Sonos Can’t Bring Back Its Old App

Sonos was secretly planning to bring back its old app, but now CEO Patrick Spence says that doing so is technically impossible.

“Sonos isn’t just the mobile app, but software that runs on your speakers and in the cloud too,” Mr. Spence explained in a Reddit AMA on Tuesday. “In the months since the new mobile app launched, we’ve been updating the software that runs on our speakers and in the cloud to the point where today S2 [the old app] is less reliable and less stable then what you remember. After doing extensive testing we’ve reluctantly concluded that re-releasing S2 [the old app] would make the problems worse, not better. I’m sure this is disappointing. It was disappointing to me.”

Spence is referring, of course, to the drama that’s consumed his company since it launched a horrifically bad new app for its smart speakers in May. In the three long months since that app appeared, Sonos has fixed a few bugs but won’t bring back the many features the new app removed for months to come. The firm announced diminished financial results and laid off 100 employees, and it delayed two new products so it fix the problems with its app.

“Until recently,” Sonos believed it could bring back the old app temporarily, which would help quiet the complaints. But now there’s no relief in sight. Again.

“Everything has been on the table in terms of finding the fastest path to fixing your systems,” Spence said. “If there’s a silver lining [to its inability to bring back the old app], it’s that we are fully focused on getting the new software running successfully in your home.”

Spence also said that the next update to its horrible new app is on track for next week, brining “a host of improvements, with a special focus on making setting up new products more reliable.” It’s unclear how that helps anyone: I can’t imagine Sonos has many new customers coming on board, and existing customers, no matter how loyal, would be crazy to invest in more of this company’s equipment now. But setting up Sonos products that were previously set up has been “a particular pain point,” Spence said, and “the number one reason for people contacting customer care.”