New Products

Sonos today announced its “most extensive app redesign ever” in an effort to help music lovers overcome the frustrations and challenges of today’s fragmented streaming landscape.

The revamped app, slated to go live May 7 through a software update, aims to make it easy for owners of Sonos S2 products to organize favorite playlists, stations, and albums from over 100 streaming services on a new, customizable home screen that also provides quick, one-swipe access to system controls. In addition to the new mobile app, a new web app will replace the existing Sonos desktop controller.

At a time when algorithms control much of what we watch and listen to, Sonos says the new app “prioritizes a listening experience that’s human, allowing you to bring your true favorites front and center and giving you more control to make your streaming experience your own.”

Features of the app include:

• A redesigned home screen that displays favorite content and makes it easy to browse libraries and recommendations from preferred services, get into (and out of) apps quickly without having to move between tabs, and easily jump back to recently played tunes.

• A home screen that can be customized with rows of favorite content and services arranged in a way that makes sense to you.

• A search bar on the home screen that makes it easy to search for an artist, song, podcast, or audiobook across all of your preferred streaming apps.

• Quick access to system controls by swiping up from the bottom of the home screen; doing so also serves up a visualization of what’s playing around the house.

“Today’s streaming experience has become fragmented across multiple platforms due to varied content offerings, algorithmic curation, or simply the desire to not recreate playlists in multiple locations,” said Maxime Bouvat-Merlin, chief product officer for Sonos. “As the only audio brand with an open platform offering extensive choice, Sonos makes it easy to control your system and curate your favorite sounds all in one place.”

Sonos CEO Patrick Spence added: “After thorough development and testing, we are confident this redesigned app is easier, faster, and better.”

Founded in 2002 not long after Apple introduced the iPod, Sonos pioneered the concept of wireless speakers that could be networked over Wi-Fi to bring music to all corners of the home, a trailblazing idea at the time. Sonos music systems are used in more than 15 million homes today, according to the company.

For more information on the Sonos app, visit sonos.com.