Okay, the kindest way to put this is that the launch of the new Sonos app, on May 9, was met with universally mixed reviews. But to deliver, the multi-room audio giant has listened to customer feedback and now re-added some of the most requested features.
As we reported last month, large numbers of users took to the internet to express their frustration with the app: it was a significant redesign of an app that many customers use every day, and some were far from happy that the new app didn’t . contain some fairly basic functions.
Sonos responded by telling us: “We realize there are beloved features that our listeners would like to continue enjoying right now. We’re working hard to reintroduce these in the coming months, along with additional enhancements that will make for an even better app experience.”
And it looks like the company is keeping that promise. We’ve already seen one major app update, and now another one has just arrived.
What to expect from the new Sonos app update
Following on from the first update, which came out at the end of May, the new update brings three major features: sleep timers, “play next” and “add to queue”. It also adds support for the new Sonos Ace headphones.
The update is now available for Android, but it doesn’t check off everything on the to-do list. Sonos previously shared an update timeline detailing more features it plans to add in June, so you can expect a second update this month; that update should add improved playback controls and search for your local music library.
It’s definitely a step in the right direction, although as Sonos puts it in the aforementioned statement, the app “seems to have taken a few steps back before finally jumping into the future.” In any case, those steps are traced quite quickly, but the big question for me is: what has Sonos learned from this?
The outrage over the app wasn’t that users were afraid of change or that they didn’t like a new user interface; they were people who became quite (and rightly) upset because the basic functions they used, like setting an alarm to get them out of bed for work or study, had suddenly been removed. I’m not a Sonos user, but if my smart speakers lost their alarm function overnight without warning or apology, I would be furious – and probably stay that way long enough to abandon the entire ecosystem, out fear of what might happen. next deleted.
If you offer an entire ecosystem like Sonos, your customer needs to be confident that they won’t regret updating their app.