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Contributor I
June 20, 2020

Sonos Alexa integration broken since S2 update. Help!

  • June 20, 2020
  • 49 replies
  • 3988 views

I’ve recently upgraded to the S2 app. Using the original Sonos app I had issues every now and again e.g. silence from Alexa when making requests. To fix I would unlink everything and start again. This always worked. Using the new S2 app, I’ve just tried to unlink and start again for the first time as Alexa responded with silence when I asked it to play a song. When I try to link the Sonos skill to the Alexa app it says unable to link Sonos at this time, please try again later.

This is infuriating. The money these speakers cost and the size of the companies involved i.e. Amazon, you would think more time would be invested in R&D before rolling out a buggy product/service.


Can anyone please suggest a fix?

 

I’ve already unlinked Alexa, Spotify and the speaker system from S2 app and reset the app (though when I re-open the app after a reset it does auto-find the speaker system on my network). I’ve unlinked the Sonos and Spotify skills from the Alexa app. I’ve logged out of everything Amazon related and re-logged in making sure it’s the same account. None of my devices have duplicated names.

Maybe if there were a way to make my network forget the system and I could start again so I can do the initial setup once more?

Also, Google Assistant works okay, though I would prefer to use Amazon Alexa. I’m too familiar with it now… and I keep saying Alexa instead of Hey, Google!


I cannot figure out how to fix this!!

 

Please help.

 

Thanks,

Dan

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49 replies

Enthusiast II
June 21, 2020

@UKMedia it is not possible to access Alexa service in Sonos app because it is not possible to connect Sonos to Alexa service: "There ws a problem adding Alexa"

UKMedia
June 21, 2020

@UKMedia it is not possible to access Alexa service in Sonos app because it is not possible to connect Sonos to Alexa service: "There ws a problem adding Alexa"

Sorry, I thought you were adding another Sonos Alexa device. I’ve checked the Status page and there are no outages currently.

I added a Sonos One after the S2 App upgrade and had to select ‘Retry’ on the first attempt but the second time it added it no problem.

This is a subset of some instructions I wrote when Alexa support was first rolled out, it may be worth trying these:

2./ Some form of Account Linking or Authorisation has not completed successfully. There are a number of causes for this and it's best to try these steps 1 at a time and test before moving on to the next step if the problem persists:
2.1/ Open the Alexa App>Skills>Your Skills>Sonos and 'Disable' followed by 'Enable';
2.2/ Ensure that you don't have multiple Amazon accounts logged into different Apps on your device, as this can confuse the Amazon Authorisation. If yes, then please log out of the other accounts and then complete step 2.1 again;
2.3/ If the problem still persists, please logout of all Amazon accounts then select the Alexa App>Skills>Your Skills>Sonos and 'Disable. Now power down all Sonos devices for 10 secs, allowing for any wired devices to boot before booting the remaining Sonos players. Now log back into the Alexa App>Skills>Sonos and 'Enable'

Please let us know if your problem persists.

 

EDIT:

@SonosManu I just removed Alexa from my Arc as a test and it failed the first three times to add it back but on the fourth attempt it worked.  Perhaps the solution is to just keep trying! :)

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
The7hil
Avid Contributor I
June 21, 2020

The advice is always the same, to enable and disable skills, but I did that time after time to try and fix this and, believe it or not, the Sonos app actually got confused. It got into a state where when Alexa was enabled it was telling me that it was disabled, and when it was disabled it was telling me it was enabled. The only fix to correct this state of confusion was resetting the entire system from scratch, and even that just seemed to make matters worse regarding Alexa plain ignoring my commands. 
 

To clarify, my situation was also not related to skills not enabling. They enabled fine.
 

Switch to google unless you’re committed to Alexa. To be fair, it is great that if the one Voice Service craps out on you, at least with Sonos you can switch easily. 

Enthusiast II
June 21, 2020

 

UKMedia
June 21, 2020

Yes, I had that screen but on my fourth 'Try again' it worked.

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
Enthusiast II
June 21, 2020

@UKMedia I tried maybe 10 times consecutively. 

UKMedia
June 21, 2020

In that case, I suggest that you contact technical support via twitter or Facebook messenger ( phone lines and the forums aren't monitored on weekends). Submit a diagnostic and include the number in your message to them.

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
Lyricist II
June 21, 2020

Alexa no longer connecting to my sonos speakers since update. Where is the feedback from the company on this issue, there is clearly a bug in the latest update of Alexa and or Sonos. We've paid enough for these systems to expect seamless upgrades, not a word from Sonos on this issue and a week for a response to an email from customer support.  I shouldn't be left spending hours trying to get my devices talking again. Sonos, get your house in order. You are developing a long list of unhappy customers here. 

Avid Contributor II
June 21, 2020

I have submitted a case on Sonos twitter support and I noticed others similar case submitted today. I start to believe there is a real problem with the skill. Now question : Sonos issu or Amazon issu ? And when this issu will be resolved ?

Lyricist I
June 21, 2020

My Alexa is connected and working with my sonos beam and all connected devices on alexa.

 

The issue is to play spotify. Alexas says: here is spotify.. or playing songs by artist from spotify but nothing really happens..

 

Reinstalled everything but nothing worked out..

 

When connecting with Google assistant it works fine.

 

I have the same issue as above, works fine with Apple Music but not with Spotify, My echo devices work fine with Alexa, it’s only when I use Alexa to play Spotify on my Sonos.

I even tried to ask Alexa from my echo to play on a Sonos device, it doesn't work neither.