Resolving (the majority of) Issues with Alexa on Sonos

This thread is intended to help get you going if you get stuck setting up Alexa with Sonos, or if you have run into any errors. The setup process does use two different apps, so don’t stress if you’re having trouble, we can help.

If you are reading this thread, you will now be aware that integrating the two platforms requires several authentication steps which require you to move between applications and interfaces, providing login details and authorising services along the way.
Simply put: It involves some moving back and forth, providing information as you go.

The issues this post may help you resolve include but are not limited to:
- "Your Spotify account does not support streaming on this device."
- Radio stations not playing when you ask them to.
- Asking for something to play- whether this is acknowledged or not- only to be met with silence.

It is worth noting, however, that several of your desired functions may simply not be available on Alexa via Sonos just yet. We have articles that describe exactly what services to expect at this time.
Visit this link for the UK or this one for the US.

Is your desired functionality available? Then let's move on to fixing your issue.

If you get to a point where you're not able to complete a step, just skip to the next section.

1. In the Alexa app, go to the Sonos skill, go to Settings > Manage Smart Home Devices > Tap 'Forget All'.
Note: The step to 'Forget All' will delete all actions in all Routines within an Alexa set-up.

2. Go to Alexa's UK site or Alexa's US site (again, depending on your region).
Please do this in a web browser on a computer (PC or Mac).
It's also best to do this using private browsing or incognito mode to avoid using cached information.

Go to Settings. Click on your Sonos One in the list of devices. It will probably be listed both as '(your name)'s Sonos One' and whatever room name you gave it in Sonos. It's the '(your name)'s Sonos One we're looking for. On this page, click on 'deregister' and confirm that.

If on this page you do not see your Sonos One already set up, then it's probably linked to a different account somehow. In this case you can skip the rest of the troubleshooting. Just add the Sonos skill on this website, then follow the prompts.

3. Make sure you know your Amazon account password, and then log out of your Amazon account everywhere. Log out of the Alexa app, log out on your web browser, log out on the shopping app, the music app.

4. Delete all your Amazon apps, including the Alexa app, and then just install the Alexa app.

5. Add the Sonos One back to the system in the Sonos app, via Settings -> Add a Player or SUB. Follow the prompts to set up voice services which will require you log in to your Sonos account, and then your Amazon account, to link them together. You'll also need to enable the Sonos skill in the Alexa app at this point.

6. If that's all worked you should hear the Sonos One say "Hello". Try asking it to play something like a radio station (Radio by TuneIn is enabled by default) and see if that works.

If this does not work, or you are getting stuck at any stage, please post a diagnostic confirmation number and describe how/where it went wrong.

Thank you, keep us posted as to whether or not this helps!

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One other simple thing to check is that the small white round light is showing on the top of the Sonos One. If not, then the Mic has been turned off by accident, (Easy to do when cleaning) just touch the mic symbol to turn back on. 🙂

This did not resolve the issue of Alexa skills not actually playing even though Alexa acknowledged the command and said "now playing..."

What a mess to fix basic features that should be working. The benefit of the echo is that everyone in the house can use it. Not so since I’ve replaced with Sonos. I’m returning my unit.

This did not resolve the issue of Alexa skills not actually playing even though Alexa acknowledged the command and said "now playing..."

The steps I've listed in this post detail some further actions:

https://en.community.sonos.com/amazon-alexa-and-sonos-229102/alexa-says-she-is-playing-on-kitchen-but-no-sound-comes-out-6800126/index1.html#post16201009

This did not resolve the issue of Alexa skills not actually playing even though Alexa acknowledged the command and said "now playing..."

This is getting a little silly.

No I don't have duplicate device names. This didn't happen during the initial set up and still didn't happen after following the factory reset.

No there is not an account linking issue. Disabling the skills and re-enabling them doesn't work. Why would you think this would work if after a complete deletion of the skills and factory reset didn't work? Besides this was the first thing I tried and it doesn't explain why none of the skills play audio. Your steps don't really cover anything additional to the steps stated above by Sonos staff.

I've now found out that the issue I am facing is a known bug - so there is a help page asking you to basically to re-set up everything from scratch after a hard re-boot when the issue has nothing to do with accounts, duplicate items or authentication. It's simply a bug - Amazon and Sonos have both acknowledged it.

