Sonos has been premised on the idea of high-quality wireless speakers, but the companion app has been its secret sauce all along: a smooth controller of multi-room systems and the library of streaming or local music. In 2024, it was altered with an unsuccessful redesign that displeased the users, depriving them of features and adding bugs. Most things are fixed by the end of the year 2025 favorite tools are restored, the performance has been enhanced, but the app is only just gaining momentum as the AI is destabilizing the game.
Streaming competitors speed up the implementation of AI
Spotify, Apple, Google, and Amazon are integrating more sophisticated AI into music applications, transforming passive listening into conversational listening. Key moves:
- The Alexa+ of Amazon (available in November 2025 to users of iOS/Android in the U.S.): Allows natural language, such as “Suggest me some more chill sounding music my teen niece would enjoy” or “Variations of this song by other artists faster, etc.” It addresses playlists, lyrics, concerts, and voices very rigidly.
- Spotify AI DJ and Playlists (2023-2024): Custom mixes are created through ChatGPT integration.
- Short-Lived AI Playlists at Tidal (2023): Experiment, now repeated throughout the industry.
These applications might marginalize the universal search that Sonos has and even command its speakers through native Spotify, Tidal, or Qobuz applications, no longer through the Sonos interface. Apple already has an existing solution to grouping, which is AirPlay, minimizing app dependency.
A Post- Redesign Fallout: a Double Blow
The 2024 mess prompted people to seek alternatives: some of them sold the gears, others remained with the features of streaming applications. The recovery window of Sonos becomes smaller, as the apps get even smarter with the help of AI to handle curation and speakers. The latest X chat is full of resignation: One user complained, “Sonos app continues to crash in the middle of the playback- Meanwhile Alexa+ has already failed me in my mood-based playlist. Someone else made a post and said, Sonos gambling on AI and hardware stalls? Bold, but risky.”
Artificial Intelligence Foundations and Isolation of Sonos
In 2022, Sonos launched Sonos Voice Control (SVC), which is based on a voice (Giancarlo Esposito) and can group offline, as well as make simple requests – once a leader. However, development changed to flops such as the Ace headphones and an abandoned video streamer, and SVC became a historic. There are no significant upgrades scheduled in 2025; the patches to the app are basic, such as queue management, local library fixes, etc.
Bright side: May 2025 saw the addition of AI-based speech clarity to Arc soundbar, with the Mad Max mixer Chris Jenkins to create dialogue immersion without affecting cinematic impact. But that’s niche—music AI lags.
Vision of the CEO Conrad: AI the Lifeline?
After three months, new CEO Tom Conrad understands: no one wakes up and wants to fiddle in the Sonos app. He predicted in Q4 2025 earnings live natural conversations with AI personalities ubiquitous as smartphones, making the Sonos hardware the center of all of it through voice-enabled smarts. Tips: Push SVC to be an Alexa competitor, or invest even more in third-party support ( Alexa, Google Assistant? ).
Sonos readmission of hardware innovation November 2025 to focus more on software, increase its prices due to app complaints- a big gamble in the resurgence of AI.
The Stakes: Become Hardware Appendages, or Lead?
Devoid of AI aggression, Sonos runs the risk of being commoditized: Premium speakers being a product to serve Amazon Music or Spotify smarts with an output that is good, but not the software permeating the ecosystem. When Conrad looks at the possibility of coming together with music, movies, stories, and conversations, the clock runs out. Will Sonos dominate the pack once more, or will competitors write a new multi-room playbook?
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News Source: Techradar.com
