Sonos, Inc. is an American audio equipment manufacturer headquartered in
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...
. The company was founded in 2002 by
John MacFarlane, Craig Shelburne, Tom Cullen, and Trung Mai.
Sonos has partnered with over 100 companies that offer music services, including
Pandora
In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hesiod related it, each god cooperated by giving her unique gifts. Her other name—inscribed against her figure on a white-ground '' ky ...
,
iHeartRadio
iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast, radio streaming and Music Streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. Founded in August 2008, iHeartRadio serves as the national umbrella brand for iHeart ...
,
SiriusXM
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merge ...
,
Apple Music
Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...
,
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...
,
Tidal,
MOG,
QQ Music
QQ Music () is one of three Chinese freemium music streaming services owned by Tencent Music, a joint venture between Tencent and Spotify, now majority owned by Tencent. , the service is set to reach over 700 million users with an estimated 120 ...
,
YouTube Music
YouTube Music is a music streaming service developed by the American video platform YouTube, a subsidiary of Google. The service is designed with an interface that allows users to simultaneously explore music audios and music videos from YouTu ...
and
Amazon Music
Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and digital music store operated by Amazon. As of January 2020, the service had 55 million subscribers.
It was the first music store to sell music without digital rights manag ...
. Sonos products work with the three major voice assistants:
Amazon Alexa
Amazon Alexa is a virtual assistant technology marketed by Amazon and implemented in software applications for smart phones, tablets, wireless smart speakers, and other electronic appliances.
Alexa was largely developed from a Polish speech s ...
,
Google Assistant
Google Assistant is a virtual assistant software application developed by Google that is primarily available on home automation and mobile devices. Based on artificial intelligence, Google Assistant can engage in two-way conversations, unlike ...
, and
Apple Siri
Siri ( , backronym: Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface) is a digital assistant purchased, developed, and popularized by Apple Inc., which is included in the iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, Apple TV, audioOS, and visionOS operating sys ...
, although the last is currently only supported through Apple's Home app.
In 2019 Sonos acquired Snips SAS, a privacy-focused AI voice platform for connected devices with the goal to bring a music-specific assistant to its devices.
History
Corporate, financial, and marketing history
Sonos was founded as "Rincon Audio, Inc." in August 2002
by
John MacFarlane, Craig Shelburne, Tom Cullen and Trung Mai, with MacFarlane wanting to create a wireless service.
The company changed its name to "Sonos, Inc." in May 2004.
[
During 2004, MacFarlane brought prototypes of the first Sonos products to several industry events, including the June 2004 "D2: ]All Things Digital
AllThingsD.com was a US online publication that specialized in technology and startup company news, analysis and coverage. It was founded in 2007 by Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, as an extension of the annual meetings ''D: All Things Digital ...
" conference in Carlsbad, California and the December 2004 Digital Music Summit. It's been reported that in D2 Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, inventor, and investor best known for co-founding the technology company Apple Inc. Jobs was also the founder of NeXT and chairman and majority shareholder o ...
told MacFarlane that the Sonos controller's scroll wheel might violate Apple patents related to the iPod
The iPod is a series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices that were designed and marketed by Apple Inc. from 2001 to 2022. The iPod Classic#1st generation, first version was released on November 10, 2001, about mon ...
.
Sonos aimed to begin shipping its products in the fourth quarter of 2004 but missed that deadline. The company first introduced its products to the market in January 2005 and first shipped them in either January or March 2005.[
In May 2005, Sonos announced that its initial product line would go on sale in the United Kingdom in the following month. The company has continued to broaden its international sales, for example to Japan in 2018.]
In May 2012, Sonos opened the Sonos Studio
Sonos Studio is an art gallery and studio in Los Angeles, United States, established on May 9, 2012, and owned by American consumer electronics company Sonos. The studio has also had temporary pop-up locations in New York City, London, and Am ...
in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, a studio
A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater.
The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal.
Types Art
The studio of any artist, esp ...
and art gallery
An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The long ...
in which art was exhibited along with Sonos' products for free, and featured events with artists like Beck
Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...
, The Lonely Island
The Lonely Island is an American comedy trio, formed by Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer in Berkeley, California, in 2001. They have written for and starred in the American TV program ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'').
The th ...
and Solange, and released a video about its development. The Los Angeles location was closed in 2018; a London location remains open.
