Setting up a Sonos home theater system encountered persistent problems, such as adding a Sonos wireless subwoofer that the app failed to recognize. The app displayed a “Could not connect” message or showed a gray box labeled “product” with an unrelated serial number. These issues led to frustration, resulting in multiple factory resets, phone restarts, and ultimately, a call to Sonos tech support.
Sonos’ new app has caused widespread problems since its radical redesign in May, breaking key features like the ability to change the volume on some speaker systems, angering many longtime fans. More than two months later, Sonos CEO Patrick Spence acknowledged customer disappointment in a note posted on the company’s Instagram account, apologizing for the frustration and stating that fixing the app is Sonos’ “number one priority.”
The post directs customers to a detailed list of Sonos software updates and outlines a roadmap for improvements:
•Music Library configuration, browse, search, and play (July and August)
•Improved volume responsiveness (August)
•Enhanced alarm consistency and reliability (September)
•Restored edit mode for playlists (September and October)
The number of necessary improvements is substantial. No other software update in consumer tech history has removed basic functionality like volume control without immediate correction. Despite reaching out, Sonos has yet to explain why the timeline for fixes is so prolonged.
Sonos’ hardware remains the gold standard in premium consumer audio. The Sonos home theater system impressed with its audio quality, yet the frustration with the software remains significant.
The company’s decision to split its controller software into two separate Sonos apps, one for new speakers and one for legacy speakers, previously led to a complete overhaul of a Sonos household setup. The current situation, with users unable to edit playlists until September, exacerbates this ongoing dissatisfaction. Despite the hardware’s excellence, the software issues continue to undermine the overall experience.
