Sonos the US audio Company, that was quite happy to shaft early adopters of their networked sound gear, by nobbling their early app in an effort to force them to upgrade to a new Sonos sound system, is again having to respond to an avalanche of complaints about their latest app upgrade.
Released earlier this week it only took hours before the howl of complaints could be heard around the world, relating to missing features such not being able to access local music libraries or edit playlists which some claim was deliberate in an effort to push Sonos streaming revenues.
There are also issues with the omission of the sleep timer as well as accessibility issues.
Sonos claim they are aware of the howl off complaints, with the latest debacle coming days after their new headphones were leaked by a German supplier.
The business that is bleeding sales and profits, claims they are working to address the functionality issues, but what has not been answered is how the app actually got released with so many problems. 
“Redesigning the Sonos app is an ambitious undertaking that represents just how seriously we are committed to invention and re-invention,” said chief product officer Maxime Bouvat-Merlin.
As for all the missing features, Bouvat-Merlin says the company is “working diligently to reintroduce them in the coming months, alongside additional enhancements that will make for an even better app experience.”
There was no comment as to why they were left out in the first place.
What’s not being talked about is exercise appears to be similar to past app problems.
The Sonos OS was initially a proprietary network which the business quickly realised was a major mistake as consumers moved to open-source streaming and Bluetooth.
By this stage the business had tens of thousands of customers who had paid a premium price for a Sonos networked speaker that would only work on their network.
Sonos’s initial plan was to force customers to throw away older speakers by blocking them from receiving software updates via their earlier app.
Like their latest app stuff up, the criticism from its loyal users was loud and vocal forcing the business to have a change of attitude.
Even their latest apology appears to have been taken from their 2020 spin book “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,” the Sonos chief executive, Patrick Spence, wrote in an open letter.
“We heard you on the issue of legacy products and modern products not being able to co-exist 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 finalising details on this plan and will share more in the coming weeks.”
The problem now is that a lot of people have been left wondering why the app had to be rolled out now, when it clearly was not ready for mass market exposure.
Like the last time Sonos customers who are already deserting the brand for superior alternative network speakers are vocal
When Sonos says, “in the coming months,” it means months” wrote one user.
One owner wrote on a Sonos Community page ‘I have raised this issue multiple times. Numerous users have also raised the issue. The Sonos App is clumsy, complicated, counterintuitive to use. Most importantly, IT DOES NOT WORK. It keeps losing connection. I want Sono’s support to stop telling me that it is because of my devices or my Wi-Fi set-up. It is not. It is because the Sonos App is badly coded’.
In what appears to be a sob claim Maxime Bouvat-Merlin claims “It takes courage to rebuild a brand’s core product from the ground up, and to do so knowing it may require taking a few steps back to ultimately leap into the future”.
Really why is it that other Companies can get software updates right and Sonos constantly screws up.
Maybe it’s time for new management and people who actually know what they are doing.
