Sonos 2025 Deep Dive: New CEO, Old Glitches, and Should You Buy This Holiday Season?
Is Sonos finally fixed for the holidays? We dig into the app mess, Apple Music bugs, and what’s changed in 2025.
I’ve been a Sonos fan for years – the kind of person who once evangelized how easily you could beam music all over your house with those sleek wireless speakers. But lately, using Sonos has felt like being in on a cruel joke. Picture this: I open the Sonos app to play some tunes on my fancy new Era 300 speaker, tap Apple Music, hit Play… and nothing. Like a stubborn lawnmower that only starts on the second pull, my Sonos often ignores the first attempt. It’s become a running gag in my household – “Did you remember to scare the Sonos with a fake-out play attempt first?” – and only then will the music actually come through. As much as I love the rich sound of that Era 300, getting it to actually play music (especially from Apple Music) has become an exasperating ritual.
So what on earth happened? Sonos was supposed to be the “it just works” audio brand. Now, as the 2025 holiday season approaches, I find myself troubleshooting speakers more often than showing them off. And I’m not alone. Over the last two years, Sonos has hit some serious technical snags – including a controversial app redesign that had loyal customers fuming – and even saw a shake-up in its top leadership.
Below, I’ll unpack the major tech issues Sonos has faced (and largely self-inflicted), how the company responded, what a new CEO means for Sonos’ direction, how Sonos products are performing now (is that Apple Music issue fixed yet?), how Sonos stacks up against competitors like Apple, Amazon, and Bose, and whether Sonos can bounce back strong for the 2025 holidays or risks losing its groove.
A Rough Couple of Years: Tech Issues Plaguing Sonos (2024–2025)
It’s no exaggeration to say the past two years have been rough for Sonos on the tech front. The biggest culprit? A complete overhaul of the Sonos app in May 2024 that went horribly wrong. Sonos hyped this redesign as an “unprecedented streaming experience,” but what customers got was a “severely handicapped app” that removed core features and even broke some users’ systems[1]. Key capabilities that long-time users loved – things like editing your play queue, “Play Next/Play Last” song options, sleep timers, alarms, and even local music library browsing – simply vanished overnight[2][3]. In theory, Sonos rebuilt the app from scratch to modernize it, but in practice the new version was buggier and less functional than the old one. Customers immediately complained about confusing navigation and missing basics. One frustrated user on Sonos’s own forums wrote: “Definitely do not like the app... The new app feels way busier... it feels less stylish to me and more cheap.”[4]
The backlash snowballed quickly. Within days, Sonos’ subreddit and community boards were flooded with angry posts. The tech press piled on with brutal headlines – “The Volume of Sonos Complaints Is Deafening” and “Many People Do Not Like the New Sonos App”, to quote Bloomberg and Wired – underscoring how badly Sonos had misjudged its audience[5]. It turned into the biggest PR crisis in Sonos’s history. Customers felt betrayed that an update meant to improve things had instead torpedoed Sonos’s legendary ease-of-use[6]. And it wasn’t just forum rage: people’s actual speaker setups were affected. Reports came in of degraded performance – speakers de-syncing or disappearing from the app – and increased bugs across the system[6]. Sonos had effectively broken the cardinal rule of its own product ethos: that it “just works.”
To make matters worse, the Sonos app issues extended to third-party services. For many (myself included), the Sonos Apple Music problem became a daily headache. After the 2024 app change, some users found they literally couldn’t play Apple Music at all on their Sonos speakers[7]. One Sonos owner lamented in mid-2025: “I’ve updated and reinstalled the Sonos app, re-authorized Apple Music… done everything... Nothing is working. This is VERY frustrating.”[8]. Others could play Apple Music, but not reliably – streams would skip, drop out, or fail to start on the first try. There were specific quirks with the flagship Era 300 speaker (which is designed for spatial audio and a showcase for Apple Music’s Dolby Atmos tracks). Users reported that Atmos music would play for a few songs, then randomly switch to stereo or stop until they retried the app[9]. In my own experience, attempting to start a playlist on the Era 300 via the Sonos app often resulted in a dreaded “Connection Lost” error or just silence – until I tried again and it magically worked. These integration glitches became so common that even Apple’s support forums had threads about Sonos–Apple Music communication breaking down[10].
It wasn’t just the app software, either. Sonos introduced some new hardware in 2023–2024 (like the Era 100 and Era 300 speakers, a second-gen Move portable, and even their first set of headphones dubbed the “Sonos Ace”). Early adopters of these products hit a few snags as well. For instance, some Era 300 owners noted audio dropouts and connectivity hiccups (especially with high-bitrate streams like Apple Music Lossless). A few firmware bugs cropped up – nothing catastrophic, but enough that Sonos users grew skittish. Normally, Sonos product launches are smooth, but the botched app rollout in 2024 cast a long shadow: it even forced Sonos to delay several product launches that year while the team scrambled to fix the software[11]. In short, Sonos spent much of 2024 playing defense on the tech side, scrambling to put out fires of its own making.
