Hey Sonos, hear me out... (this will never work but, let's try it anyway). To regain trust from your customers after the App redesign, you could decide to open up your systems to OpenHome and allow users to add their custom voice assistant with home assistant. This would be huge, there is a big community of makers and your devices are great and will easily be adopted as main voice assistant devices. If you compare the quality of a Sonos Era or One SL to the voice assistant preview from home assistant... it's like night and day. Let us add a custom voice assistant via API to our devices, people don't care much anymore about Google Home or Alexa. Let us have privacy and customization.
Sincerely, one happy customer that would love this feature.
thanks for your reply. Yes I know you also have a voice assistant, which is great. But being able to control your home and add custom llm integration and so on would be amazing. Again, there are alternatives but I think that your hardware is way better to anything else. Having this feature would be the perfect cherry on top of the cake :)
@Lukefx this guy is literally reading my mind and writing my thoughts down.
@Sotiris C. As stated earlier by Lukefx, even though the Sonos Voice Control is a nice assistant, it is relatively limited. Nowadays a lot of people have home automation. Being able to interact with it via the Sonos Microphone would be a very nice feature, since many of us have Sonos speakers throughout our homes.
Let's hope Sonos hears the voice of the users.
I would be in favor of Sonos allowing home assistant voice integration on Sonos speakers, but unfortunately, I don’t think the market is big enough to really warrant the development effort.
Perhaps you might get more HA/Sonos users if the integration is created, or perhaps a more generic API of sorts would work for other 3rd party voice assistants as well. It still seems like it would be a lot of cost and dev time on Sonos part for a relatively small set of consumers.
ciao @melvimbe,
I think Sonos could benefit tremendously from deeper Home Assistant integration.
Looking at the numbers, Home Assistant has already reached 2 million users (according to their April 2025 State of the Open Home report), and that community is only growing. This represents a substantial untapped market of tech-savvy homeowners who prioritize privacy and local control.
Consider this opportunity: if Sonos were to integrate natively with Home Assistant's local ecosystem, how many of these 2 million users might purchase Sonos products? And since voice assistants naturally fit in multiple rooms, each converted user likely means multiple device sales.
The technical lift might be lighter than you'd expect too! Home Assistant's Wyoming protocol for voice processing is surprisingly lightweight and runs efficiently on ESP32 chips. Since Sonos devices already handle wake word detection and audio streaming for Alexa and Google, adapting to Wyoming would leverage much of existing hardware.
It seems like a win-win that aligns with both privacy-conscious consumers and Sonos's premium positioning.
I stopped buying and recommending Sonos because of two reasons:
no open API’s (thinking of the mess with the S1 Controller) and thus deprecating perfectly fine speakers
this exact reason (no custom voice endpoint).
If Sonos would become open in regards of API, I could recommend them again and keep all my great speakers.
If HomeAssistant continues with it smart speaker and improves audio quality and hardware on it’s own speaker - bye bye Sonos!
If Sonos would become open in regards of API, I could recommend them again and keep all my great speakers.
If HomeAssistant continues with it smart speaker and improves audio quality and hardware on it’s own speaker - bye bye Sonos!
I’m guessing Ronald is referring more to APIs allowing people to customize what SVC can do, or perhaps send voice commands to a smart home controller for further processing. As the OP stated, allow users to install their own 3rd party voice assistant. Sonos absolutely allows other devices and control systems to control Sonos speakers, and Home Assistant already does this, but it does not allow you to expand the features of Sonos via any customizations.
As I stated before, I would love to see an integration with HA, or a more generic API that HA could use, but I am doubtful the market is there to justify it.
but I am doubtful the market is there to justify it.
Google Assistant 36% Apple’s Siri 36% Amazon Alexa 25% Microsoft Cortana 19% Other 1%
And that’s not specific to using voice to control smart home, or assistance on smart device. I seriously doubt 19% of the market is using Cortana to control their smart home.
I still think the fact that the number of Home Assistant users with Sonos Integrations at 60k, means the market is too small. Heck there is only around 500k installations of Home Assistant in total.
We have Home Assistant at home, and we are in the market to BUY an audio system to use throughout all rooms of the house.
Sonos products would be interesting, BUT somehow its microphones only connects over the internet to voice assistants that are run by big anti-privacy companies such as Google and Amazon. We in EUROPE do not appreciate this.
In contrast Home Assistant actually is a device at home, and does all processing at home. It can respond to voice commands and close my shutters, but it can do way more.
Anyway, all Sonos should do is get in contact with Nabu Casa Inc (the business behind Home Assistant) to learn about this opportunity.
