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Sleep Timer using Alexa - not working with Sonos One

  • 31 October 2017
  • 63 replies
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U
Userlevel 1
Purchased a Sonos One to use with Amazon Alexa and have discovered that although I can listen to my favourite radio station, when I ask the Alexa to sleep after any number of minutes, and it acknowledges, the Sonos does not turn off. This feature works perfectly with the Amazon Echo and Dot (which I also own).
I have spoken with support who say that this feature is not currently supported however, as a result, I cannot keep the Sonos in my bedroom (where I bought it for), as I wake up every night now with the radio on in the background (which I don't want).
Does anyone have a fix or does anyone know IF Sonos are working on resolving this as they don't have any way of checking via the technical helpdesk nor can they automatically inform me when it does become available.
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Best answer by Ryan S 11 May 2018, 18:26

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63 replies

K
I have become a big Sonos fan. I have FOUR Sonos Ones. However I am very disappointed to see this thread going on for over 2 months and the issue of the Sleep Timer working with Alexa is still not resolved. There is much to like about the Sonos One. But all it takes is a simple little issue like this to make a very good product into a so so one. Please let us all know when this will be resolved.
M
There is a work around to this if you have Android using the AutoVoice, Tasker and Macronos apps. It seems to work well and in a way is even better: you can fade the music gently rather than just having it suddenly stop.

Can you elaborate on this. Apologies but this is Chinese to me. I have a sonos one (Alexa btw is terrible at understanding requests for radio stations) and not sure where I would go for auto voice, taster/ macronos apps. Thank you.
B
What is the status of the Alexa voice controlled sleep timer. I do not understand the difficulty. You advertise the Sonos One as an Alexa device. I expect it to be able to do what the Echo does. Amazon knows how to implement the sleep timer so maybe you should ask for assistance from them. We want the sleep timer for the bedroom and the kitchen. This is a major deal breaker. Luckily I can return one of these. It was ominous that your last email had removed that it was a feature coming. Please advise.
V
Userlevel 2
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I love my Sonos speakers (so much I dumped all my Bose), but I am disappointed at this missing feature, and even more so that the in-store Sonos display specifically says in the on-screen demo, "All your music plus everything Alexa does" and that is verbatim. It does alarms, it does timers, sure don't understand why it can't shut down playback of any kind. I contacted support and they only said they would pass it to development and ducked the question of why the display says what it says, and of course also told me I could set a sleep timer inside the Sonos app, (which is true), but that is not why I bought the Sonos One - I could do that with the Play 1 and what is nearly now 3/4 less the price for the same sound. However, I say it again, I love my Sonos sound, but if I had but one wish, it would be to get the sleep timer working with the Sonos One by Alexa command. That's my two cents.
T
Is there any updates to this issue, it's a real pain to have to do it in the Sonos app as Alexa doesn't work with it for the timer, found out when my music was playing at midnight...
G
Userlevel 2
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Any news on this? You said 2 months ago that this was high up on the list to be resolved soon. Just frustrating that there’s so many little things like this and Alexa. You really shouldn’t have released Sonos with Alexa until it was actually any good!

