I love my Sonos Beam w/ Alexa, but it really sucks that a lot of baseline Alexa functionality doesn't work w/ Sonos. For example, I want to set a Routine that shuts off my TV, dims the lights, and plays Jazz music from Pandora at volume 10. I can easily setup this Routine on my iPhone, but Alexa on Sonos doesn't support it at all, which is incredibly annoying.
Does your engineering team have a roadmap or timeline to adopt more of the standard or baseline Alexa functionality, like Routines?
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I’ve just come across this problem. I’ve got a routine to open my garage door, and the routines doesn’t work on the Sonos One or Move. However, it seems that if I upgrade all my legacy kit so I can use the S2 app, then it will work. Any way to make this work under S1, or am I doomed to remain stuck with missing functionality.
Sonos/Alexa is therefore essentially a voice control for music feature; if the full feature Echo suite is desired as soon as Amazon releases it, the Echo device itself also needs to be bought.
The question then arises whether it is simpler to use this device for music play on Sonos either via the integration in the cloud or via Sonos line in jacks, leaving the built in Sonos mics unused.
That feels like a wild exaggeration to me. I have 30-ish smart home devices controlled by Alexa and a few dozen Alexa routines, and all of them work perfectly on Sonos. I ask Sonos Alexa questions all the time and I almost always get a good answer.
For sure there are a few things that don’t work. But I wouldn’t, for a second, consider getting echo devices and disabling my Sonos mics.
This is good news.
The issue that now really needs fixing is the perception of some users that an Alexa-enabled speaker should have all the same functionality as an Echo device.
I just got used to ignoring the "not supported on this device" message... Imagine my shock and surprise when she responded back to my routine pleasantly with a "you have a good night also"!!! I didn't do anything differently I didn't update anything I think Sonos finally fixed the issue on their end 👍
Sonos have finally implemented Alexa Routines in S2 version 12.1 which includes official support for Alexa Routines:
How many days after release by Amazon for Echo devices?
Wow...thanks for the headsup
Thanks to the Sonos team for sorting that...very happy to have that functionality available.
I expect that Sonos will always lag Amazon where Echo features are concerned - either because Amazon won't let Sonos have access to these right away or because Sonos isn't agile enough to keep up.
For instance Alexa will soon be able to listen to a child learning to read and correct/encourage. How long will Sonos units take to do this thereafter? None can say.
Sonos/Alexa is therefore essentially a voice control for music feature; if the full feature Echo suite is desired as soon as Amazon releases it, the Echo device itself also needs to be bought.
The question then arises whether it is simpler to use this device for music play on Sonos either via the integration in the cloud or via Sonos line in jacks, leaving the built in Sonos mics unused.
Userlevel 2
ISSUE RESOLVED
Sonos have finally implemented Alexa Routines in S2 version 12.1 which includes official support for Alexa Routines:
https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3521?language=en_US
I've updated today and it is working. Thank you Sonos!
I am just here to add my vote for this feature. Such a shame to not have this functionality which would really add a lot of value to the product. Fingers crossed, it gets added soon.
If trying to use the Beam on its own it still “fails” as usual (works, but with that annoying message)
Hey Community,
Routines is now working for me and wanted to let you know what I did please downvote or reply if it does not work for you as this was only tested in my smart home environment. This I can only say worked with devices compatible with the new SONOS app (which all alexa enabled SONOS device are compatible with the new app)
- Install new SONOS app (Yellow Icon in app store)
- Join to your network and then update devices.
- Ensure Alexa is enabled on your SONOS device (I have the SONOS Beam) and link to your Alexa Account
- Group your alexa devices (I have the Beam and an Echo Flex in the living room. I set the Beam as the default speaker for the room so anything heard on the Flex is responded to on the Beam)
- Rebuild or renable your routine (My test routine gives me a compliment and then Plays Thunderstruck. When setting up the routine it will request you to choose a music service)
- In my environment I do not have to explicitly state “Play Thunderstruck on Sonos Beam” It automatically plays on the living room speaker (The Beam)
Another unhappy customer here. I have a ton of Alexa routines. Bought a One and a Beam (plus One surrounds) thinking I would actually have Alexa functionality. Incredibly frustrating.
Come on, Sonos, sort it out. This is a supposedly premium product. And it can’t be that difficult; my Ecobee thermostats handle Alexa routines just fine.
