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Contributor I
October 21, 2025
Answered

Alexa stopped working

  • October 21, 2025
  • 25 replies
  • 2745 views

Yesterday Alexa just stopped working on my Arc, not sure why. I have tried unplugging and restarting everything including the router. Also reinstalling Amazon Alexa, the Sonos app is not helpful in this process. It would not reload or setup. Back when it was working it has always had an annoying habit of hearing something that remotely sounds like Alexa and mutes the sound for a few seconds. In the age of super clever tech why on earth does it do this? And how can I get Alexa working again? 

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Best answer by Corry P

Hi ​@AjTrek1

If a Moderator wants to comment on this I welcome their input. 

I personally lost Alexa (as in, the microphone light went off and would not turn back on with a tap) on my Sonos One (Gen 2), but not on any other speakers that have it installed. When I tried it, another speaker responded, but I don’t know how long after the AWS issue this was, as I did not learn about that until much later. It’s possible that they would not have responded earlier.

Attempting to repair it in the app (there was an option to “fix it”) got me as far as granting permission on the Alexa website called up by the adding process, but that timed-out and failed multiple times. I rebooted the speaker and possible the smartphone (not knowing about AWS yet), and I think one or two more attempts later, it added, after a long wait at the part that timed-out on previous attempts.

Annoyingly, I had to change her voice back to a UK one, which took some fiddling in the Alexa app.

So, once I came back in to work and learned about AWS, it all made sense. I guess I only discovered the issue after it had already been resolved, or rebooting would not have made a difference. Either that, or I discovered the issue 15 minutes before it was fixed, and the reboot wasn’t what actually helped.

As for the report of “Sonos logged me out”, I think that may have been more of a “x number of times failed connection results in a token expiry” kind of programmed logic. This is just my personal assumption - I really don’t know, but to venture any further theory, I’d need to know exactly which app ​@sky5 is referring to - Sonos or Alexa, which account - Sonos or Alexa, and what exactly they mean by “logged out”, as, if they just mean that Alexa was no longer linked in the Sonos app, I would refer to that more as a subscription being invalidated/removed due to the server not responding, or perhaps giving an unexpected response (which is probably considered worse), at a guess, than us opting to log you out of your account with bizarre powers. Not that it would take those to log out - I have never heard of needing a password to log out of something.

Having said all this, we are aware that following this AWS outage, Alexa installs on Sonos are not always quite as easy to get back to a working state as we'd expect them to be after an event such as this, and we are investigating.

We do have the following advice for those struggling to get Alexa working again on one or more Sonos speakers:

  • Workaround 1: Some users may see a "reauthenticate" prompt upon opening the Sonos app, or when selecting Amazon Alexa under room settings. If so, follow the on-screen prompts to attempt reauthentication.
  • Workaround 2: Reboot all Sonos products in the household, then retry Amazon Alexa commands.
  • Workaround 3: Remove Amazon Alexa from the Sonos app (and all speakers), and disable the Sonos skill in the Alexa app. Then, re-add Amazon Alexa and retry Amazon Alexa commands.

I hope this helps.

 

Edit: Corrected typo and grammar

25 replies

AjTrek1
October 23, 2025

Just be clear an earlier post indicated that they were logged out of Amazon and that Sonos must have done something on their end. Not saying that adjustments made to the app will not possibly affect streaming accounts…anything is possible.

However, I don’t want it to be thought that Sonos is “logging” people out of their streaming accounts. If that were true I’d be very concerned as that would be a violation of my privacy not to mention having access to my  streaming account and/or device.

If a Moderator wants to comment on this I welcome their input. 

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.
Lyricist I
October 24, 2025

This worked for me: In your Sonos App, go to Settings, General Settings, Voice Assistants, Amazon Alexa. Each of your devices should show up. Click on them one at a time and hit “fix” and it should cycle you through adding Alexa back into the device.

This worked for me too. Thanks! 

Trending Lyricist I
October 24, 2025

I ran into a loop of Try Again on my phone and then the agent suggested using a different phone, so I did and it proceeded correctly.

All fixed.

Corry P
Corry PAnswer
Sonos Staff
October 24, 2025

Hi ​@AjTrek1

If a Moderator wants to comment on this I welcome their input. 

I personally lost Alexa (as in, the microphone light went off and would not turn back on with a tap) on my Sonos One (Gen 2), but not on any other speakers that have it installed. When I tried it, another speaker responded, but I don’t know how long after the AWS issue this was, as I did not learn about that until much later. It’s possible that they would not have responded earlier.

Attempting to repair it in the app (there was an option to “fix it”) got me as far as granting permission on the Alexa website called up by the adding process, but that timed-out and failed multiple times. I rebooted the speaker and possible the smartphone (not knowing about AWS yet), and I think one or two more attempts later, it added, after a long wait at the part that timed-out on previous attempts.

Annoyingly, I had to change her voice back to a UK one, which took some fiddling in the Alexa app.

So, once I came back in to work and learned about AWS, it all made sense. I guess I only discovered the issue after it had already been resolved, or rebooting would not have made a difference. Either that, or I discovered the issue 15 minutes before it was fixed, and the reboot wasn’t what actually helped.

As for the report of “Sonos logged me out”, I think that may have been more of a “x number of times failed connection results in a token expiry” kind of programmed logic. This is just my personal assumption - I really don’t know, but to venture any further theory, I’d need to know exactly which app ​@sky5 is referring to - Sonos or Alexa, which account - Sonos or Alexa, and what exactly they mean by “logged out”, as, if they just mean that Alexa was no longer linked in the Sonos app, I would refer to that more as a subscription being invalidated/removed due to the server not responding, or perhaps giving an unexpected response (which is probably considered worse), at a guess, than us opting to log you out of your account with bizarre powers. Not that it would take those to log out - I have never heard of needing a password to log out of something.

Having said all this, we are aware that following this AWS outage, Alexa installs on Sonos are not always quite as easy to get back to a working state as we'd expect them to be after an event such as this, and we are investigating.

We do have the following advice for those struggling to get Alexa working again on one or more Sonos speakers:

  • Workaround 1: Some users may see a "reauthenticate" prompt upon opening the Sonos app, or when selecting Amazon Alexa under room settings. If so, follow the on-screen prompts to attempt reauthentication.
  • Workaround 2: Reboot all Sonos products in the household, then retry Amazon Alexa commands.
  • Workaround 3: Remove Amazon Alexa from the Sonos app (and all speakers), and disable the Sonos skill in the Alexa app. Then, re-add Amazon Alexa and retry Amazon Alexa commands.

I hope this helps.

 

Edit: Corrected typo and grammar

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
AjTrek1
October 24, 2025

​@Corry P 

Thanks for the reply. My main concern was that I didn’t want members thinking that “Sonos was logging people out of their streaming accounts” by as you say some “bizarre” power 😂.

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.