“Courage” or Hubris? Inside the 2024 App Redesign Fiasco
How did Sonos get here? It helps to understand just how badly the May 2024 app redesign landed. According to insiders, Sonos undertook a risky “clean slate” rebuild of its controller app to address long-standing tech debt and pave the way for future features (like those new headphones)[12]. The company claimed it was “intentionally redesigned” after extensive testing to be faster and more personalized[3]. But clearly, something went off the rails between the testing lab and the real world. Internal reports suggest that even some Sonos beta testers warned executives prior to launch that the new app wasn’t ready and had too many omissions, but those warnings were ignored[13]. Sonos forged ahead, perhaps out of overconfidence – a move one publication later described as an “unforced error”[14] requiring “courage” (a tone-deaf term a Sonos VP used to defend the overhaul early on[15]).
The consequences were immediate and painful. Longtime customers felt Sonos had “forgotten [its] core value proposition” of simplicity[1]. Why remove features that people use every day? – many asked. From Sonos’s perspective, some legacy features were built on old code that needed replacing, and the company prioritized a cleaner foundation over backward compatibility. But that nuance was lost on users who just woke up to find their alarms or playlists gone. The user backlash in May–June 2024 quickly turned into a full-blown crisis that extended for months[16]. Sonos’s brand reputation took a beating, and by that fall, the fallout was visible in the numbers – sales slumped and revenue fell ~8% year-over-year in the quarter following the app launch[17]. The company even had to pour millions of dollars into “app recovery investments” to try to stabilize the situation[17]. (Sonos estimated it might ultimately spend up to $30 million fixing the mess[18]!)
By the start of 2025, it was clear the app debacle had become more than just a software issue – it was a company-wide catastrophe. In total, that failed app launch wiped out nearly $500 million of Sonos’s market value[19] and precipitated layoffs and internal turmoil[20]. The fiasco is often compared to a slow-moving train wreck: a combination of technical missteps, poor UX decisions, and arguably a bit of corporate hubris. As one retrospective bluntly put it, “the fall of Sonos isn’t as simple as a botched app – it’s the result of poor strategy, hubris, and forgetting the company’s core value proposition”[21]. Ouch.
Patching Things Up: How Sonos Responded to the Backlash
Faced with deafening criticism from customers and the media, Sonos had to act fast to try and regain goodwill. The initial responses in May 2024 were not great – one exec infamously said the overhaul took “courage,” which did not sit well with frustrated users[15]. Realizing the depth of anger, Sonos changed tune over the summer. CEO Patrick Spence publicly apologized in a July 2024 open letter, saying “fixing the app… has been and continues to be our number one priority”[22]. “Too many of you have experienced significant problems with our new app… I want to begin by personally apologizing for disappointing you,” Spence wrote, acknowledging that Sonos had let its customers down[22]. This apology – finally – was the first time Sonos directly said “sorry” for the mess, almost three months after the rollout. (Even diehard fans were rolling their eyes that it took that long[23].)
More importantly, Sonos laid out a plan to fix what it broke. In that same July letter, Spence outlined a roadmap of bi-weekly app updates to restore missing features and improve stability[24][25]. For example, music library browsing and search were re-introduced by August 2024, alarm reliability was to be addressed by September, and crucial features like editing playlists and queue management were promised by early fall[24][26]. Sonos also vowed to improve volume controls, reduce app crashes, and generally make the new app as snappy as the old one over the coming months[27]. Essentially, they said, “stick with us, we’re fixing it.” And to Sonos’s credit, they did push updates frequently. By the end of 2024, the company had delivered around 16 software updates to incrementally improve the app and bring back functionality[28]. Features like playlist editing and snooze-able alarms, which missed the initial launch, were finally on deck to return by early 2025[29].
Sonos also tried to show that it learned from this debacle. In a notable move, the company said it implemented more stringent testing before releases (apparently widening the beta pool so the app gets tried on more setups). It even appointed a “quality ombudsperson” – an internal watchdog to monitor software quality and publish public reports twice a year on how Sonos is doing[28]. That’s not a typical role you hear about in consumer tech, but it signals how serious Sonos was about preventing another app fiasco. Sonos execs essentially went on an “apology tour,” doing damage control in press interviews and community Q&As. A week after the app’s launch, they held a community AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Sonos’s forums to take live feedback[30]. It was a rough session (users were very blunt about their anger), but it showed Sonos was at least engaging.
