Ability to Add Sonos Roam to Multiple Sonos WiFi Systems?


Userlevel 4

Is it possible to add a Sonos Roam to multiple Sonos WiFi systems?

I recently purchased a Roam and took it with me on a road trip. My in-laws have a Sonos system and I wanted to add my Roam to their system so I could get all of the benefits of using Roam over WiFi instead of Bluetooth. 

However, the only way I could get the Roam to connect to their system was to reset it to factory and set up the Roam as a new speaker in their Sonos system. When I came home I had to repeat the process by resetting to factory and adding it back to my Sonos system.

The feature I’d love to see is the ability to add a Roam to a second Sonos system over WiFi without having to remove it from an existing Sonos system. Ideally, after initial setup, the switch between Sonos systems would be done automatically based upon the connected WiFi network.


101 replies

How is this not the number one feature? It’s called ‘roam’. The PM on this one messed up big time. 

I feel like I was frauded and bought 2 roams to travel with and is just trash

Welcome to the forum. Please read the thread and engage brain.

The Roam can join and remember multiple WiFi networks. It only takes a one minute reset to enable it to move between Sonos systems and that is the cleanest way to do it.

The feature already exists.

Tomorrow a sonos event is supposed to happens.

It leaked today but it was kinda known that it’s supposed to be new Roam colours waouh.

 

Maybe, idk it would be nice to not give money top the marketing department but the software and hardware department ?

 

I’m pretty convinced 100% that tomorrow the Roam will still not be able to roam between my installation.

What a s****y name for a product, I'm moving from three different system every month, I have to spend 10 minute reseting each roam for the new system overtime I get in.

 

Stupid, please implement smart solution, stop just looking for money make something cool first.

Money after.

 

Same thing nobody wants Hey sonos, we probably all want you to finally put it Sir though.

 

Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.

@lifely . May I suggest you read the thread for reasons why this is as it is, and is best this way?

Tomorrow a sonos event is supposed to happens.

It leaked today but it was kinda known that it’s supposed to be new Roam colours waouh.

Maybe, idk it would be nice to not give money top the marketing department but the software and hardware department ?

I’m pretty convinced 100% that tomorrow the Roam will still not be able to roam between my installation.

What a shitty name for a product, I'm moving from three different system every month, I have to spend 10 minute reseting each roam for the new system overtime I get in.

The Wife and I each move our Roams, between ‘Home’, ‘Holiday Home’ WiFi and we take them with us whilst travelling around the UK - never had to reset them and they auto-switch between the various WiFi networks at the different locations. In fact are you aware that the Roam supports up-to 16 different WiFi connections/locations?

It’s perhaps how you are going about these things that is making it difficult for yourself - you simply need to carry the original Sonos ‘Household’ with you on a mobile device and then you only ever need to set things up once-only on the speaker at each different location (without doing a factory reset) and the Roam will happily auto-switch itself and immediately work when you next arrive at each destination.

The answers are all here on the forum, if you can just take the time to read them, instead of complaining about something you are misunderstanding about the Sonos ecosystem and how it actually works.

Userlevel 6
Badge +14

So @Ken_Griffiths , if I take my Move away on holiday next month, to a cottage, can I add that Wifi to my account and use the Move on Wifi there? I was assuming I would only be able to use it via bluetooth?

@SarahN . Like most people on this thread you are confusing using the Move on a different WiFi network with using it as part of a different Sonos system.

You can use it as a WiFi speaker on the other network. You would be using your own Sonos system and account. 

You cannot add a WiFi network to your account.  You can add it to your Move.

 

The answers are all here on the forum, if you can just take the time to read them, instead of complaining about something you are misunderstanding about the Sonos ecosystem and how it actually works.

Absolutely right, Ken. The confusion in the thread title between networks and systems is at the root of this,  and I think this thread sets new standards in muddled thinking and incomprehension.

@lifely 's post is just the latest for which that is true.

