Sonos Alexa integration broken since S2 update. Help!


Userlevel 1

I’ve recently upgraded to the S2 app. Using the original Sonos app I had issues every now and again e.g. silence from Alexa when making requests. To fix I would unlink everything and start again. This always worked. Using the new S2 app, I’ve just tried to unlink and start again for the first time as Alexa responded with silence when I asked it to play a song. When I try to link the Sonos skill to the Alexa app it says unable to link Sonos at this time, please try again later.

This is infuriating. The money these speakers cost and the size of the companies involved i.e. Amazon, you would think more time would be invested in R&D before rolling out a buggy product/service.


Can anyone please suggest a fix?

 

I’ve already unlinked Alexa, Spotify and the speaker system from S2 app and reset the app (though when I re-open the app after a reset it does auto-find the speaker system on my network). I’ve unlinked the Sonos and Spotify skills from the Alexa app. I’ve logged out of everything Amazon related and re-logged in making sure it’s the same account. None of my devices have duplicated names.

Maybe if there were a way to make my network forget the system and I could start again so I can do the initial setup once more?

Also, Google Assistant works okay, though I would prefer to use Amazon Alexa. I’m too familiar with it now… and I keep saying Alexa instead of Hey, Google!


I cannot figure out how to fix this!!

 

Please help.

 

Thanks,

Dan


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49 replies

After deactivating and removing all devices, removing Alexa skills, and logging out of EVERYthing, be sure to also uninstall the Sonos, Alexa, and Amazon apps then start with installing ONLY the Sonos S2 app, do the factory reset on your Sonos device & go through the setup again - only installing Alexa/Amazon when/if prompted to do so. Otherwise some of the stuff gets read from app cache files and can cause fresh setup issues.

Same issue here. I will try the instructions above tomorrow. 

Userlevel 3
Badge +5

I’ve done all the above and it’s actually made my set up worse. Alexa can initiate activities like start a song but won’t listen when I ask her to end tasks like stopping music. Grouping a dot and a Five seems broken now too. Again my dot can start a song playing on the Five but can’t now change the volume or stop the music unless I specify the area. I’ve reset everything twice and still no dice. 

I’m having exactly the same issue. Had any luck with the advice above?

Userlevel 3
Badge +5

After 24 hours of hard resetting every device, creating a new Sonos system twice, logging in and logging out of services, deleting and rediscovering devices, enabling and disabling skills, over and over and over again to no avail, I just bought a Google Nest Mini, switched to Google Assistant and have had zero issues since. Every command is executed beautifully.

Switch to Google is my advice.

My Alexa is connected and working with my sonos beam and all connected devices on alexa.

 

The issue is to play spotify. Alexas says: here is spotify.. or playing songs by artist from spotify but nothing really happens..

 

Reinstalled everything but nothing worked out..

 

When connecting with Google assistant it works fine.

 

Userlevel 2
Badge +1

I’ve exactly the same problem. After S2 upgrade, all was fine but I noticed Alexa is not responding always like before. So I disable skill and try to re-enable. Totally impossible… I’ve tried with Sonos App, Alexa app, on Alexa.amazon web site, nothing to do : always the same answer : unable to link Sonos at this time, please try again later.

I’ve rebooted Sonos device, logout from amazon app in all my device, nothing more…

Any help from Sonos Staff will be appreciated because it seems to be a common problem sincee S2.

Thanks.

Userlevel 4
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Same problem here!!!😡

Userlevel 7
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After deactivating and removing all devices, removing Alexa skills, and logging out of EVERYthing, be sure to also uninstall the Sonos, Alexa, and Amazon apps then start with installing ONLY the Sonos S2 app, do the factory reset on your Sonos device & go through the setup again - only installing Alexa/Amazon when/if prompted to do so. Otherwise some of the stuff gets read from app cache files and can cause fresh setup issues.

It is never a good idea to reset all your products. a) It removes all fault logging and diagnostic information, b) It rarely fixes an issue like this, and c) All system settings and customisation is lost

Userlevel 7
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All

Please open the Sonos App>Settings>Services & Voice>Amazon Alexa and ensure that all of your Sonos Alexa devices are set as Enabled.

Userlevel 4
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@UKMedia it is not possible to access Alexa service in Sonos app because it is not possible to connect Sonos to Alexa service: "There ws a problem adding Alexa"

Userlevel 7
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@UKMedia it is not possible to access Alexa service in Sonos app because it is not possible to connect Sonos to Alexa service: "There ws a problem adding Alexa"

Sorry, I thought you were adding another Sonos Alexa device. I’ve checked the Status page and there are no outages currently.

I added a Sonos One after the S2 App upgrade and had to select ‘Retry’ on the first attempt but the second time it added it no problem.

