Sonos responds to criticism of its app redesign, saying it takes “courage to rebuild” and that it's working to reintroduce missing features in the coming months
The VergeChris Welch
Context & Ripple Effects
Sonos had just replaced its mobile software in a rebuild aimed at improving reliability while planning to move desktop users toward web apps. That made the mobile experience a more central control layer for existing speakers, not simply a companion interface.
The response marked the start of a repair cycle that later included a CEO apology and a promised update cadence, underscoring how a software release had become a broader customer-trust issue for the hardware brand.
First-order effects
Customers missing familiar controls or workflows must wait for Sonos to restore them, while the company shifts engineering attention toward feature recovery.
Sonos publicly commits to treating the redesign as an unfinished rebuild rather than a completed launch, raising the importance of its next app releases.
Second-order effects
The disruption increases the cost of Sonos' move away from desktop apps: as more control functions concentrate in mobile and web software, gaps in either interface affect the perceived usefulness of installed hardware.
Support, product, and release teams are likely to be measured first on restoring parity and stability, constraining how quickly Sonos can redirect attention to new software initiatives.
Third-order effects
If hardware companies increasingly make device control software-dependent, app-release quality becomes a direct determinant of brand loyalty and upgrade willingness, not a secondary support concern.
The episode points to a tougher operating standard for connected-device makers: major interface rebuilds may require phased migration and feature-parity safeguards before legacy paths are removed.
The trend: Connected-hardware companies are being judged increasingly as software operators, with app reliability and feature continuity shaping the value of the physical product.
@Techmeme It also takes courage to say “we messed up” and allowing users to co-install the OG app so power users can use it until the new one gets to parity. It's not like Sonos products are cheap or interoperable with other options - people put have hundreds, sometimes thousand…
Sonos has been dropping features ever since it canned the hardware controllers and yes I cling to the ZP100 and clickwheel controller that does more than the app and doesn't make me prefer silence [embedded post]
New: Sonos has responded to the avalanche of customer feedback over its redesigned Android and iOS app. In a statement to The Verge, the company's chief product officer said “it takes courage to rebuild a brand's core product from the ground up.” https://www.theverge.com/... [ima…
Wtf! @Sonos tried to solve this yesterday without success! Your update is the worst in history. Tried for hours yesterday but didn't solve it! Thank you for the music - NOT!! #sonos #ikea #symfonisk [image]
The new @Sonos app is an absolute trash fire: local music search is busted, the new UI takes ages to do anything, the home page refuses to remember edits, playlists are not editable, alarms are gone and so on. The app might as well be beta, roll back S2 and release as S3 beta.
New @Sonos update is an ABSOLUTE DISASTER. Cannot access my own music library any more. If you have your own library, DO NOT UPDATE SONOS TO THE NEW VERSION. Complete fuck up. Thanks @Sonos.
@sonos I mean wtf were you thinking with this new update? Is a new feature “consistently loses connection” something you were aiming for, or are you just really bad at your job? #sonos [image]
My favorite feature of the Sonos app is when it either doesn't work at all or sends the volume from 0 to 100 billion decibels and then doesn't go back down. It's a great product that isn't bad at all.
its wild that sonos shipped their new app and it doesn't work you can't add a new speaker. you can't add a song to the queue you can't edit the queue you can't edit or change alarms. they didn't launch it as a beta - just replaced the app with something that doesn't work lol
Hey @Sonos this is really poor, taking away features from an app update! I purposely use your products to not need a PC device to interact with them. I also don't have the alarm option in my app install (even after re-install) 😡 [image]
The new @Sonos app feedback on @Reddit is sobering (and that's being kind). How did a premium brand deliver what may be the worst upgrade in app history? Have a look for yourself: https://www.reddit.com/... [image]
The Sonos app update has got to be the worst in history of all app updates. The UI is horrible. They released the update while removing basic functionality like queue editing and alarms, telling these features would come later, what was the project manager thinking? What a mess. …
It really is wild how bad the new @Sonos app is. I want to play from my Roam speaker only. Firstly it flat out refuses and only plays through the bedroom, and then only lets me play through the bedroom and the roam. [video]