Ouch… but helpful, nonetheless!

I hadn’t realized that Tidal has a casting system similar to spotify (not Chromecast, but similar enough to start audio in the native player and then transition it to the Sonos system - even has grouping!). I will certainly make use of this!

I didn’t test GPM because I transitioned to YTM before I bought my Sonos system. So the lack of support in YTM, and this massive thread on lack of Chromecast support, led me to believe that it was a more prolific issue.

FWIW, I tested XM as well and you still cannot cast to Sonos from the app on Android. 

As someone new to Sonos, let me attempt to summarize for everyone like me hammering this thread:

• Chromecast is not supported by SONOS, however!
• Some music apps on Android support some sort of proprietary casting which solves the problem only on those platforms. Examples: Spotify, Tidal, Amazon (and apparently Google Play Music before it was EOL)
• Other music apps do NOT have a solution yet for the lack of chromecast support. Examples: YouTube Music, XM Radio
• Anyone trying to extract audio from a video stream and send it to SONOS is an entirely different and more complex use-case - for this, a Beam is the answer. Or, what I’ve done, is connect a Chromecast HDMI device to an HDMI splitter and audio de-embedder. This device takes HDMI signal to two displays in my house and extracts audio into a SONOS port. The same could be done for a cable box, etc. If you have a permanent projector setup outside and architectural speakers connected to SONOS, this is a good option for you. Just note that you will also need a HDMI-to-Ethernet baluns to send video over long runs! As a mobile solution, buy a projector with ARC and pair with a Beam, or with Bluetooth audio out to a Move as suggested by @John B.

Appreciate all the help here guys. I’m glad there are some solutions for transitioning audio from native apps on Android, but I still believe that Chromecast support would bridge the gap in capability more universally. With YTM now as the home to all of my music (and the sub including YouTube Premium) it’s hard to transition away from that and thus, I’m still sort of SOL…

Do I still think SONOS should provide communication about Chromecast? Yes! And maybe a good opportunity to educate people on the Android apps that have similar functionality today!

Hi @Unmechanized .  That seems to me a fair and comprehensive summary- thanks.

All things being equal, nobody could disagree that to have Chromecast support would be better than not having it.  But I’m not sure everything is equal.  I can only assume Sonos don’t see it as high enough priority. 

I do think you have to bear in mind the nature of the Sonos system too.  It was designed to play music files in a multiroom environment, with an app that is a remote control not a music player.  Technologies that are based on streaming from a device to a single speaker don’t sit easily with this.  Sonos never supported Airplay 1, and apart from the specific use case of the Move, shows no interest in Bluetooth.  The Sonos app is still at the heart of the system.

By all accounts the YTM integration into Sonos leaves much to be desired, but is largely down to what Google have chosen to include using the Sonos open API.  And yes there are many services that cannot be played using the native app, but at least a huge range is available in the Sonos app.

As to Sonos sharing their intentions with their customers, that isn’t going to happen.  I don’t think it is down to contempt for their users, they just have a philosophy of not confirming or denying anything.  Everything is regarded as potentially commercially sensitive.  And if they came out and said ‘yes we are working on Chromecast integration’, then failure to deny the next speculation would be interpreted as endorsing it.  The line is ‘deny mothing, confirm nothing’.  I have found it frustrating at times, but that’s the way it is.

If Sonos announce Chromecast support tomorrow I shall be happy for you, but indifferent for myself.

Sonos needs to stop the discrimination of Android users, in favor of IOS users.

It is very reprehensible that there has been functionality like Airplay to Sonos available for IOS users for years now, while Sonos has not taken advantage of the possibility of adding Google-cast or Chromecast functionality (available through Android) to the Sonos system, even though that option has been available to them for as long as Airplay was available through IOS.

Basically IOS users can cast anything (audio) from any app or file on their device, using the OS interface, to any airplay compatible Sonos speaker and from there to any room. Meanwhile, Android users only have the options that are available through the interface of the Sonos App or the few apps that support direct cast, like Spotify or Audible. 