@John B 

 

I’ve indeed read this thread and been following since it was posted mostly :/

Thus my angry post of sonos still no providing a solution to my problem.

Using a Sonos Roam, to Roam between multiple Sonos systems.

 

@Ken_Griffiths 

 

I’m glad to know that the solution; to switch between wifi network on the same sonos system w/ a single account; works for you guys.

That you took the time to take a device from own home and merge two different home on the same sonos account, giving it access to multiple wifi.

 

That is one solution which I do not accept. I’m moving between different systems; I might move different country; I'm going to my parents where it’s my parents account that control the sonos; then I go back home which use my account; then to my friend house with their account.

 

Maybe next year I'll go to a friend abroad which also has a account, it would be nice to enter the home,

sonos detects the roams and offers it for nearby devices that can groups to already setup local speaker.

 

it’s no fully setup into the system it’s just ROAMING like the name of your device, where you literally have a whole ad campaign built upon.

 

Anyway, I'll still stick around and watch the confusion, the products are still greats that why there is multiple system and multiple homes.

 

I still wish I could talk to Siri though :p

@John B

 

I’ve indeed read this thread and been following since it was posted mostly :/

Thus my angry post of sonos still no providing a solution to my problem.

Using a Sonos Roam, to Roam between multiple Sonos systems.

 

@Ken_Griffiths

 

I’m glad to know that the solution; to switch between wifi network on the same sonos system w/ a single account; works for you guys.

That you took the time to take a device from own home and merge two different home on the same sonos account, giving it access to multiple wifi.

 

That is one solution which I do not accept. I’m moving between different systems; I might move different country; I'm going to my parents where it’s my parents account that control the sonos; then I go back home which use my account; then to my friend house with their account.

 

Maybe next year I'll go to a friend abroad which also has a account, it would be nice to enter the home,

sonos detects the roams and offers it for nearby devices that can groups to already setup local speaker.

 

it’s no fully setup into the system it’s just ROAMING like the name of your device, where you literally have a whole ad campaign built upon.

 

Anyway, I'll still stick around and watch the confusion, the products are still greats that why there is multiple system and multiple homes.

 

I still wish I could talk to Siri though :p

There’s no actual ‘need’ to add it to their HH - you can just use the Roam on your own HH on their WiFi signal. Of course you can use their HH too (in addition) for access to their speakers (that’s if you wish to do that). Just simply setup your controller to switch between the two HH’s - at least that way you still get to keep all your own music services, playlists and favourites etc; whilst visiting their Home.

I’m ‘politely’ sorry to say this, but I still think you are complaining here about something that you may not quite fully understand.

> There’s no actual ‘need’ to add it to their HH - you can just use the Roam on your own HH on > their WiFi signal. 

 

Thanks you for telling me what I should want, do, how I should live.

You might not need it, good for you. Still can you understand some people wanting this feature ?

 

> I’m ‘politely’ sorry to say this, but I still think you are complaining here about something that you may not quite fully understand.

 

I think it’s you that not quite understand people needs.

I wanna do what I wanna do NOT what you want me to do, that usually how the world works.

 

Yes dude, I want access to the whole system speaker, what a f*****g question, I don't care about just linking my stuff on the wifi, you don't get it.

 

I want to roam my roam between system, w/ all the feature that a sonos system include.

----- 

 

On more cases scenario for you if you still have struggle to understand. 

 

I’m throwing a big party this weekend, invited my friend, together we have like 5 sonos move / roam.

Some of them use the sonos move as their first / main speaker at home.

 

We’re all bringing the sonos to my house for the weekend, and we want to add them to the house which already have 10 sonos but none outside, so the news one would be fun to move around all weekend. 5 move lets party.

 

But wait, we have to reset them if we want them to use the same system, to group them, to use  single Spotify account that already register. 

 

Ah f**k, reseting them take a while, gotta do for each. 