Userlevel 4
+11
Hi,
I know you're hungry for news and eagerly awaiting any announcement or details from us and thank you for taking the time to share these concerns. While we have some great customers such as yourself, we do take our customers and installers feedback into consideration when looking at adding/removing features.
This has resulted in new product ideas as well as new features in the past. Your feedback has absolutely been heard and sent to the team.
Greetings folks,
Thanks for your interest in Sonos and Alexa. New features are being added regularly, but we do not publicly post our development timeline.
Thanks, I understand sonos won’t publish a roadmap, but many others do. What users are asking is simply “are Sonos aware of the issue and aware other smart speaker companies have solved the issue?”
just a simple ‘we know’ would be really handy. What’s happening here is people are losing faith in the claims on the box and in the marketing about ‘works with Alexa’. For many, integration like routines working as advertised is indeed a crucial feature for the longevity of our systems, and future purchasing choices.
Sonos won’t comment publicly on development, but they sure do comment a lot publicly through marketing and advertising. 
Userlevel 4
+11
Greetings folks,
Thanks for your interest in Sonos and Alexa. New features are being added regularly, but we do not publicly post our development timeline.
Userlevel 1
This is suppressing me from extending my system :/
That’s exactly the kind of thing you should be able to do with Alexa from Sonos. But no. It won’t work like that without a 3rd party integration like IFTTT.
would love to hear if this will ever work like advertised. Sonos are busy promoting ‘new colours’ for speakers when they should be fixing functionality first.
This lack of elegant compatibility with the full Alexa feature set is annoying. Is this also the reason Sonos speakers don’t show up as devices that are available to set up as “actions” in the Alexa app’s Routine section?
I have an Alexa motion sensor and I was hoping I could set it so that the Sonos speaker in that room unmutes only when there is motion. And mute again 5 minutes after there is no motion. Is that possible with Alexa and Sonos currently or do I need to integrate a Smartthings hub (or similar) to make this happen?
Yet Sonos can use the Amazon and Alexa logos, and proudly put on the box and all the marketing “works with Alexa”. To me that’s embarrassing for Sonos to keep claiming they can’t fix this when other players like Bose can and have.
happy to claim it works with Alexa...just not happy to actually make it work. Sad.
Greetings everyone,
We do not have any timeline to share on when or if these changes will be made. While routines may or may not run as expected, they are still considered unsupported and when I mean by unsupported, that doesn’t mean it won’t work, it is that we cannot effectively troubleshoot it.
Lastly, I think it's important to remember that we do not have anything to do with features both supported and unsupported on this platform. As Alexa voice service is owned by Amazon, supported features and services would be decided by Amazon.
Come on get it fixed
I have called Sonos UK support today to see if there is any progress for Alexa Routines, they were very polite and apologetic, but unfortunately they still have no development plan to support this.
Just a reminder that Bose implemented support for Alexa routines in their Feb 2019 firmware, after being notified about the issue in October 2018.
If you read the post right above yours, you’ll see there’s a work around.
Is there? Are you talking about the FllT workaround or adding the room name into the audio section, I did the latter and I still get the annoying not supported messages then it plays the audio from the routine
It’s sad to hear the new app and the new upgrades done to the speakers when you upgrade to S2 still doesn’t fix this.
Userlevel 1
S2 OS is still affected with this bug.
Note, that this is most probably issue on your end. As mentioned earlier by
Check the link provided by him:
Basically this means to get maybe 20% of the “now with Alexa” functionality on the box and in the advertising from Sonos you effectively have to buy an Echo.
If I set up a routine in Alexa for “Good Morning” to turn on my lights, tell me the weather, read me the news headlines and then play a playlist it immediately fails on the Sonos One.
Sonos responds “audio not implemented” for the playlist, and then says “here’s you flash briefing” and nothing plays.
Oh but the lights come on so yeah 1 out of 4.
For anyone invested in the smart speaker ecosystem, routines would rate absolutely crucial. I’d love to see many real world use cases for the current Alexa implementation (or lack thereof) on Sonos.
It is a massively hobbled implementation, and it effectively drives users who do want smart speaker integration to buy an Amazon Echo or Show to get it. That seems crazy to me. Don’t encourage your users to buy the competition product.
Greetings everyone,
We do not have any timeline to share on when or if these changes will be made.
This sounds more like a definitive answer that Sonos is not going to implement the routines which is a huge drawback.
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