What is Sonos' plan for transitioning from Google Assistant to Gemini?

Corry I appreciate your eagerness to assist but I had to jump in here.    I agree that the list of things possible with LLM is beyond the scope of this thread and frankly, should not need to be explained. 

The LLM is the functionality that is needed.   In 2025 and beyond, LLM access is going to become ever more ubiquitous and a core function of voice assistants.   The idea that I can talk to a voice assistant that doesn’t leverage the LLM natural language abilities and cognition to understand what I am asking and have a live like conversational response, including large context windows is pretty ridiculous.   In the age of Agentic AI, the ability to voice interact with an LLM which has access to my toolchain via MCP servers and various API’s including existing home automation with MQTT, Zigbee, HA and more,  is absolutely critical for me and yes, I have already begun thinking about how to throw away my two large sonos setups (again)  and start over (afain, after s1 to s2 debacle) with something else because of how crucial this functionality is, it edges out highest quality audio.   

You “not using voice assistants so much” yourself, I do not expect you to have any idea what we are actually talking about here.   And I understand that Sonos is a music system first.   I love my sonos I had s1 setups, moved to s2, have recommended to many people.   Immediately replaced all of my Voice Assistant speakers with Sonos as soon as Voice Assistants were available on Sonos.   And the moment Sonos shows me that voice assistance is not a priority, I will replace again. 

its 2026 almost, Sonos had better wake up.  Voice powered by LLM is just as if not more important than hi fidelity audio.   I for one, will solve for both, but if I can’t I would GLADLY take slightly lower audio fidelity for Voice LLM in a heart beat.  It’s really not a thing to even think about. 

 

​@moyayo, Good luck in your arduous quest for a manufacturer who will meet your expectations.

The integration with Google Assistant is the reason I bought my Sonos system in the first place, instead of some other brand. It's disappointing that we don't get Gemini, but it is unacceptable that Assistant doesn't work anymore. In my case, it recently stopped giving personal results (which I used a lot, eg: to add stuff to my groceries list while I'm cooking and can't grab my phone). I'm really pissed and would recommend anyone against buying Sonos. 

Agreed. It’s extremely maddening that Google changed the requirements for new speakers to be integrated. It’s fortunate that they couldn’t retroactively remove the capability from older speakers. I bet Sonos is pretty unhappy too, think of their lost sales. 

This does indeed seem to be a Google problem. I have to say though, that Sonos (or, to be fair, Google, but we are in the Sonos community here) could be more open about what the Google changes mean for Sonos users. In my case GA has stopped being able to play music from Spotify an TuneIn and will not fully do my GA routines. Good morning anly gives me the time, no weather and news anymore. Luckily I can still command my Hue lights and Somfy blinds.

All this changed without a whisper from Google or Sonos.

Not being able to play music by voice is tough for me, since I still also have the problem with the app I posted about here: Music services will not load in Sonos app or web app. | Sonos Community  

It seems too often be the case that companies avoid giving explanation for integration issues because it often just looks like you’re point fingers at the other guy.  Sonos may feel that Google should keep just keep supporting the original standard, while Google may feel that Sonos just was given plenty of time to adapt to new standards and it’s not their problem if Sonos can’t keep up.   It seems like consumers tend to blame the smaller company much of the time, and even if the larger company is blamed, they are still likely to keep using the larger company’s tech as there are often few options and a lot of personal expense to switch. 

If a consumer stops using GA and switches to Alexa on Sonos, does Google even lose a dime on license cost?  If a consumer decides to buy a google home device instead of, or to supplement their Sonos speakers, Google wins.

Honestly, it boils down to: 
Sonos used to work with Google Assistant. As GA moves to Gemini, people still want it to be able to work in the Google ecosystem. 

I set up my house on a Google system. We have a Nest thermostat, Chromecast, Google supported light plugs and outlets that can turn lamps on and off, and hues in lights. We also have Sonos speakers that USED to work with GA, including previously having the ability to play music stored on our Android phones or make announcements / alarms with routines. 

Telling me after I’ve already invested in the system that a new workaround is to also add Alexa or the Sonos voice control is maddening. I don’t want to use Alexa. Maybe I don’t like Bezos, or I don’t like Alexa, or I don’t want multiple voice assistants listening in. The reason is irrelevant. I purchased and built up our Sonos system because it was wireless, played music I owned and stored on my phone, and was Google compatible. I don’t want my house basically set up on one system (GA that moves pretty seemlessly to Gemini) and then have my sound set up on something else. If the system was Alexa only when I was making my purchasing decision, we would have looked elsewhere.  

The fact that Sonos has discontinued multiple services over the years that were the precise reason we purchased in the first place, and then tells us to move to another platform / buy additional devices that will do what we used to have function when we initially purchased - requiring additional investment, time or overlapping platforms in the house -- is maddening. 

I understand your frustration.  It’s important to recognize though that Sonos didn’t change anything about the services you receive when the system was working as you wanted it to.  Google changed.  They changed the hardware requirements for using Google’s voice, the way the interface works, etc.  They liked changed the licensing costs as well, if they are even granting a license to Sonos at all.

I suppose that the lawsuits between Sonos and Google don’t help either 😅

This is a very helpful discussion.  I was planning to buy Arc Ultra to add to my system, but now I cancelled those plans until there is clarity on Sonos integration in Google Ecosystem. 

To comment on Cory’s question up above, the cost of replacing all my Sonos speakers in all the rooms is not insignificant, but it’s a fraction of the cost I would incur to move off of Google ecosystem.  Just the same, the quality of services I receive are much more important than the quality of sound I get from Sonos. 

And let’s get off the high horse.  Sonos sound is good _only_ when combined with the convenience.  When I don’t mind flipping a few manual switched, Bowers & Wilkins speakers give me the sound quality on par with Google Gemini assistance.