What you reset my move ? but it’s the only one I have, now when I go home I have to reset everything because I just wanted to group it at my friends house. I lost all my configs.

 

Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.

The problems with this thread start with the title.  If only it made sense.  If only the OP had used either:

  1. Ability to connect Sonos Roam to multiple WiFi networks

OR

  1. Ability to add Sonos Roam to multiple Sonos systems

Instead, these two totally different concepts were conflated. 

The answer to 1 is ‘you can already do this”

The brief answer to 2 is:

“The concept of the Sonos system, with its unique identifier, is fundamental to Sonos’ design.  A system at any one time will comprise a particular set of speakers, playlists, favourites, settings, music services, voice services, music library, whether it is S1 or S2, firmware version number, and much more besides.  Moving a speaker between two different systems (without a reset) would have to somehow work out how to resolve any conflicts between these elements.  And then resolve them again when the speaker is moved back.

The reset allows the speaker that is being moved to adopt all the features of the system to which is now attached”.

The posters on this thread who claim this feature would be easy to implement, or should clearly have been included from outset, are merely demonstrating their lack of understanding of the Sonos system.  Factory resetting the speaker and adding it to the existing system each time takes about a minute and ensures no conflicts or inconsistencies.  So I would say the answer to question 2 is “You can already do this simply and quickly, and in a way that ensures that there are no unpredictable changes to any of your Sonos systems”.

 

@lifely . PLEASE read my earlier post, quoted here

The problems with this thread start with the title.  If only it made sense.  If only the OP had used either:

  1. Ability to connect Sonos Roam to multiple WiFi networks

OR

  1. Ability to add Sonos Roam to multiple Sonos systems

Instead, these two totally different concepts were conflated. 

The answer to 1 is ‘you can already do this”

The brief answer to 2 is:

“The concept of the Sonos system, with its unique identifier, is fundamental to Sonos’ design.  A system at any one time will comprise a particular set of speakers, playlists, favourites, settings, music services, voice services, music library, whether it is S1 or S2, firmware version number, and much more besides.  Moving a speaker between two different systems (without a reset) would have to somehow work out how to resolve any conflicts between these elements.  And then resolve them again when the speaker is moved back.

The reset allows the speaker that is being moved to adopt all the features of the system to which is now attached”.

The posters on this thread who claim this feature would be easy to implement, or should clearly have been included from outset, are merely demonstrating their lack of understanding of the Sonos system.  Factory resetting the speaker and adding it to the existing system each time takes about a minute and ensures no conflicts or inconsistencies.  So I would say the answer to question 2 is “You can already do this simply and quickly, and in a way that ensures that there are no unpredictable changes to any of your Sonos systems”.

 

@lifely . PLEASE read my earlier post and TRY to understand why putting two systems together without a reset of one goes against the fundamental structure of the Sonos system. This is not a missing feature.

So it is lucky that resetting and adding a speaker really takes less than 2 minutes.

 

and TRY to understand why putting two systems together without a reset of one goes against the fundamental structure of the Sonos system. This is not a missing feature.

So it is lucky that resetting and adding a speaker really takes less than 2 minutes.

@John B 

Dude’s I understand, I've read this WHOLE POST. Yes I understand you guys consider this not possible.

Though, what I'm talking about here is IF THERE A WILL, THERE A WAY.

 

What you guys are saying, is that sonos seems not to want to implement user to roam w/ a product name roam :D

 

I’m an engineer, if you want to implement a feature, a solution to a problem, there is always a way, the only question is DO WE WANT TO FIX IT.

 

Here clearly the answer is, we don’t care, even though the concept isn’t stupid, I mean doing local discovery, temporary linking totally not possible.

 

Sonos literally have full control over their whole ecosystem, saying something isn’t physically possible is wrong.

 

My point stand, having a Roam sonos that can’t roam between system isn’t great. Am sadden by it, though will continue to use the products and reset my products every month when I travel.