Throughout late 2024, Sonos’s message to customers was: “We hear you. We’re sorry. We’re fixing it, and we won’t let this happen again.” By October 2024, the CEO was talking about a comprehensive “trust restoration” plan[31], assuring that a meltdown of this magnitude would “never happen again”[31]. The company even had to delay product launches (like holding back some new devices) until the software was stable[11] – a pretty painful decision for a hardware business, especially ahead of the holiday sales season in 2024. All these actions signaled that Sonos knew it had to rebuild trust before it could move forward.
Leadership Shake-Up: New CEO Takes the Helm After Spence’s Exit
Perhaps the most dramatic consequence of the app debacle was at the very top: Patrick Spence, Sonos’s CEO of 8 years, stepped down. By January 2025, amid continuing criticism and slumping stock, Sonos’s board announced that Spence would resign effective immediately[32]. The official line was that he stepped down, but industry observers widely saw it as an ouster – a direct result of the disastrous 2024 decisions[32][19]. After all, under Spence’s watch, a single software misstep had erased roughly half a billion dollars in value and enraged the company’s fanbase[19]. As one headline neatly summed up: “Sonos CEO steps down following a disastrous app redesign”[33].
Tom Conrad, a member of Sonos’s board (and former CTO at Pandora), was tapped as the interim CEO and later confirmed as the permanent chief in mid-2025[34]. Conrad isn’t a household name, but he’s a seasoned tech exec with deep roots in music streaming – which is telling. Unlike Spence, whose background was in sales (he hailed from BlackBerry before Sonos), Conrad is a product-focused leader[35]. He even helped build Pandora’s music service in its heyday. The leadership shift clearly indicates Sonos wanted someone at the helm who “gets” the product experience. In an internal email to employees, Conrad wrote: “When it all works, it’s absolute magic… It’s also true that when it doesn’t work, our customers are taken out of the moment and are right to feel that we’ve let them down… this year we’ve let far too many people down.”[36]. That frank acknowledgment – essentially admitting Sonos lost its way in 2024 – was a promising sign to both staff and customers that the new boss understands the stakes.
Conrad’s early moves as CEO underscore a back-to-basics approach. He publicly stated he’s “excited to work with [the] team to restore the reliability and user experience that have defined Sonos, while bringing innovative new products to market.”[37] In other words, get the basics right (reliability, UX) before pushing the next shiny thing. Under his watch, Sonos immediately shook up its leadership team: both the Chief Product Officer and Chief Commercial Officer left the company in early 2025[38]. This hinted at accountability for the app saga and a fresh start for those divisions. Conrad also initiated a cultural shift internally – reportedly encouraging more open dialogue and feedback loops, so that bad news (like a failing beta test) will actually reach the CEO’s desk next time.
Another interesting pivot with Conrad is strategy: Sonos appears to be refocusing on its core existing customer base rather than far-flung expansions. In a November 2025 earnings call, Conrad outlined a vision to “unite every dimension of sound” into one platform and talked about enormous opportunities in getting current Sonos owners to buy more devices for their homes[39][40]. He noted that Sonos sees a “$5 billion opportunity” in nudging multi-room households from a few speakers to six+ devices per home, and another “$7 billion” opportunity in converting one-speaker homes into multi-speaker ones[41]. In plainer English: Sonos is doubling down on what it does best – home audio – and trying to sell more Sonos gear to folks who already like the brand. Contrast this with the previous strategy which had Sonos branching into new areas like headphones and partnerships; Conrad seems more focused on stabilizing the core business and leveraging its loyal customer base.
All told, the CEO change indicates a course correction. Spence’s tenure brought great products, but his last year was marred by the app saga and what some saw as tone-deaf leadership. Conrad’s ascent signals a renewed emphasis on product quality, customer trust, and a bit of humility. As one tech columnist put it, “the company has a long way to go to earn back customer trust, but [Conrad’s acknowledgment] is a start.”[42][38] With new leadership in place throughout 2025, Sonos has been intent on showing that it learned from its mistakes and is getting its house in order.
Are the Speakers Finally “Just Working”? – Sonos in Late 2025
Alright, apology tours and new CEOs aside, the big question for us users is: Has Sonos actually fixed its tech issues by now? As we near the end of 2025, I’ll be the first to admit the Sonos experience is much better today than it was in mid-2024. The company really did hustle to push out updates. Most of those missing features have been restored – you can once again set alarms, edit your queue, manage playlists, and search your local music library through the Sonos app[43]. The app’s stability and speed have improved significantly since the dark days of the redesign. By December 2024, Sonos had ironed out many of the glaring bugs (for example, group volume control latency was reduced, and album art display issues were fixed)[44]. User interface tweaks were made to address customer feedback, and Sonos continued fine-tuning things like Trueplay calibration and multi-system support into 2025[45].