At the very least, Sonos can easily provide an official plugin to the system for audio sync, or microphone wakewords. Other vendors have official plugins, and it drives sales just like these Google/Amazon integrations you made before.
Thank you, a future customer.
And this is why you do not rely on easily gamed forum polls for your market research.
Dear Spotify,
Spotify?
We have Home Assistant at home, and we are in the market to BUY an audio system to use throughout all rooms of the house.
Sonos products would be interesting, BUT somehow its microphones only connects over the internet to voice assistants that are run by big anti-privacy companies such as Google and Amazon. We in EUROPE do not appreciate this.
Incorrect. Sonos also has it own built in Voice Control system that does not connect over the internet. It is there to control Sonos devices only though, not any other third party smart home devices.
In contrast Home Assistant actually is a device at home, and does all processing at home. It can respond to voice commands and close my shutters, but it can do way more.
You can control Sonos via HA. I do it all the time with my setup. I don’t know if the HA voice assistant accepts commands to control Sonos, as I have not installed the HA voice assistant, but that would be on Sonos to develop that feature. However, it sounds more like you are wanting Sonos to process smart control commands to send to HA.
At the very least, Sonos can easily provide an official plugin to the system for audio sync, or microphone wakewords. Other vendors have official plugins, and it drives sales just like these Google/Amazon integrations you made before.
I’m not sure what you’re asking for here. You want Sonos to be able to sync audio with other systems? What does that have to do with wake words? What other vendors are you suggesting have the plugins Sonos should have?
Hmmm. “We in EUROPE do not appreciate this.” May I speak for myself as a European, please? I’ve been using Google Assistant since it was released on Sonos. No need for anything else.
Ofcourse this is addressed to Sonos. It is undeniable that Europeans are avoiding big anti-privacy companies such as Google and Amazon where possible. And this feature request is to make it possible to buy Sonos. Weird how you would oppose that.
Anyway this questions is just a courtesty. Regardless since there is demand companies are already developing and rolling out products as we speak, full featured even with field mics and all. The current products already sport renowed amplifiers, plug and plus, but some are even are open source and allow custom 3d printable enclosures. The proof pudding is out. Sonos is close but apparently is not aware yet on their radar.
So its more a question of missing the boat on sales when voice Home Assistent hits mainstream. Its already working wonders for the early adaptors.
Incorrect. Sonos also has it own built in Voice Control system that does not connect over the internet. It is there to control Sonos devices only though, not any other third party smart home devices.
The Sonos assistant does not allow me to play media from Plex, or have my curtains closed, or warm me when it is about to rain, or allow integration with OpenAI.
In contrast Home Assistant actually is a device at home, and does all processing at home. It can respond to voice commands and close my shutters, but it can do way more.
You can control Sonos via HA. I do it all the time with my setup. I don’t know if the HA voice assistant accepts commands to control Sonos, as I have not installed the HA voice assistant, but that would be on Sonos to develop that feature. However, it sounds more like you are wanting Sonos to process smart control commands to send to HA.
This is the other way around. It is impossible to use the Sonos microphone to control HA, without my homes audio recordings being sent to the Internet (Sonos, Google, Amazon, or other big tech companies that want to profit on my data). There is no need for this round-trip of my data. HA can directly use the microphone and process all data at home, if they would allow to select my HA device (or Nabu Casa) as an end-point for this data, just as they added support for Google and Amazon.
I’m not sure what you’re asking for here. You want Sonos to be able to sync audio with other systems? What does that have to do with wake words? What other vendors are you suggesting have the plugins Sonos should have?
I understand the request here may be confusing. Lots of people are used to only familiar with the eco system as marketed by the big-tech.
The request is not about audio sync, or having HA control Sonos. Its the other way around.
The request is to to allow HA (Home Assistant, which is a device people have at home) to utilizes the Spotify microphone. This is possible by allowing Sonos to directly stream the microphone to a HA device, and optionally even allow the wakeword to be processed on-device. Both are implemented just like Google and Amazon, it just requires a different network destination basically. A simple support feature that Sonos -if willing- is easily capable of adding besides the current supported big-tech options.
Ofcourse this is addressed to Sonos. It is undeniable that Europeans are avoiding big anti-privacy companies such as Google and Amazon where possible. And this feature request is to make it possible to buy Sonos. Weird how you would oppose that.
I am not opposing a deeper Sonos/HA integration. I’m just pointing out that the market for this feature looks rather small, and the cost of development and support on the Sonos side is unlikely to result in enough additional product sales to turn a profit.
