I’m sure Sonos can’t wait for 2024 to be over. What was supposed to be a triumphant year, with some major new product categories like the Sonos Ace headphones that are great for movies (if not the rest of your Sonos multi-room system), was marred by the months-long saga surrounding the Sonos 2024 app.
And according to a new report, with the app still unfinished, Sonos is considering a radical solution: bringing back the old app.
That doesn’t mean Sonos is abandoning the new app or the current fortnightly update schedule. But at least some people in the company’s leadership ranks believe that returning to the old app could give Sonos some breathing room while the company continues to work on the newer, more cloud-based system.
Why Sonos might bring back the old app
While Sonos CEO Patrick Spence remains committed to the new app, he admits that its launch was a disaster – not only for the company’s reputation, but also for its finances: In a call with investors last week, he said it would cost an additional $20 to $30 million to get the app to where Sonos and its customers want it.
The multi-room audio pioneer has already postponed two product launches this year, most likely the Sonos Arc 2 (which is reportedly still being worked on under the codename Lasso) and another as-yet-unannounced new product.
That wasn’t the plan for this year: Sonos expected to see significant revenue from its new products in the second half of 2024—that is, the long-awaited harvest from its April 2022 acquisition of speaker maker Mayht Holding BV. (For more detailed information on this, see TechRadar’s interview with Brandon Holley, Product Creation Lead at Sonos, last year. In short, plans for late 2023 included a new high-end amplifier codenamed “Premier” for the second half of 2024, new 8-inch ceiling speakers and subwoofer codenamed “Lotus,” and the Arc 2, none of which we’ve seen yet.)
Bringing the app back may not be as easy as it sounds, but if Sonos decides to revive it, it could provide much-needed respite: We continue to receive messages from unhappy Sonos customers whose apps still don’t offer the features they consider crucial, and as you can see from the very low rating on Google Play – currently 1.2 stars after over 200,000 reviews – there are a lot of disappointed Sonos customers. While each update improves the app, for some that’s not enough.
Bringing back the old app would hopefully appease those customers, many of whom feel Sonos effectively forced an unwanted downgrade on them when it launched the 2024 app. And it could be an important first step in restoring a reputation that has been badly damaged in the three months since the new app was launched.