That doesn’t mean I can’t dream for more better software in life.

If I had a nickel for every time a someone used the utterly stupid phrase “where there’s a will there's a way” to excuse their lack of knowledge, I’d be a very rich man.  Might as well tack on “think outside the box” and “you just aren’t looking at the big picture” while you are at it.  

"I am an engineer" is another one that guarantees garbage will follow. (Not because the poster is an engineer, but because he thinks saying so is worthwhile.)

Yes tbere is a way to implement this trivial improvement - fundamentally restructure the Sonos system at huge expense and risk. Only a moron could think that was a good idea. 

Hopefully others will understand the arguments so my time won't have been wasted. 

Yet you guys are still wasting your time arguing about me and not the feature I'm requesting, if it’s useful or not. 

 

If other people would like to use sonos product that way too, but yeah making assumption of someone else is better 👌🏼

 

Stay fresh people.

Sonos Roam and Move can:

1 Play anywhere via Bluetooth 

2. Play as a single wifi speaker on multiple networks with no reset.

3. Play as part of a Sonos system in multiple locations if set up as a single system (household ID), with no reset required.

4. Become part of multiple different Sonos systems, becoming fully integrated into each system for the time its there, allowing grouping for example. This requires a 2 minute factory reset of the portable speaker ONLY. 

And you think the Roam and Move don't live up to their names?

Yes,

 

> 4. Become part of multiple different Sonos systems, becoming fully integrated into each system for the time its there, allowing grouping for example. This requires a 2 minute factory reset of the portable speaker ONLY. 

 

This is not enough, that the feature request I'm requesting as well as the first person who probably open this post and other who commented.

 

Yes the solution works, it’s not to be ignored and is a good ALTERNATIVE.

 

But would it be great if when I'm away from my own system.

Sonos detect a roam device on the network, does a guest / roam negotiation on the device and local system.

And just being able to use these temporary roam on the network as a speaker (Idk about advanced feature while roaming) w/ a click.

 

Just being able for this temporary speaker to appears in the normal system, and being group and receive the stream would be enough, w/ minimum action from user is what i wish existed.

 

Again, some people can dream about better software.

 

 

 

 

Well,  don't hold your breath. 

Sonos Roam and Move can:

1 Play anywhere via Bluetooth 

2. Play as a single wifi speaker on multiple networks with no reset.

3. Play as part of a Sonos system in multiple locations if set up as a single system (household ID), with no reset required.

4. Become part of multiple different Sonos systems, becoming fully integrated into each system for the time its there, allowing grouping for example. This requires a 2 minute factory reset of the portable speaker ONLY. 

And you think the Roam and Move don't live up to their names?

Exactly, if I was ever invited to @lifely’s home, (or parents home, for that matter) - I guess I won’t be, but …as long as they’re happy to provide the local WiFi network credentials, I could have my Roam setup on their local network in a jiffy, with no factory reset of any Sonos speaker and have all my music services, playlists and settings intact, ready to use in its Sonos Household - the original Sonos HH in fact that the Roam was added to when I first set it up many many months ago.

I can’t recall ever factory resetting the device and it’s certainly been used on a good many different networks since covid lockdown was lifted. I’m just not in the habit of adding my speakers to other Sonos Households, particularly if the HH’s belong to someone else.

If I wanted to use other peoples systems, like @lifely’s parents Sonos speakers for example, then I would just use the Sonos (remote controller) App to connect to their system - but my Roam would remain in its own HH when running on their local network. I just don’t see the point in factory resetting a Roam device to add it to someone else’s system, particularly if it’s the one and only device in a Sonos Household… that’s just too much bother if you ask me, but would happily consider it, if the original Sonos Household remained available elsewhere, like back at my own Home, for example. 

