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Cannot group Sonos system with Google Home devices


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Sonos,

After all this waiting. And after multiple articles. And after multiple phone calls to your service reps (including today), I’m now being told that you cannot group your Sonos system devices with your Google Home devices (after being told for months and more than a year that the aid be able to group them). Even the rep I spoke with today tried to help me and didn’t find out it wasn’t possible until he spoke to a system engineer. You can do it with Amazon devices, but STILL not with Google devices

In all honesty, what is the point of adding Google assistant to Sonos if you can’t even use Sonos speakers with Google Speakers together in a group? It’s pretty useless for me to be in living room, have to get up and walk to my kitchen to say “hey google, play x in my Living Room” and then walk back.
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Best answer by Ryan S 15 May 2019, 00:50

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You most certainly cannot do it with Amazon devices. I don't know where that idea came from.
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Hi Roman, sorry to hear it took you so long to find your answers. You're correct, the current integration brings Google Assistant to Sonos devices with built in microphones, and it allows you to control what's playing using Google Home devices. However, Sonos devices and Google devices are unable to be grouped together to play the same thing in sync. Also, there isn't currently the ability to set a Sonos device as a preferred speaker within the Google Home app.

This is just the beginning of our integration with Google Assistant and we're looking forward to making improvements as we go, but I don't have any specifics I can share on what's next, or if either of those things are on the list. We'll be sure to tell everyone when changes are made, so you can always watch out for announcements on our board here, or elsewhere.
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I appreciate the back and forth year. If I could just add my voice to the chorus that will form requesting this feature. Without this feature you need to have to devices that have microphones for Google home in the same room to get the functionality desired. In the meantime, this new integration will just be shut off and existing Google home speaker in whatever room the theme is in will continue to do its primary function. Don't get me wrong I love having the surround sound with the beam but I could have gotten that with the bar or the base. I didn't have that option when anticipating a true integration between Google and Sonos.

Food for thought. Godspeed
In all honesty, what is the point of adding Google assistant to Sonos if you can’t even use Sonos speakers with Google Speakers together in a group? It’s pretty useless for me to be in living room, have to get up and walk to my kitchen to say “hey google, play x in my Living Room” and then walk back.

Perhaps I'm not understanding your scenario properly, but I don't know see why you would ever have to do any walking to another room as you describe, unless you don't have an GA compatible speakers in the living room at all.

If you have a Sonos One or a Beam in your living room, you can enable it for GA and then say "hey google, play x" to that device.. If you have have Google home speaker in your living room, then you say hey google, play x in my Living Room” to that device. If you don't have any GA device in your living around, there is no feature that would prevent you from having to walk to another room to give a voice command.
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In all honesty, what is the point of adding Google assistant to Sonos if you can’t even use Sonos speakers with Google Speakers together in a group? It’s pretty useless for me to be in living room, have to get up and walk to my kitchen to say “hey google, play x in my Living Room” and then walk back.Perhaps I'm not understanding your scenario properly, but I don't know see why you would ever have to do any walking to another room as you describe, unless you don't have an GA compatible speakers in the living room at all.

If you have a Sonos One or a Beam in your living room, you can enable it for GA and then say "hey google, play x" to that device.. If you have have Google home speaker in your living room, then you say hey google, play x in my Living Room” to that device. If you don't have any GA device in your living around, there is no feature that would prevent you from having to walk to another room to give a voice command.

Correct, you don't understand. Google Home has groups of speakers that can be "cast" to. Because Sonos is not able to be added to these groups, you end up having to have a Sonos device and a Google home device in the same room to achieve the dual purpose having assistant linked mic and ability to function as a true speaker within Google Home system.
Userlevel 3
I don't have to do any walking room to room because google home mini's are cheap and microphone inputs are not my problem. I was hoping to be able to group sonos speakers with my "whole home" google speaker group to have synced music throughout my home and espcially on the most prominent living room speaker set.

Its the primary reason I chose Sonos for my living room surround sound with lots of other options that have advanced featured like DTS support, ATMOS, etc, over the playbar + sonos one's for surround. I chose them because of the promise of google integration with the target feature being syncing with the rest of my speakers when I want music througout the house.

Definitely disappointing but hoping future upgrades provide this functionality
Userlevel 1
Same here. I have a few Chromecast audio and I would of loved to link then to my 2 Sonos one speakers for a multiroom configuration. I now find myself having to choose between listening to my Klipsch system or the 2 Sonos speakers.
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Thanks for responses everyone. Integration of speakers (the reason we buy multiples) is usually so that we can hear the same thing coming out of multiple speakers.

