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S1211652
Contributor I
February 15, 2021

Sonos Not Really Compatible with Android.

  • February 15, 2021
  • 31 replies
  • 19665 views

So, I heard a demo of the Sonos One SL (These things are awesome speakers, no microphones - some of us old folks love the fact that there aren’t microphones!) and the sound was excellent. I fell in love. We are looking for a good sound solution in multiple rooms streamed from my Android device. I saw the Android on the side of the box, and bought two units home from the store that day.

 

After a neve-racking 3 hours, I couldn't do anything besides play Pandora / Spotify / YouTube Music from INSIDE the Sonos app. Each Sonos sub-app was a castrated version of the real thing you might get from Google Play.

 

Watching a You Tube video in the You Tube App? No sound thru these speakers. Using Disney Plus? Nope, can’t do it. Using ANY Android app not in available Sonos’ library. Sorry, no sound for you.

 

Apparently, you can send local audio directly from an Apple Device to these speakers using AirPlay. Good for you guys. Congratulations. I bet that feels great. But please, Sonos, take the Android sticker off the box - it is a lie. Or, find a way to stream an Android device’s local audio stream thru your app to speakers selected - what a great feature that might be. Or, support Chrome Cast audio streaming.

 

Until then, these truly wonderful speakers with most excellent hardware are nearly useless to the 50% market share of Android users. Those android users that stay will be using the Sonos app, and crummy versions of their audio apps, with much pain and irritation.

 

I am taking mine back to the store as soon as I can.

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    31 replies

    John B
    February 15, 2021

    @NotGonnaBeAS0N0SCustomerSoon .I am an Android user and it does EVERYTHING I want and quite a lot that I don't. 

    Tracks stored on the phone can be played from 'on this mobile device'. Spotify can be played from the Spotify app using Spotify Connect. Pandora can also be cast from the native app 

    It's true that the speakers aren't designed for audio-video uses. Sonos have other products for that.

    Take the speakers back by all means. Your loss 

    How you could spend so much time and miss so much is hard to comprehend

      S1211652Author
      Contributor I
      February 15, 2021

      John B: I appreciate your passion. Do you work for Sonos? That is a lot of replies for a regular user. Let us know if you are paid by Sonos or an affiliate. This might effect how folks view your response.

       

      Either way, this post isn’t for you - you are happy with the Sonos ecosystem, please move on and be happy, I wish you the best.

       

      This post is for folks like me. Users who brought home the perfect piece of hardware, only to be massively let down by the Sonos ecosystem.

       

      For others who are Android and are wondering:

      -Do Sonos One SL speakers play audio from Pandora App? Nope. You have to use the Sonos App and use that crummy interface.

      -Do Sonos One SL speakers play audio from Spotify App? Nope. You have to use the Sonos App and use that crummy interface.

      -Do Sonos One SL speakers play audio from Tidal App? Nope. You have to use the Sonos App and use that crummy interface.

      -Does it play audio from any other app that isn’t Sonos supported while you are on your phone/tablet/computer? Nope. Sorry.

       

      So, if you don’t mind to live in the Sonos app / ecosystem and use their terrible embedded apps, you are good, and the apps you use are compatible, congratulations - you will love these speakers. The hardware is truly great.

       

      Are you an apple user? AirPlay is here. And the app, but why would you, you have AirPlay!

       

      Are you an android user of an app that isn’t compatible with the Sonos app? You are out of luck.

        John B
        February 15, 2021

        Do I work for Sonos? A standard troll provocation. As is reference to the number of posts.  We know your true nature now.

        Can you play direct from the Spotify, Tidal and Pandora apps? Yes you can. Your ignorance of the facts doesn't make them go away.

        As I said, I am an Android user. 

         

        S1211652Author
        Contributor I
        February 15, 2021

        You still haven’t answered the question: Do you work for Sonos or an affiliate? Please, let us know.

        Also, please, tell me how to play directly from Pandora without using the Sonos app from my Android device. If it is possible, this forum is for teaching and sharing information.

        Not name calling.

          John B
          February 15, 2021

          https://support.sonos.com/s/article/63?language=en_US

          John B
          February 15, 2021

          https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3096?language=en_US

          John B
          February 15, 2021

          https://support.sonos.com/s/article/1153?language=en_US

          John B
          February 15, 2021

          And thank you for the original post for an excellent example of the forum as an opportunity for education and information sharing.

            John B
            February 15, 2021

            If I worked for Sonos I would have to be polite to ill-informed ranters.

              S1211652Author
              Contributor I
              February 15, 2021

              You still haven’t answered the question: Do you work for Sonos or an affiliate? Please, let us know.

               

              I have tried the article listed, thanks for trying to help.

               

              First, for other readers, please note this solution requires the Sonos app to be installed and logged in to your account. It also requires that you have linked your Pandora to your Sonos account. I have done both those the steps described in the article linked here.

               

              My original complaint is that if an app isn’t in the Sonos Ecosystem, you can’t use it. I have secondary complains that supported apps don’t work well in Sonos’s embedded environment, and if Pandora can cast to Sonos speakers in an Android environment directly I am happy to be wrong, but this doesn’t work for me:

               

              Unfortunately, there is no “Cast” icon on my now playing screen. That is with Pandora V 2101.1 and Sonos as an active app in the background. It could be the fault is my own, but even if it did work, I still can’t get audio to these speakers easily from apps that aren’t already in the Sonos ecosystem. Again, if you have any thoughts on why I don’t have this icon, I am sure I am not the only one interested in in how to fix it. My guess is that this would work fine for an iPhone user.

               

              Still, it will not fix the issue of getting audio to these speakers on an Android device using apps unsupported by Sonos.

               

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