Hi Sonos Community,
Does anyone know how to use apple home kit's automation feature for a Sonos Beam. I'd like to be to create an automation that play music at a certain time, or turn off the Apple TV at a certain time.
My Sonos Beam is listed in the home automation but I can't do anything with it. The speaker icon stays greyed out.
Any links to articles or videos regarding this topic are greatly appreciated.
Luis
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Let me first of all say I have installed iOS 12.1 beta 2 on my iPad Air as that may be important here.
I have added the Sonos Beam as an Accessory in HomeKit, which I did a while back, which is located in my Front Room.
If I go to the Automation Tab and select to add an automation I see screenshot 1 (attached).
If I choose and follow any of the five listed 'triggers' in the list , whether that is 'Peope Arrive' or 'An Accessory is Controlled' etc... none of the pages that follow, ever show my Sonos Speakers despite them being an accessory in one of my HomeKit Rooms.
So my thoughts are they are not supposed to currently work in the automation screens, er... at the moment, at least ...and perhaps what you maybe seeing is something that has now being fixed in the latest iOS beta software.
Those are my initial thoughts here.
I have added the Sonos Beam as an Accessory in HomeKit, which I did a while back, which is located in my Front Room.
If I go to the Automation Tab and select to add an automation I see screenshot 1 (attached).
If I choose and follow any of the five listed 'triggers' in the list , whether that is 'Peope Arrive' or 'An Accessory is Controlled' etc... none of the pages that follow, ever show my Sonos Speakers despite them being an accessory in one of my HomeKit Rooms.
So my thoughts are they are not supposed to currently work in the automation screens, er... at the moment, at least ...and perhaps what you maybe seeing is something that has now being fixed in the latest iOS beta software.
Those are my initial thoughts here.
As you can perhaps see in the attached further screenshot, my Sonos Beam (called 'Dining Room') ... is not showing on the final screen of the Automation Wizards beneath the 'Front Room' Accessories section. The iOS 12.1 beta has hidden the Sonos accessories. Only the Philips Hue Lights and Home Sensors are now showing. No Sonos devices anywhere and I have several, in different rooms, registered in my HomeKit App.
@ken_griffiths, I'm going contact Apple Support to have some more help. I'll post the solution or Apple reply in this thread.
Did you get any results with this? It’s frustrating as I have the Sonos beam showing as an accessory in HomeKit but can’t create a scene because it doesn’t show up in the list but my LIFX bulbs do. This is especially frustrating as I have been playing with iOS Shortcuts which is amazing and could do so much with it. I don’t have a hub though (only 3rd gen Apple TV and only 4th generation and newer works) so can’t create ‘automation’ but should be able to create a ‘scene’
Ken_Griffiths wrote:
As you can perhaps see in the attached further screenshot, my Sonos Beam (called 'Dining Room') ... is not showing on the final screen of the Automation Wizards beneath the 'Front Room' Accessories section. The iOS 12.1 beta has hidden the Sonos accessories. Only the Philips Hue Lights and Home Sensors are now showing. No Sonos devices anywhere and I have several, in different rooms, registered in my HomeKit App.
Exact same problem here - I’m thinking it could be Homekit as I can’t trigger a HomePod to play music using Homekit automation either. Supposedly you can do this with Apple Shortcuts - I’ll investigate further. I think we are all looking for the same capability which is reasonable to expect and makes no sense that it can’t be done without having to go to some other proprietary solution that will be here today and gone tomorrow.
Nope it’s still the same. HomeKit Automation for Sonos is not supported.
Definitely missing aforementioned HomeKit functionality! Seems to be in Apple's court. I’d rather not farm out functionality to IFTTT or Amazon...
+1 upvote for this. Would be great if we could get a "stop playing" (since the Sonos speakers don't have real "on/off" stage), e.g. when leaving home, locking the front door or activating a "good night" scenario etc :)
Or maybe even start playing [playlist] when coming home (certain days/hours).
Or maybe even start playing [playlist] when coming home (certain days/hours).
Expecting iOS 13 to provide this capability for HomePods and expect/hope that will include AirPlay 2 enabled Sonos speakers such as the Beam.
This could be solved if Apple bought Sonos. HomePod is too expensive.
Very happy with Sonos otherwise.
Very happy with Sonos otherwise.
This would be so helpful. I every now and then come home and in one of my rooms a Sonos is still playing. It would be perfect to be able to integrate them into my geofencing automation in HomeKit.
Looking for some guidance with regard to HomeKit and Sonos Beam…….
I’m having similar issues, recently purchased the Beam in order to achieve airplay / hub support for the rest of my older Sonos system. I can find my beam in HomeKit but it is greyed out and there is no functionality. I’m able to play music from pandora on the Beam as a speaker but when I attempt to select AirPlay from the same menu, it fails. See pics below…
Troubleshooting thus far based on info I’ve found from the web: reset network, factory reset of Beam, uninstall and reinstall of HomeKit application, verified both are operating on same wifi network, deselected “group non-airplay speakers” in the Sonos app.
To use automations you need to have one of the mentioned devices ( Atv4, Homepod ore iPad).
A AirPlay compatible Sonos isn’t able to act as a hub for HomeKit.
The only benefit we get with the recent iOS 13.2 update is to play pause skip and volume control on speakers where something is playing over airplay. When you play something out of the Sonos app the controls are greyed out.
when you play music at, in your case master bedroom, via AirPlay you only get the controls in HomeKit for master bedroom. You seem to have selected a airplay device called speaker.
Thanks for the prompt reply! I was under the impression that the new Sonos AirPlay enabled speakers acted as a hub… I guess this isn’t the case based on your feedback and what I’m seeing in the HomeKit.
They can only provide a airplay source to your none airplay speakers. Therefore you have to group them in the sonos app. In your case you would group for example a play:1 with your beam. The beam would stream the airplay content to the play:1. they then both will play the content.
As others have mentioned you need a home hub for automations. For HomeKit, the smaller ATV is the most inexpensive option. With the release of iOS 13.2.1, you can automate music to Airplay 2 enabled speakers including HomePod and Sonos. Sonos was supported before Home Pods !
There are still some limitations hopefully Apple addresses in the near future :
- Automations cannot stream different audio to different devices. You can select multiple devices but you cannot have automation stream this to Speaker A and that to Speaker B. One stream for all devices per automation.
- You can only select media from Apple Music or from your Apple Music Library - there are options to play, pause adjust volume etc. No TuneIn etc.
- You can select an Apple TV in an automation but it can only stream audio. You cannot set it to start playing a movie etc.
Hope this is of help.
I have some AirPlay 2/HomeKit-enabled Sonos devices on my network, and some older Sonos devices (and an Apple TV 4 as a hub.) Is it possible to set up a HomeKit automation that automatically pauses any music when the last person leaves the house?
(I have the HomeKit-enabled Sonos devices added as “Accessories” in the Home app, but they don’t show up in the list of accessories when I try and create a “last person leaves” automation.)
Aha—I’m still on 12.4.1 because of all the 13.x horror stories. I’ll look again once I do the update.
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