Incorrect. Sonos also has it own built in Voice Control system that does not connect over the internet. It is there to control Sonos devices only though, not any other third party smart home devices.
The Sonos assistant does not allow me to play media from Plex, or have my curtains closed, or warm me when it is about to rain, or allow integration with OpenAI.
Nope, it does not do those things. Well, you can play media from Plex if the source is already queued up (resume playback) or in your favorites, but that’s not the full integration you’re looking for. And Sonos can tell you the weather if you ask, yes, but it does alrt you if the weather.
In contrast Home Assistant actually is a device at home, and does all processing at home. It can respond to voice commands and close my shutters, but it can do way more.
You can control Sonos via HA. I do it all the time with my setup. I don’t know if the HA voice assistant accepts commands to control Sonos, as I have not installed the HA voice assistant, but that would be on Sonos to develop that feature. However, it sounds more like you are wanting Sonos to process smart control commands to send to HA.
This is the other way around. It is impossible to use the Sonos microphone to control HA, without my homes audio recordings being sent to the Internet (Sonos, Google, Amazon, or other big tech companies that want to profit on my data). There is no need for this round-trip of my data. HA can directly use the microphone and process all data at home, if they would allow to select my HA device (or Nabu Casa) as an end-point for this data, just as they added support for Google and Amazon.
As I stated, I understand how you’re want Sonos to integrate with HA. Sonos integrated with Google and Amazon because there is a large market looking for this feature. The cost of the development and maintenance of the integration was worth it. While Sonos has their own SVC product, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that it has not brought in the product sales to justify the cost. The size of the market for the type of the integration you’re looking for with HA is the big problem.
I’m not sure what you’re asking for here. You want Sonos to be able to sync audio with other systems? What does that have to do with wake words? What other vendors are you suggesting have the plugins Sonos should have?
I understand the request here may be confusing. Lots of people are used to only familiar with the eco system as marketed by the big-tech.
The request is not about audio sync, or having HA control Sonos. Its the other way around.
You specifically stated that you wanted ‘audio sync’ in an earlier post. I asked for clarification on what you asking for. I also still would like to know what other vendors are providing the features you’re looking for. Seriously, if it exists, I may be interested in trying out their product. I use SVC for music control, and Alexa devices for smart home control and general information. I would ditch Alexa if there was a good voice control option that is 100% local.
The market looks small when you look at an existing customer base, not a potential one.
Ended up here from a reddit thread… looking for good quality speakers that speak direct to Home Assistant, got the s**** with Alexa and Google years ago. Happy rolling my own with an ESP32 but the wife acceptance factor is low. Hopefully someone realises there’s a market
The market looks small when you look at an existing customer base, not a potential one.
What makes you think the HA/Sonos market is going to get a lot bigger in the near future? Increased Matter adoption? AI? Increased consumer concern for privacy? Maybe HA is about to launch a big marketing campaign?
If you need to ask, you probably are not aware of the huge eco system that it already is.
Point is not a discussion about HA, that to me is off topic here. If you want to discover what it can do or how mature and popular it already is use youtube - or their website - or its community. The question is about Sonos allowing HA as just another voice assistent. The USP for HA is, it's free to run at home and works with an ever growing list of brands of devices.
I want to link (and make findable) the same request as a comment on Tom Conrads' thank you. Maybe they explain it better than me. :)
If you need to ask, you probably are not aware of the huge eco system that it already is.
Point is not a discussion about HA, that to me is off topic here. If you want to discover what it can do or how mature and popular it already is use youtube - or their website - or its community. The question is about Sonos allowing HA as just another voice assistent. The USP for HA is, it's free to run at home and works with an ever growing list of brands of devices.
The subject of the thread is ‘Home Assistant Voice’, I am not sure a discussion about HA is off topic.
As far as discovering how popular HA is, I literally posted a screenshot of stats from the HA website with that show the total number of HA users and how many of them currently have Sonos integrations. I have a hard time believing that 60k customers is enough to warrant such an integration. If all .5 Million users suddenly decided to buy Sonos due to a voice integration (which isn’t going to happen) then perhaps it might be worth the integration. If a Sonos integration suddenly compels a significant number of people to buy both HA and Sonos (which isn’t going to happen) then sure, it would be worth it.
To repeat what I already said, I use HA personally, and do have some automations in place controlling Sonos it works well. I personally would love if you could use Sonos speakers to control HA automations by voice. I just don’t think it’s going to happen anytime soon.
I’m just going to Necro this thread and just say I would love love LOVE to have Home Assistant integrated with Sonos so I could use my own self hosted voice assistant.
