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Contributor I
June 15, 2019

Multiple Accounts and Google Assistant

  • June 15, 2019
  • 44 replies
  • 10949 views
So my wife and I just bought a Sonos Beam and got it setup. Admittedly we did little research before this purchase, we just learned that Google Assistant was added and thought it would be a nice addition and a perfect way to start our road to building out a nice sound system for our home...

Unfortunately we have been hit with disappointment after disappointment:
1st was the shoddy setup, we had to do a factory reset out of the box because for whatever reason it wouldn't go through the start up as expected. We resolved the issue, but it was annoying that this device had such a problem not even 5 minutes out of the box.

2nd was this nonsense about not being able to connect multiple accounts to the speaker - this is absolutely ridiculous. My wife setup the device and then when I created my account, thinking I was going to join the speaker and connect my accounts, I was sadly mistaken that the speaker was registered to my wife alone... how is this even still a thing? If the idea is this product is to be a part of a smart HOUSE then is should support multiple PEOPLE that live in said house. Again, we found the workaround of being able to sign in to one account and adding and connecting our different profiles for Spotify, Souncloud, etc in as different users, but it shouldn't be like this. This is a HUGE problem and I hope for how expensive these devices are that this is on someone's radar to address in the very near future.

Lastly is the deal breaker, google assistant. I now see exactly why this was delayed for so long and honestly I think it should have been delayed indefinitely until they fixed the fact that it CAN'T UNDERSTAND MULTIPLE VOICES! That is a HUGE selling point for google assistant, how they got sign off to implement it without such a key feature is beyond me. And the multiple profiles actually causes a conflict with Google Assistant where it can't choose which profile is associated with the set google assistant account. So that completely breaks the workaround we had for the 2nd issue.

As for as a speaker goes, this is a decent device. It sounds great, is aesthetically pleasing, and gets the job done for media consumption. However for this expensive product I was hoping to get more and I've been severely let down.

Does anyone have any insight as to whether or not they will be adding multiple account support in the future? More importantly will they allow Google Assistant to understand multiple voices? I highly doubt I will continue with Sonos without these features getting implemented. I could get a much cheaper sound system with the same quality that doesn't try to attempt features it doesn't do well.
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44 replies

Lyricist I
October 6, 2019
Hello Sergio, I just purchased a Sonos one on the promise of upgrading the sound of my average google home. The inability of Sonos one to manage multiple account on google assistant is indeed a deal breaker. We use the home as a jukebox. Every family member using his/her account. I will revert to Google home and inferior sound as long as this feature is not implemented. A dissatisfied customer shares its frustration with 7 people. A satisfied one only spread the word to one or two. I am VERY disappointed.
Chromatic Producer I
October 6, 2019
I came to the forum today for this very specific issue. Now that I'm panning to put Sonos spearker in more rooms of house this is an issue.
My daughter's spotify account does not allow explicit music but if she is stuck using my account cause Sonos cannot recognize who's voice.... well, that's a huge issue.
Is voice recognition part of Google assistant? So what's the deal.
For non-voice speakers, my google mini's get the job done.... properly but this was not my desired setup.
Enthusiast I
October 7, 2019
Any update on this?
106rallye
October 7, 2019
You can only use One Sonos account on your devices, but you can have multiple Spotify accounts linked to Sonos. If you plan on buying new speakers your daughter could only use Airplay or the Spotify app to play to the Sonos speakers in your home. Without the Sonos app she would only be able to use her Spotify account, with all the restrictions you put on that.
Sjoop1985
October 7, 2019
Since the Sonos account is a purely administrative thing that you only need to configure the system and add speakers, I don't really see why there is a need to have multiple accounts for different people in the same household. Think of it as an "administrator account".
Adding our separate streaming services accounts and binding them to the Sonos controller our personal devices has worked fine in my home.

Regarding voice match, I don't see why the hardware couldn't support it. It is likely to do with the software implementation of Google Assistant. Maybe Google is even restricting it.
Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans (John Lennon) --- Living room: Arc, Sub, 2x One - Kitchen: One - Bedroom: Play 3 - Office: Beam - Bathroom: Play 1
Chromatic Producer I
October 7, 2019
You can only use One Sonos account on your devices, but you can have multiple Spotify accounts linked to Sonos. If you plan on buying new speakers your daughter could only use Airplay or the Spotify app to play to the Sonos speakers in your home. Without the Sonos app she would only be able to use her Spotify account, with all the restrictions you put on that.

This is good info, unfortunately Airplay is a mute point for me. I have never been in Apples eco system. My daughter who is 10 and just at the age that I'm considering giving her a cell phone, so she doesn't use the app. She uses voice commands which is perfectly fine with her Google home mini since it recognizes her voice and streams from the appropriate account.
She does however have an old child's tablet. Maybe I can load the apps on that.
Lyricist I
October 7, 2019
There is indeed more to the google assistant than streaming although it is a key feature. Being able to have multiple google assistant accounts on the same device is essential. Each family member should be able to ask about their day’s schedule, and each add items to their shopping list. As for streaming I fully support Ravica3: when your main UI is voice, not the Sonos app, the assistant has to be able to differentiate between users, albeit they all live under the same roof.
Enthusiast I
October 7, 2019
Again, when will Sonos support this key feature?
Chromatic Producer I
October 8, 2019
Since the Sonos account is a purely administrative thing that you only need to configure the system and add speakers, I don't really see why there is a need to have multiple accounts for different people in the same household. Think of it as an "administrator account".
Adding our separate streaming services accounts and binding them to the Sonos controller our personal devices has worked fine in my home.

Regarding voice match, I don't see why the hardware couldn't support it. It is likely to do with the software implementation of Google Assistant. Maybe Google is even restricting it.

This is a good point on the Sonos App. I'll get my peeps setup in the app. Could be a good bandaid for the time being. They are heavily depended on voice control though.
Enthusiast I
October 8, 2019
We are unable to invoke personal GA routines using voice match across multiple house members via the Sonos One. Isn't this obvious? When will Sonos support this mission critical feature?