Sonos Apologizes for App Update and Is Committed to Doing Better

One of the world’s most beloved audio brands upset a large portion of its loyal customer base when it released a major update to its app. The recent overhaul of the Sonos app for controlling the company’s range of wireless speakers and headphones hasn’t gone down well with customers. The update broke most of the software’s core functionality and missed many popular features.

Now, in response to the release and some troubling feedback from customers, Sonos has announced the launch of seven new commits following an internal review of the updated app released in May. Sonos says the commitments will ensure it “continues to deliver the world’s best wireless audio and its customers will always benefit from the quality for which Sonos has been known.”

“Since launch, our priority has been and continues to be to fix the app. There were missteps, and we first dug deep to understand how we got here and then took action to put those learnings into action,” said Sonos CEO Patrick Spence.

“We are committed to making changes that will allow us to get back to being the brand people love, offering the best audio for home and outdoors. “We must always do the right thing by our customers and with these commitments I am confident we will do so.”

Spence added: “To ensure we always deliver a superior customer experience, we are delivering on these commitments, which fall into two categories: addressing the root causes of app release issues and regaining our customers’ trust.

“To ensure we provide the highest level of customer experience; We will always establish ambitious quality criteria at the beginning of product development and will not launch products without meeting these criteria. “We will also develop the necessary tools to measure the quality of the experience delivered to our customers to ensure we maintain the standards our customers expect.”

The statement continued by explaining that the company will increase the rigor of the pre-launch testing stages. The Sonos beta testing program will now include more customer types and more diverse setups for a longer testing period. This will allow Sonos to find, diagnose and resolve customer concerns faster before they go to market.

Showing how badly Sonos made a mistake, the company says it will also show humility when implementing future changes. Unlike the all-in-one automated app version released in May, any major changes to the Sonos app will now be rolled out gradually, allowing customers to make adjustments and provide feedback before the app becomes the default version. For new features that are smaller in scope, Sonos says it will offer an opt-in option for experimental features in the app for customers who want to participate in testing them.

Sonos has also promised to appoint a Quality Ombudsman. The new role is designed to ensure employees have a clear path to raise concerns about quality and customer experience. Sonos executive leadership will consult with the Ombudsperson throughout the development process and before any product is released. The Ombudsperson will ensure transparency and issue a biannual report to management and employees and submit it regularly to the Sonos board of directors.

Sonos also said it is committed to a series of changes it hopes will begin to regain customers’ trust. The changes will also include extending the company’s home speaker warranties. To reflect the board’s strong belief in the quality of the company’s products, the manufacturer’s warranty will be extended by one year for all home theater and plug-in speaker products currently under warranty.

Other new measures include a commitment to improve the app experience through regular software upgrades. Sonos says it will release updated mobile software versions every two to four weeks to optimize and improve the experience, even if current issues are resolved.

A Customer Advisory Board is also being created to ensure Sonos never loses the voice of the customer. The board will provide feedback and insights from a customer perspective to help shape and improve future software and products before they are released.

Many of these initiatives announced today are already underway, and others will be implemented throughout the remainder of the year. To demonstrate the importance of these commitments to the company, no member of the Executive Leadership Team will accept any annual bonus payments for fiscal years October 2024 through September 2025 unless the company succeeds in improving the quality of the application experience and rebuilding customer trust.

Since the launch of the new Sonos app in May, the Sonos team has been releasing new software updates approximately every two weeks. New features, meaningful improvements and fixes are already available. Sonos says more than 80% of the app’s missing features have been restored, and the company expects nearly 100% to be restored in the coming weeks.

“We have made good progress in addressing many of our software issues, and these new commitments will lead us to emerge from this period with an even stronger commitment to quality,” Spence said.

The question remains why there has never been a satisfactory explanation as to how such a disastrous software update was signed and released by a company that by then had such a stellar reputation. It looks like the company is shocked by customers’ reactions to the new app. The old rule applies; If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Once you have a winning system and a good market segment, it is wise to choose evolution over revolution.

It looks like hubris may have gotten the better of Sonos. Despite some negative feedback from beta testers before launch, the company went ahead with the ill-fated update. The move cost Sonos dearly in terms of reputation as well as finances, but this statement of regret shows that the board has learned its lesson and won’t make such a costly mistake again.