Similarly, tuning of Sonos speakers is only available on IOS.

What else are Android users missing out on?

Sonos, being an open platform should rather prioritize the open operating system (Android), than the walled off IOS.

Discrimination?  Do you have inside information and proof that Sonos is intentionally not allowing funcitonality on Android?  It couldn’t be that Google is charging more for license, has different hardware requirements, or Google isn’t allowing Sonos to have chromecast for whatever reason?  You sure it’s just that Sonos thinks little of android users?

Sonos has explained the reason for that repeatedly.   I would rather Sonos just sell their own mic-enabled device for tuning rather that develop  tuning for all the hardware flavors of android.

An understanding of why certain features are on iOS but not android?  I’m not suggesting that customers need to know all these details, but assuming the reason is discrimination when facts suggest otherwise.

Did you know that you can play files stored on your android phone with Sonos, but you can’t with iOS?  That’s not as big of deal with airplay, but was certainly not popular before airplay was widely used.  And people made the same assumptions you’re doing now, that Sonos just doesn’t like their Apple customers, ignoring the fact that iOS changes made the feature unmanageable.

From what I’ve seen, Sonos prioritizes based on volume of customers who could use the feature and feasibility to actually develop the feature.  And of course, they need to make a profit somewhere too.

Not having Chromecast on Sonos is a pain. And having a terrible Google Assistant experience on Sonos speakers doesn’t make things better unfortunately. (Sonos, why can’t I shuffle music using voice commands?!)

I highly doubt that Google is refusing Sonos access to Chromecast. Many different speaker brands use Chromecast, from budget to premium. And the hardware on Sonos’ latest speakers certainly allows for it.

I first thought that Sonos didn’t want Chromecast on their devices due to Chromecast being a competitor in multiroom playback. But then, having AirPlay 2 but not Chromecast doesn’t  make much sense to me either.

Then Sonos started this court case against Google (and Amazon). This didn’t stop Google from adding the ability to set a Sonos device as the default speaker for e.g. a Nest Mini and adding Voice Match to Sonos devices though.

You can play anything from an iOS device to a Sonos speaker, yet Android users don’t have this option. This is unfair towards Android users and bothers me as well, despite being an iOS user.

I also agree about Sonos being an open platform and should thus be open to Android users in particular.

The Google Assistant on Sonos is plagued with problems, from not shuffling music to not responding at all. People have been complaining about these issues from day 1, including the lack of Chromecast support.

And of course people are frustrated by all this - all these problems have been around since the launch of GA on Sonos, and more than a year later, none of them have ever been resolved.

Hi,

I would really like to be able to use my chromecast with my sonos. Please lesson to your customers.

Thanks

Marc France

I also want Chromecast support on Sonos.

My use case is very simple:

BBC Sounds, the audio and radio app of the BBC, has no native Sonos support. The only way to listen to its content on Sonos is by streaming from my phone, which is Android.

Currently I do this with a Chromecast audio plugged into a Sonos port. It is clunky and annoying to set up the BBC Sounds app, the Sonos room grouping and the Google Home volume, so that I can listen to a radio episode on one of my eight Sonos zones.

Shameful that BBC and Sonos have not implemented a native player. Shameful that Sonos have not implemented Chromecast.

Please do one or the other!

Shameful?  Is there a universal human right to have every bit of functionality you want on a product? 

Sonos cannot implement BBC Sounds unilaterally.  They have chosen not to implement Chromecast. 

This is not a moral matter. Your choice of words is ludicrous. 

Unfortunate would be better….

I think the suggestion that Sonos should be ashamed because they have taken a decision not to add a particular feature is worse than ‘unfortunate’.  It makes it an issue of moral responsibility, and I cannot think of that as anything other than ludicrous.  (Even more so, in the case of BBC Sounds, which must require input from the BBC, which may or may not be forthcoming.)

