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Sonos Promises to Recommit to Software Quality and Customer Experience After App Disaster
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"a fish rots from the head" as they say
Very sad situation with the Sonos app! I think it was July when Sonos fessed up that they had messed up with their new app and said they were going to set up ability to revert to previous app, then couldn’t due to changes in code. They were also going to regularly update consumers on status of fixing thing, but have rarely heard any updates. And now, in two+ months, it seems a corrected app is nowhere to be seen. Not saying writing software is easy, but …. I’m coming to agree that there need to be changes at the top.
I hope Apple does the same and focuses on software quality instead of Apple TV shows no one watches and VR headsets no one uses.
Early/former Sonos user here (2x Play:1, Play:3 & 1st gen Sonos Connect). Original system was absolutely rock solid. S2 started to introduce problems culminating in speakers needing to be constantly reset to stay connected to a mesh WiFi network. The problems got that bad, especially with the bedroom Play1 losing connection and blasting a klaxon rather than the tinkly classical radio to wake us up, that we wound up selling the entire system and replacing with OG HomePod & HomePod minis. Not quite as good sound wise, not quite as flexible but absolutely rock solid and reliable.
Sonos’ fall from grace has been so sad to see given that they were once the watchword for quality and reliability. From the S2 debacle onwards, Spence has been leading the charge. I’m truly baffled as to how he is still in post given the repeated failures and damage to the brand he has actively presided over.
Sonos’ fall from grace has been so sad to see given that they were once the watchword for quality and reliability. From the S2 debacle onwards, Spence has been leading the charge. I’m truly baffled as to how he is still in post given the repeated failures and damage to the brand he has actively presided over.
Others will then say Can't Innovate. You can't win.
Maybe I’m in the minority, but the new app works fine for me, and I do t find more convoluted than before. Features I used are either as deep in the menus as they were, or more accessible. And apart from that period of about a week that the speakers would mute themselves randomly (was widespread from what I gathered), they work as fine as they ever did.
Yes, releasing an app that was missing features that were already included in the previous app was a mistake, but they appear to have learned (and whilst annoying, I was able to change the alarms using the desktop app). But I see no reason to completely get rid of my system, especially given they quickly added it back.
Everyone makes mistakes, that’s what makes us humans!
Yes, releasing an app that was missing features that were already included in the previous app was a mistake, but they appear to have learned (and whilst annoying, I was able to change the alarms using the desktop app). But I see no reason to completely get rid of my system, especially given they quickly added it back.
Everyone makes mistakes, that’s what makes us humans!
I don’t think we can trust Sonos at all. They knew the app was bad - none of the issues were news to them. The employees on the ground told management what a ******** the app was - and they did it anyway. This simple fact that they did it anyway is enough to not trust them again. Fool me once and all that.
Apple couldn’t care less what other app developers do or what language the app is written in as long as it follows some simple rules before app submission.
This situation reeks of (and I say this as a developer who experienced this many times), project management wanting something shipped before it’s ready so their numbers look good on paper.
There’s this prevailing idea in the project management world that writing software is no different than writing an email and that project managers know better than software engineers.
This means developers are often not given remotely enough time to create what they want/need to create because some idiot MBA is allowed to run the show instead of the software engineering team.
I’d wager money that’s what happened here.
Pure damage control, but months too late.
Sadly I won’t be investing in anymore hardware from Sonos.
How did we get in this position and why didn’t they switch straight back to the old app immediately? They could have run both apps together until they sorted the new one. But no, they decided they knew better and doubled down on denying there was even an issue. Poor. Very poor.
Sadly I won’t be investing in anymore hardware from Sonos.
How did we get in this position and why didn’t they switch straight back to the old app immediately? They could have run both apps together until they sorted the new one. But no, they decided they knew better and doubled down on denying there was even an issue. Poor. Very poor.
I love how he said he might not pay himself a bonus this year. 🤣🤣
CEO’s are the worst. They can absolutely ruin a company and other peoples livings but still take home massive bags of cash for complete incompetence.
CEO’s and their ilk are the real ones that are destroying society.
CEO’s are the worst. They can absolutely ruin a company and other peoples livings but still take home massive bags of cash for complete incompetence.
CEO’s and their ilk are the real ones that are destroying society.
I find it interesting that the announcement doesn't include any mention of additional engineering, design, or UX resources.
I say this because just two months ago, Sonos laid off 6% of their workforce which included engineers.
Without additional resources, Sonos' plan sounds like added work on top of everything the engineers and designers were already doing to appease the management.
Also, who is going to manage the management that fumbled this so badly the first time around?
I say this because just two months ago, Sonos laid off 6% of their workforce which included engineers.
Without additional resources, Sonos' plan sounds like added work on top of everything the engineers and designers were already doing to appease the management.
Also, who is going to manage the management that fumbled this so badly the first time around?
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From what I understand, Sonos had already updated the server software which didn't work with the old app and there was no way to "downdate" the servers to the earlier version.
Apparently Sonos decided to go with the genius plan of switching to Flutter as their development environment in the hope that they could write once and deploy on any platform.
What they didn't realize is that the grass isn't actually greener on that side of the fence because there are a lot of limitations and complications that arise from this approach.
Yea I noticed that little bit too. They basically have their bonuses secured, they just have to say they met a metric they themselves set.
What I don’t understand is that the top staff didn’t choose to forego their bonuses for this year, to pay that out to their employees, who’ve been so let down by their leadership this year.
This is what the video feels like. I was in the market to buy a Sonos Product or two, but with the app problem did hold of and will for a while to see a real change.
Yeah that's why we're getting any semblance of an apology in the first place - custom installs. It's big business.
There's a lot of negative comments here essentially focusing on the awful new Sonos App and that it shouldn't have been released in the first place.
While I agree with that, mistakes happen and I appreciate Sonos not trying to pretend it didn't do anything wrong and instead laying out steps to prevent a similar train wreck in the future.
I'm a lifelong Apple user, but it was so frustrating when Apple kept trying to pretend there was nothing wrong with the 2016 MacBook Pro keyboard that they attempted to subtly fix each year without ever acknowledging the problem.
The current design of MacBook Pro was such a a surprise because nobody expected Apple to address past mistakes in such an obvious way, so to see a properly fixed keyboard, improved thermals, and restoration of MagSafe, HDMI and SD Card IO at the cost of a thicker device was seen as tacit acknowledgement that prioritising style over functionality was a mistake. It took years for Apple to fix their mistakes and to this day they never actually formally acknowledged those were genuine issues.
At least Sonos are owning their mistake and attempting to make things right.
While I agree with that, mistakes happen and I appreciate Sonos not trying to pretend it didn't do anything wrong and instead laying out steps to prevent a similar train wreck in the future.
I'm a lifelong Apple user, but it was so frustrating when Apple kept trying to pretend there was nothing wrong with the 2016 MacBook Pro keyboard that they attempted to subtly fix each year without ever acknowledging the problem.
The current design of MacBook Pro was such a a surprise because nobody expected Apple to address past mistakes in such an obvious way, so to see a properly fixed keyboard, improved thermals, and restoration of MagSafe, HDMI and SD Card IO at the cost of a thicker device was seen as tacit acknowledgement that prioritising style over functionality was a mistake. It took years for Apple to fix their mistakes and to this day they never actually formally acknowledged those were genuine issues.
At least Sonos are owning their mistake and attempting to make things right.
I've only had issues with Sonos and their API, and that was from before the new app. Syncing not working, updates not working, API generally being lacklustre and unreliable.