At WWDC’21 Apple announced opening up Siri to third party hardware, are there plans to integrate this and make it an option for voice assistant just like Alexa and Google Assistant?
Best answer by James L.
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Userlevel 2
I've given up hope. I've had an incredible experience since getting my second HomePod Mini, so my Sonos gear is being sold.
The purchases of the beam, the roam pair, and the arc are officially off the table
Really disappointing that apparently nothing has moved in the direction of Siri integration in the past year. I'm curious to see what awaits us at WWDC22.
Userlevel 2
Although I understand Sonos’ position that Apple is being “anticompetitive” by requiring a HomePod mini (a competitive product) to act as as hub as opposed to the AppleTV, by not officially promising Siri support they are putting many of their customers who are heavy into the Apple ecosystem in a difficult position.
Now, what about Sonos. Well, since the majority of the microphones in my house are Sonos speakers, I’m stuck still using Alexa. For my small single room Play 1 speakers which don’t have microphones I will end up seriously considering selling them and buying HomePod minis instead since I don’t know whether Sonos will ever support Siri in the Sonos One speakers.
It is in this case where I think that Sonos’ principals get in the way and will actually result in more HomePod minis being bought instead of Sonos products.
Yep. Though Apple isn't exactly doing themselves any favors by not releasing a homepod or Beats branded larger speaker and soundbar. Which is why my One/One SL and Symfonisk sets are on the storage shelf instead of on eBay. That and most colors of the Mini have been out sold out for months
Userlevel 2
Sonos is on the CSA Matter list right now :)
so there might be the possibility to control matter compatible devices (also homekit). also with a sonos voice assistant
Controlling Matter devices is not the issue. Full Apple Ecosystem support and privacy are. Sonos voice assistant IS the issue there.
Sonos is on the CSA Matter list right now :)
so there might be the possibility to control matter compatible devices (also homekit). also with a sonos voice assistant
Be careful, HomePods are generally considered a big flop, and Apple tends to hide their flops behind the Jobsian RDF, in other words they yank them from production and erase them from history.
Userlevel 1
Although I understand Sonos’ position that Apple is being “anticompetitive” by requiring a HomePod mini (a competitive product) to act as as hub as opposed to the AppleTV, by not officially promising Siri support they are putting many of their customers who are heavy into the Apple ecosystem in a difficult position.
I have 16 Sonos products in my home although they do not all have microphones. I currently use Alexa for both controlling music and for standard Alexa functionality such as shopping lists, timers, general questions, etc. I personally want to stop using Alexa altogether and switch to Siri simply because I feel more comfortable with how my personal data will be handled by Apple rather than Amazon. I also want to take advantage of Apple’s Intercom functionality which also requires a HomePod as a hub.
Long story short(er), I’ve ordered a single HomePod mini to primarily act as this hub. I will therefore be able to use Intercom and switch my Ecobees to Siri (instead of Alexa).
Now, what about Sonos. Well, since the majority of the microphones in my house are Sonos speakers, I’m stuck still using Alexa. For my small single room Play 1 speakers which don’t have microphones I will end up seriously considering selling them and buying HomePod minis instead since I don’t know whether Sonos will ever support Siri in the Sonos One speakers.
It is in this case where I think that Sonos’ principals get in the way and will actually result in more HomePod minis being bought instead of Sonos products.
It’s very often the case that Sonos do not announce their development roadmap. It would probably be far more of an issue for complaint if Sonos announced that they intended to deliver Siri on Sonos and then discovered they could not make it work on their hardware, or Apple decided they were suddenly going to delay the Siri rollout on 3rd-Party devices, like Sonos, due to impact on the Apple servers etc. (just as examples).
So I can see why no information would ‘likely’ be forthcoming from either company until the service had at least been fully implemented/tested and was ready to roll-out.
Hi
We don’t have anything to announce at the moment regarding native support for Siri on Sonos, but I’ll be sure to pass your request on to our development team for consideration. It might also be worth letting Apple know that you’d like to see Siri on Sonos products, since it’s ultimately their decision as to where their service is available. 
