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Scott M Decker
July 3, 2013

Control Sonos Remotely (over VPN)

  • July 3, 2013
  • 50 replies
  • 32645 views
I'd very much would like to control (or at least monitor) my Sonos system over VPN. I can control my lighting and HVAC via Lutron and my IP cameras but it appears that the Sonos iOS app only functions over the device's wireless interface (network). All that is required is a change to allow the Sonos app to use any network, wifi or otherwise. This could be implemented as a enumerated list in the app's settings where the user could enable or disable (on or off slider) each network type and then sort the list to establish a priority. I understand that there would be a delay if for example, my primary network was wifi but I was currently connected remotely via VPN, I would have to wait for discovery via wifi to timeout before the app would begin searching via VPN. This would be acceptable to me. Thanks!
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    who dat
    Lyricist III
    May 24, 2017
    I just ran into this easily fixable problem as well today. I have a little vpn server at my parents house and even when I'm connected to it, the sonos app won't even try the vpn interface to see that there is indeed sonos on my network. It just tries the wifi adaptor and if's down it gives up. If I turn on wifi in my house, the sonos app will start to find the controller at my own home. As others have mentioned, this could easily be fixed. Probably one line of code.
      Stuart_W
      Stuart_W
      World-Class Superstar
      May 24, 2017
      I just ran into this easily fixable problem as well today. I have a little vpn server at my parents house and even when I'm connected to it, the sonos app won't even try the vpn interface to see that there is indeed sonos on my network. It just tries the wifi adaptor and if's down it gives up. If I turn on wifi in my house, the sonos app will start to find the controller at my own home. As others have mentioned, this could easily be fixed. Probably one line of code.

      Best send it to Sonos


      Delighted they will be
      Arc + Sub (Gen 1) + 2 x Play 1/ Stereo Play 3s/ Era 100 Stereo in Kitchen, One Stereo in Bedroom, Play 1 stereo pair in Study, Play 1in Bathroom, Sonos Move 2
      jgatie
      jgatie
      May 24, 2017
      Sigh.

      If I had a nickel for every time . . .
      Airgetlam
      Airgetlam
      May 25, 2017
      But it's easy! Just one line!

      🙂
      Bruce
      matt5215
      Lyricist I
      July 20, 2017
      I have ordered some Sonos speakers for my small business and have been following posts about this extensively. To everyone who asks about why you would need remote control, as a small business owner, I want my Sonos system to play music for the environment of my shop and continue to play when I leave the store. I know this can be done by having a device that always stays at the store but if I can avoid that extra expense and control it remotely, that would be ideal. I also employ a lot of teenagers and leaving a device at the store that they would be able to control isn't something I'd want. Adding official support for this within the Sonos app would be great, as I'm sure I'm not the only business owner using a Sonos system.
      Airgetlam
      Airgetlam
      July 20, 2017
      Matt5215,

      In the case you seem to be describing, the solution that I would consider would be to put a simple NAS on your office network, and allow the music to play from there. No need to add a controller to your PC, you could control it from your mobile device while in the office, and because the mobile device is a controller only, the music would continue to play from your NAS while you were gone. Sure, you wouldn't be able to change anything or turn it off while you weren't there, but it doesn't sound like that's your priority.

      Frankly, I'd put it on a separate wifi system, so no one in the shop had access to that wifi signal, so that they couldn't just download and install their own controllers on their phones and connect to your system, but a separate router/wifi system is only around $100?

      I get that if you want to start or stop it while not being connected to the wifi is an issue, but at least this would give you music while not being connected. And in fact, as long as you kept the separate wifi (the obverse of a guest wifi) password private, you could be connected to any source that Sonos has access to, and your phone wouldn't need to be attached in that case, either.
      Bruce
      controlav
      controlav
      Lead Maestro
      September 12, 2018
      The new Sonos Cloud API makes this kind of thing (stopping playback remotely) pretty trivial. Starting playback is iffy, but stopping looks simple enough.
      Author of the leading independent Sonos apps for Android, MacOS, iOS, Windows and Xbox.
      zoziano
      Lyricist I
      October 5, 2018
      I am also wondering the point of it
      Robbino65
      Lyricist I
      November 1, 2018
      What is the practical application for this? I don't see why you want to be able to turn on music if you aren't home to listen to it?
      For example, I'm out of hose and I want to disable the wakeup alarm......
      pewtertankard
      Lyricist II
      January 1, 2019
      Since most solutions posted here look to having a remote computer (e.g. Raspberry Pi), I’d consider the most elegant solution to be for the controller to be easily accessed via any browser connecting over the VPN.

      This looks like this could be quite an elegant solution to the problem. Might try setting this up in a jail on my FreeNAS box and give it a try...

      https://github.com/Villarrealized/sonos-web
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