In December 2013, the company was estimated to have raised $118 million in venture funding, including a $25 million round; its investors included Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global private-equity and investment company. , the firm had completed private-equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $710 billion of total ...
, Redpoint Ventures
Redpoint Ventures is an American venture capital firm focused on investments in seed, early and growth-stage companies.
History
The firm was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, with offices in San Francisco, Los Angel ...
and Elevation Partners
Elevation Partners was an American private equity firm that invested in intellectual property, technology and media companies. The firm had $1.9 billion of assets under management. The firm was founded in 2004 and was headquartered in New York ...
. In April 2014, Google and Sonos introduced deep integration features that allowed user to play and control Google Play Music through Sonos devices.
In January 2015, Sonos was rebranded by Bruce Mau Design, with a new visual identity and improved logotype that was created over the span of four years, from 2011 to 2014. There have been other brand refreshes, including one in 2019.
In February 2016 Sonos also released a study called ''Music Makes it Home Study''.
In March 2016, CEO John MacFarlane announced the company's shift to focus on streaming music services and voice control instead of local playback, and laid off
A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing an organization ...
some employees.
In July 2016, the company opened its first Sonos Store in SoHo
SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...
. Sonos announced the store's closure in June 2020.
In September 2016, the company announced that its products would become available at the Apple Store
The Apple Store is a chain of Retail, retail stores owned and operated by Apple Inc. The stores sell, service and repair various Apple products, including Macintosh, Mac desktop and MacBook laptop personal computers, iPhone smartphones, iPad ta ...
.
In January 2017, MacFarlane announced via the company's blog that he would be stepping down from his role as CEO, and that he would be succeeded in this position by former COO Patrick Spence.
In December 2017, IKEA
IKEA ( , ) is a Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in Sweden that designs and sells , household goods, and various related services.
IKEA is owned and operated by a series of not-for-profit an ...
and Sonos announced a collaboration to build Sonos' technology into furniture sold by IKEA. In May 2025, Sonos announced the partnership was ending.
In August 2018, Sonos went public, trading on the NASDAQ under the symbol SONO.
In November 2019, Sonos acquires Snips SAS, a privacy-focused AI voice platform for connected devices with the goal to bring a music-specific assistant to its devices.[
In January 2020, Sonos sued Google over copyright infringement relating to several patents, including the ability to sync audio over multiple devices. In August 2021, a judge ruled in favor of Sonos. The ]International Trade Commission
The United States International Trade Commission (USITC or I.T.C.) is an agency of the United States federal government that advises the legislative and executive branches on matters of trade. It was created by Congress in 1916 as the U.S. Tari ...
also ruled in favor of Sonos. As a result, Google was ordered to remove certain features from its devices, including group volume control.
Google was ordered to pay Sonos $32.5 million in damages. However, a judge tossed out the verdict in October and criticized Sonos for abusing the patent system. Following the verdict, Google redeployed the features it had previously removed.
In April 2020, Sonos revealed a new "sonic logo" composed by Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
, featuring an ensemble of 21 musicians. The logo will be heard in the listening experience of Sonos Radio, an Internet radio streaming service that was unveiled by the company the same month.
In June 2020, Sonos announced plans to lay off 12% of its workforce, close its New York store and six of its offices, and cut its top executives' pay by 20% for three to six months, in response to the economic disruptions caused by the COVID pandemic.
In November 2020, Sonos launched "Sonos Radio HD", a paid ad-free tier of Sonos Radio.
In May 2023, Sonos reported a 24% drop in revenue. Sonos would then lay off 7% of its workforce—130 employees—in June.
In August 2024, Sonos laid off another 100 employees. Several of its customers support locations will also close, including one in Amsterdam.
Product history
Products announced by Sonos (excluding several smaller or less-important ones) have been:
* June 2004 – Sonos announced its first products—the Digital Music System consisting of two components, the ZonePlayer and the Controller (later renamed as the ZP100 and CR100, respectively)—then expected to be available in fall 2004. The products were introduced at the January 2005 Consumer Electronics Show
CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...
. They first shipped either on January 27, 2005, or March 2005.
* January 2006 – the unamplified ZonePlayer ZP80, with analog and digital input and output connections to link a user's Sonos system to their traditional amplifier.
* August 2008 – the ZonePlayer120 (ZP120, later CONNECT:AMP), replacing the ZP100, and the ZonePlayer90 (ZP90, later CONNECT), replacing the ZP80.