 

Exactly, if I was ever invited to @lifely’s home, (or parents home, for that matter) - I guess I won’t be, but …as long as they’re happy to provide the local WiFi network credentials, I could have my Roam setup on their local network in a jiffy, with no factory reset of any Sonos speaker and have all my music services, playlists and settings intact, ready to use in its Sonos Household - the original Sonos HH in fact that the Roam was added to when I first set it up many many months ago.

I can’t recall ever factory resetting the device and it’s certainly been used on a good many different networks since covid lockdown was lifted. I’m just not in the habit of adding my speakers to other Sonos Households, particularly if the HH’s belong to someone else.

If I wanted to use other peoples systems, like @lifely’s parents Sonos speakers for example, then I would just use the Sonos (remote controller) App to connect to their system - but my Roam would remain in its own HH when running on their local network. I just don’t see the point in factory resetting a Roam device to add it to someone else’s system, particularly if it’s the one and only device in a Sonos Household… that’s just too much bother if you ask me, but would happily consider it, if the original Sonos Household remained available elsewhere, like back at my own Home, for example. 

@Ken_Griffiths 

I think you misunderstand me, you and you're wife, as well as John are clearly invited over barbecue and beer next time you stop over France.

We can have a heated debated and agree to disagree over good food and conversation.

 

If you bring your sonos, I doubt you’ll be able to use them other then mine w/ the limited internet we have though.

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@Ken_Griffiths@John B@Corry P 

While I agree that adding a network or resetting/adding to another system are alternatives, @lifely makes some great points.

  • Manage Networks is limited. You can not group speakers via the Sonos App from two different systems, even if on the same network.  Side note: you can use Airplay 2 to do this, but not everyone has iPhones and even if you do, managing the Airplay 2 group volume is a bit painful and has other challenges.  I mention this only because I didn’t see this alternative in other responses (maybe I missed it).  I’ve personally done it this way and prefer the reset/add method so I can use the Sonos app to manage the group.
  • Resetting and adding devices on another system is an alternative, and one I use frequently when I take my Moves/Roams to parties with other Sonos households.  That said, it simply shouldn’t be necessary.  Not to mention that either I have to have the host’s account email/password or the host has to do the ‘add’ part from their Sonos App.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we had the option to share systems?  I understand there could be device name conflicts so would propose it work like this:

  1. There is a System Name option in the Sonos App (under Settings > System). Set that as “Ken” and “Lifely” respectively
  2. Go to your friend Liflely’s house with your Sonos devices, let’s say a pair of Roams
  3. Join Lifely’s WiFi network
  4. Power on your Sonos devices
  5. Bring up Sonos App and select “Share system with Lifely”.  Sonos already recognizes when a Sonos system is available on a WiFi network and prompts you to connect to that system.  So perhaps it is a choice “Connect to or share system with Lifely” and you select “Share”
  6. Sonos App prompts Lifely to accept request and Lifely does.  I’m not sure this step is even necessary. I can see a use case where you take your Moves/Roams on a trip to an AirBNB or VRBO that has a Sonos system and you want to share your devices temporarily with that host.  Perhaps the host can elect to “Always allow sharing requests” via a setting
  7. Lifely can now see your connected Sonos devices, all appended with the System Name “ (Ken)”.  So if you both have a pair of Roams named Sonos Roam and Sonos Roam 2, the device list will look like:
    • Sonos Roam
    • Sonos Roam 2
    • Sonos Roam (Ken)
    • Sonos Roam 2 (Ken)
  8. Devices from Ken’s system that are not present/connected would ideally be hidden or alternatively shown ‘offline’
  9. When Ken goes home, the devices automatically connect to Ken’s system
  10. When Ken goes back to Lifely’s house, steps 1-6 are no longer necessary.  Any Sonos devices Ken brings just automatically show up on Lifely’s system, appended with “ (Ken)”

What I really like about this solution:

  • I don’t need to know the remote host’s account/password.  Once I share my system, I’m connected to the remote system and can manage groups, but the host retains ‘system’ control over everything.
  • It allows you to choose your path.  If you’re going to a host that doesn’t have a Sonos system, use Manage Networks.  If you’re going to a host that does have a Sonos system, use Share System.
  • Set it and forget it.  No more resetting/adding.  Just bring your devices and share your system once and then it is done.

