Sonos apologizes for horrible, terrible, no good app rollout

In April, Sonos unveiled a new version of its mobile app, promising more flexibility, improved customization, and ease of use.

But when the app was actually released to customers on May 7, the result was very different, with customers experiencing numerous issues, and many of them unhappy about certain functions (some quite obvious, like "play next") being removed. For Sonos users, this was a big deal, as the Sonos app is an important way to interact with a home audio system and music library.

At first, Sonos was defensive, claiming that the app overhaul took "courage." Now, in an open letter published on the company website, Sonos CEO Patrick Spence admitted that the app overhaul has been a disaster.

"We know that too many of you have experienced significant problems with our new app which rolled out on May 7, and I want to begin by personally apologizing for disappointing you," he wrote. "I assure you that fixing the app for all of our customers and partners has been and continues to be our number one priority."

According to Spence, the numerous fixes the company has released since May have "enabled the majority of our customers to have a robust experience using the Sonos app."

He then lists a number of planned updates to be released from July to October and, frankly, one look at the items on that list and it's easy to understand just how botched this app update has been. The updates include "improving the stability when adding new products," "improving Volume responsiveness," "user interface improvements based on customer feedback," and "improving overall system stability and error handling." For a full list, check here.

Sonos plans to release software updates on a bi-weekly schedule, and asks for patience as it continues rebuilding its app.