This is a subset of some instructions I wrote when Alexa support was first rolled out, it may be worth trying these:

2./ Some form of Account Linking or Authorisation has not completed successfully. There are a number of causes for this and it's best to try these steps 1 at a time and test before moving on to the next step if the problem persists:
2.1/ Open the Alexa App>Skills>Your Skills>Sonos and 'Disable' followed by 'Enable';
2.2/ Ensure that you don't have multiple Amazon accounts logged into different Apps on your device, as this can confuse the Amazon Authorisation. If yes, then please log out of the other accounts and then complete step 2.1 again;
2.3/ If the problem still persists, please logout of all Amazon accounts then select the Alexa App>Skills>Your Skills>Sonos and 'Disable. Now power down all Sonos devices for 10 secs, allowing for any wired devices to boot before booting the remaining Sonos players. Now log back into the Alexa App>Skills>Sonos and 'Enable'

Please let us know if your problem persists.

 

EDIT:

@SonosManu I just removed Alexa from my Arc as a test and it failed the first three times to add it back but on the fourth attempt it worked.  Perhaps the solution is to just keep trying! :)

Userlevel 3
Badge +5

The advice is always the same, to enable and disable skills, but I did that time after time to try and fix this and, believe it or not, the Sonos app actually got confused. It got into a state where when Alexa was enabled it was telling me that it was disabled, and when it was disabled it was telling me it was enabled. The only fix to correct this state of confusion was resetting the entire system from scratch, and even that just seemed to make matters worse regarding Alexa plain ignoring my commands. 
 

To clarify, my situation was also not related to skills not enabling. They enabled fine.
 

Switch to google unless you’re committed to Alexa. To be fair, it is great that if the one Voice Service craps out on you, at least with Sonos you can switch easily. 

Userlevel 4
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Userlevel 7
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Yes, I had that screen but on my fourth 'Try again' it worked.

Userlevel 4
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@UKMedia I tried maybe 10 times consecutively. 

Userlevel 7
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In that case, I suggest that you contact technical support via twitter or Facebook messenger ( phone lines and the forums aren't monitored on weekends). Submit a diagnostic and include the number in your message to them.

Userlevel 1

Alexa no longer connecting to my sonos speakers since update. Where is the feedback from the company on this issue, there is clearly a bug in the latest update of Alexa and or Sonos. We've paid enough for these systems to expect seamless upgrades, not a word from Sonos on this issue and a week for a response to an email from customer support.  I shouldn't be left spending hours trying to get my devices talking again. Sonos, get your house in order. You are developing a long list of unhappy customers here. 

Userlevel 2
Badge +1

I have submitted a case on Sonos twitter support and I noticed others similar case submitted today. I start to believe there is a real problem with the skill. Now question : Sonos issu or Amazon issu ? And when this issu will be resolved ?

My Alexa is connected and working with my sonos beam and all connected devices on alexa.

 

The issue is to play spotify. Alexas says: here is spotify.. or playing songs by artist from spotify but nothing really happens..

 

Reinstalled everything but nothing worked out..

 

When connecting with Google assistant it works fine.

 

I have the same issue as above, works fine with Apple Music but not with Spotify, My echo devices work fine with Alexa, it’s only when I use Alexa to play Spotify on my Sonos.

I even tried to ask Alexa from my echo to play on a Sonos device, it doesn't work neither.

Same problem here!!!😡

i have the same problem! everything worked fine when I had the S1 app  , Alexa would work fine with my PLAY:1 , but after upgrade of the S2 app i no longer can ask alexa to reproduce music to my sonos…..big issue. Hope it can be solved soon

Wish I’d read the forums before updating. This is crap. Alexa commands do nothing. Sonos app reports skill being disabled when it isn’t. Skill sometimes re-enables in Alexa app sometimes doesn’t and nothing works even after resets.

Ridiculously poor testing from Sonos. How could this not come up from the QA team when it’s clear just about everyone controlling Sonos with Alexa is having these problems after S2? Amateurs.

Userlevel 3
Badge +5

24 hours now since switching to Google after all my issues. Very glad I did. No issues at all. Actually prefer it to Alexa. Even the volume controls are more graded rather then the steep drop or increase in volume you get when you do it through Alexa. 

Userlevel 1

@UKMedia  Your 2.1 suggestion doesn’t work as once the skill is disabled, it can’t be re enabled (tried countless times to do this). It is not realistic to sit and try this many times.

 

@everyone else - I’ve switched to google assistant until i read that this problem has been fixed. I have an e family cloud multi plug which pairs fine. I had one amazon plug in use which i believe is not supported through google assistant, so that’s the only functionality I’ve lost out on. You can pair Spotify and set up routines just like through Alexa. So far i have less issue with google assistant recognising me say hey google (i more frequently have to repeat myself with alexa). At the time of writing this response, i still want a fix for this. I do still prefer Alexa. If it takes too long for a fix to be rolled out, my opinion may change and i may stick with google. Only time will tell...

Userlevel 4
Badge +2

Sonos support phone lines are closed today, don’t know why. I am trying to get support on Twitter, which seems to be a long process: 2 replies in 3 hours …..