Perhaps this is a pipe dream, but is this possible?  If not, why? If so, what is the best way to get this feature request up the chain (if not already)?  In my opinion, this is a game changer for Sonos as the ecosystem gets larger and more people want to easily share their Sonos products.

Sonos is fundamentally designed around the concept of a system / household.. The things you are requesting would require radical changes for a marginal gain for a tiny proportion of users.

It's easy to add a new network. It only takes a minute to reset a speaker and add it. 

Just forget it.

@Music Nut,

Some brief ‘initial first thoughts’ from me….

I would like a Sonos speaker to continue to boot-up and connect to the network in this order…

  1. Wired SonosNet Connection
  2. Wireless Connection (Previously stored WiFi network credentials list held on device)

However, if the above is unsuccessful, to then automatically switchover to ‘Hotspot’ mode where its mobile controller device can connect to its WiFi adapter broadcasting ‘Hotspot’ and allow configuration of the player to allow it to then run on a nearby WiFi network with either that devices ‘existing’ Sonos Household, or to detect and add the speaker to an ‘existing’ system on that nearby network, perhaps identifying that system by pressing a join button on any one of the players (as there can be more than one system on the same network)… simply hand the controller device to the system owner to add their WiFi credentials to begin using the speaker.

The system owner can then either choose to also give the mobile controller permission to join the local network or not - I think this authorisation needs to be a separate step as they may want to allow your speaker to be part of ‘their’ setup, but not your mobile controller device, or perhaps let them undertake its setup with their own controller device.

There needs to be a way so that a user (ex boyfriend for example) cannot sit in a car outside the house at some future date and start blasting out music in the middle of the night… so  controllers need separate authorisation to join another persons system.

I’m sure I will now go onto think about this some more, but clearly these things are always much easier said than done and a good many things would probably need to be considered.

I do like these kind of feature suggestions however and this is definitely an area where I think Sonos could improve their software as people do want to be able to take their speakers out and about and play/share them (securely, but with ease and simplicity) on other wireless networks with their family and friends etc.

Userlevel 7
Badge +15

I recently bought a Roam (set up for home WiFi network - the only S2 speaker, others are all S1 controlled) and have just taken it on holiday - expecting to be able to connect the phone to the local WiFi, open the S2 app and update the WiFi in it and connect to the speaker.  The WiFi was a dedicated router, not hotel etc.  I’d read it shouldn’t need any Factory reset etc. and was aware of the ability to connect to upto 15 different WiFi networks.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the Roam to connect to the WiFi.  The App saw the Roam and came up with a message along the lines of ‘Do you want to add Roam to the secure network <SSID>?’ to which I said ‘Yes’ - but it went away and came up with the other Sonos speakers I have at home and I was in a loop of saying ‘Yes’ and it going to ‘Find’ it but listing my other devicees.  The details aren’t totally clear as it was a couple of weeks ago but I ended up just doing a Factory reset and adding it quickly.  I had to add the services, Voice etc. again but it added fine.  I added it to th same account etc/ as all the other Sonos speakers I have.

I assume this is now classed as a separate Household - so I can’t add it back into the S2 App at home and will need to Factory Reset it again?  The reason I say this is, now I’m back at home, it’s not seen in the S2 App - even if I select ‘Set up new system.’ and fill in my details to sign in.

I get this screen after signing in:

From previous experience, I click out of the white box, click ‘OK’ to Cancel and get to this screen:

So, it sees the Roam - but selecting it doesn’t change anything (I can do the Product Tour though!) - I just get this screen:

and all options make it scan my WiFi, see my existing S1 speakers and give me the option to Open S1 App  or reset the App.

