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ScottHall
Contributor I
December 11, 2018
Answered

Recent update now breaking groups with Alexa

  • December 11, 2018
  • 55 replies
  • 3580 views
After an update to the Sonos software this weekend, the Alexa integration is "broken" in that now, starting music using voice commands breaks apart groups of speakers. Are there new commands, or is there a way to roll back the software version to one that actually worked? If this is the "new normal," then I will need to discuss returning all of the Sonos products I own and looking into a new Alexa compatible system.
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    Best answer by Ryan S
    I posted this in the other thread with the same topic, but so the information is in both threads, here's an update on some things you've noticed.

    We're working with Amazon to bring some additional features and improvements to Sonos. These are rolling out in stages, and you've noticed some of them. Not all of the changes are out yet, but I wanted to clarify a few things here for you. We'll make a public announcement when that work's complete. 

    There are some changes that you're seeing around naming rooms when you go to perform a function. One of these changes is that when you explicitly call out to stop/pause an active Sonos speaker, just that room will stop playing. 

    "Alexa, stop in living room" will stop the music in just the living room, even if it's grouped with other players in the Sonos app. For example, if the player was grouped with a Sonos speaker in the Kitchen, the two will ungroup, and the Kitchen will keep on playing.

    This also includes telling rooms to play music. If the Living Room and Kitchen are grouped in Sonos and not playing music, "Alexa, play in the Kitchen" will remove Living Room from the group in Sonos, and start playing in Kitchen only.

    And this applies to Sonos players that have Alexa built in too, so if you have Living Room and Kitchen (a Sonos One) currently grouped and not playing music. Speaking to the Sonos One "Alexa, Play Music," will cause the Sonos One to remove Living Room from the group and start playing on its own.

    If you notice Sonos groups changing due to your voice commands, open your Alexa app and look for the new Groups setup. Tap the lower-right icon, a house outline with two levers, to find it. Create an Alexa group with your desired speakers and assign your Alexa or Sonos device as the input for that group. Your voice commands will now use that group without needing to say the location name as part of the command.

    You will also notice some other changes soon, and we'll let you know when it's all live. Stay tuned!

    55 replies

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    RonJ103
    Trending Lyricist I
    December 17, 2018
    I don't seem to have the requirement of putting an Echo device in the group. I have 3 groups that contain Sonos speakers only (Upstairs, Downstairs, Everywhere). There is also overlap between the groups, meaning a Sonos speaker can be a member of more than one group. Hooray! Make sure ALL the Sonos speakers in a given group are "Preferred Speakers".

    I can see groups being created in the Sonos app when I say something like "Play music on Upstairs" to any Echo device. Another Hooray!

    I just started playing with this. Sometimes groups are not destroyed like you may expect. There is a previous post about active speakers/groups which may explain this behavior.

    I also just said "Play music by ### Everywhere" to an Echo device and it did play music everywhere including the Sonos Beam that my wife and daughter were using to watch TV.

    Not perfect yet, but this seems like a big step in the right direction.
    jmaoaka
    Lyricist III
    December 17, 2018
    Apple Music is live now on Alexa, but it's not available on Sonos through Alexa at the moment. Rest assured, our team is always interested in helping you control the music services you love with voice. Nothing to share now, but stay tuned. We'll share more as soon as there's any news.

    Interested? That’s...erm...reassuring. I think.
    melvimbe
    melvimbe
    December 17, 2018
    I don't seem to have the requirement of putting an Echo device in the group. I have 3 groups that contain Sonos speakers only (Upstairs, Downstairs, Everywhere). There is also overlap between the groups, meaning a Sonos speaker can be a member of more than one group. Hooray! Make sure ALL the Sonos speakers in a given group are "Preferred Speakers".


    I'm seeing functionality similar to what @RonJ103 is seeing. I don't have to put an echo device in every group I created. However, once I do that, I'm not allowed to save without having an echo in it.

    The functionality looks like it's going to work well, but there appear to be some features that either have not been rolled out to all users yet, or are not intuitive/easy to figure out. I've set up some groups and played with it a bit. Now I'm thinking I should just leave it alone and wait till everything's done, and relatively final features are officially announced.
    Danny
    Caligo
    Contributor I
    December 17, 2018
    After it got stuck on living room I removed every Sonos Device in the Alexa App and let it rediscover them again. Seems to have done the trick. So if you have "old" Sonos Devices in the Alexa App it might screw things up.
    Can also confirm it's unnecessary to add an echo device to a group. Just need to set those favourites within the group.

    One thing I didn't try yet: are Echo Devices working together with Sonos? That'd be the news of the day...

    Edit: back at home for more tryouts. I can now reproduce the "Alexa is being stuck in one room". It now plays spotify only in the bathroom no matter which room or group I adress. This is seriously ... really annyoing as the fix includes to rediscover all Sonos devices. I got this when having an active group playing something and then ask Alexa to play something else in a different group (which didn't work). I then told Alexa to stop playing in this different group, which resulted in those speakers ungrouped from the still active zone. I stopped playback in all other rooms but the bathroom with Alexa (it unpairs them in the Sonos App). And then it got stuck.

    *rant_on* this update really is below all standards known by Sonos. I get that we're really cutting edge here - but this update feels like it hasn't been tested at all. It may result in something really nice in the end - but at this moment it just outright unbearably annoying. For me alone this would be just alright as I like to test my toys anyway - but for my missus it's completely unusable at the moment. And I'm the projection of her anger for this in the same way you get my projection of anger right here. Fix this asap please and don't bug us with unfinished API-attachements.*rant_off*
    TarHeel
    Avid Contributor I
    December 18, 2018
    Caligo wrote:
    "Can you confirm that you have carried out these steps: Please open the Alexa App>Smart Home>Groups and create an Alexa Group for each Echo device, I call them the room name the Echo device is located in. Then add the Echo & Sonos devices that you want to have music on when music is initiated from each specific Echo device, and then set these Sonos devices as Preferred Speakers. Now ask Alexa for your music and it will group the Speakers in the Sonos App and output to that group."

    It worked like a charm. Thank you! Alexa did not break my sonos group when using these settings.
    Caligo
    Contributor I
    December 18, 2018
    Has nobody else encountered the "Alexa is stuck in one room" issue?
    samonty
    Contributor I
    December 18, 2018
    Resetting bridge a bad idea. Your going through wrong. I think you should talk to someone onnphone to setup properly.
    Of course resetting the bridge was a bad idea because it is no longer supported! There should be a way to rollback to the previous way of setting up Sonos.
    pk111
    Lyricist II
    December 18, 2018
    Yes I have the same problem with Alexa getting stuck on one sonos Amp. Only way to fix it is discover devices.
    jgatie
    jgatie
    December 18, 2018
    Resetting bridge a bad idea. Your going through wrong. I think you should talk to someone onnphone to setup properly.
    Of course resetting the bridge was a bad idea because it is no longer supported! There should be a way to rollback to the previous way of setting up Sonos.

    Who told you the Bridge is no longer supported? It most certainly is. Just re-add it by choosing More > Settings > Add a Boost or Bridge.
    samonty
    Contributor I
    December 18, 2018
    Resetting bridge a bad idea. Your going through wrong. I think you should talk to someone onnphone to setup properly.
    Of course resetting the bridge was a bad idea because it is no longer supported! There should be a way to rollback to the previous way of setting up Sonos.

    Who told you the Bridge is no longer supported? It most certainly is. Just re-add it by choosing More > Settings > Add a Boost or Bridge.
    The Sonos app just times out and I get the no devices found. Also the app says " press the button on your boost, it does not mention a bridge.
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