Crucially, overall system reliability has largely returned to that “it just works” baseline, at least in my personal experience with a mix of Sonos speakers. The system is no longer forgetting my speakers or randomly losing them on the network (a nasty issue some had right after the redesign)[46]. The days of widespread Sonos outages due to app bugs seem to be behind us – knock on wood.
What about that especially pesky Apple Music integration? The good news is that Sonos and Apple have apparently ironed out the worst compatibility problems. After a rocky stretch through mid-2025 where many saw “The connection to Apple Music was lost” errors[10], subsequent patches from Sonos stabilized Apple Music streaming. In late 2025, playing Apple Music on Sonos is mostly seamless again – which is key, since Sonos heavily markets how it supports all major streaming services. There are still a few quirks: for example, Dolby Atmos tracks from Apple Music on the Era 300 sometimes don’t display the “Spatial Audio” label properly, and a minority of users report that occasionally an Atmos track will downmix to stereo after a while (suggesting a lingering software bug). But those instances are far less common now. I can confidently open my Sonos app, pick an Apple Music playlist, and 9 times out of 10 it plays instantly and stays playing. That one time out of 10, I might have to do the old “stop and start” trick – but even that is happening less as updates roll in.
Sonos also introduced firmware updates for its speakers to ensure they work smoothly with the updated app and new services. For instance, when Apple rolled out Apple Music Lossless and Spatial Audio, Sonos had to update the Era 300 and Arc soundbar to properly support those formats. Early on, some Era 300 owners experienced audio dropouts on lossless streams, which Sonos attributed to the high bandwidth of Apple’s lossless audio[47]. Firmware tweaks and perhaps some behind-the-scenes coordination with Apple have alleviated those dropouts for most people.
Beyond Apple Music, other integrations (Spotify, Amazon Music, etc.) have been solid. If anything, voice assistant support on Sonos has been a bit of a mixed bag – Sonos supports Alexa and the Google Assistant on some speakers, but Google’s ongoing legal tussles with Sonos (over patents) led to a weird situation where newer Sonos products dropped Google Assistant support. This isn’t a “tech issue” in the bug sense, but it’s a limitation to be aware of in late 2025: If you’re deep in the Google ecosystem, Sonos might frustrate you since it can’t natively run Google Assistant on the newest models (only Alexa or Sonos’s own voice assistant for basic commands). Alexa on Sonos, however, works just as it would on an Echo device, and Sonos’s mics (in products like Era 100/300) do a fine job picking up voice commands.
All told, Sonos’s product performance and reliability in late 2025 are much improved from a year prior. The company has largely patched the holes in its ship. The Sonos app – while scarred from its rough rebirth – is now relatively polished and certainly usable for everyday listening. Many of the folks who were (justifiably) outraged in 2024 have acknowledged the improvements. However, memory is long in the tech world; some enthusiasts remain wary, and any small glitch tends to be met with “oh no, not again!” on forums. Sonos will have to consistently deliver stability to fully rebuild the trust it once took for granted.
Sonos vs. Competitors: HomePod, Echo, Bose – Who Has the Edge?
While Sonos was busy sorting itself out, its competitors in the U.S. smart speaker and audio market haven’t been standing still. So how does Sonos stack up heading into the 2025 holiday season versus the likes of Apple’s HomePod, Amazon’s Echo lineup, and traditional audio rivals like Bose?
Let’s break it down:
- Apple HomePod (and HomePod mini) – Apple’s strategy is all about tight ecosystem integration. The HomePod (2nd gen) offers fantastic sound quality (especially for its size) and supports Dolby Atmos spatial audio with Apple Music, much like the Sonos Era 300 does. The big advantage for Apple is seamlessness: if you’re an iPhone user with Apple Music, the HomePod is almost plug-and-play. You just ask Siri to play a song, and it works – no separate app or account linking hassles. Reliability is generally rock-solid in the Apple walled garden. However, HomePods are far more limited in services (they prefer Apple Music; Spotify control via Siri still isn’t supported as of 2025) and they don’t do multi-room audio with non-Apple speakers. Sonos, by contrast, works with dozens of services and different platforms. Sonos also offers more variety in form factors and price points (HomePod mini is cheap at ~$99 but the only other option is the $299 HomePod; Sonos speakers range from a $179 Roam portable to high-end soundbars). For someone deeply invested in Apple’s world and who values simplicity, HomePod is a strong alternative – and Apple has no history of major software snafus like Sonos’s app flop. But if you want flexibility (say you use Apple Music and Spotify, or you have an Android phone in the mix), Sonos still holds appeal. It’s worth noting that Apple’s user base might have grown a bit thanks to Sonos’s troubles – some impatient Sonos users likely jumped ship to HomePods for a more “set it and forget it” experience when Sonos was struggling.
