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Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions for controlling Sonos without using a smartphone or a tablet? For example using the ‘Google Nest Hub’. I did read you can only do very basic commands and not full functionality like the Sonos App (searching, picking music, etc.).

The reason I am asking is we want to give both our kids Sonos speakers as well but find both to young for smartphones or tablets to be in their room as a control device. I can limit internet access for the tablet and use-time, etc.. but it goes beyond that and is quite a uphill battle to get things to work well then. We also tried things like turning an ipad in or requesting use of it it. But that's even more of a hassle and error-proof. They are getting to be inbetween the age they can and cannot handle digital media well and aren’t supervised the entire time. My daughter just wants privacy in her own room, read or play, dance, etc. without a parent being there the entire time. But give them a digital device and you end up with them being glued to it.

We have also been experimenting with google assistant, but it’s not the best. Esp. as we are not native english (Dutch) and a grownup trying to articulate an English artist name well to a Dutch speaking google assistant is already painful sometimes, let alone the kids.

So curious if there are any simple touch-screen devices that are way more limited then a full blown tablet to act as a controler. If not, I guess I will need to go the route of stripping a tablet and restricting it just to be a controler for the Sonos.

 

(yes, I know Sonos previously had two separate controllers, I owned both of them. But those have been discontinued. Not looking to start that discussion)

In short no. The option of using voice does work, albeit with the language issues that you've mentioned, but you can only initiate a single stream of music via some streaming services (Spotify being the main one), asking for a second will cancel the first - this would cause great frustration for all of you I suspect!!

A cut down tablet with an app to restrict access to specific Apps is probably the best approach.

An Amazon Fire Tablet may be the answer.  I think you can set parental controls and lock it down to only Sonos app if required. Not 100% sure.

An Amazon Fire Tablet may be the answer.  I think you can set parental controls and lock it down to only Sonos app if required. Not 100% sure.

I’ve had a lot of problems running the Sonos App on Fire Tablet.

I would perhaps give the kids an iPort xPress remote and speaker instead:

https://www.sonos.com/nl-nl/shop/accessories/remote-controls

An xPress keypad is pretty much limited to play/pause/next/volume, though favourites can be preconfigured to use as source presets. Useless for searching/selecting.

If a Fire tablet in parental/restricted mode is no good then I’d suggest either an iPod Touch (perhaps a refurbished unit) with Guided Access to lock it to only the Sonos app, or an old Android phone with the Sonos app pinned. In both cases the rest of device could be protected behind a PIN lock.

It does sound like using two of our older iPads would be the best option. Limiting them to specific times and what they can do on them. Or two fully stripped old iPhones.

They use them also to play games and all and we prefer to monitor that manually then through parental settings (we tried it, but it’s just clunky and less natural - feels a bit mechanical towards your kids). But it does seem to be the option if you want them to also selected playlists, search for music and artists and all.

That said @Ken_Griffiths I do like the idea of the xPress. Didn’t know that existed actually. It looks a bit like the physical control Philips Hue lights have our kids can use given they don’t have a smartphone to control them. So just getting one arround the house might not be a bad idea regardless of what solution I go for.. thanks!

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