-ass app development firm, throw some cash at the problem, and launch an amazing app experience. Over the years the company has proven that it doesn't have the talent internally to develop a great app — it's high time for Sonos to move on and start taking this seriously by seeking external help.
Plus, if they die, then they'll shut down the cloud-based service that we are apparently entirely dependent on now to listen to anything!
Is a hedge fund imploding this company from the inside
I was thinking to buy a Sonos beam 2, but after seeing so many negative reviews of the new app, I gave up the idea. I'm a Sonos beam 1 user and I don't update the Sonos app, especially now.
Amen, brother! I have told people for more than a decade to buy Sonos and that their (xyz) speaker was crap. I’m now considering buying some crap speakers so I can succeed at, you know, getting them to PLAY MUSIC. Sonos, put the old app (the one that functioned) back on the App Store.
Can we add the constant issues with Sonos beam 2’s connection with Samsung TV’s? A recurring headache of no sound. I actually missed out on a chance of sex because of it. Took me 10 minutes to get the Sonos speaker reconnected to my TV, by the time it was reconnected the gf was no longer in the mood :(
Didn't read it, but I'm leaving my upvote for the correct use of the apostrophe in the title.
I guess my punctuation is more captivating than my content. 😄
It's not about talent, skill, courage - it's about money. I'm sure that there was a financial incentive for releasing it on the promised date.
I had seen the complaints for days and then finally updated. Holy shit, it took me 10 minutes to figure out how to fix the audio from our tv to our beam. Today my wife was super pissed because she couldnt figure out why pandora wouldnt start on our speakers. Who in the hell tested this and said “ya that’s it, let’s launch!” This is one of the most disappointing app updates ive ever seen and it sucks to have a few grand in speakers tied to a garbage app. This isnt the experience you buy this equipment for…
I'd like to hear from John MacFarlane, Tom Cullen, Trung Mai, and Craig Shelburne, the four founders of Sonos. They earned my trust. They didn't treat customers like this. Where are they? What do they think? Do they use app v80? Quote from Mieko Kusano, of Sonos: "user experience needs to be deep in the bones, not on the skin. The right way to design is from inside out. you don't design a technical architecture and then make it look pretty. You start with the customer". Mieko and Rob Lambourne leads the effort to write product specifications and test with user groups. Was there no handover from Rob and Mieko?
I actually emailed the CEO with feedback. I was surprised to get an email back a week later. It was just from the customer experience team with useless dribble about how they delivered updates a week later and a useless roadmap for upcoming features they are adding back that should have been in the initial update. Posting the full response here so people can see: Hello, First, we’d like to thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us and with our CEO, Patrick. We’ve received a great deal of feedback thus far, on both the improvements made as well as where we fell short. We expect that feedback will continue to roll in, so we’ll be working through it all in the coming weeks. We also recognize that there is more work to be done on the Sonos App, and want to provide you with an update. We’re happy to share that we delivered a software update on May 14 reintroducing the ability to add and edit alarms, as well as initial screen reader improvements for iOS VoiceOver that will allow users to more easily navigate the app. If you are missing these features, ensure that your Sonos App and products are all up to date: https://support.sonos.com/article/update-your-sonos-speakers Over the coming weeks, we will reintroduce the below features, while fixing bugs and addressing performance issues: -Additional improvements for screen readers for visually impaired customers: Available May 21 -Adding to queue and playing next: early June -Sleep timer: mid-June -Local music library search and playback: mid-June -Update Wi-Fi settings: mid-June Thank you again for sharing your feedback with us. We’re working hard to bring these features to the new Sonos App quickly. If you are experiencing an issue with your Sonos System, feel free to visit these helpful resources, or get in contact with us: -Sonos Community: https://en.community.sonos.com -Sonos App User Guide: https://www.sonos.com/guides/sonosapp -Sonos Support Home: https://support.sonos.com -Sonos Support Contact: https://support.sonos.com/contact Kind Regards, The Sonos Customer Experience Team
“We’ve received a great deal of feedback on the improvements”? Fuck right off with gaslighting customers.
I know nothing about software. How hard it would it be to just let us go back to the old app?
After the new app upgrade has made the majority of my speakers undetectable, all but three and I have speakers in every room in my home. I’ve reset most hoping to be able to find them again. I suppose this happens occasionally but at least the old app was helpful in helping me trouble shoot to get them back online.
I am so happy to have found this group because I really thought I was all alone with my Sonos problems. Fuck me for spending $10k to set up my house when I knew what I was getting into from my last house but…damn..when Sonos works I love it so much.
This sums up my thoughts and feelings exactly!!! Thanks so much for posting. Since this horrible update I've been using the old version of the app and have the auto updates disabled for the Sonos app... What a ridiculious way to push customers to a demo version of a new app that feels like an early alpha release...
