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Sonos not playing Alexa music


I've had the Sonos One for a couple of weeks and it was working fine up until yesterday. The music plays fine through sonos app but is not playing correctly through the speaker upon command. For example, if I ask Alexa "to play Lithium on SiriusXM" she responds "Lithium from SiriusXM playing on Office" but then nothing happens. Any suggestions?

Best answer by Edward R

We have noticed this thread gaining a lot of traction of late, with most visitors to this thread opting not to actively engage in troubleshooting. The information in this post will be marked as the best answer to assist those reading along.

We have an article that talks about how to resolve the majority of issues with Alexa on Sonos. If you are experiencing the problems details in this thread, please have a look there.
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44 replies

  • Lyricist II
  • 3 replies
  • November 18, 2017
Same here. It just updated software before so not sure it’s connected. Alexa seems to be working OK and Sonos app working OK, just Alexa won’t play music

  • Lyricist I
  • 1 reply
  • November 18, 2017
I have exactly the same problem! I've uninstalled and reinstalled the apps, still no joy. So I took out a free trial on Spotify - plays through my phone all right but then found that Alexa doesn't support Spotify!! Frustrated and thinking of returning unit to store unless someone can offer an easy solution.

  • Lyricist I
  • 1 reply
  • November 18, 2017
My Sonos One worked well until the 8.1.1 update. It's been borked since. Even after a subsequent update.

  • Lyricist I
  • 1 reply
  • November 18, 2017
Same here since around 8/1.

  • Lyricist II
  • 3 replies
  • November 18, 2017
I’m going to return mine. Everything for Sonos is awesome...except Alexa. She’s nothing but a tease.

  • Contributor I
  • 2 replies
  • November 18, 2017
im giving up with mines, wasted too much time on it.

its going back to shop

  • Lyricist I
  • 1 reply
  • November 18, 2017
I am having this same exact issue. I would think anyone who just did the last update is having this issue. I hope someone at SONOS has an answer for this

  • Lyricist I
  • 2 replies
  • November 18, 2017
I have the same problem. It happened after the pandora to Sonos update version 8.2. If I say Alexa play new music, Alexa will respond playing new music but it actually will not play the music. No voice commands to play music work right now. Playing music via the app does work. 8.2 ?? Stay away

Sonos tech support - please fix this problem. Alexa says "playing on Sonos in living room " then no sound unless i go to the sonos app and play pandora through the app. SOOOOOOO frustrating!!!!!!!!!!

  • Lyricist I
  • 2 replies
  • November 18, 2017
This is the classic reason customers should be able to downgrade apps. #apple #sonos hope your listening!

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  • Contributor I
  • 4 replies
  • November 19, 2017
Seems this is happening a lot to a lot of different people. I also had the same problem. For me, it only starts acting up if I use a Sonos device (laptop, iPad or iPhone) to get the music started then try to do Alexa commands. It doesn't seem to like that at all and the same thing happens as was mentioned.

UKMedia
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  • Maestro
  • 5050 replies
  • November 19, 2017
Webopper wrote:
Seems this is happening a lot to a lot of different people. I also had the same problem. For me, it only starts acting up if I use a Sonos device (laptop, iPad or iPhone) to get the music started then try to do Alexa commands. It doesn't seem to like that at all and the same thing happens as was mentioned.


IF you start music on another device, you may need to state the room name on any subsequent voice command.

UKMedia
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  • Maestro
  • 5050 replies
  • November 19, 2017
txheadshaver wrote:
Sonos tech support - please fix this problem. Alexa says "playing on Sonos in living room " then no sound unless i go to the sonos app and play pandora through the app. SOOOOOOO frustrating!!!!!!!!!!


Is this happening just for Pandora?

  • Lyricist I
  • 2 replies
  • November 19, 2017
I'm having the same problem. I started out only using the Alexa based commands but as soon as I went to stream music through the Sonos app on my iPad the Alexa commands quit behaving correctly. Seems like there should be a way to easily switch between the 2 options? Not ready to give up yet but definitely frustrated!

UKMedia
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  • Maestro
  • 5050 replies
  • November 19, 2017
Elwood 59 wrote:
I'm having the same problem. I started out only using the Alexa based commands but as soon as I went to stream music through the Sonos app on my iPad the Alexa commands quit behaving correctly. Seems like there should be a way to easily switch between the 2 options? Not ready to give up yet but definitely frustrated!


If you start music from the iPad app, you will need to specify the room name for Alexa commands to work correctly.