- Amazon Echo (Alexa speakers) – Amazon remains the volume leader in smart speakers. The Echo family (Echo Dots, Echo, Echo Studio, etc.) wins on price and voice assistant capability. You can outfit multiple rooms with Echo Dots for the cost of a single Sonos One. And Alexa’s smart home integration is a big draw – Sonos can integrate with Alexa (you can even add Sonos speakers into Alexa multi-room groups now), but Amazon’s own devices obviously get the deepest Alexa features. In terms of audio quality, Sonos speakers generally outperform equivalently sized Echo models. For example, the Sonos Era 100 or One SL will sound richer than a basic Echo. Amazon’s high-end Echo Studio is actually a closer competitor to the Sonos Era 300 – Echo Studio also supports spatial audio and Dolby Atmos (with Amazon Music HD) and costs a bit less. Reviews often note that the Echo Studio has strong bass but the Era 300 delivers a more refined, room-filling sound (and of course, can stereo pair or be used in home theater setups with a Sonos soundbar, which Echo can’t do natively)[48]. Where Sonos took a hit is in the “it just works” perception: Amazon’s Alexa speakers have historically been a bit fiddly too at times, but when Sonos faltered, some consumers may have decided that a $50 Echo that’s 90% as good was “good enough.” Still, Sonos distinguishes itself with premium build quality, a unified app for music (Amazon relies more on voice commands or third-party apps), and the ability to integrate multiple services and rooms in a cohesive way. In 2025, Sonos also supports both Alexa and Sonos Voice simultaneously (you can call Alexa for some tasks and use Sonos’s voice for music control privacy). Amazon’s ecosystem is fantastic for voice-controlled convenience, but for pure sound and multi-room synchronization, Sonos is often considered the audiophile’s choice (albeit at a higher cost).
- Bose (Smart Home speakers and soundbars) – Bose and Sonos have been rivals in home audio for years, often leapfrogging each other on sound quality and features. Bose’s smart speakers and soundbars (like the Bose Smart Speaker 500, Portable Smart Speaker, or Smart Soundbar 600/900) compete directly with Sonos products. Bose emphasizes its heritage in acoustics – so you’ll generally get excellent sound and build quality as well. In fact, many reviewers rate Bose’s flagship soundbar and Sonos’s flagship (Arc/Arc Ultra) as fairly close in audio performance, each with its own flavor. Where Sonos had a big edge historically was in software – the multi-room experience and app control were more refined than Bose’s offering. Bose’s app and multi-room implementation (Bose Music app) work, but earlier versions had limitations and weren’t as intuitive as Sonos. Interestingly, while Sonos was stumbling with app issues in 2024, Bose quietly improved its software somewhat – but Bose never had the same level of public scrutiny on its app, partly because its smart speaker ecosystem is smaller. Bose tends to appeal to folks who prioritize sound quality and simplicity: for instance, if someone mostly listens via Bluetooth or AirPlay 2, a Bose Portable Smart Speaker might serve them just as well as a Sonos Move. Bose supports Alexa and Google Assistant built-in on its devices, similar to Sonos (older Bose models did Google, but newer ones have Alexa only now due to Google changes). One advantage Sonos still holds is the breadth of its ecosystem – Bose doesn’t (yet) have tiny satellite speakers or a dedicated sub as compact as Sonos’s Sub Mini that all tie into one system seamlessly. If you want a whole-home synced audio or surround sound with wireless rears, Sonos offers a more complete solution. Bose’s approach is a bit more siloed (their soundbars can have wireless surrounds and subs, but mixing and matching across product lines isn’t as flexible as Sonos).
In the U.S. market, Sonos, Apple, Amazon (and Google via its Nest speakers, which are also popular) form the core of the smart speaker space. Sonos positions itself as the premium, agnostic platform that plays nicely with everyone’s services – be it Spotify, Apple, Amazon, Google (though as mentioned, Google Assistant support is now limited). That was a killer selling point, but Sonos needs to prove that its system is as reliable and user-friendly as the big guys’ walled gardens. The good news for Sonos is that no competitor offers all the pieces together quite like Sonos does: Apple has great sound and software but locks you into Apple services; Amazon has low prices and Alexa ubiquity but can’t match Sonos’s audio finesse; Bose has audio pedigree but its smart platform is more limited. For consumers in 2025, the choice often boils down to ecosystem preference and use case. Want the simplest Apple-integrated setup? HomePod. Want the cheapest way to spread music everywhere with voice control? Echo devices. Want the best sound and multi-room party sync? Sonos or Bose – and between those, Sonos now has the edge on ecosystem breadth (and arguably recovered its edge on software after that stumble).