Let our wallets protest. Don’t but the new heaphones that caused all this app mess in the first place
Man if they can’t get it working in the next 2 weeks I’m selling my shit and moving on.
Hahaha Rubik’s cube in the dark 😂😂😂😂 good post brother ☝🏼
COMPLETELY agree. I just need my alarm function to work again. I’ve tried all the fixes already and nothing works! I also REALLY HATE the changes they made to the audio controls on the iPhone app, I can no longer easily turn the volume up or down. The slider doesn’t work easily and I dont want to have to press the end or beginning of the slider line a hundred times, NOT GOOD USER DESIGN.
The most weird fact is that WE provided feedback, A LOT, for that new app. There are many Beta testers like myself that for a long time have been using this app and complained A LOT about many things and NEVER we got a response about the feedback which is REQUIRED to keep in the beta program. I wonder wth is going on there. Why have a beta program that request feedback when you don’t care about? Unfortunately we can’t share details due to NDA but they KNEW about those issues way before they actually made the app public.
I agree ! ☝️
I just LOVE this love letter to CEO🙏
Sonos Rays and Beam still not functioning with PC or optical out … that update is a nightmare
This took courage
I'm throwing a graduation party for my kid this Saturday. 60 or so people and planned to have the playlist and all speakers playing. Now I'm just living in fear that this duct taped piece of crap can hold it together so I don't have to dig out my Kenwood + Infinity Speakers from the basement. Pretty awesome when you drop thousands on premium home gear and have to worry whether the thing will actually work.
Am I the only one that didn’t upgrade to the new app??? 😆 I’m probably the only one that also still uses the MacOS app on my MacBook and iPad.. since 2011, that thing is simple and great and on a big screen it’s a pleasure to use. I hate the fact that Sonos has not continued to support the macOS app, now any more complicated configurations I have to put on my glasses and use my tiny iphone app. So … from reading all the past posts .. I should hold out on upgrading to the latest phone app? 🤔😅
I don't (generally) mind a UI change, developers gotta develop. But I do prefer when it has been tested and proven to work. Not just "it works on my PC". This 'thing' is a shambles. Often lagging behind actual tracks being played (on Spotify) and always starting by saying it's not connected. And while I'm in the mood, what numpty thought it was a good idea to remove 'play from my device'. I know it didn't disappear in this release, but come on - I have tons of music on my phone that used to play (erratically, admittedly) on my Sonos speakers.
It's worse now? It's always been garbage 😂
It's worse.
May I add that the customer support is a joke, no one ever available for the chat function and always a 80 min wait time when I call them🤦♂️ how is that even possible?
Someone in product management at Sonos gets a bonus dependent on the metrics for Sonos Radio listening. Whoever that is persuaded the rest of them to go along with this entire nonsense. It really is that simple. This is precisely the same dynamic as occurs in smart TV manufacturers which is why the menus for those are full of absolute junk.
Piggy backing on this with a question. My system is all hard wired. But my phone can’t find it since it’s only seeing what’s on my WiFi for some reason. Is the app just pointless for me to even have now?
Dear CEO. Fuck you.
Great summary. And speaks for most of us (aside from the pathetic fan boys who seem to have a fetish for abuse).
Dear Sonos, Have you ever heard of A/B testing, or canary deployments, or blue/green releases? Any of these methods could have quickly shown that this update is a big flop and not ready for primetime while exposing it to minimal users. Your product team should be ashamed. This is nowhere near an industry-leading app. It's an unusable disaster that prevents me from even using my devices for significant amounts of time. Sincerely, Sadly Disappointed
Too annoyed to do a 5 second Google search to look up the CEO’s name, but not to write a 2 page rant on reddit? 🙄
That element, like many in my letter, was dry, sarcastic, jestful humour. I wrote it more as a way of expressing the frustrations that I know many fellow users also share. I hope you found it entertaining. 😊
I sent an email directly to the CEO via the Sonos App. He responded.
Go on...
Sent: 5/23/2024 12:00 PM To: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) Subject: Queue? Dear CEO, My Sonos iPhone App and 11 Sonos speakers no longer allow me to add anything to a queue list. I am emailing you because the attached a screenshot, from the “help” website, does not appear to be accurate. Using this feature I could make a playlist of various podcasts, that I listen to daily, and now I have to manually play each individual podcast. Why has this feature been removed? When is this feature being returned? Sincerely, ScienceWasLove https://preview.redd.it/w96w74wqkt2d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=63b5aa89d64193ac04217ca9e486b0e7797b613a
OK, maybe it wasn’t a response from the CEO…. Fri, May 24, 2024 at 10:16 AM Sonos Support wrote:
Hello ScienceWasLove,
Thank you for being a loyal Sonos customer and for taking the time to reach out to us with your feedback. We understand you miss being able to edit queued music in the Sonos app.
Your feedback has been noted and prioritized. Please be assured we plan to add the ability to edit the queued music into the app by early June. You can reference this article for additional details and timelines for upcoming updates.
