Sonos CEO apologizes for disastrous rollout of new app

3 months ago 41

The large Sonos app redesign was intended to marque the company’s bundle much modern, customizable, and easier to use. But 2 months aft its May release, it’s hard to look astatine this concern arsenic thing but a colossal unforced error. Sonos has been steadily adding backmost missing features and functionality with predominant app updates, but the chorus of lawsuit vexation isn’t going away.

To that end, CEO Patrick Spence contiguous published a letter that covers the advancement Sonos has made with the caller app — and what customers tin expect successful the adjacent future. It besides contains Sonos’ archetypal nonstop apology for the unsmooth spot that “too many” users person gone through. Some customers person been waiting for that aft the company’s archetypal responses (like saying the app overhaul took “courage”) came crossed arsenic code deaf.

“I privation to statesman by personally apologizing for disappointing you,” Spence writes. “There isn’t an worker astatine Sonos who isn’t pained by having fto you down, and I guarantee you that fixing the app for each of our customers and partners has been and continues to beryllium our number 1 priority.”

He goes connected to laic retired the company’s bundle roadmap from present done October. Sonos is presently updating and improving the app each 2 weeks and has astir precocious addressed issues with local room playback. But immoderate much-requested features — similar the quality to edit the opus queue from wrong the Sonos app — aren’t expected to beryllium disposable until the fall.

In hindsight, it’s painfully evident that Sonos should person released the rebuilt app arsenic a beta for aboriginal adopters of the Sonos Ace headphones, which aren’t compatible with the erstwhile version, and kept the existing bundle successful spot portion bringing the 2 to parity. But there’s nary putting the genie backmost successful the bottle, truthful present the institution is trying to enactment arsenic accelerated arsenic it tin to marque the caller app present connected everything it was designed to do.

We cognize that excessively galore of you person experienced important problems with our caller app which rolled retired connected May 7, and I privation to statesman by personally apologizing for disappointing you. There isn’t an worker astatine Sonos who isn’t pained by having fto you down, and I guarantee you that fixing the app for each of our customers and partners has been and continues to beryllium our number 1 priority.

We developed the caller app to make a amended experience, with the quality to thrust much innovation successful the future, and with the cognition that it would get amended implicit time. However, since motorboat we person recovered a fig of issues. Fixing these issues has delayed our anterior program to rapidly incorporated missing features and functionality.

Since May 7, we person released caller bundle updates astir each 2 weeks, each making important and meaningful improvements, adding features and fixing bugs. Please spot the release notes for Sonos bundle updates for elaborate accusation connected what has been released to date.

While these bundle updates person enabled the bulk of our customers to person a robust acquisition utilizing the Sonos app, determination is much enactment to beryllium done. We person prioritized the pursuing improvements successful our adjacent signifier of bundle updates:

July and August:

Improving the stableness erstwhile adding caller products

Implementing Music Library configuration, browse, search, and play

August and September:

Improving Volume responsiveness

User interface improvements based connected lawsuit feedback

Improving wide strategy stableness and mistake handling

September:

Improving Alarm consistency and reliability

September and October:

Restoring edit mode for Playlists and the Queue

Improving functionality successful settings

We program to proceed releasing caller bundle updates connected a bi-weekly cadence. With each release, we volition share detailed notes connected what we’ve addressed and what we’re moving connected adjacent successful our community.

We profoundly admit your patience arsenic we code these issues. We cognize we person enactment to bash to gain backmost your spot and are moving hard to bash conscionable that. I americium ever unfastened to your feedback, you tin find maine via email at ceo@sonos.com.

Sincerely,

Patrick Spence

CEO

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