Sonos broke its app so bad, it needs to delay new hardware to fix it

The Sonos companion app is essential for those relying on the company’s excellent headphones and speakers, as it handles the setup process and playback controls. Recently, Sonos completely overhauled its mobile application, introducing a fresh design and a whole bunch of pesky bugs. Consequently, users flooded its Google Play Store listing with one-star reviews, demanding a fix for the now-broken app. To address users’ concerns, Sonos will delay two hardware launches and focus on optimizing its mobile app instead.

While Sonos just recently released the Roam 2 speaker and Ace headphones, the company still had two significant products planned for this year. However, due to the mobile app fiasco, CEO Patrick Spence announced that Sonos will postpone the hardware debuts to improve the app’s performance. During the third quarter’s earnings call (via The Verge), he stated:

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.

This move makes business sense, given the app’s primary role in setting up and controlling Sonos hardware. No matter how exceptional the upcoming speakers are, users would be bound to a subpar experience if the essential app is buggy and slow. So, by pausing their launch to patch the application, the company could save its future products’ reputation from being tainted by the messy software.

There’s currently no official word on what the planned products are or their new launch window. However, recent leaks suggest that one of them will be Sonos’ flagship soundbar, dubbed internally as Lasso.