Yes, I can turn off the microphone and use my Dot but defeats the point of having a single unit to do both things.
T
Just noticed this issue too. Very annoying but glad to hear it's high on the priority list. I. Sure it takes coordination between teams on both sides of the corporate table, which is a plausible reason for delay. But Ryan, we'd greatly appreciate a timeframe for a solution , whenever you're able to provide it. Under sell, over deliver 😉
Ryan S
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Hi dasym, I'll reach out to the team again to make sure it's still high on their list. I don't have any specifics today but I'll let you know when it's resolved.
Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
F
Badge +1
I have the same need for this feature.
I guess it was a mistake to assume that "Alexa" was being built in, I expected to be able to use all the same commands as I could with the Echo... 😞
T
Any updates Ryan? It’s been 4 months. Thx.
L
Throwing my +1 on this...hope it gets resolved soon. It feels like quite the oversight and it’s shocking that four months have passed without a fix.
B
I’ve been following this thread for almost 5 months. I am an IT professional who can’t believe this is taking so long! I’ve invested quite a bit of money in Sonos devices and really did feel like this was going to be a quick fix, yet nothing, not even some honesty! Hum... wonder how much longer they can keep this up without loosing customers - I’m certainly reconsidering!
Ryan S
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Hi everyone, exciting news for you all. We've been working with the Alexa team on this one and as of a cloud update today the Sleep Timer function for Alexa on the Sonos One is now working as expected. You should hear the proper response, and music playing on the Sonos One from Audible, Amazon Music, Pandora, Deezer, TuneIn, or iHeartRadio should stop at the expected time.
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P
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Got it! I'll give it a go tonight and see if that does the trick. Thanks again for helping me sort this out! (Love my Sonos speakers by the way!!)
Ryan S
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Hi, the Sonos One should be able to set sleep timers, we're looking into some trouble right now with them not working. Thanks for reaching out and asking. We'll be getting them up and running as soon as we can.
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C
What is the example command for setting the sleep time on Sonos form Alexa, I have not been able to get this working, it always sets a sleep timer on the Alexa.
Ryan S
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
What is the example command for setting the sleep time on Sonos form Alexa, I have not been able to get this working, it always sets a sleep timer on the Alexa.
Are you using a Sonos One or an Alexa Echo device like a Dot?

The command should be "Alexa, set a sleep timer for _______." Or "Alexa, set a sleep timer for _________ on ________."
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C
I am using a DOT, and "Alexa, set a sleep timer for _______." sets a sleep timer on Alexa when playing music on Alexa but it does not when Alexa is playing music on the Sonos Play one in my Bedroom. Note is says it does but fails to turn it off.
T
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same problem here. if i play music on my echo dot and set a sleep timer, it turns off. If i ask alexa to set a sleep timer while music is playing on the One, it doesnt turn off.

I have to use the sonos app, go into the music i am playing, click on the 3 dots icon and set a sleep timer from there.
R
Same problem. I purchased the Sonos One to replace an Amazon Echo Dot in my bedroom to have better sound. I play music at night and set a sleep timer through Alexa. This worked perfectly on the Dot and stopped the music after 20 mins. It does not work on the Sonos One. The response for the sleep timer function on the Dot was: "I will stop playing after 20 mins". The Sonos One response is: "The sleep timer was set". The Sonos One does not stop playing after 20 mins. Please try to reproduce and get an update deployed. Thanks.
D
Userlevel 3
Badge +4
Hi, the Sonos One should be able to set sleep timers, we're looking into some trouble right now with them not working. Thanks for reaching out and asking. We'll be getting them up and running as soon as we can.
I can confirm this is a problem. I said, "Sleep in 2 minutes" to the Sonos One. It said, "Sleep timer set for 2 minutes, starting now", but it didn't stop playing.

It's 8 days since you said Sonos was working on it. Presumably it worked before release, so any feedback on the problem? I was going to replace my bedside Echo with a Sonos One. I'd have been extremely annoyed to discover this fault if I had.
Ryan S
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
@dasym, it's in the works still. From what I've heard, they're closing in on the issue and I know it's high up on the list to be resolved as soon as it can be.
Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
D
Userlevel 3
Badge +4
@dasym, it's in the works still. From what I've heard, they're closing in on the issue and I know it's high up on the list to be resolved as soon as it can be.Thanks for letting us know that. I'm glad to hear it's being worked on.
O
Like others I bought the Sonos One as a bedroom speaker so I wouldn't have to use the app to set timer. So I was disappointed when I discovered this fundamental task couldn't be performed. I just submitted a email to Support about this and their reply:

"At this time, no plans have been announced to develop voice controlling the sleep timer for Sonos. I'm sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause for you. This doesn't necessarily rule the feature out for Sonos in the future -- it just means that right now, our development team is focusing their attention on other exciting changes for Sonos."

So I would have been just as well served paying less for a Play:1 or even just getting an Alexa from Amazon. I get the feeling this product was not as well thought out as I have grown to expect from Sonos. I hope it is not indicative of things to come. Rather than "exciting" changes I just want stuff to work as expected.
N
Hi is there an update on this issue? I notice sonos acknowledged it 29 days ago via Ryan S’s comment but I still experience this issue now
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