Skip to main content

Android apps now on Chromebooks

R
Forum|alt.badge.img+7
  • RDog
  • Enthusiast II
  • 170 replies
On certain Chromebook devices, Android apps are now natively supported in the stable channel of Chrome OS, albeit Google are still labelling this Play Store support as beta:

https://9to5google.com/2016/09/27/chromebook-pixel-android-apps-play-store/

I thought I'd give this a whirl to see how this would help me drive my Sonos devices from my Chromebook Pixel:

1. The Google Play Music (GPM) Android app appears to work great and can cast to Sonos. The casting to Sonos from my Chromebook now works just as well as casting from my phone or table. And, unlike the old ARC way of running Android apps on Chrome OS, this is lighting fast and doesn't appear to be eating CPU cycles or battery. The GPM Android app runs full screen on my Chromebook, looks great and appears as usable and functional as the GPM web app - but with the benefit of now being able to cast to Sonos, something which was/is not possible from the web app. Result! Nice work Google.

GPM app running on Chrome OS casting to Sonos speakers:



2. Not so good news with the Sonos Android app itself though....
After installing the Android Sonos app onto my Chromebook from the Play Store, I run through the setup process, choosing "Connect to an Existing System" in the Sonos app. This pops up the "CONNECTING Please wait..." dialog, which displays for quite a long time (couple of minutes?) before finally saying "Connected to your Sonos system". Unfortunately, when clicking 'Done', I then see "Searching for your Sonos System..." displaying for a long time, followed by the "Sorry, we can't connect to Sonos" troubleshooting page. Drat!


Several Chrome OS versions ago, it used to be possible to run the Sonos Android app on Chrome OS using Google's ARC method. Some time ago, however, this broke, and began to get the same problem as I'm seeing here now that Android apps can run natively on Chrome OS.

I don't see any obvious reason why with native Android app support on Chrome OS, the Sonos Android app should not work. All Play Services should be there, and the GPM app being able to cast to Sonos suggest all the pieces are in place...

Sonos staff, is this something you'll be looking into? Thanks.
1 Attachments
    Bumper
    C
    M
    5 people like this
    • Bumper
      Bumper
    • C
      Chantalizz
    • M
      Mxmoo
    • T
      Tiny
    • G
      Grreg
    Did you find what you were looking for?
    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.

    18 replies

    ratty
    • ratty
    • 31402 replies
    • September 28, 2016
    The problem is that ChromeOS doesn't support multicast/broadcast.
    https://www.reddit.com/r/chromeos/comments/4ulpky/android_apps_using_multicast_on_chromeos/
    https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=275737

    This is a longstanding issue, and I never got the Sonos controller to work successfully with ARC. On one or two occasions it would think it had associated with the system, but it was evident that it had picked up some stray traffic and it would never display all the rooms as it should.

    I don't see that there's anything Sonos themselves can do about it, unless they fundamentally change the SSDP discovery process.
    R
    Forum|alt.badge.img+7
    • RDog
    • Author
    • Enthusiast II
    • 170 replies
    • September 28, 2016
    OK, I'd optimistically assumed that with Android on Chrome OS that issue would be thing of the past :(

    It did used to work for me: I ran the Android Sonos app under ARC for quite a long time - it was slow and CPU intensive but was fully functional - I think it was only earlier this year(?) that it broke, suggesting it's fixable. I'm not sure why it worked for me but not for you, considering the long-standing bug reports you reference.

    It'll be a shame if this isn't resolved, but the GPM app running and casting from Chrome OS is still a very nice step forward!
    G
    1 person likes this
    • G
      ginagd7
    ratty
    • ratty
    • 31402 replies
    • September 28, 2016
    Maybe the advent of Android apps on ChromeOS will re-awaken this issue. The bug is shown as "Closed: Oct 2013" but developers have continued to post updates beyond that date. As per the recent Reddit post it continues to be a problem.
    ratty
    • ratty
    • 31402 replies
    • September 28, 2016
    Additional recent corroboration: http://www.androidcentral.com/what-its-so-far-use-android-apps-chromebook
    R
    Forum|alt.badge.img+7
    • RDog
    • Author
    • Enthusiast II
    • 170 replies
    • September 28, 2016
    ratty wrote:
    Maybe the advent of Android apps on ChromeOS will re-awaken this issue.


    I'd have hoped so, but with this Andromeda OS thingy in the pipeline, Android on Chrome OS may only be an interim stage, and Google's focus may now already be shifting elsewhere. We shall see!

    Regarding the GPM app being able to cast to Sonos devices, unaffected by the multicast bug you've referenced, this is because it uses only a subset of the sockets functionality required by the Sonos app itself?
    ratty
    • ratty
    • 31402 replies
    • September 28, 2016
    RDog wrote:
    Regarding the GPM app being able to cast to Sonos devices, unaffected by the multicast bug you've referenced, this is because it uses only a subset of the sockets functionality required by the Sonos app itself?

