The New Sonos App

Content in one place for effortless control

In 2024, we launched the new Sonos app, designed to deliver a more intuitive, streamlined, and customizable listening experience.

As Lead Product Designer for Content, I worked with cross-functional teams to shape the core experience and framework for how users interact with content. Our main goals were to reduce time to music and drive engagement.

We reimagined the Sonos app, shifting from a control-focused design to a content-first experience— more seamlessly integrating users’ favorite streaming services for music, podcasts, radio, and audiobooks, all in one place.

My Role

Lead Product Designer

Team

User Research
Content Designer
Art Director
Product Manager

20+ Mobile Engineers/QA
5 Web Engineers/QA

Timeline

Q2 2022 – Q2 2024 (MVP Launch)

Five smartphone screens showing the Sonos app interface with music services, playlists, and song controls.

Impact

Since our app launch in 2024, we’ve been actively improving the experience based on user feedback, releasing updates to restore key features, enhance reliability, and refine performance.

+60,000 content initiations

from the Home Feed over the last 30 days.

+51 million total click-throughs

on the Play button within content hero views over the last 30 days.

~430K click-throughs

on search bar daily.

Median time of 7.8 seconds

to start playing audio with the new app

Dynamic & customizable launchpad

The Home feed brings everything to users' fingertips - quickly resume recently played content, browse libraries and recommendations, and search across services.

With customizable curation, users can pin their favorite content for instant access, making it easier than ever to get to the music they love.

A collage of three smartphone screens displaying a music app interface. The first screen shows a "Recently Played" section with various albums and playlists, along with "Your Services" suggesting apps like Spotify, Apple Music, and Sonos Radio. The second screen highlights "Sonos Presents" with different radio station genres and "Heavy Rotation" playlists. The third screen focuses on "Edit Home" settings, allowing users to reorder app features like "Recently Played" and "Sonos Favorites." A hand is holding the phone displayed on the right.

Universal Search across all services

Universal Search makes finding and playing content effortless by aggregating results from all connected streaming services in one place.

By combining search results across multiple platforms, it streamlines navigation and ensures a seamless listening experience on Sonos.

Two smartphone screens showing a music app interface labeled 'Sonos.' Both include tabs for Spotify and Apple Music, displaying artist names, playlist titles, and search results. A hand holds a blank phone on the right.

Mobile app showcasing music streaming options, recently played albums, and playback controls. Includes music services like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Sonos Radio.

Unified library and playlists for ultimate curation

Sonos Favorites provides a single destination for users to save and access their most-loved content from multiple streaming services. With Sonos Playlists, users can create custom playlists by adding tracks from different platforms directly within the Sonos app.

This unified library experience makes it easy to curate and enjoy a personalized mix of music, all in one.

Smartphone showing a music app interface with sections for "Recently Added," "Playlists," "Songs," "Albums," and "Stations." A blank phone screen is held in a hand.

Mobile display of 'With A Hammer' album by Yaeji on Sonos app, showing album art and tracklist.

Service discovery to expand listening experience

The service integration flow enables users to seamlessly discover and connect new services to their Sonos system. By managing content services, users can also add multiple accounts and designate their preferred service for a more personalized experience.

Three smartphone screens displaying the Sonos app interface. The first screen shows content service categories like music, radio, and podcasts, with suggested services including SoundCloud. The second screen lists connected services like Apple Music and Spotify. The third screen focuses on managing Apple Music accounts within Sonos, held by a hand.

Scaling and optimizing the cross-platform experience

The web app was designed to provide a seamless and unified experience alongside the mobile app, ensuring that the core content experience remains scalable and consistent across platforms.

Sonos mobile and desktop applications displayed on tablet, laptop, and smartphone. Interfaces show music playlists, streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, and system control options. Background is a gradient of pink and orange.

Screenshot of the Sonos website interface displaying a music playlist titled "Playlist Title" with several tracks listed. The left side shows album art and track details such as title, album name, and duration. The right side features a section labeled "Randall's House" with different zones like Backyard, Kitchen, and Back Office, each with music control options. The bottom of the image shows a playbar potentially playing a song titled "APT." by ROSÉ and Bruno Mars.

Screenshot of Sonos App interface for controlling music playback from Spotify, Apple Music, and Sonos Radio across different rooms in a house. Shows a list of playlists, albums, and tracks, along with playback controls and volume adjustments for various rooms like the kitchen, foyer, and lounge.

Person holding a smartphone displaying a Sonos app interface, resting on a plaid patterned surface. They are wearing a leopard print sleeve and rings, with hands resting on someone else's leg wearing gray socks.

Nightstand with a Sonos speaker, lamp, sage-scented candle, books, smartphone playing white noise, and a glass.

Content is at the core of why Sonos exists

Our user research showed that higher content engagement within the Sonos app leads to greater user satisfaction, ultimately driving repurchase rates.

By making it effortless for users to find and enjoy the right content at the right moments, the Sonos app enriches their listening experience and deepens their connection to sound.

Request a Case Study

Interested in learning more about this project? Get in touch for more details.

Get in Touch 💌