One more thing to consider: pricing and value. Sonos gear has always been pricey, and with inflation and higher component costs, 2023–2024 saw Sonos products at premium price points (the Era 300 is $449, Arc soundbar $899, etc.). The company did occasional sales, but heading into the 2025 holidays, Sonos appears to be more aggressive with promotions – we’ve seen Black Friday 2025 deals with up to 20–30% off certain models. That suggests Sonos knows it needs a strong holiday season and is willing to compete on price a bit more. Those deals can make Sonos speakers very tempting against their rivals (e.g. a discounted Sonos Beam soundbar vs. a Bose soundbar, or a sale on the Sonos One SL making it closer to a HomePod mini in cost).
Financial Health Check: Is Sonos Back on Track?
Technical troubles aside, how is Sonos actually doing as a business going into Q4 2025? The picture is mixed, but with promising signs. The app fiasco undeniably hurt Sonos’s finances in 2024 – we saw revenue dip (that 8% drop in late 2024 year-on-year) and the company had to absorb costs for software fixes and even layoffs[49][17]. Sonos referred to 2024 as a “transitional” or even “rough” year[50]. But 2025 has been a year of stabilization and rebuilding. Under new CEO Tom Conrad and a streamlined strategy, Sonos tightened its belt and focused on core products. The result: by the end of fiscal 2025 (which for Sonos ended around fall 2025), the company saw a notable uptick. In the quarter reported just before the holiday season (their Q4 2025), Sonos’s revenue actually grew 13% year-over-year[51][40] – a strong finish that exceeded Wall Street expectations. This was a welcome rebound after the prior slump.
Sonos’s management highlighted that they had “restored the quality of our software” and become a leaner, more focused organization during 2025[52][40]. The CFO, in the latest earnings release, noted Sonos had implemented “sharper financial discipline” and was able to both improve profitability and start growing revenue again[40]. Indeed, Sonos returned to adjusted profitability in 2025 – reporting a positive adjusted EBITDA (earnings before certain costs) – although on a GAAP basis they still posted a net loss for the full year[53][54]. That loss was largely due to the earlier parts of the year and those one-time recovery costs. The trajectory by late 2025 is upward.
It’s also telling how Sonos describes the current period: Conrad called 2025 a “transitional year”, implying the company was righting the ship and laying groundwork for growth ahead[52]. He spoke of entering a “new chapter” focused on Sonos’s strengths in hardware, software, and design as one platform for the home[52]. In practical terms, Sonos is concentrating on selling more speakers and expanding within households as mentioned, rather than chasing wild experiments. Financial analysts on earnings calls have been keen to see gross margins improve and expenses come down, and Sonos did make progress there (becoming “leaner” often is code for some job cuts and cost cuts, which Sonos did quietly implement).
Importantly, demand seems to be holding up in late 2025. Sonos cited that the challenging market conditions of 2024 (when consumer tech spending slowed and Sonos’s issues compounded the problem) were easing a bit[17]. There’s also an element of pent-up demand: some consumers sat out buying Sonos during the period of negative press, and as confidence returns, sales could accelerate. The 13% revenue jump in Q4 FY2025 suggests Sonos managed to get customers back with new products like the Arc Ultra soundbar and Sub Mini (Sub 4), and possibly the first headphones. Additionally, Sonos’s expanded lineup of portables (Roam, Roam 2, Move 2) taps into new buyers who want on-the-go sound, which might be contributing to growth.
That said, Sonos is not out of the woods. The company’s full-year 2025 revenue was still slightly below its 2024 revenue (roughly $1.44 billion vs $1.52 billion the year before)[55], meaning they haven’t fully regained what was lost. The holiday quarter (Q1 fiscal 2026 for Sonos, which corresponds to calendar Q4 2025) will be a big test. Typically, the holiday season is Sonos’s strongest sales period. If Sonos is truly back on track, we’d expect solid holiday sell-through of its speakers and systems. Any stumble – whether due to renewed tech issues, stronger competitive offers, or soft consumer spending – could hamper the comeback narrative.
