Sonos CEO apologizes for its new app, details timeline for fixing it

Sonos launched an all-new version of its app in May that was quickly met with backlash. The company has been listening to feedback and making improvements in the weeks and months since. But now Sonos CEO Patrick Spence has emailed customers sharing an apology and a detailed timeline of what to expect as the company prioritizes fixing the app.

Here’s the opening of the email Spence sent to Sonos customers today:

We developed the new app to create a better experience, with the ability to drive more innovation in the future, and with the knowledge that it would get better over time. However, since launch we have found a number of issues. Fixing these issues has delayed our prior plan to quickly incorporate missing features and functionality.

Since May 7, we have released new software updates approximately every two weeks, each making significant and meaningful improvements, adding features and fixing bugs. Please see the release notes for Sonos software updates for detailed information on what has been released to date.

He goes on to share that Sonos has delivered updates to the new app roughly every two weeks since May 7 which has fixed some of the issues customers raised. But he notes “there is more work to be done” with the company settling on a schedule for upcoming feature restoration through October.

Sonos app update timeline

July and August:

• Improving the stability when adding new products
• Implementing Music Library configuration, browse, search, and play

August and September:

• Improving Volume responsiveness
• User Interface improvements based on customer feedback
• Improving overall system stability and error handling

September:

• Improving the reliability of Alarm consistency and reliability

September and October:

• Restoring edit mode for Playlists and the Queue
• Improving functionality in settings

Spence closes by saying he and Sonos “deeply appreciate” customers’ patience and “we have work to do to earn back your trust and are working hard to do just that.”

Updates will continue to be released bi-weekly with detailed release notes. What do you think about these priorities and the timeline? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Here’s the full email sent to Sonos customers:

To our listeners,

We know that too many of you have experienced significant problems with our new app which rolled out on May 7, and I want to begin by personally apologizing for disappointing you. There isn’t an employee at Sonos who isn’t pained by having let you down, and I assure you that fixing the app for all of our customers and partners has been, and continues to be, our number one priority.

We developed the new app to create a better experience, with the ability to drive more innovation in the future, and with the knowledge that it would get better over time. However, since launch we have found a number of issues. Fixing these issues has delayed our prior plan to quickly incorporate missing features and functionality.

Since May 7, we have released new software updates approximately every two weeks, each making significant and meaningful improvements, adding features and fixing bugs. Please see the release notes for Sonos software updates for detailed information on what has been released to date.

While these software updates have enabled the majority of our customers to have a robust experience using the Sonos app, there is more work to be done. We have prioritized the following improvements in our next phase of software updates:

July and August:
Improving the stability when adding new products
Implementing Music Library configuration, browse, search, and play
August and September:
Improving Volume responsiveness
User Interface improvements based on customer feedback
Improving overall system stability and error handling
September:
Improving the reliability of Alarm consistency and reliability
September and October:
Restoring edit mode for Playlists and the Queue
Improving functionality in settings

We plan to continue releasing new software updates on a bi-weekly cadence. With each release, we will share detailed notes on what we’ve addressed and what we’re working on next in our Community.

We deeply appreciate your patience as we address these issues. We know we have work to do to earn back your trust and are working hard to do just that. I am always open to your feedback, you can find me via email at [email protected] .

Sincerely,
Patrick Spence