* October 2008 – a free Controller app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, reducing the need for Sonos' separate controllers. Controller apps were later released for other IOS devices and for Android.
* July 2009 – the CR200, a second handheld controller to replace the CR100, with a touch screen rather than the CR100's scroll wheel. Sales of the CR200 were discontinued in 2012. Existing CR200 controllers continue to operate, however there are reports of touchscreen failures which cannot be repaired.
* November 2009 – the ZonePlayer S5 (later PLAY:5), the first independent Sonos-connected amplified speaker.
* July 2011 – the Play:3, a second, smaller, amplified speaker in its Play lineup of smart speakers.
* May 2012 – the SUB wireless subwoofer
A subwoofer (or sub) is a loudspeaker designed to reproduce low-pitched audio frequencies, known as bass and sub-bass, that are lower in frequency than those which can be (optimally) generated by a woofer. The typical frequency range that is ...
.
* February 2013 – the PLAYBAR soundbar
A soundbar, sound bar or media bar is a type of loudspeaker that projects audio from a wide enclosure. It is much wider than it is tall, partly for acoustic reasons, and partly so it can be mounted above or below a display device (e.g. above ...
speaker.
* October 2013 – the Play:1, a third, compact, smart speaker.
* February 2015 – Sonos announced the limited edition Blue Note Play:1, a collaboration with Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by History of the Jews in Germany, German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it deriv ...
, which went on sale in March. There have been other similar Sonos releases, available for limited times, such as a Beastie Boys
The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...
PLAY:5 and a series of Sonos Ones in five new colors developed by the Danish design firm HAY.
* September 2015 – A new ("2nd gen") Play:5 speaker was announced, and pre-orders began in October.
* March 2017 – the PLAYBASE, a soundbase to go under a television.
* October 2017 – the Sonos One, a small connected speaker with voice control. A key feature of whole house systems starting in 2017 was the adoption of Amazon's Alexa as a third-party voice controller.[
* April 2018 – production of the Play:3 was discontinued, effective July 31.]
* June 2018 – the Sonos Beam, a soundbar with voice control, was announced.
* August 2018 – An updated version of the Sonos Amp was unveiled, with a planned limited release in December.
* March 2019 – A second-generation Sonos One, with Bluetooth LE connectivity, a faster processor, and more memory.
* August 2019 – The first two products resulting from the IKEA-Sonos collaboration, called SYMFONISK, a small bookshelf speaker and a combination table-lamp/speaker, became available from IKEA.
* September 2019 – The introduction of the first battery operated Sonos speaker called Move. The speaker is portable and has the rating of IP56 making it humidity, heat, and cold resistant. It uses an indoor charging base and claims to play up to 10 hours on a full charge. Sonos also announced the One SL, a version of its One without voice control, replacing the Play:1, and the Port, an updated version of the Connect, to add Sonos functionality into an existing, wired stereo system.
* March 2021 – The introduction of the smallest battery operated Sonos speaker called Roam. The speaker is a smaller version of the Move carrying over the features such as portable, IP56 rated and durable. In the box is just the Roam and a USB charging cable and claims to play up to 10 hours on a full charge. There is a charging bases available similar to the Move, but sold separately.
* September 2022 – Sonos launched the Sub Mini wireless subwoofer. The Sub Mini is cylindrical and is available in matte black or white, it can be paired with AirPlay-enabled Sonos speakers.
* March 2023 – Sonos launched the ERA 100 and ERA 300 speakers. The latter features a unique design and support for spatial audio.
* May 2024 – a major update to its mobile app that was widely criticized (see Controversies
Controversy (, ) is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin '' controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opp ...
section).
History of outside services supported
In April 2005, Sonos announced that its products could play music from Rhapsody, the first of many music services that its products would support. Starting in September 2006 Sonos supported Rhapsody from its own Controller without use of a PC. Subsequently, added services include:
* Sirius XM
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merge ...
(February 2011)
* MOG (May 2011)
* Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...
(July 2011)
* QQ Music
QQ Music () is one of three Chinese freemium music streaming services owned by Tencent Music, a joint venture between Tencent and Spotify, now majority owned by Tencent. , the service is set to reach over 700 million users with an estimated 120 ...
