Contributor II

Answered

Why can't I group two rooms?

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
July 18, 2020
30 replies
27220 views

Why can’t I create a speaker group containing two rooms in the S2 app? The group option is greyed out and it says I can only create groups when three or more rooms exist. Why does this distinction exist?

Grouping

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Best answer by 106rallye

@conorb I do not understand what you are saying. What problem do you encounter, that you see needing a “work around” or a fix? Do you have two rooms or more?

Grouping rooms if you only have two rooms can be done by using the button I've circled in the screenshot below:

This is not a work around - it's the way grouping has always worked. If you have more rooms you can use this method, or (new for S2) make named groups. I would agree calling this feature “Groups” instead of "Named Groups” is confusing - especially if you staate that the feature does not work if you only have two rooms, so people conclude they can't group two roosm at all.

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conorb

Lyricist I

Good grief! Listen to us. Clearly, it’s a UX cock-up of the first order, unanticipated by Sonos as they prepared the software upgrade.

HI, SONOS. HI THERE. PLEASE PAY ATTENTION AND FIX. I easily grouped my two rooms in the latest version of the app. Now I cannot ungroup them, and the app says -- as illustrated above -- that grouping is available for three rooms or more. “Groups” is greyed out. I’m frankly tired of trying workarounds (with thanks to all those who have suggested them).

“Groups” should not be greyed out, especially after your app allowed a two-room system to group. FIX THIS.

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conorb

Lyricist I

Psst! Don’t tell SONOS, because I really want them to fix the UX cock-up described above. But here’s the workaround to GROUP and UNGROUP rooms that I’ve settled on. NB: I drive Spotify through my SONOS system, and just about nothing else, so your mileage may vary.

Blow off the SONOS app. The current version, with the gold screen. Exit it.
In SPOTIFY, look to the bottom left of your phone screen. It will indicate, in green, which speaker(s) the music is currently playing through.
Touch that green speaker(s) link.
Now a popup screen appears, with a black background. At the very top, it says, “Listening on” and shows the same speaker(s) link as before.
TO THE RIGHT of the green speaker(s) link is a three-dot link … for more options. Touch the three dots.
AHA! You’ll see a prompt to “Group Rooms.” Touch it!
NOW the Sonos app will fire up, After an annoying wait of about 10 seconds, it will present a screen with all of your system’s rooms and check boxes for each one. Configure your new Group by checking and un-checking.

And there you have it. SONOS grouping from within the SPOTIFY app. I hate workarounds, but until SONOS reads the above thread and FIXES its UX COCK-UP, this is what I’m stuck with. I hope it helps you!

106rallyeAnswer

@conorb I do not understand what you are saying. What problem do you encounter, that you see needing a “work around” or a fix? Do you have two rooms or more?

Grouping rooms if you only have two rooms can be done by using the button I've circled in the screenshot below:

This is not a work around - it's the way grouping has always worked. If you have more rooms you can use this method, or (new for S2) make named groups. I would agree calling this feature “Groups” instead of "Named Groups” is confusing - especially if you staate that the feature does not work if you only have two rooms, so people conclude they can't group two roosm at all.

J

John B

@conorb . Pssst. In Sonos app, go to the Rooms tab. Whichever speakers (‘rooms’) you want to play together, tick them. Fundamentally, that’s it. Then just flip back to Spotify if you would rather use Spotify Connect to play music.

If a user has more than one possible grouping, they can permanently name a grouping to save clicks. If a user only has 2 ‘rooms’, and wants to group them they just have to tick the box that’s not ticked.

Strangely, I have not found this arrangement difficult or inconvenient. Would you like to explain why you find it inadequate? At the moment I am struggling to see in what sense this is a failed UX, and why it needs fixing.

‘Room’ in Sonos terms does not necessarily correspond to a physical room. It is best thought of as the basic building block of the system.

The Spotify app is the Spotify app and doesn’t really use the Sonos system. It is Spotify’s responsibility. Nothing for Sonos to fix.

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nevermoreAuthor

Contributor II

The Spotify app is the Spotify app and doesn’t really use the Sonos system. It is Spotify’s responsibility. Nothing for Sonos to fix.

I can appreciate your take on this, but it’s not efficient. Given that Spotify is integrating Google Assistant, it is frustrating that:

I cannot tell Assistant to play in both rooms at once
In Spotify itself, I cannot play in both rooms without going back to the Sonos app. I can appreciate that is most likely a Spotify issue, but if Sonos could announce to Spotify Connect that there was a “grouped” room, and thus play on both rooms that would be wonderful.

106rallye

To your last bullit: on my iPhone I can Airplay to all speakers from my Spotify app. Are you an Android user?

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nevermoreAuthor

Contributor II

To your last bullit: on my iPhone I can Airplay to all speakers from my Spotify app. Are you an Android user?

Yep. Both my rooms are listed but there isn’t an option to play to all speakers.

Ken_Griffiths

To your last bullit: on my iPhone I can Airplay to all speakers from my Spotify app. Are you an Android user?

Yep. Both my rooms are listed but there isn’t an option to play to all speakers.

You should be able to manually select the check box of the other room see this animation…

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nevermoreAuthor

Contributor II

To your last bullit: on my iPhone I can Airplay to all speakers from my Spotify app. Are you an Android user?

Yep. Both my rooms are listed but there isn’t an option to play to all speakers.

You should be able to manually select the check box of the other room see this animation…

That's the Sonos app, not the Spotify app.

Ken_Griffiths

That's the Sonos app, not the Spotify app

Ah that’s my mistake then, as I read your opening post - but it’s similar in Spotify, at least for me, I just select the Elipsis menu in the Spotify App and grouping option and then a similar Room grouping screen shows with check boxes, as per the attached screenshots.

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