Just make it happen. I already have an apple speaker so you aren’t losing a sale. I’m getting frustrated with Sonos being stubborn
At WWDC’21 Apple announced opening up Siri to third party hardware, are there plans to integrate this and make it an option for voice assistant just like Alexa and Google Assistant?
I really hope Sonos is able to suck it up and integrate Siri through HomePod. It’s very likely that if you want Siri you already have a HomePod in your house. Just click and drag the code over and allow Siri to work.
I’d rather have on device processing take care of the requests I make instead of sending it online or to an untrusted server somewhere.
I honestly expected the best apple speaker platform to accept and integrate better.
Userlevel 2
I think we’re pretty much already at the frustrated and blame Sonos part with them saying nothing. Look, I’m not going to use to Alexa or Sonos’s own future assistant, period. Siri is the one that works with my system.
If Sonos chooses to play by the rules Apple has set, I’m prepared to continue to make significant investments in Sonos products in the form of a Beam and an Arc. As it stands, I can’t risk spending that much money and something that may or may not fit my needs. All we’re asking here is to not be kept in limbo here. If its something that will take Sonos time to implement, I’m willing to wait. if they’ve already written the idea off and decided they will not agree to Apple’s terms, it’s time to look at other options. The status quo is causing frustration and costing Sonos potential sales.
Just bought my first HomePod mini for siri… have bought 20+ SONOS devices over the years, some of the older stuff is getting flaky. Wondering if I’ll be replacing it with more sonos or finding something different with Siri integration.
SONOS, can you comment on if Siri integration is something you will be delivering or not?
Sonos has stated twice in this thread that they have nothing they can share at this time. Should they make the same statement once a month, or perhaps silence should be taken to mean that nothing has changed?
Sonos rarely comments about new products and features until they can provide a hard release date. There have been exceptions, like with Alexa and Google assistant, but that was definitely after contracts were signed. And with Google, they got burned on it as there were delays and they were not able to release when the originally planned. Customers were disappointed and assumed it was Sonos fault, without any evidence. It would have been better if they had said nothing. So I would see there is a chance Sonos will provide info well in advance, if the integration doesn’t look too complicated and they think an announcement will positively impact sales, then maybe.
I do wonder if perhaps Sonos is taking a wait and see attitude on this. It’s not like Apple’s plan has been wildly adopted, and Sonos is losing out to competitors the longer they wait. Sonos could win some customers sure, but it could be a waste of time if the integration program gets dropped by Apple due to lack of use, or perhaps modified where you no longer need a homepod.
Just bought my first HomePod mini for siri… have bought 20+ SONOS devices over the years, some of the older stuff is getting flaky. Wondering if I’ll be replacing it with more sonos or finding something different with Siri integration.
SONOS, can you comment on if Siri integration is something you will be delivering or not?
An update does not require a promise, nor any progress.
It doesn’t?
Can someone at Sonos update us as to where they are at on adding Siri support to Sonos
Could’ve fooled me.
Userlevel 1
An update does not require a promise, nor any progress.
Can someone at Sonos update us as to where they are at on adding Siri support to Sonos products (with the required HomePod Mini on the network)
Has Sonos promised anything of this sort which would lead you to ask for a progress report (which Sonos never gives, by the way)?
Userlevel 1
If I had to guess, I would figure that customers in the Apple ecosystem represent the largest share of Sonos users. That’s why it boggles my mind how slow Sonos is to respond to Apple-related feature requests.
I own a few HomePod Minis for Siri voice control and home automation (and 6 Sonos speakers), but if Sonos is worried that their customers are going to be lured over to using a bunch of HomePod Minis over then they clearly don’t understand their customers, or their product. I love Sonos but having a HomePod Mini in my network to integrate Siri is a no brainer.
Can someone at Sonos update us as to where they are at on adding Siri support to Sonos products (with the required HomePod Mini on the network)
related: where is the Apple Watch app? It has been like 5 years.
