(Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
UPDATE 8/20: Sonos has abandoned plans to re-release the old app.
"Until very recently, I’d been hopeful that we could re-release the old app (S2) as an alternative for those of you that are having issues that we’ve not yet resolved," Sonos CEO Patrick Spence said in a Tuesday Reddit AMA. "After doing extensive testing, we’ve reluctantly concluded that re-releasing S2 would make the problems worse, not better."
As Spence explains, "Sonos is not just the mobile app, but software that runs on your speakers and in the cloud, too. 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 is less reliable & less stable [than] what you remember.
"If there's a silver lining here, it's that we are fully focused on getting the new software running successfully in your home," he adds.
Original Story 8/15:
Sonos may resurrect its old app as it continues to improve its unpopular successor.
In April, the company launched an updated version of the Sonos app, which controls its home speakers. It removed many basic features, however, prompting harsh criticism on social media. Sonos CEO Patrick Spence apologized last month and promised to fix the new app with bi-weekly updates through October.
According to The Verge, the situation has forced the top brass at Sonos to consider reviving the old app, known as S2. Many customers have also inquired about the possibility of restoring the old app. Right now, only the new version is available on Google Play and the App Store.
Sonos is currently fighting battles on multiple fronts. This week, the company laid off 100 employees. Last week, during an earnings call, Spence announced that the "app situation" had forced the company to postpone the launch of two new products.
“The app situation has become a headwind to existing product sales, and we believe our focus needs to be addressing the app ahead of everything else. This means delaying the two major new product releases we had planned for Q4 until our app experience meets the level of quality that we, our customers, and our partners expect from Sonos,” Spence said.
The CEO further admitted that his execution of the new app “fell short of the mark” and fixing it could cost the company anything between $20 and $30 million.
In a separate statement given to The Verge, Spencer said that the recent layoffs won’t affect the app recovery and “delighting our customers remains our priority.”