, with collaboration from Tencent
Tencent Holdings Ltd. ( zh, s=腾讯, p=Téngxùn) is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimed ...
(May 2012)
* Tidal (March 2015)
* Amazon Music
Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and digital music store operated by Amazon. As of January 2020, the service had 55 million subscribers.
It was the first music store to sell music without digital rights manag ...
(October 2015)
* Apple Music
Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...
(February 2016)
Sonos devices support the Amazon Alexa
Amazon Alexa is a virtual assistant technology marketed by Amazon and implemented in software applications for smart phones, tablets, wireless smart speakers, and other electronic appliances.
Alexa was largely developed from a Polish speech s ...
and Google Assistant
Google Assistant is a virtual assistant software application developed by Google that is primarily available on home automation and mobile devices. Based on artificial intelligence, Google Assistant can engage in two-way conversations, unlike ...
virtual assistant
A virtual assistant (VA) is a software agent that can perform a range of tasks or services for a user based on user input such as commands or questions, including verbal ones. Such technologies often incorporate chatbot capabilities to streaml ...
s.[ Apple's ]Siri
Siri ( , backronym: Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface) is a digital assistant purchased, developed, and popularized by Apple Inc., which is included in the iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, Apple TV, audioOS, and visionOS operating sys ...
is supported, but only through the Home app.
Logo history
File:Old sonos.png, Original Sonos logo, used from 2002 and replaced in 2011.
File:Sonos-company.png, Second logo, used until 2015 as part of the rebrand by Bruce Mau Design.
File:Sonos 2015-Logo.png, Current logo. It is bolder than its predecessor while retaining the same font.
The word is a palindrome
A palindrome (Help:IPA/English, /ˈpæl.ɪn.droʊm/) is a word, palindromic number, number, phrase, or other sequence of symbols that reads the same backwards as forwards, such as ''madam'' or ''racecar'', the date "Twosday, 02/02/2020" and th ...
and the logo a rotational ambigram
An ambigram is a calligraphic composition of glyphs (letters, numbers, symbols or other shapes) that can yield different meanings depending on the orientation of observation. Most ambigrams are visual palindromes that rely on some kind of symmetry ...
.
Product line
List of current and past products
Automotive
The first automotive brand to partner with Sonos is Audi
Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide.
The origins of the compa ...
in the Audi Q4 e-tron. As of May 2024, Audi is the only partner.
Technical details
Communication between Sonos products
Multiple Sonos devices in a single household are connected to each other wirelessly, through a wired Ethernet
Ethernet ( ) is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...
network, or a mixture of the two. The Sonos system creates a proprietary AES-encrypted peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network, forming a peer-to-peer network of Node ...
mesh network
A mesh network is a local area network topology in which the infrastructure nodes (i.e. bridges, switches, and other infrastructure devices) connect directly, dynamically and non-hierarchically to as many other nodes as possible and cooperate wit ...
, known as SonosNet. This allows for each unit to play any chosen input and if desired share it as synchronized audio with one or more other chosen zones. The first versions of SonosNet required a single ZonePlayer or ZoneBridge to be wired to a network for access to LAN
Lan or LAN may refer to:
Science and technology
* Local asymptotic normality, a fundamental property of regular models in statistics
* Longitude of the ascending node, one of the orbital elements used to specify the orbit of an object in space
* ...
and Internet audio sources[ or when creating a 3.1/ 5.1 surround setup.] SonosNet 2.0 integrated MIMO
In radio, multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) () is a method for multiplying the capacity of a radio link using multiple transmission and receiving antennas to exploit multipath propagation. MIMO has become an essential element of wirel ...
on 802.11n
IEEE 802.11n-2009, or 802.11n, is a wireless-networking standard that uses multiple antennas to increase data rates. The Wi-Fi Alliance has also retroactively labelled the technology for the standard as Wi-Fi 4. It standardized support for multi ...
hardware, providing a more robust connection. Later, the company added support for connecting to an existing Wi-Fi network for internet connectivity, removing the wired network requirement.
Sonos web interface
Typing the following address into a web browser on the same network as the Sonos player will reveal useful information about the Sonos network
This information can be especially helpful for diagnosing connectivity issues.
S1 and S2 operating systems
In 2020, Sonos released its S2 operating system. Its existing system was Retronym, retroactively named "S1" to differentiate it from its new system. All products launched after May 2020 support S2 exclusively.