    I've no idea what method GPM uses to discover the Sonos units.
    P
    • pjraf
    • Lyricist I
    • 1 reply
    • October 27, 2016
    i'm running GPM app on my Chromebook and cannot cast to Sonos. All I can cast to is mt Shield TV
    M
    • mark_73
    • Lyricist I
    • 2 replies
    • November 6, 2016
    I am having the same issue. Running Sonos Android inside of ChromeOS on Acer R13 does not work. Hangs in same spot as RDog shows in his image
    Thanks

    RDog wrote:
    2. Not so good news with the Sonos Android app itself though....
    After installing the Android Sonos app onto my Chromebook from the Play Store, I run through the setup process, choosing "Connect to an Existing System" in the Sonos app. This pops up the "CONNECTING Please wait..." dialog, which displays for quite a long time (couple of minutes?) before finally saying "Connected to your Sonos system". Unfortunately, when clicking 'Done', I then see "Searching for your Sonos System..." displaying for a long time, followed by the "Sorry, we can't connect to Sonos" troubleshooting page. Drat!
    ratty
    • ratty
    • 31402 replies
    • November 6, 2016
    The issue will persist unless and until Chrome OS is fixed. We may have to wait for Andromeda.
    M
    • murphyv
    • Lyricist I
    • 1 reply
    • January 29, 2017
    One option is to use the Android Spotify App on ChromeOS. You can now select Sonos devices from Spotify and seems to work like a champ.
    L
    Forum|alt.badge.img+1
    • laestrella
    • Trending Lyricist I
    • 13 replies
    • March 17, 2017
    I'm not sure what did it but I'm now able to use the Android Sonos app on my Samsung Chromebook Plus. When I bought the Chromebook a few days ago I was experiencing the same thing where my Sonos system would not be found. I don't know if Sonos updated recently or if it was the fact that I updated to the Beta Channel on my Chromebook but now it can access my system. This is not without issues though. What's actually playing on my Sonos system is not in sync with what shows as now playing on the Android app. I can still pause, skip and control the volume though.
    7
    • 77martians
    • Lyricist I
    • 2 replies
    • April 4, 2017
    I am not technical enough to understand why or why not the Sonos Android app does not work on the newer Chromebooks but before it was possible to install android apps on Chromebooks I used the "Sonos Controller for Chrome" made by pascalopitz. But unfortunately he has discontinued the support for this chrome app and it is nowhere to be found in the Chrome Web Store anymore. But I managed to install it on my Asus Chromebook Flip before it was pulled from the web store and it still works pretty OK which is crazy considering it is not getting support anymore. My point being if some managed to create an app that still works then I do not see why Sonos couldn't do likewise. I am just so pissed that I cannot download this app anymore because I would like to have it on my Macbook Air that I have converted to a Chromebook via Neverware.
    T
    Forum|alt.badge.img
    • tonygeno
    • Contributor I
    • 29 replies
    • April 27, 2017
    I downloaded the app on two different Chromebooks, an ACER R11 and Samsung Chromebook Plus. It finds the system fine, but does not maintain sync with what's playing and after a short while the controls cease working (after pause cannot hit play). I hope they fix it.
    M
    • MDBill
    • Contributor I
    • 5 replies
    • April 27, 2017
    The Android app is working on my Pixel Chromebook (version 2), but has the same problem of not synchronizing between reality and the now playing bottom window. The Spotify app will cast to my Sonos system, but if there's a way to control the volume, I can't find it.
    7
    • 77martians
    • Lyricist I
    • 2 replies
    • April 28, 2017
    @MDBill. You can adjust the volume in the Spotify app by clicking on the device you are playing (down to the left) then you have have the volume bar all the way to the bottom. Not very user friendly but there it is.
    G
    • ginagd7
    • Contributor I
    • 1 reply
    • July 13, 2018
    RDog wrote:
    OK, I'd optimistically assumed that with Android on Chrome OS that issue would be thing of the past :(

    It did used to work for me: I ran the Android Sonos app under ARC for quite a long time - it was slow and CPU intensive but was fully functional - I think it was only earlier this year(?) that it broke, suggesting it's fixable. I'm not sure why it worked for me but not for you, considering the long-standing bug reports you reference.

    It'll be a shame if this isn't resolved, but the GPM app running and casting from Chrome OS is still a very nice step forward!
     - having same problem after sonos update. After contacting both companies, it became a blame game. Chromebook not helpful at all.
    C
    • christod
    • Lyricist I
    • 1 reply
    • October 13, 2018
    Is there any update to this issue? I just bought a new Chromebook Pixel 3 and am having the same issue. Very frustrating that the newest technology cannot connect to my Sonos system.

    Without being able to connect to it via laptop, my entire Sonos system is pretty much useless.

    Related Topics

    Terms & ConditionsCookie settings

    Cookie policy

    We use cookies to enhance and personalize your experience. If you accept you agree to our full cookie policy. Learn more about our cookies.

     
    Cookie settings