Amazingly, I have the Alexia connection, working in Canada, using Alexia devices bought in Canada and a Sonos speaker also bought here. The Sonos skill is not published directly, but indirectly I found that if I set up Yonomi on Alexa, enable Smart Home on the Alexa device and the allow Alexia/Yanomi to search for devices, then miraculously, it finds the Sonos device. I then attached the Sonos account to my US Amazon account (I had one already, but easy to set up anyway) and behold, the Sonos responds just like an Alexa. Not sure if this is a hack or just using available resources and common sense. It works, I can play my Amazon Prime Music on the My Canadian Snos Play. Now, if only I could figure out how to get Audible just as directly...

Seeing this, and the myriad of other posts dealing with Alexa & Sonos integration (and lack of real fixes even from the experts), you would think that both organizations would want to correct this ASAP. I'm new to the Alexa ecosystem, and so far I have been happy with just the Alexa devices performance. All seems to work well.

Using just an Echo Dot to get started, I decided I'd add a good speaker for this task. I purchased a Play:1 because of it's ability to integrate with Alexa. The setup went fine, but I'm now having issues when I switch back and forth between using the Sonos app and then the Alexa App. I find that I lose some functionality (volume control of the speaker and navigation control in Amazon Music via Sonos) when just in the Sonos App, but I can't control the speaker volume in just the Alexa App. Thus, I have to hop back and forth. Ridiculous for very basic functions.

Then, what I noticed was that you loose the ability to go back to the Sonos speaker via the Alexa app. It will tell you, Speaker Off line when the darn thing is playing at the time. The only way I could regain control of the Sonos via the Alexa app was to remove the skill, reinstall the skill, and then go through the skill setup process in Alexa app.

It's as if Amazon did not want to give you full functionality via the Sonos App, but didn't realize you have no volume control via the Alexa app.

Voice control seems to work fine as long as you don't go back and forth on the apps. This is inconvenient though due to the lack of remote volume control.

This integration needs a lot of work. I'm surprised they let this go to market this chopped up. Hopefully some upgrades will help get closer to the seamlessness they market as being here now.

I have had 2 Sonos Ones since around Christmas, they were working fine and I was able to control other devices using Alexa. So they were setup correctly, no duplicate names, etc., they just stopped working. I am still fully capable of controlling the devices from any of my 3 Echos. Problem is only with the 2 Sonos Ones. I read through the 7 steps above and I am aghast at the effort required. I even find it ironic that the link telling you how to factory reset your speakers tells you not to factory reset your speakers. Where can I return these because boxing them up is easier than the above. I'll just move my Echos back down.

BtrWrld,

You haven’t really said what is wrong with the Sonos Ones? Are they paired, grouped, standalone? ... Do they play from within the Sonos App? Are you using the Alexa voice control features or not..? ...Exactly what isn’t working here?

Are they cabled and running on SonosNet, or are they working on your own routers WiFi ? Have you checked the microphones are on... did you try simply powering each one off and back on again?

I think more information is needed to assist you.

What a mess to fix basic features that should be working. The benefit of the echo is that everyone in the house can use it. Not so since I’ve replaced with Sonos. I’m returning my unit.

I could not agree more. Who has the time and patience to perform major surgery on a new product I bought a month ago?

This is getting a little silly.

I've now found out that the issue I am facing is a known bug - so there is a help page asking you to basically to re-set up everything from scratch after a hard re-boot when the issue has nothing to do with accounts, duplicate items or authentication. It's simply a bug - Amazon and Sonos have both acknowledged it.

grumpysausage,

Can you kindly point me towards the help page you refer to in your post please that acknowledges the problem both by Sonos and Amazon and asks us to reset everything ... thanks very much.

I have just spent nearly £2k on a second Sonos system for a different property precisely because my first was so simple to set up. I now feel sick that it is so complicated and I cannot, however much I try, get Alexa to play a well known UK radio station.

Hi Spekesmill

A couple of things to check:

1/ What command syntax are you using? Can you try 'Alexa, Play Radio 2' - please include the room name at the end of the command if not a Sonos One, 'Alexa, Play Radio 2 on Kitchen'

2/ If the command fails, does Alexa reply with a message?

