Sonos Not Really Compatible with Android.

More absolute rubbish from @NotGonnaBeAS0N0SCustomerSoon 

I can’t tell you more than there is no Cast button available. Even it it was available, it does not solve my main issue.

You are correct in both cases, though I don’t see how that can be a cause for a complaint, that is how Sonos works. Sonos needs the app to be in the Sonos ecosystem or supported by it in terms of being able to communicate with Sonos. In some cases like Spotify, this can be done via both the native apps, and from within the Sonos app. In the case of both android and iPhones.

Airplay is a iPhone feature that Sonos can now accommodate; androids do not have such a feature that needs the transmitting device to be on and consuming battery power to transmit all the time that the music is being played. 

Hi @S1211652, welcome to the community.

I appreciate your feedback on your Sonos experience so far, and I’d like to address a couple of things you’ve mentioned here. 

Sonos does support a wide range of music services and casting options through a number of third party applications. 
Spotify, Pandora and TIDAL all have the capability of casting directly from their own applications as well as browsing the content directly inside the Sonos app.

You are also completely able to stream your own local music files from your Android device’s internal storage or SD card without the need to establish a Bluetooth or casting connection. 

I’m also an Android user, so I understand where you’re coming from in that not every app is supported to the fullest extent possible, but with most services it’s up to the service creator to work with us to build that integration into the Sonos ecosystem.

Also, John B is not a Sonos employee, he’s another user like yourself, trying to assist with your concerns.

I hope that’s cleared some things up, but if you have any other questions please let us know; we’re all here to help.

Generally I am happy to control Sonos via their app but the post prompted me to download the Spotify app (I only have the free version) and it will quite happily play to Sonos, it also provides the capability to group rooms by popping up the relevant Sonos page and returning to Spotify when done.

There is a little icon in the bottom left of the screen that you can use to select output device.

I also use bubble upnp occasionally and that will also cast to Sonos so apps that are dlna aware will also work

He isn't a Sonos employee and does not get paid for his time here. You may not get the advice you want to hear from him, but seeing the low level of responses in general here from Sonos staff, he renders valuable service to users by filling in that fairly large hole they leave.

So, what’s your specific complaint?

Folks, thanks for clarification on if John B is a Sonos or an affiliate. I just wanted to hear it from him. I don't think him calling me a troll was helpful, but I appreciate very much that he showed me that it is possible to connect directly to Sonos speakers from Pandora, Spotify, and Tidal. To reiterate, for some reason connecting directly from Pandora, Spotify, & Tidal doesn’t work for me (see my post above) - I don’t have the “cast” button on the lower right on my devices in software. I followed the guides and never saw that button. Maybe I have an old version of Android that doesn’t support this?  Either way, this isn’t the feature I really needed, it does not work on my tablet, even after following the guides. I am glad I know it is possible, but this wasn’t my main issue.

For those who responded about my original post’s tone, yes my first post was very negative - please know that my irritation comes from my great love of this hardware with massive irritation of the software. This hardware is great, the engineers who made these should be lauded! The programmers should be whipped! When I realized I can’t send audio from my phone / tablet to a speaker / group of speakers, the let down was so extreme because I love the hardware so much. 

The thing that I want the most is that there is no way to send phone/tablet audio to speakers on Android devices. For example, an option in Sonos software that says, “Send phone/tablet audio to speaker X or speaker group Y”, would make all the difference.

So, thanks for your patience folks, and for trying to help: If there is a way to send whatever audio is playing on my phone / tablet to a speaker / group of speakers, that is what I am looking for.

If it isn’t possible, what would it take to add this feature?  Who can I talk to at Sonos to ask for this? (Again, I called, I emailed, and everyone from Sonos sent me here to ask for new features...)

@S1211652 .  Can we make peace? I apologise for calling you a troll, but many features of your initial posts suggested this. So, no, I am not in any way affiliated to Sonos. I give my time freely on here because I like to help, and that is mostly what I try to do on here.

Let me try to explain why Sonos is as it is. You have to understand that its fundamental design is not for casting audio.  It was originally designed for local libraries and Internet radio. Streaming services were added when they came into existence. The app has always been a remote control for the system. It is not a music player and so is incapable of casting from the device.

Playing tracks actually stored on the phone was added, on iOS and Android, at a later date. This still does not use a casting approach. Changes made by Apple forced Sonos to drop this on iOS devices but it remains on Android. 

So you need to understand that there are lots of us users out here who are entirely happy with the setup for Android. All we expect of the Android app is that it controls the system. We understand that Sonos isn't about casting and we don't want to cast. That is why I object to your assertion that the system is unsuitable for Android users.

So, to casting.  Sonos has, in its relatively recent history, added casting in various forms. The obvious one is Airplay 2. For reasons none of us really knows, Sonos hasn't added Chromecast to give a comprehensive Android casting solution. I agree that in an ideal world this would be in place. 

Instead, Sonos has added the ability to cast from many of the music service apps. In some ways this is better than Airplay because it works with all Sonos devices, not just more recent, Airplay compatible ones. I do not know why you are having problems with these but they do work.

To sum up, you have a 'casting' mentality but Sonos is designed to work in a different way, with the app as a remote control. Casting has been added in many forms but is not totally comprehensive on Android. But it does everything many of us want and need.

Sonos software is as good as the hardware. 

Edit: in light of @Kumar ‘s subsequent post, I have used ‘casting’ to mean sending audio to Sonos speakers from outside the Sonos app; in effect, barely using the Sonos system at all.

These two should highlight that Sonos don’t particularly favour Apple over Android - other than the Trueplay thing, a different subject.

The first quoted is a case of Android being able to do something on Sonos that IOS cannot.

As to second, I am not sure that one can say that Airplay is casting. In my book, casting has to take the casting device out of the music stream/chain leaving Sonos directly connected to the cloud based service, which Airplay does not do. It seems to me that Airplay is just a more robust form of bluetooth. 

As to the OP issue, it is still a puzzle as to why he cannot cast from Spotify on Android to Sonos - that is mainly how I use my system these days.

PS: and note too that one cannot cast Apple Music from the native app to Sonos from either kind of phone, but one has to use the clunkier Airplay solution for it if one has the kit for that. Another example of Apple not being done favours...or vice versa perhaps.

@Kumar . I appreciate your comments which I would like to think are correct.  I feel I should point out that @P1553d off is entirely correct that I am a geek and a fanboy.