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Roel Janssens
Roel Janssens
Trending Lyricist I
October 17, 2020
Answered

Spotify "connect to a device" doesn't list Sonos speakers

  • October 17, 2020
  • 14 replies
  • 4397 views

When I run the Spotify application on my Windows 10 laptop it (almost) never finds my Sonos speakers. When I start the Spotify app on my Android or Apple phone it immediately shows all available devices. When I start the Sonos app on my laptop it also finds the Sonos speakers within a second. All my devices are on the same wifi network and same vlan. The problem seems to be in the Spotify Windows client. Or is it something in the Sonos system?

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    Best answer by Roel Janssens

    I have found a workaround!

    The Sonos speakers are always visible on my mobile but not always on my laptop. When I first grab my mobile i must pick one random song and play it on one of the Sonos speakers.
    After this I start Spotify on my laptop and the green bar at the bottom immediately shows what it’s currently playing on that previous Sonos speaker which I had chosen on my mobile.
    Now I can browse through Spotify on my laptop and play it onto the Sonos speaker because now Spotify sees the speaker.

    I’m still curious why this happens though. Why does my mobile have to ‘wake up’ the Sonos speaker so my laptop can use it?

    14 replies

    Rowena B.
    Rowena B.
    Retired Sonos Staff
    October 17, 2020

    Hi @Roel Janssens, thank you for reaching back to the Sonos community and for letting us know about your concern. Let me help you and figure out what's happening.

    If you can submit a diagnostic of your system and reply back with the confirmation number from your Windows 10 laptop and your mobile device to compare the reports to further check and see what's going on.

    If you need help with any other information, please be sure to let us know. We’ll wait for your reply.

    Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
      Roel Janssens
      Roel JanssensAuthor
      Trending Lyricist I
      October 18, 2020

      laptop 664641934

      phone 1239523113

      Rowena B.
      Rowena B.
      Retired Sonos Staff
      October 18, 2020

      Hi @Roel Janssens, thank you for your response and for submitting the diagnostics. Let me check it for you.

      After reviewing the reports, I see that your Sonos speakers, Android phone, and Windows PC are connected to the same network. No issue found within your system telling us that you're having a playback problem with Spotify.

      You mentioned that when you open the Spotify from your Android or Apple device, it showed all available devices but not from your Windows 10 laptop.

      I'd like to ask a few questions and will give some suggestions on what you can follow.

      1. Is the Spotify app on your laptop updated?
      2. Have you tried to logout and re-login to the Spotify account?
      3. Have you tried rebooting your network and all Sonos devices to refresh the connections?

      If you're still having the same issue, you may reach out to Spotify for further assistance or you can check out the following links from the Spotify website.

      Reference:

      https://community.spotify.com/t5/iOS-iPhone-iPad/Device-won-t-show-up-in-Devices/td-p/267236

      https://support.spotify.com/us/article/i-cant-get-spotify-to-play-on-my-speaker/

      We're here to answer any further questions you have.

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      Roel Janssens
      Roel JanssensAuthor
      Trending Lyricist I
      October 19, 2020
      1. Yes, all my apps are always up to date.
      2. Yes, I already tried that
      3. Yes, I’ve also done that

      I have the feeling the problem is indeed in the Spotify Windows app and that it isn’t a Sonos problem. I tried playing with the Windows Firewall to see if that helped but it didn’t.

      I’ll take a look at the URL’s you sent!

      Rowena B.
      Rowena B.
      Retired Sonos Staff
      October 19, 2020

      Hi @Roel Janssens, thank you for your response and for performing the troubleshooting steps. We really appreciate it and keep us posted.

      Please do not hesitate to reach out or create a topic if you still have further questions or concerns. 

      The Sonos Community is always here to help.
       

      Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
      Roel Janssens
      Roel JanssensAuthor
      Trending Lyricist I
      October 20, 2020

      Sadly enough it still doesn’t work, I wish Spotify was as helpful as you ...

      Rowena B.
      Rowena B.
      Retired Sonos Staff
      October 20, 2020

      Hi @Roel Janssens, thank you for updating us. I'm sorry to hear that the Spotify app installed on your laptop still not finding your Sonos devices. 

      Let me suggest the following basic troubleshooting to isolate the issue.
      1. Try uninstalling and re-installing the Spotify app from your Windows 10 laptop.
      2. Hardwire your laptop directly to your router. Does it make any difference?
      3. If available, try accessing your Spotify account to other computer devices.

      If the suggested steps still don't work, you may contact our Sonos Customer Care to remotely connect to your devices and find out what's going on. 

      If you have any other questions or run into any issues, please do not hesitate to reach out, we’re always here to help.

      Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
      Roel Janssens
      Roel JanssensAuthorAnswer
      Trending Lyricist I
      November 4, 2020

      I have found a workaround!

      The Sonos speakers are always visible on my mobile but not always on my laptop. When I first grab my mobile i must pick one random song and play it on one of the Sonos speakers.
      After this I start Spotify on my laptop and the green bar at the bottom immediately shows what it’s currently playing on that previous Sonos speaker which I had chosen on my mobile.
      Now I can browse through Spotify on my laptop and play it onto the Sonos speaker because now Spotify sees the speaker.

      I’m still curious why this happens though. Why does my mobile have to ‘wake up’ the Sonos speaker so my laptop can use it?

        Himzo
        Contributor I
        January 3, 2021

        Solution for me was to makre sure my spotify app device is on same wifi as sonos devices
        If you have two or more wifi networks within the same router, let´s say a 2.4GHz and another 5GHz wifi then I got the problem with the spotify app. If all are on the same (in 2.4GHz in my case) all is good. Permanently.

        BobbyBobby
        Lyricist I
        January 8, 2021

        Im experiencing the exact same issue despite being on the same network. The workaround is a horrible user experience:

        1. Open Spotify to play music on desktop > nothing availible in “connect to device”
        2. Find phone, find Spotify app, click ‘listen on phone’ (since its playing on desktop)
        3. In Spotify app: Start playing on Sonos-speaker 
        4. (OPTIONAL) When spotify-app doesnt discover speakers, i have to go the Sonos app and start playing from there, then back to Spotify app
        5. Go back to desktop and take over music playing, and then the Sonos speaker is availible from “connect to device”

          NOTE: While my phone show all speakers, my desktop now show only the single speaker that ive “activated” in this process.
           

        Screenshot is after the process, i still have a bunch more speakers availible in the sonos app and in spotify mobile

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