It’s worth noting that Sonos’s stock price and investor sentiment have been on a bit of a roller coaster. The app scandal hammered the stock in 2024, but positive earnings surprises in mid and late 2025 lifted it somewhat. Analysts have used phrases like “turnaround bid” and are closely watching Sonos’s “new strategy” under Conrad[56]. The new strategy of focusing on existing customers and attachment sales is generally seen as sensible and less risky than, say, trying to take on Apple in phones or something silly. However, it needs execution. If Sonos can increase the average household’s number of Sonos devices from, say, 2 to 3 or 4, that would drive significant revenue growth (and lock in those households from switching platforms).
From a financial health perspective, Sonos heading into late 2025 is cautiously optimistic. They have positive cash flow again, they’ve slimmed down costs, and they have a clearer product roadmap. The company’s leadership has signaled confidence by providing guidance aiming for resumed growth in 2026[40]. Still, margins are something to watch – competition and higher component costs can pressure profitability. Sonos also has ongoing legal battles (like its patent disputes with Google) that could yield either influx of settlement money or continued legal expenses depending on outcomes.
Outlook: A Strong 2025 Holiday Season or More Turbulence?
As the 2025 holiday season arrives, is Sonos poised to jingle all the way to strong sales, or is it at risk of getting coal in its stocking? Based on all of the above, Sonos is certainly in a far better position now than a year ago. The critical thing is that Sonos’s products are once again appealing on their merits, not being overshadowed by tech issues. The average holiday shopper in 2025 reading reviews will see that Sonos speakers (like the Era 100, Era 300, Beam, Arc, etc.) are top of their class in sound quality and features. The nasty headlines about the app are now old news – and many new buyers might not even be aware it happened. The fact that Sonos recovered enough to add back features and satisfy its core user base means its word-of-mouth among enthusiasts is improving again.
Sonos also enters the holidays with fresh products that have reviewed well. The Sonos Arc Ultra, released in late 2024, is a premium soundbar that got praise for being one of the best Atmos soundbars on the market (with some calling it Sonos’s “comeback” product)[57]. The Sonos Move 2 (portable speaker refreshed with better battery and stereo sound) came out in mid-2023 and remains a strong seller for those wanting indoor/outdoor versatility. The Sonos Ace headphones, which marked Sonos’s entry into personal audio in 2024, have added a new category for the brand – and while not a volume driver like speakers, they round out the ecosystem (imagine unwrapping a pair of Sonos headphones that seamlessly hand off music to your Sonos speakers when you walk in the door – that kind of integration is what Sonos is aiming for). If Sonos offers holiday bundles or discounts (which it has – e.g., offering deals like 20% off a subwoofer when bought with a soundbar), that could entice existing customers to expand their system.
However, there are still risks that Sonos faces. Customer trust, for one. A portion of Sonos’s most loyal fans felt burned by the events of 2024. Some of those folks might hesitate to splurge on more Sonos gear this holiday, remembering the frustrations. Sonos’s challenge is to win them back with flawless performance and maybe some goodwill gestures. We’ve seen an uptick in Sonos’s direct communication (for example, more frequent blog updates about software updates, and Sonos staff engaging on forums). That transparency helps. But trust, once broken, takes time to fully mend. It’s likely that competitors will use Sonos’s past stumbles as a selling point in subtle ways – e.g., Apple can tout how HomePod “just works with your iPhone” (implying no complicated app), Amazon can push Echo’s reliability and simplicity. Sonos will want this holiday season to be boringly smooth for all its users – any widespread outage or new bug would be extremely damaging at this juncture.
Competition in the holiday season is also fierce. Apple, Amazon, and Google will all be running big promotions on their speakers. Apple’s HomePods rarely go on sale, but Apple doesn’t need to discount much – it sells the experience. Amazon and Google will likely slash prices on Echo and Nest devices to spur smart home adoption. Sonos can’t match those bargain-basement prices, so it must convince shoppers that “Is Sonos worth it in 2025?” the answer is yes for those who care about great sound and versatility. In SEO terms, many are probably typing that exact question – Is Sonos worth it in 2025? – given the negative press last year. Sonos is making the case that yes, it is worth it: the app issues are fixed, the ecosystem is better than ever, and the sound still beats the pants off most competitors.
From a market standpoint, Sonos might actually benefit from a broader consumer trend: lots of people got into basic smart speakers (Alexa, etc.) in the past decade; by 2025, some of them are now looking to upgrade to better sound. This could play into Sonos’s hands if they market well. Imagine someone who bought a few Echo Dots in 2018 – by now they might crave a more premium music experience. Sonos can be that upgrade (and indeed, Sonos works with Alexa, easing the transition). The holiday season is a prime time for such upgrades or for gifting premium audio gear.
