Contributor II

When will Alexa "Routines" become available?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
May 28, 2019
67 replies
12558 views

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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CovertDirt

Enthusiast II

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.

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a.dziubak

Lyricist II

@Sebastien D. : could you please give us an update on this issue? Have you checked the api update from the link provided? What are the timelines for the fix?

This is suppressing me from extending my system :/

Sebastien D.

Sonos Staff

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.

Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting best answer to your question.

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CovertDirt

Enthusiast II

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. :relaxed:

Sebastien D.

Sonos Staff

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.

Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting best answer to your question.

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Russ167

Lyricist I

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.

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Russellstark

Lyricist I

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)

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Alexandros G

Lyricist I

@Russellstark I suspect that this only works because the group has the Echo device in it, and the Sonos is just a “dumb” speaker in this scenario.

If trying to use the Beam on its own it still “fails” as usual (works, but with that annoying message)

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Blueandwhitehoops

Lyricist II

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.