Sonos backtracks on ‘recycle mode’ that makes speakers stop working

Users will get to hold onto older products and still get discount

(Sonos)

Sonos has remove a controversial "recycle mode" in its smart speakers that stopped them from working.

The mode was part of a programme that allowed users to "trade-up" older products that are due to stop being supported by the company. They were given the option of getting a 30 per cent discount to replace their older products – but would have to turn on the "recycle mode", which shut them down so they were entirely unusable, even if they had been working fine before.

When the mode was triggered, it started a 21-day countdown, and the products shut down at the end of that period. Sonos said the mode was necessary to ensure that any data left on the devices was safe if they were recycled.

Users and recycling experts had warned that the special mode felt unnecessary and helped contribute to e-waste by rendering the speakers unusable even to people looking to repurpose them or hold onto older products despite Sonos cutting off support.

Now the company says it will no longer force people to use the recycling mode. They will still be able to get the same 30 per cent discount, it has said, but users will keep their old speaker and be allowed to keep using it, pass it on, or throw it away as before.

Users will be encouraged simply to put their smart speakers through a factory reset to ensure that the data is cleaned from the computer.

The recycling mode has been removed from the app and Sonos's website will be changed in the coming weeks.

Sonos's recycling mode was part of a more broadly controversial decision, announced earlier this year, that Sonos would cut off support for its older products. The company said that the hardware inside of those speakers could no longer support its new services and software, and that they would gradually be cut off with time.

The trade-up programme was intended as a way to address customers frustration with Sonos's decision, allowing them to upgrade their products for cheaper than usual. But it also prompted yet more criticism about the fact older speakers were not just getting cut off from updates but being bricked entirely.