Sonos Executives Launched Super Buggy App Despite Push-Back From Employees
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In May, Sonos released a new version of its mobile app, and let’s just say the app was not popular among Sonos users. It was bug-ridden and lacked several features that had been available in the prior version. On Monday, Bloomberg took a deep dive into what went wrong with the development and launch of the app and why it was released — despite internal pressure not to release it.
Sonos was forced to release a new app alongside the launch of its Sonos Ace headphones due to “technical debt.” For two decades, Sonos had allowed its tech to lag behind when it came to its app. When it finally made an effort to revamp its app in mid-2022, the company was saddled with both infrastructure and code written in close-to-obsolete languages. The Sonos app had been tinkered with and patched with so often that the vast majority of work performed for the new app was focused on sorting out the mess of spaghetti code.
Sonos put off addressing the code mess, instead focusing on new features instead of rewriting the code in a modern language. This led to infrastructure issues, as introducing the new headphones required that the Sonos app and the cloud infrastructure behind it be overhauled.
While the app was in development, Sonos did some internal restructuring, which included staff cuts to cut costs. The report’s sources said that caused “chaos” by separating employees who had worked together for years. As the app’s launch neared, employees were said to have “forcefully” resorted to “yelling and screaming” as it became clear that the app was not ready to be launched.
Former Sonos employees told Bloomberg that Sonos focused on promises made to investors and attracting new customers rather than ensuring the equipment used by longtime customers continued to work properly. At least one employee confided that they were afraid to push back on the app more than they had, as they feared becoming unemployed.
Sonos Chief executive Patrick Spence told company lead counsel Eddie Lazarus to undertake what the company has called a “deep dive” and “reflection” into the events leading up to the launch of the new app. Lazarus told Bloomberg that the app had been delayed from early 2024 to May 2024 and that there was no “yelling” or “screaming” in the meetings. While Sonos is said to have had a list of “essential” bugs that needed to be fixed ahead of the app’s launch, it was decided that “less critical” bugs could be fixed after the app’s release.
“Our list of essential bugs, obviously, was not comprehensive enough,” Lazarus told Bloomberg.
Sonos is expecting to miss its annual revenue target by $200 million. The company has laid off employees, and told others not to expect yearly bonuses and merit-based pay raises.
In July, Spence apologized to Sonos customers and promised regular updates to address bugs and add missing features. While the company had been considering re-releasing its old iPhone app, it found that doing so would only make the situation worse due to backend updates to the firm’s cloud servers and the software the speakers run.
Sonos is delaying two upcoming product launches that had been scheduled for 2024 and is instead focusing squarely on improving the Sonos app. The company says it has “pulled together the very best and most experienced engineers” that it has to fix the app.