  • Lyricist I
  • 2 replies
  • November 19, 2017
Now it won't work on my iPad. Wont' play with Alexa commands either... Alexa says it's playing but no sound. WTF?

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  • Maestro
  • 5050 replies
  • November 19, 2017
Elwood 59 wrote:
Now it won't work on my iPad. Wont' play with Alexa commands either... Alexa says it's playing but no sound. WTF?


Try powering off the Sonos One for 20 secs and then switch on and let it boot. Please retest

If the problem persists then try the actions I've listed in this post:

https://en.community.sonos.com/amazon-alexa-and-sonos-229102/sonos-one-not-responding-to-alexa-comands-6793239

  • Lyricist II
  • 4 replies
  • November 19, 2017
I have two Sonos One's. I just did the update this morning and one is working fine, but the other won't play music when commanded through Alexa (I've tried both Pandora and Amazon music), just like all of you are complaining about. Has there been a fix found for this? I wonder why one of mine works fine, but the other one doesn't. Hope this gets resolved quickly. I was thinking of exchanging the one that doesn't work, but when you set it up, it makes you update the software, so I may still have the same issue.

I have already rebooted it twice, and was going to do a hard reset, but Sonos doesn't recommend it. I reached out to Sonos Support on Twitter, but have not heard back. I have also logged out and back in to my Amazon Alexa account to no avail.

My wife got into an argument with the Sonos this morning as it wouldn't stop playing music when commanded. It says something like "I'm not quite sure how to handle that" when asked to pause music when the music was started through the app. Frustrating!

UKMedia
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  • Maestro
  • 5050 replies
  • November 19, 2017
lvkopike wrote:
I have two Sonos One's. I just did the update this morning and one is working fine, but the other won't play music when commanded through Alexa (I've tried both Pandora and Amazon music), just like all of you are complaining about. Has there been a fix found for this? I wonder why one of mine works fine, but the other one doesn't. Hope this gets resolved quickly. I was thinking of exchanging the one that doesn't work, but when you set it up, it makes you update the software, so I may still have the same issue.

I have already rebooted it twice, and was going to do a hard reset, but Sonos doesn't recommend it. I reached out to Sonos Support on Twitter, but have not heard back. I have also logged out and back in to my Amazon Alexa account to no avail.

My wife got into an argument with the Sonos this morning as it wouldn't stop playing music when commanded. It says something like "I'm not quite sure how to handle that" when asked to pause music when the music was started through the app. Frustrating!


Hi

Can you just check that the white round light is lit on the top of the speaker that isn't responding? If not then the mic has been switched off. Just touch the mic symbol to toggle it back on.

The other thing to check is within the Alexa app Smart Home>Devices, do you have any devices with the same name?

If you start music via the app try including the speaker name when giving a command. e.g. Stop Kitchen

  • Lyricist II
  • 4 replies
  • November 19, 2017
The mic is on. Alexa works if I ask her what the weather is like, etc. She just won't start music from any service. If I ask her to play Pandora, she says "getting the last Pandora station you listened to", but then nothing happens. If I start music in the app then try to stop using Alexa, she says "I'm not quite sure how to do that." My other Sonos One works fine though after the update. It's only my master bedroom one giving me issues. All of my devices have different names.

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  • Maestro
  • 5050 replies
  • November 19, 2017
Okay, can you check that the device is not shown as off-line in the Alexa app Smart Home>Devices? If this doesn't work I suggest that your reset voice control by following the actions I've listed in the answer within this post:

https://en.community.sonos.com/amazon-alexa-and-sonos-229102/sonos-one-not-responding-to-alexa-comands-6793239

  • Lyricist I
  • 2 replies
  • November 19, 2017
Following . .

Our Sonos was working perfectly one evening and the next day (after an update that I'm not entirely sure worked properly) will no longer playback, despite Alexa telling me whats playing.

Have rebooted the speaker a couple if times now but sti nothing

UKMedia
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  • Maestro
  • 5050 replies
  • November 19, 2017
Kazd68 wrote:
Following . .

Our Sonos was working perfectly one evening and the next day (after an update that I'm not entirely sure worked properly) will no longer playback, despite Alexa telling me whats playing.

Have rebooted the speaker a couple if times now but sti nothing


Can you follow the steps in my previous comment.

  • Lyricist I
  • 2 replies
  • November 19, 2017
Thanks tried all that but still no joy 😞

UKMedia
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  • Maestro
  • 5050 replies
  • November 19, 2017
Kazd68 wrote:
Thanks tried all that but still no joy :(

Probably best if you submit a diagnostic and post the number on this thread. The Sonos tech guys can then investigate.

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