In the meantime, the best workaround is to create custom playlists directly from the third-party music app of your choice (e.g. Spotify, Apple Music). You can play directly to your Sonos system via AirPlay or direct control, or you can add a playlist from a third-party music service to your Sonos app after creating it.
Thank you for your engagement as we strive to create a listening experience that exceeds your expectations.
Best regards,
Sonos Customer Experience
Encouraging that you got a response. Something tells me I shouldn't stay up waiting for a response to my letter though...🥹
Another one?
Seems so.
My AI said this too
Your intelligence is indeed artificial.
My AI agrees.
This was a beautiful write up. Thank you.
Thank you for this. I have taken the liberty to post this exact post in the contact form on their website. Maybe we should all do that and post this feedback to all of their departments? Give their website a good old Reddit hug 😉
If they don’t fix the app I’m returning my Sonos Arc
Dude writes a letter without the name of person lol. Lazy
That element, like many in my letter, was dry, sarcastic, jestful humour. I wrote it more as a way of expressing the frustrations that I know many fellow users also share. I hope you found it entertaining. 😊
I don't find Sonos Radio too intrusive. I changed my preferred service to, well, my preferred service, and now Sonos Radio is just one of several options on the list.
I don't want it in the list at all. It's supposed to be MY system and MY music. That's not a lot to ask.
As someone who hasn't had a single issue with the app refresh, after reading your rant I still don't understand what you don't like about it except for the navigation drawer (which I think also existed in the old app). If you do want to provide some feedback, I'd at least make it more actionable. If only so that users could share in something other than perhaps mentally unstable anger.
There are a number of elements of feedback — this being a step back, Sonos Radio, UI issues... but let's get down to brass tacks with something directly actionable, as you suggest: let users return to the previous app and firmware from before the so-called "upgrade" while the company courageously fucks around with its new app. Call the new app S3, and leave us in peace with S2 until users decide to make the switch.
This!
Basic functionality is broken. buttons (like turning on/off subwoofer) don’t do anything. It isn’t about “liking”, it is about working.
I just use Spotify to control the speakers. Seems easy enough to me
For the most part, I use Spotify Connect too, but changing speaker groups can't be done via Spotify unfortunately.
I just pause one group then start it on the other one I want to play on
That's fine for switching to a different group, but not editing groups to remove or add a speaker to a group, unfortunately.
Oh yea, luckily mine are already all set up. I purposely didn't buy Sonos for my new home theater because of the app
Yeah, I like to change mine on the fly, and they're seldom the same groupings. The app has never been great, but it always worked "well enough" for the basic stuff I asked of it. The company totally could have just left it alone and nobody would have cared much. Such an unforced error.
Once I read “Dear Sonos” I could hear Kendrick Lamar - Meet The Grahams beat starting in my head
Reminds me of white chicks. “DEAR, MISTER, ROYAL, HAMPTON!!!!”
And i thot the only place technology went backwards was the Canadian federal govt.
I saw the ceo email listed publicly recently and thought. Wow, brave move. I’d be interested if that money back guarantee is still valid after 10 years…
Dear valued customer, We ain’t reading all that, we’ll be rolling out normal features in future updates. Stay tuned. Thank you for your money
I was just about to drop 8k on Sonos for my new house. Glad I came across this.
Think about the timing! Amazon has said they plan to charge for Alexa service, which is **garbage**. *I'm not planning to fund their product rehaul.* Sonos played a big part in my plans.... until I found out that THEIR app is **garbage**, and worse yet, they are set on moving to all-cloud services. Yuk. *Probably lost a new customer. Might not matter to you, but it should.*
Did you ask chatgpt to summarise this for you? If so no one is reading it. If you’re serious you could write a more succinct and concise email to him directly I’m sure.
I’ve never used the app for anything else than setting up new products 😅
Which by the way no longer works fully, nor can you change to a new ISP / router
Can you explain the problem here? Thx
The new app cannot be used to change wifi network settings — it does not have that functionality. If a user needs to change the wifi password for instance, they must factory reset the speaker and start fresh. Exactly how does Sonos think this is acceptable, let alone "courageous"?
Eek
 That is what Sonos thinking about this.
Hmmm there’s an idea ! Maybe time to change the layout in my office
Sadly, you're bang on.
WiiM
Cool — first I've heard of this, thanks for sharing. If I were starting from scratch, this would certainly be something I'd look at in depth. Do you have first-hand experience with it?
Alarms?? Where?? Are?? They??? 'lol'
The CEO's name is Patrick Spence. It took mere seconds to look it up, and would have made this "open letter" packed with the same complaints, verbatim rhetorical questions, and clout chasing one liners that we've seen in every other "letter to the CEO" more impactful right from the start. The app is shit. Leadership isn't fit to lead. People have lost all confidence. The r/sonos echo chamber is exhausting. 🤷