Im mostly disappointed because of being told by a Sonos representative on Monday of this week that grouping would be part of the update. This was after reading multiple times on tech articles that one of the points of integration was to group. When I spoke with someone again from Sonos on the phone on Wednesday, they told me that a Sonos engineer informed the rep that this is something they are working on for the future.

One can only hope....
Userlevel 2
Same frustration. Home is networked through google. Waited months for the integration. Every other third party speaker I own can be grouped using Google (unlike Amazon/Alexa groups), and their spokespeople have been telling press this would be part of the functionality. Hugely frustrated to have my highest quality speaker disconnected from my home and rarely used as a result. I would like Sonos to be definitive - one way or the other - on whether this basic feature is on the roadmap.
Same frustration. Home is networked through google. Waited months for the integration. Every other third party speaker I own can be grouped using Google (unlike Amazon/Alexa groups), and their spokespeople have been telling press this would be part of the functionality. Hugely frustrated to have my highest quality speaker disconnected from my home and rarely used as a result. I would like Sonos to be definitive - one way or the other - on whether this basic feature is on the roadmap.

I follow the press about Sonos pretty closely, and I never saw this type of feature touted as part of the functionality. Furthermore, I wouldn't expect it to be, because you cannot do it with Alexa devices either. I'm curious if you can provide links to these press statements?
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A few reporters asked about this specific functionality during CES and the spokesperson said something along the lines of “that’s the plan” w/o full committal. I should know better. As for Alexa, I don’t think that’s the right comparison by which to set expectations. Amazon doesn’t allow any third party devices to be grouped. Google on the other hand does. I have multiple third party speakers (including JBL) that work as Google assistants and can be grouped within the Google home app, so i had a similar expectation for Sonos. It’s fair to believe this is a Sonos issue (or worse, choice) and not a Google permissions issue. Shame because the Sonos speaker has such better sound.
My Google Home/Assistant is linked to my Sonos Play 5.
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Another user here that was expecting being able to group the sonos speakers into the google cast speakers... Not being able to do so basically kills a lot of its functionality. My guess its sonos way of trying to make you buy only their products. This paired with a no line-in in or bluetooth input sonos one makes it a very unused speaker, such a shame.
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Big let down for me as well.

Google Integration was the driving factor for me choosing sonos. I'd been watching the release of the JBL Link Bar, but after months of delays and the Sonos integration announcement, I changed my plans. I knew not all integrations are created equal, but I didn't expect such common functionality not to exist!

It sounds like the Sonos team may be working on it, so although I'm in the fence, I'm going to take a chance and not return the device hoping that a fix is released in the future.
Userlevel 1
Same problem here. I added my two sonos play 1 and found that it is not possible to group them with other google speakers I have at home... that is very frustrating. I hope they get this functionality to work.
Userlevel 2
As the people above, I am similarly disappointed from the Google Assistant integration into the Sonos ecosystem, especially after waiting for so long. I think it is crucial requirement that users will be able to:

  1. Group Sonos speaker with other speakers for multiroom playback (not necessarily with Sonos in all rooms)
  2. Set Sonos speaker as a default music speaker
  3. Cast from Google Assistant/Google Home to a Sonos speaker from within apps (i.e. for the Sonos speaker to show up as one of the casting destinations).
Essentially, all this functionality would be possible if Sonos implemented Chromcast into the system. For me, it is not so important to use the Sonos speaker itself as a Google Assistant/Home device - I have google Home devices for that. I just want to use Sonos as a network speaker (I only have Sonos Play:5)

Can anyone comment (I am hoping for an official Sonos response) if those functionalities will be coming to Sonos in the near future? It will be nice to know because if it is not coming soon I think it will be time to sell my Sonos and invest in other solutions.
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Now I understand why Sonos' stock went down from ~$20 per stock to ~$10. If they do not align to what people are expecting "smart functionality" they are not going to be able to sell more.
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Now I understand why Sonos' stock went down from ~$20 per stock to ~$10. If they do not align to what people are expecting "smart functionality" they are not going to be able to sell more.

There are many reasons that Share prices fluctuate but as Sonos reported higher earnings than analysts were expecting, lack of sales is not relevant in this instance. (16% of the reduction was when the CFO announced his retirement...)

I understand your frustration but I have never seen a definitive list of functionality to be included within the initial release and I expect the level of integration to follow a similar path as the Alexa integration did - with a steady increase in functionality and integration over time.
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So disappointed with the limited GA integration by Sonos, espically after nearly 2 years of work on this launch. I have advertised my Sonos Play 5 for sale. As soon as it goes it's Google Home Max for me.
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So disappointed with the limited GA integration by Sonos, espically after nearly 2 years of work on this launch. I have advertised my Sonos Play 5 for sale. As soon as it goes it's Google Home Max for me.
Strange decision as the GA integration hasn't been released in the UK yet and the Sonos development approach is always to release functionality over a number of releases rather than incorporating it all in one big release but good luck with your choice.
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I don't think there will be any major development before the UK launch. I may be wrong and regret my decision, but I feel Sonos will always be playing catch-up with Google and their development of Google Assistant.

