Sonos CEO Patrick Spence issued an apology on Friday for the problematic launch of the company's redesigned app. He acknowledged that "too many" customers have encountered issues since its release in May. He pledged biweekly updates through the fall to address the problems.
The redesign aimed to modernize the Sonos app, making it more customizable and user-friendly. However, the rollout has been widely regarded as a significant misstep. Customer frustration has persisted despite frequent updates to restore missing features and fix bugs.
In his letter, Spence detailed the progress made with the new app and outlined what users can expect in the coming months. This marks Sonos's first direct apology, following initial responses that many felt dismissed the issues.
"I want to begin by personally apologizing for disappointing you," Spence wrote. "There isn't an employee at Sonos who isn't pained by having let you down. I assure you that fixing the app for our customers and partners has been and continues to be our number one priority."
Spence shared the company's roadmap through October, highlighting the biweekly updates to improve the app. Recent updates have addressed local library playback issues. Still, some popular features, like editing the song queue within the app, will be available in the fall.
In retrospect, Sonos might have avoided this backlash by releasing the new app as a beta for early adopters of the Sonos Ace headphones, which aren't compatible with the previous version, while maintaining the existing software for other users. However, with the new app already in use, Sonos focuses on enhancing its functionality as quickly as possible to meet customer expectations.