3/ What Sonos devices do you have? If they are Sonos Ones, can you check that the small round white light is displayed on the top. If not then the mic has been switched off, just touch the mic symbol to toggle back on.

4/ If you open the Alexa App>Settings>History did Alexa properly hear you?

5/ If still not working please look at the Answer to this post which lists the three most common issues:

https://en.community.sonos.com/amazon-alexa-and-sonos-229102/alexa-says-she-is-playing-on-kitchen-but-no-sound-comes-out-6800126/index1.html

Let us know how you get on.

Is the problem arising because spekesmill is (perhaps) using the same amazon and Sonos Accounts and mobile controllers at his second home location perhaps?

Don’t they need to be different for a second home location ?

Yep, they need to be location specific or the radio will play in property one. Well spotted Ken. 🙂

I bet his family, or neighbours, back home are wondering what on earth is going on. ha ha 😃

Thanks all for your helpful comments I appreciate your time. As I mentioned this is my second system so I am familiar with the lights and other basic controls. Alexa hears me ok but keeps saying I need to enable the skill to use the radio even though I have done this in the same way as I did with my first system. She does a sort of "humph" sound then proceeds to tell me to enable the skill. Can't give you the exact wording as I am in property 1 at present. I will try your suggestions asap.

Regards my commands going to the wrong system I thought I needed to be on the same network / WiFi to operate the respective systems?

I think my issue revolves around the 2 accounts as suggested by Ken but I might be wrong, I am no expert.

Thanks again.

Regards my commands going to the wrong system I thought I needed to be on the same network / WiFi to operate the respective systems?

Not for voice command but yes for the App.

I think my issue revolves around the 2 accounts as suggested by Ken but I might be wrong, I am no expert.

Thanks again.

Yes, I expect so. To run multiple Sonos locations you need two Sonos accounts and the relationship between your Sonos Account and your Amazon account must be a 1:1, so you'll need two Amazon accounts.

I refer back to my original post.

Please can you point me in the direction of how I creat two Alexa accounts and two Sonos accounts. At present I am seriously regretting my second system purchase and I wish I had done more research.

Specksmill,

If you were allowed to use the same Amazon/Sonos account credentials at different locations, it would mean that some unscrupulous users could get together and use those accounts at numerous houses and yet only buy one monthly music subscription.... so for example me and everyone in the street where I live, could all share the same account. So that’s obviously not going to be allowed.

So when you set things up at a different location it’s best to keep things separate... otherwise if we take your Sonos Account (just as an example) it may end up with two speakers at different locations with identical names like 'lounge', 'dining room' or kitchen etc. So it’s best to use a new Sonos Account for your other premises to keep those speakers separate from each other.

Same with Amazon, because you have to link the Sonos Account to the Amazon Account and only one Sonos Account can be linked at any one time.

So you need two new accounts (one Amazon and one Sonos)... you set them up in exactly the same way you that setup the earlier accounts, but use different email addresses.. some folk create an email address specifically for this purpose, l presume others use their partners email address.

I hope that now helps and gives you a slightly better understanding.

Thanks for that, I will try the wife's device route and let you know how I get on.

Cheers.

The best way to do this is when you open the Sonos App in your new home make sure you select New System and not Connect to Existing. (If you've already connected, just uninstall and then install the Sonos App again.)The Sonos app will then ask you to enter your email and password and if you enter a different email to your first home account then a new account will be created. When you add voice services for this new account, it will ask you to enter your Amazon account details, at this point you need to enter your wife's Amazon account details. (Make sure that you are not still logged into your Amazon account on the same device when setting up as otherwise it will default to this account.) Let us know how you get on, once this set-up is done, there will be no complication switching between addresses.

Thanks again, just a thought I was thinking my other option would be to wait for Google home to be supported apparently some time this year..?

I would expect the same issue. The cloud doesn't know you have two homes unless you have two accounts. I helped someone early on where someone's boyfriend was playing music through his girlfriends speaker and one was east coast of the US and the other west coast. It really is simple if you follow my instructions in my previous post.

Ok thanks, I will give it a go and let you know.

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