Sonos make a product with a particular feature set.  They fix a price.  People buy it if they think it is worth the money, and they will buy something else if tat meets their needs better within their budget.  If Sonos have got this wrong then they will suffer in the bottom line.  But it is not am issue of moral responsibility, which is implied by the word ‘shameful’.

What is happening here? I'd rather not join the vocabulary discussion.

AirPlay and Chromecast are proprietary protocols. Google created a flexible, lightweight solution based on open source technology, the Chromium browser. I can play 1080p video and surround sound from a ~6 year old dongle hanging off the back of my TV that's just slightly bigger than my thumb. I didn't look up whether I'd be able to cast to my new Arc because with this kind of a price tag and Google Assistant and AirPlay, it should be a given.

Using a proprietary app as a front end is a really bad idea. I tried YouTube music today for instance, and while I can access the same material the user interface is poor in comparison. Also, how will they be able to keep up with all new features etc long term? I also tried with YouTube but that obviously didnt work. Adding Chromecast would be a much nicer and long term solution, as we can use the apps we already have and like.

YouTube apart, which apps do you want to use?

Sonos was my life.... until Apple killed Youtube (video) on Gen 2 AppleTV, mid-way through Melbourne lockdown. Wasted a little cash on the new Google TV Chromecast...  useless. thanks to lack of  integration with any of my five Play 1, One or Symfonisk speakers. I won't be upgrading to a smart-erTV or purchasing a Beam anytime soon (thank you COVID).

I basically purchased a Sonos One with Google Assistant that won't ‘allow Google TV Chromecast to function as per its name. “Smart”? . The only winner here was the NSA who are probably profiling the bejesus out of me and my stop-words 

If Corporate Gaslighting is a thing.. I got lit big time. 

Any news on Sonos implementing cast from Android phones? I thought there are more Android users than Apple which should be a good reason to update...

No news at all.

like this pls it could help us get chromecast functionality 

Would that be a responsibility of Google, not Sonos, to change their system to allow separate but simultaneous casting of video and audio?

Why would you need to cast video to sonos devices? You can cast to speakers without the video feed there are several speakers that do that. That means the stream of audio and video are already seperated. If you want to cast video to a tv with the sonos arc connected you could buy a tv which has a chromecast or buy a chromecast for the tv. Does this answer your question? Maybe I misunderstood your question.

Sorry, there’s been often and repeated requests for Sonos to allow playback of both A/V streams and audio only streams via Chromecast. My response above was particular to A/V streams, but not particular to just audio. 

Sonos has implemented part of their system to allow connection to newer devices using AirPlay 2. I’d assume that they’ve offered that same “connection” method to Google, but Google would have to choose to implement it, and given the legal situation between Google and Sonos, I could easily see Google not being excited about implementing additional features to user’s ability to use Chromecast to send to a Sonos device.

But there’s been no official Sonos announcement about it, and I don’t frequent any Google boards to know if there’s been any discussion and/or commitment  by Google personnel to providing that change. 

I can only agree to everyone here. For such an expensive product there is no excuse to be lacking such a basic functionality!

Please just add the Chromecast integration!

As has been stated before, Sonos has already written an API that has been used by several streamers to implement this functionality. Google just has to take the time to implement this as well, using the provided API. It’s not something Sonos can do, as they don’t have the ability to access Google’s code base. 

This is false. Implementing casting to Chromecast is easy, and Sonos could solve this without working together with (or asking permission from) Google.

See here and here for examples of open source implementations.

Sonos is a billion dollar a year company, not a hobbyist open source programmer working out of their basement.  Right now Google and Sonos aren’t on very good terms, and if Sonos ever tried to implement unauthorized Chromecast functionality, Google would sue them into oblivion.

Just got my first SONOS ONE. Very disappointed, I can’t do anything with my Android! Why not support Bluetooth if they refuse to integrate android cast? More functionalities are only available only for iOs, like the tuning on the space. Such a shame. 

Agree with all comments above. This is discrimination against Android users. If Sonos really wanted to support that, they would have, no matter the obstacles. They just dont care. I have found endless similar posts and requests on the internet.