Bose Open-Sources Its SoundTouch Home Theater Smart Speakers Ahead of End-of-Life

Bose is discontinuing support for its SoundTouch smart speakers, rendering them "dumb" devices starting February 18th. Customers initially faced the loss of cloud connectivity, software updates, and the companion app's key features. These features included integrated music services, multi-room audio, and saved presets. This decision prompted customer frustration due to product obsolescence and the desire to use their expensive devices. However, Bose has revised its plan, offering some positive news for affected users. AirPlay and Spotify Connect will continue to function on SoundTouch speakers post-end-of-life, preserving wireless capabilities. Furthermore, SoundTouch devices supporting AirPlay 2 can still synchronize playback across multiple speakers. The SoundTouch app itself will persist, albeit with reduced functionality. A future update, scheduled for May 6, 2026, will enable local operation of the app's features. Users will not need to take action as the update will happen automatically when they open the app. Bose also provided instructions to enable saving those favorite presets saved in those music service apps. This demonstrates a compromise that aims to mitigate the impact of the end-of-life announcement.