Well I did and I found nothing new => so I’m asking sonos “directly” for a new status. ;)
PS. BTW in future, if you want to direct your question to Sonos directly (and not to the community), indicate that on your question (i.e. Can someone at Sonos let me know the status of this?).
that was my intention. thanks :)
Well I did and I found nothing new => so I’m asking sonos “directly” for a new status. ;)
They don’t really respond “directly” to questions such as this, at least from the posts I’ve read. At most, you might read a news article rumouring about the feature launch a month or two before it’s released. But when they’re working on trying to integrate a feature from another company (like Apple), you usually won’t hear much.
PS. BTW in future, if you want to direct your question to Sonos directly (and not to the community), indicate that on your question (i.e. Can someone at Sonos let me know the status of this?).
Any news regarding this topic? Would be a nice christmas present :)
thanks and br
If you do a search on Google, there hasn’t been any new news articles on the subject since June. The only thing I’ve found is one home smart thermostat by ecobee that is the first third party device to support Siri integration. Here’s what’s quoted in the fine print for it below.
Well I did and I found nothing new => so I’m asking sonos “directly” for a new status. ;)
Again this is really frustrating that Sonos would have to tell their customers to buy a competitors smart speaker to get Siri integration with their own speaker. This is Apple not playing nice in my opinion, as an Apple TV is a viable home hub, so why not make that compatible for Siri integration?
To be honest for me as a customer it would be more frustrating knowing that there is technically a possible solution to integrate siri on sonos but it is not integrated due to some reasons.
And thinking about the money I spend in sonos (4 sonos one, one roam, 2 beam) I don’t really care if I would have to buy one homepod mini for the siri feature if I really want it. (for the trueplay setup you also need an iphone at the moment e.g.) otherwise there is still alexa or google, so you don’t have to buy one.
I totally get your point but honestly speaking I don’t really care from the customer point of view.
I would be happy if the feature would be technically provided in the future :)
Edit:
as an Apple TV is a viable home hub, so why not make that compatible for Siri integration?
I would be also fine with that.
Any news regarding this topic? Would be a nice christmas present :)
thanks and br
If you do a search on Google, there hasn’t been any new news articles on the subject since June. The only thing I’ve found is one home smart thermostat by ecobee that is the first third party device to support Siri integration. Here’s what’s quoted in the fine print for it below.
Compatible Apple home hub required to enable Siri on SmartThermostat with voice control. Apple HomePod and HomePod mini are compatible home hubs. All Siri capabilities are available on the thermostat except voice calling.
It’s interesting because it just says it needs a “compatible Apple home hub” to enable Siri and then provides HomePod and HomePod Mini as examples. Again what about an Apple TV which can be used as a home hub as well? Is it considered “compatible”? No idea.
UPDATE: I sent in a support request to ecobee to find out if an Apple TV can be used instead. Immediately after doing so though, I found the following info on their site about setting us Siri for their device. It says the HomePod and HomePod Mini are the “only compatible hub devices” you can use.
Make sure you are compatible. Siri requires a SmartThermostat with voice control and a compatible Apple hub device. The Apple HomePod and HomePod mini are the only compatible hub devices.
Again this is really frustrating that Sonos would have to tell their customers to buy a competitors smart speaker to get Siri integration with their own speaker. This is Apple not playing nice in my opinion, as an Apple TV is a viable home hub, so why not make that compatible for Siri integration?
Any news regarding this topic? Would be a nice christmas present :)
thanks and br
Confused by some people’s reaction to this post. Without a doubt, Sonos is interested in Siri integration. This is a no brainer. They’ve stated before that they want to support multiple voice assistants, even multiple ones at the same time (which Google is preventing).
The frustration that Sonos is having though is how this integration will need to be implemented using a competitor’s speaker product as a dependency, rather than just on the Sonos speaker itself.
As a less competitive secondary option though (as others have noted), Apple TV has Siri & Home hub integration, yet for some reason it can’t be used for this third party Siri integration either. I’d really like to hear from an Apple exec as to why not and what specifically does a HomePod uniquely have that makes it the only option for making this possible?
For myself, I want this integration as well but find it frustrating that I’d have to buy a HomePod Mini when I have a perfectly good Apple TV 4K already with Home hub and built-in Siri support.
Hi
I’m afraid not - I’ve nothing to share at present.
Userlevel 7
+18
Hi
I’m afraid not - I’ve nothing to share at present.
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