Retired Sonos Staff

Resolving (the majority of) Issues with Alexa on Sonos

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
January 5, 2018
111 replies
205033 views

Moderator note: This article was updated in December 2024.

This thread is intended to help get you going if you get stuck setting up Alexa with Sonos, or if you have run into any errors. The setup process does use two different apps, so don’t stress if you’re having trouble, we can help.

If you are reading this thread, you will now be aware that integrating the two platforms requires several authentication steps which require you to move between applications and interfaces, providing login details and authorising services along the way.
Simply put: It involves some moving back and forth, providing information as you go.

The issues this post may help you resolve include but are not limited to:
- "Your Spotify account does not support streaming on this device."
- Radio stations not playing when you ask them to.
- Asking for something to play- whether this is acknowledged or not- only to be met with silence.

It is worth noting, however, that several of your desired functions may simply not be available on Alexa via Sonos just yet. We have an article that describes exactly what services to expect at this time: Control Sonos with Amazon Alexa

Is your desired functionality available? Then let's move on to fixing your issue.

If you get to a point where you're not able to complete a step, just skip to the next section.

1. In the Alexa app, go to More > Skills & Games > Your Skills > Sonos > Settings > Manage Smart Home Devices > Tap 'Forget All'.
Note: The step to 'Forget All' will delete all actions in all Routines within an Alexa set-up.

2. Go to Alexa's UK site or Alexa's US site (again, depending on your region).
Please do this in a web browser on a computer (PC or Mac).
It's also best to do this using private browsing or incognito mode to avoid using cached information.

Go to Settings. Click on your Sonos One in the list of devices. It will probably be listed both as '(your name)'s Sonos One' and whatever room name you gave it in Sonos. It's the '(your name)'s Sonos One we're looking for. On this page, click on 'deregister' and confirm that.

If on this page you do not see your Sonos One already set up, then it's probably linked to a different account somehow. In this case you can skip the rest of the troubleshooting. Just add the Sonos skill on this website, then follow the prompts.

3. Make sure you know your Amazon account password, and then log out of your Amazon account everywhere. Log out of the Alexa app, log out on your web browser, log out on the shopping app, the music app.

4. Delete all your Amazon apps, including the Alexa app, and then just install the Alexa app.

5. Add the Sonos One back to the system in the Sonos app, via Settings -> Add Speaker or Component. Follow the prompts to set up voice services which will require you log in to your Sonos account, and then your Amazon account, to link them together. You'll also need to enable the Sonos skill in the Alexa app at this point.

6. If that's all worked you should hear the Sonos One say "Hello". Try asking it to play something like a radio station (Radio by TuneIn is enabled by default) and see if that works.

If this does not work, or you are getting stuck at any stage, please post a diagnostic confirmation number and describe how/where it went wrong.

Thank you, keep us posted as to whether or not this helps!

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

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P

Peteo

Enthusiast I

I have noticed a major downgrade in alex on sonos understanding me. For the first month or so it was almost perfect. 99% of the time it did exactly what I wanted it to do. Not sure what happened but now it will understand my commands about 30% of the time. especially in my kids room. Some times it even says it can not find the device (light) or there is another device using that name, or device does not support this. When I go to the alexa app it shows it got my voice 100% correct. Other times it just can not understand the device name I am saying. (when before it had 0 issues). Sonos and Amazon need to fix this its driving me crazy and making alexa on sonos useless.

J

j2watson

Lyricist I

One other simple thing to check is that the small white round light is showing on the top of the Sonos One. If not, then the Mic has been turned off by accident, (Easy to do when cleaning) just touch the mic symbol to turn back on. :)

This should be the FIRST thing to check in the troubleshooting list for a non-responsive Alexa scenario.

M

muircockhall

Lyricist III

Great, this worked with my Sonos One. It would respond to the Alexa wake up word, but little else. Only limited testing so far, but seems to be working properly. Went through the factory reset and App delete sequence. Many thanks.

R3SKT

Avid Contributor I

Regards my commands going to the wrong system I thought I needed to be on the same network / WiFi to operate the respective systems?

Not for voice command but yes for the App.

I think my issue revolves around the 2 accounts as suggested by Ken but I might be wrong, I am no expert.
Thanks again.

Yes, I expect so. To run multiple Sonos locations you need two Sonos accounts and the relationship between your Sonos Account and your Amazon account must be a 1:1, so you'll need two Amazon accounts.

