Sonos' redesigned app is awful, and everyone thinks so. The rushed redesign has been met with tons of bad ratings on the App Store since launching in May. But fixing it won't be as easy as just re-releasing the older app.
Last month, Sonos CEO Patrick Spence apologized for the rocky launch. He promised that the brand's top priority is fixing the app, even going as far as pushing back some product launches pegged for August. While the tech brand struggles to fix its major app blunder, many have wondered if simply rolling back to the old app would fix things. But in a Reddit AMA, Spence confirmed that Sonos had seriously considered re-releasing the old app but, after "extensive testing, we’ve reluctantly concluded that re-releasing S2 would make the problems worse, not better."
Currently, there's no way to use the older version of the app, with users in the Sonos ecosystem locked to the new and confusing UI of the newer iteration. While Sonos is working hard to update the new design and continuously improve the app, it's still not as functional as the previous version the company left in the past.
What happened to the Sonos app?
To give you a bit of backstory, Sonos dropped a new mobile app on May 7, and, to put it mildly, it didn’t exactly go down a treat. Users weren’t just unhappy – they were livid. The app was buggy, unreliable, and made the user experience about as enjoyable as stubbing your toe on a coffee table.
It’s a tough pill to swallow, especially for those who’ve been with Sonos since the early days. And while Spence insists that the app remains his “#1 priority,” the reality is that the path forward looks more like continuing to patch up the new app rather than resurrecting the old one.
On the bright side, Spence did mention the possibility of introducing two-factor authentication, which might add a layer of security that some users will appreciate.