Just decided I wanted the option of Full Google Assistant and Chromecast. Shame as I really loved my Sonos speakers. After sale of Play 5, I will then sell the Play 1 & Play 3.
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It will be very nice to have some information from Sonos about their roadmap with regards to further GA implementation. All I hear above is speculation (assuming it will be similar to Alexa, etc.) and it is not clear at all that this functionality (chromcast functionality) will ever happen. The wait will be easier if I know it is something they are actually working on. Sonos speakers are not cheap and as paying consumers I think Sonos should treat us with respect, especially given that GA support was promised when I bought the speaker (yes, no specific functionality was promised but it was easy to assume that it will have the same basic functionality as other google-supported network speakers).
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If a year ago Sonos were honest and said - we will have GA support but it is going to be limited, I probably wouldn't have spent the money on a Sonos speaker
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I don't think that Sonos will ever support all GA or Alexa functionality, their stated goal is to support commands that enable the control of music.
As the people above, I am similarly disappointed from the Google Assistant integration into the Sonos ecosystem, especially after waiting for so long. I think it is crucial requirement that users will be able to:

  1. Group Sonos speaker with other speakers for multiroom playback (not necessarily with Sonos in all rooms)


I was not surprised by this at all. While I get that there are 3rd party speakers that can play in sync with Google speakers (the same with Alexa) there are not any multiroom systems that play in sync. While I understand why some could care less about Sonos multiroom functionality, or any feature that isn't related to Google home for that matter as they just wanted a better sounding speaker, that's not what Sonos is.

Whether it's Sonos decision or Google's decision, I can't say for sure. I believe Sonos wants to remain a multiroom system company, not a simple smart speaker company, so it makes sense to see Sonos in favor of this move. However, they do support airplay, which doesn't completely fit with the closed system model.


  1. Set Sonos speaker as a default music speaker


Yea, this is disappointing. Sonos is definitely aware that this is desired by customers. With Alexa, it seems like the delay in bringing this was waiting on Amazon to implement the Alexa groups on their side. It does make more sense for the functional be on the assistant side. With Google, it seems like the functionality already exists. I still think it would be Google that needs to apply the default setting in their logic, but I'm surprised this wasn't done. Perhaps it will come much sooner than it did with Alexa.

  1. Cast from Google Assistant/Google Home to a Sonos speaker from within apps (i.e. for the Sonos speaker to show up as one of the casting destinations).


As I've not used Google's casting very much, I don't know what to make of this. It seems like Google's casting strategy is evolving, so perhaps it's being delayed for that reason. Perhaps it has something to do with casting for youtube requiring video capabilities on it's casting destinations. Perhaps, Sonos didn't want it for whatever reason, or Google is requiring a license fee that Sonos doesn't like. Perhaps it's coming after further development.

Essentially, all this functionality would be possible if Sonos implemented Chromcast into the system. For me, it is not so important to use the Sonos speaker itself as a Google Assistant/Home device - I have google Home devices for that. I just want to use Sonos as a network speaker (I only have Sonos Play:5)


Yea, that's the thing. Sonos isn't just a wifi speaker, it's an entire integrated system. In a way, saying that Sonos is poor since they don't do the things you want from an essentially 'dumb' smart speaker, is ignoring all the things that Sonos is. I'm not at all saying that you're wrong for wanting the features you want or being disappointed. I'm not. I'm not even saying that your assumptions on functionality were poor. Maybe Sonos could have done a better job of expectations, though I'm not exactly sure how that would be done in a positive manner.

Basically it comes down to whether you were looking to buy Sonos with a google assistant, or a google assistant with the Sonos brand on it.

Personally, I'm hopeful that having the integration of both Google and Alexa is going to create some competition that will drive more features in the future on the Sonos platform. In that regard, I'm disappointed that the Google integration isn't starting off at the current level of Alexa integration, and has some catching up to do before competition can really be effective.


Can anyone comment (I am hoping for an official Sonos response) if those functionalities will be coming to Sonos in the near future? It will be nice to know because if it is not coming soon I think it will be time to sell my Sonos and invest in other solutions.


Based on past experience, Sonos doesn't like to give out this kind of information until firm dates are set. Obviously, they want to avoid customer disappointment from missed dates, as was the case with this integration. Everything I've seen from Sonos staff on this subject so far has been no commitments on future releases or what will be in those releases.

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