********************************************
So this probably explains why the one Sonos Play 1 device I have installed in my works office (completely different network) cannot be recognised when I try scanning for devices. I am loathe to "delete all skills" as it has taken so long to get the home Sonos network functioning properly (I think) with Alexa, that to throw it all away and to have to go through the pain again is not something I am willing to endure. I now simply control my Play 1 in my works office using the App on my desktop PC. I have no desire to have duplicate accounts for Sonos/Amazon etc. :(

EDIT: Just mulling further on this .... If I were to plug the works office Play 1 into the LAN and then re-scan for devices from my desktop PC App, would this give me a better chance of success for it being found? I have tried scanning for it from the Alexa App on my iphone which is on the same office wi-fi network as the Play 1 itself?

Stevie T. - 7 Play1, 3 Play5, 2 Playbase, 1 Move and 1 Mothership of a SUB!

UKMedia

Regards my commands going to the wrong system I thought I needed to be on the same network / WiFi to operate the respective systems?

Not for voice command but yes for the App.

I think my issue revolves around the 2 accounts as suggested by Ken but I might be wrong, I am no expert.
Thanks again.

Yes, I expect so. To run multiple Sonos locations you need two Sonos accounts and the relationship between your Sonos Account and your Amazon account must be a 1:1, so you'll need two Amazon accounts.

********************************************
So this probably explains why the one Sonos Play 1 device I have installed in my works office (completely different network) cannot be recognised when I try scanning for devices. I am loathe to "delete all skills" as it has taken so long to get the home Sonos network functioning properly (I think) with Alexa, that to throw it all away and to have to go through the pain again is not something I am willing to endure. I now simply control my Play 1 in my works office using the App on my desktop PC. I have no desire to have duplicate accounts for Sonos/Amazon etc. :(

EDIT: Just mulling further on this .... If I were to plug the works office Play 1 into the LAN and then re-scan for devices from my desktop PC App, would this give me a better chance of success for it being found? I have tried scanning for it from the Alexa App on my iphone which is on the same office wi-fi network as the Play 1 itself?

As long as you only use a specific controller on one system then you should be okay.

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)

R

RobertHarris

Lyricist I

Is there a way to not silence all Sonos speakers when Alexa is active? We have Sonos speakers throughout the house (two stories). We have two echo dots (one on the first floor, one on the second floor). Every time someone makes a request to Alexa, all of the Sonos speakers go silent. This is annoying when someone is listening to music on the second floor, for example, and someone is asking a question on the first floor. Ideally only the speakers near the Echo dot would go silent. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

jgatie

Use Alexa groups. See this thread for details:

https://en.community.sonos.com/announcements-228985/sonos-now-playing-with-alexa-groups-6817588/index7.html#post16305403

J

jwelch649

Lyricist II

I ran into an issue last night (and am still trying to resolve). I have a Beam and a One, with room names Living Room and Kitchen. When I first set up Sonos integration with Alexa, all worked perfectly. including Alexa grouping with Sonos. Last night my Sonos devices in Alexa no longer displayed the Sonos room name, but showed 'Jeff's Sonos One', the icon changed and I couldn't have both Sonos devices as 'Preferred Speakers' in my group. I've reset literally everything, but I can't get the Sonos room names to show back up. See attached screenshot for the icon in Alexa.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

G

gdgib

Trending Lyricist I

I ran into an issue last night (and am still trying to resolve). I have a Beam and a One, with room names Living Room and Kitchen. When I first set up Sonos integration with Alexa, all worked perfectly. including Alexa grouping with Sonos. Last night my Sonos devices in Alexa no longer displayed the Sonos room name, but showed 'Jeff's Sonos One', the icon changed and I couldn't have both Sonos devices as 'Preferred Speakers' in my group. I've reset literally everything, but I can't get the Sonos room names to show back up. See attached screenshot for the icon in Alexa.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

FWIW, this sounds a lot like what I'm seeing, if not identical: https://en.community.sonos.com/amazon-alexa-and-sonos-229102/starting-yesterday-alexa-cannot-discover-any-sonos-devices-as-speakers-but-sonos-devices-accept-voice-input-6819621

S

stingray75

Lyricist I

I ran into an issue last night (and am still trying to resolve). I have a Beam and a One, with room names Living Room and Kitchen. When I first set up Sonos integration with Alexa, all worked perfectly. including Alexa grouping with Sonos. Last night my Sonos devices in Alexa no longer displayed the Sonos room name, but showed 'Jeff's Sonos One', the icon changed and I couldn't have both Sonos devices as 'Preferred Speakers' in my group. I've reset literally everything, but I can't get the Sonos room names to show back up. See attached screenshot for the icon in Alexa.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If you've added your Sonos speakers to iOS HomeKit using the Home app, it will periodically (nightly i believe) sync the room names in the Sonos app with the Home app. So maybe you have it labelled as 'Jeff's Sonos One' in the Home app? For me, the room names in the Sonos app kept resetting back to 'Sonos Speaker' - turns out it was the Home app doing this, so i just renamed them their and it's now good.

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