Financially, Sonos’s own guidance suggests they expect growth. They wouldn’t be talking about focusing on growth and “balancing profitability with reinvestment”[40] if they weren’t seeing a positive trajectory. The company’s tone is optimistic: Tom Conrad struck an upbeat note saying they’re turning the page to the next chapter[52]. We also saw Sonos reaffirm its commitment to innovation – they haven’t gone into a shell; they launched new products and even explored new categories despite the turmoil (albeit carefully). That shows confidence that demand is there.
In conclusion, heading into the 2025 holidays Sonos appears poised for a comeback season. The major technical woes of the last two years – especially the app meltdown – have been addressed through hard lessons, apologies, and lots of software patches. Sonos has a revamped leadership with a clearer focus on what made Sonos great to begin with (reliability and quality). Its products are getting back to form, and the company’s financials indicate stabilization. There’s a sense that Sonos is humbled but wiser.
Will it be enough to declare a full comeback? We’ll see – Sonos needs a strong holiday quarter to cement the turnaround. If sales are robust and new customers join (or old customers add more speakers), Sonos could enter 2026 with momentum, having effectively climbed out of the hole it dug in 2024. But if the holiday season disappoints, it might signal that consumers’ trust in Sonos is still shaken or that competitors have siphoned away interest. My bet, as a cautious optimist and long-time Sonos watcher, is that Sonos will indeed have a solid 2025 holiday season. The brand has done the hard work to fix its mistakes, and the core value – a seamless home audio experience – is gradually shining through again. Sonos may have stumbled badly, but it hasn’t lost the race just yet. In the spirit of the season, perhaps Sonos’s 2025 story is one of redemption: from “When the music stopped” in 2024 to “play it again” in 2025, and hopefully, for Sonos and its fans, living happily ever after in sync and in tune.
Sources:
· Wong, Roger. “When the Music Stopped: Inside the Sonos App Disaster.” rogerwong.me, Feb. 19, 2025[21][5]. (Background on the 2024 Sonos app redesign failure and its impact.)
· Welch, Chris. “The Sonos app fiasco: how a great audio brand nearly ruined its reputation.” The Verge, Jul. 23, 2025[6][30]. (Detailed timeline of the app redesign controversy and Sonos’s subsequent actions.)
· MacRumors Staff. “Sonos Apologizes for Widely Criticized App Redesign, Provides Progress Update.” MacRumors, Jul. 25, 2024[22][25]. (Summary of Sonos CEO Patrick Spence’s apology letter and feature restoration roadmap.)
· Schwarz, Hunter. “Sonos CEO steps down following a disastrous app redesign.” Fast Company, Jan. 13, 2025[49][37]. (Announcement of Patrick Spence’s departure, interim CEO Tom Conrad’s statement, and notes on missing app features and user reactions.)
· Aten, Jason. “Sonos’s New CEO Sent an Email to Employees. 7 Words Stood Out Most.” Inc.com, Jan. 16, 2025[50][36]. (Insight into interim CEO Tom Conrad’s internal email acknowledging customer frustrations and emphasizing the need to restore the “magic” of Sonos.)
· Younker, Scott. “Sonos caps off a rough year for its redesigned app with one last update — here’s what’s new.” Tom’s Guide, Dec. 11, 2024[44][29]. (Details on late-2024 Sonos app updates, remaining missing features, and internal warnings prior to the app launch.)
· Welch, Chris. “Sonos revenue falls in the aftermath of the company’s messy app debacle.” The Verge, Nov. 13, 2024[17]. (Report on Sonos’s Q4 2024 earnings drop, attributed in part to the app rollout issues and recovery costs.)
· Sonos Investor Relations. “Sonos Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2025 Results.” Sonos Investor News, Nov. 5, 2025[52][40]. (Quotes from CEO Tom Conrad and CFO Saori Casey highlighting Q4 2025 growth, software quality restoration, and a focus on disciplined growth.)
· Welch, Chris. “Sonos Debuts New Strategy in Turnaround Bid After Sales Beat.” Bloomberg News, Nov. 5, 2025[56][41]. (Overview of Sonos’s new strategy under CEO Conrad to drive multi-device sales in households, following better-than-expected results.)
· Apple Support Community. User post by “prestonmayor.” Jul. 1, 2025[10]. (Example of user experiencing Sonos–Apple Music connectivity issues after app updates, illustrating lingering integration frustrations.)
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[9] Spatial Audio with Apple Music Still Fails After Several Tracks
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[46] new sonos app released 7th May 2024 issues
[47] Era 300: Apple Music dropouts. : r/sonos - Reddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/comments/1g2d3m8/era_300_apple_music_dropouts/
[48] The 7 Best Smart Speakers of 2025 - RTINGS.com
https://www.rtings.com/speaker/reviews/best/smart
[55] Sonos (SONO) Stock Price & Overview - Stock Analysis
