Patiently waiting for Alexa Integration

Given the rather large number of new threads that occur every week in these boards, in multiple areas, I'd suggest that you're not the only one.

Given how long this is taking, I am now at the cusp of deciding to replace sonos.

No idea why they wont tell us anything 😞

It's their big failure. Had they just let us get with them on development, test with them and be a part of the process, we would all be ok with the wait. The dead air is making me shop for other products now honestly. I feel slighted by the lack of perceived progress.

Development on this one is definitely moving forward well, but speaking from experience, the team hates showing their work before it's just about done. We'll be sure to let everyone know when there are opportunities to beta test the software, and of course, we'll shout it from the rooftops when it's ready to go.

It will be available this year. And the team isn't going to rush it out the door just so we can say we have it. They'll be taking the time to do it right.

Development on this one is definitely moving forward well, but speaking from experience, the team hates showing their work before it's just about done. We'll be sure to let everyone know when there are opportunities to beta test the software, and of course, we'll shout it from the rooftops when it's ready to go.

It will be available this year. And the team isn't going to rush it out the door just so we can say we have it. They'll be taking the time to do it right.


Thanks for the reply. By this year is the problem with the statement for me. I run agile teams. I get no dates, but you've got to have a general idea on progress for a quarter. As customers, hearing "this year" could very well mean we will have gone 17 months with the promise of integration before first seeing a beta. This conversation began in July of 2016. A bit more transparency is what those of us who heavily reinvested in the Sonos line would like to make sure we didn't make purchasing fools of ourselves along the way. I promise that if I had a play 5 with a line in, I'd probably complain less but, c'est la vie!

It's their big failure. Had they just let us get with them on development, test with them and be a part of the process, we would all be ok with the wait. The dead air is making me shop for other products now honestly. I feel slighted by the lack of perceived progress.

Sonos has a long established software development/release methodology, which includes private testing followed by public beta testing, followed by a general release. They announced last year that a private beta test will be followed by a public release in 2017. We are not even half way through 2017, why in the world would you feel slighted?

It's their big failure. Had they just let us get with them on development, test with them and be a part of the process, we would all be ok with the wait. The dead air is making me shop for other products now honestly. I feel slighted by the lack of perceived progress.

Sonos has a long established software development/release methodology, which includes private testing followed by public beta testing, followed by a general release. They announced last year that a private beta test will be followed by a public release in 2017. We are not even half way through 2017, why in the world would you feel slighted?


I feel that way because of the lack of comms around the timing, not the timing itself. Its just been a lack of info on progress or detail to satiate those who've spent tons of cash and want to see the value of their investment. My priority one was making sure Echo worked with my setup. For you, it might not be. But for me it is.

Secondly, it's in their best interest to prioritize this over niche features like tuning that is hit or miss typically. The competition is getting fierce, many other brands are either releasing or about to release direct competition to Sonos etc.

I feel that way because of the lack of comms around the timing, not the timing itself. Its just been a lack of info on progress or detail to satiate those who've spent tons of cash and want to see the value of their investment. My priority one was making sure Echo worked with my setup. For you, it might not be. But for me it is.

Secondly, it's in their best interest to prioritize this over niche features like tuning that is hit or miss typically. The competition is getting fierce, many other brands are either releasing or about to release direct competition to Sonos etc.

Assuming the implementation is now in private beta as previously announced, it is understandable that no communication would be happening. Private beta is just that, private. Sonos has always been notoriously silent about private betas in the past. Matter of fact, some of us here have joked that you can tell when something big is coming because everyone in the know gets real quiet.

As to your priority of making sure Echo works with your investment, Sonos has explicitly stated the following:

These new voice capabilities will be delivered in a software update that will work with new and previously purchased Sonos and Alexa-enabled devices such as Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Amazon Tap, and Amazon Fire TV.

I'm not really sure how a progress report on their private beta testing is going to give you any more assurance that your investment is warranted. They have stated in no uncertain terms that the voice control capabilities will work with all Sonos and Alexa devices sold, present and past. Asking honestly, what more reassurance do you need?

I understand the impatience. I'm impatient myself. But to imply that impatience is due to Sonos "slighting" its customers in some way is quite disingenuous. They appear to be right on schedule, and their silence on this implementation, which we can assume to be in private beta, is quite understandable given the history of their development cycles in the past.

Development on this one is definitely moving forward well, but speaking from experience, the team hates showing their work before it's just about done. We'll be sure to let everyone know when there are opportunities to beta test the software, and of course, we'll shout it from the rooftops when it's ready to go.

It will be available this year. And the team isn't going to rush it out the door just so we can say we have it. They'll be taking the time to do it right. Ryan, thank you for this reply. I have worked directly with SONOS staff in the past and understand that only the very best product will be released when it is ready. I look forward to a public Beta!!