Trueplay
In November 2015, a tuning feature called Trueplay was released in a software update. Trueplay tunes the output of Sonos smart speaker units to the acoustics of the room they are in. The initial tuning process requires the Sonos iOS app.
Standby and Low power mode
Sonos devices generally do not have power buttons, and the company claims that each speaker consumes 4–8W in idle/standby. Its battery-powered lineup does have power buttons to turn them on and off.
Reception
In November 2004, the Sonos Digital Music System won the "Best of Audio" award at the 2005 CES Innovations Design and Engineering awards.[
A February 2005 ]Macworld
''Macworld'' is a digital magazine and website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG.
History
''Macworld'' was founded by David Bunnell and Cheryl Woodard (publishers) and Andrew Fl ...
review of the first Sonos system explained its background, components and operation.
Controversies
Support for the CR100 ended in 2018 when Sonos sent out an update that intentionally caused the CR100 to cease to function, resulting in expressions of unhappiness from a number of long-time Sonos customers. Sonos later settled a class action lawsuit related to its decision to intentionally cause the CR100 to cease to function.
Sonos was criticized by media outlets in December 2019 for its "Recycle Mode", which bricks
A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building u ...
devices that users register into the company's trade-in program. Customers who participate in the program receive a 30 percent discount on a purchase of a new Sonos device, but the registration puts the device into Recycle Mode, which starts a timer that turns the device permanently non-functional in 21 days. An electronic waste
Electronic waste (or e-waste) describes discarded electrical or electronics, electronic devices. It is also commonly known as waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) or end-of-life (EOL) electronics. Used electronics which are destined ...
recycler criticized the procedure on Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
for being environmentally unfriendly, stating that it discourages reuse
Reuse is the action or practice of using an item, whether for its original purpose (conventional reuse) or to fulfill a different function (creative reuse or repurposing). It should be distinguished from recycling, which is the breaking down of ...
by preventing recyclers from reselling functional Sonos units. Sonos responded that Recycle Mode was intended to ensure that prospective customers purchase newer Sonos models instead of older secondhand models. In March 2020, Sonos discontinued the Recycle Mode and no longer requires customers to dispose of products submitted for its trade-in program.
On January 22, 2020, Sonos notified the end of support for speakers made before 2015, meaning that they eventually will lose functionality, something that sparked anger from their owners. Many of these speakers were purchased by customers after 2015, meaning that customers paid full price for equipment that will cease to be supported after two or three years. On January 23, 2020, following a widespread backlash and criticism of this announcement, Sonos reversed and clarified it, stating that it would continue to support its older equipment.
In May 2024, Sonos' update to its mobile app was panned for its visual design, poor accessibility support, and the removal of key features such as the alarm and sleep timer, removal of local music library support, fast draining of batteries, and inability to edit upcoming song queues and playlists. Sonos CEO Patrick Spence apologized for the update, referring to "issues", in what has been called "hilarious tone of wry British understatement". As of August 2024, the new app has a 1.3 point review average on Google Play
Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store, Play Store, or sometimes the Android Store (and was formerly Android Market), is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certifie ...
. In January 2025, Sonos announced the resignation of its CEO Patrick Spence over the app update debacle.
In June 2024, Sonos updated its privacy policy in the United States, removing a clause that explicitly stated the company did not sell customer data. This change caused concern among users and privacy advocates, who interpreted it as a possible prelude to data sales.
Locations
Headquarters
The headquarters are located in Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...
.
Stores
The first official Sonos Store was opened in New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
on July 12, 2016. It was closed in June 2020. A store opened on Seven Dials in London, in November 2017. A store opened in Berlin in April 2018.
During the 2024 Summer Olympics
The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...
a Sonos Sound Showroom / Pop Up Store was opened
at Cremerie de Paris N°9 on rue Saint Honore.
Offices
There are currently 12 offices operated by Sonos independently. These are located in Australia, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, United States, Sweden and the United Kingdom. An engineering office was present in Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, US as of 2017.
Explanatory notes
References
External links
*
* {{Commons category-inline, Sonos
2002 establishments in California
2018 initial public offerings
American companies established in 2002
Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States
Companies based in Santa Barbara, California
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
Consumer electronics brands
Electronics companies established in 2002
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts companies
Loudspeaker manufacturers
Manufacturing companies based in California
Technology companies based in California