I assume this is all expected as my S2 Speaker is on a different Household? - and I do need to Factory reset the Roam to get it connected?

If so, I’ll do it now - and then look at adding it to a separate WiFi network (local hotspot) - to try to achieve what I originally wanted to a couple of weeks agio - and hope I just missed something obvious...

@Ken_Griffiths@John B@Corry P 

While I agree that adding a network or resetting/adding to another system are alternatives, @lifely makes some great points.

  • Manage Networks is limited. You can not group speakers via the Sonos App from two different systems, even if on the same network.  Side note: you can use Airplay 2 to do this, but not everyone has iPhones and even if you do, managing the Airplay 2 group volume is a bit painful and has other challenges.  I mention this only because I didn’t see this alternative in other responses (maybe I missed it).  I’ve personally done it this way and prefer the reset/add method so I can use the Sonos app to manage the group.

 

 

It’s probably been brought up in this thread already, but it’s important to realize that the data for your Sonos system are stored on the speakers themselves, not your phone.  The name of your rooms, the streaming services you have access to, the voice assistant accounts….all on the speaker. 

So for example, say you have speaker 1 from system A setup with Apple muisc and Amazon voice.  Your friend has his speaker 2 with system B setup with Spotify and Google voice.    What do you expect to happen if you were trying to play speaker 1 and 2 together?  They don’t have any shared services (even if they did, likely different accounts).   This is why you would need to reset one of the speakers and have it join the other system, so they have all the same accounts.

Airplay works entirely different.  The music you’re playing comes from the phone itself.  That’s obviously an advantage for your scenario, but it also means you’re relying on the capabilities of your phone, and music will shut off the moment your phone goes off network.

 

 

 

  • Resetting and adding devices on another system is an alternative, and one I use frequently when I take my Moves/Roams to parties with other Sonos households.  That said, it simply shouldn’t be necessary.  Not to mention that either I have to have the host’s account email/password or the host has to do the ‘add’ part from their Sonos App.

 

Yes, because it requires access to the music and voice services that your host owns and has access to.

 

Wouldn’t it be nice if we had the option to share systems?  I understand there could be device name conflicts so would propose it work like this:

  1. There is a System Name option in the Sonos App (under Settings > System). Set that as “Ken” and “Lifely” respectively
  2. Go to your friend Liflely’s house with your Sonos devices, let’s say a pair of Roams
  3. Join Lifely’s WiFi network
  4. Power on your Sonos devices
  5. Bring up Sonos App and select “Share system with Lifely”.  Sonos already recognizes when a Sonos system is available on a WiFi network and prompts you to connect to that system.  So perhaps it is a choice “Connect to or share system with Lifely” and you select “Share”

 

Again, your only thinking of the network connectivity, not the actual services these two networks have access to.  This would only sort of work if the temporary guest speakers went into a dumb speaker mode of sorts where they can’t player their own music services, they can only be grouped with host speakers and play whatever those speakers are playing.  Just doesn’t seem like this would be practical.

 

  1. Sonos App prompts Lifely to accept request and Lifely does.  I’m not sure this step is even necessary. I can see a use case where you take your Moves/Roams on a trip to an AirBNB or VRBO that has a Sonos system and you want to share your devices temporarily with that host.  Perhaps the host can elect to “Always allow sharing requests” via a setting
  2. Lifely can now see your connected Sonos devices, all appended with the System Name “ (Ken)”.  So if you both have a pair of Roams named Sonos Roam and Sonos Roam 2, the device list will look like:
    • Sonos Roam
    • Sonos Roam 2
    • Sonos Roam (Ken)
    • Sonos Roam 2 (Ken)
  3. Devices from Ken’s system that are not present/connected would ideally be hidden or alternatively shown ‘offline’

 

  Devices that are not present wouldn’t be known to the other speakers or your phone, so they would not even be shown as hidden.

 

  1. When Ken goes home, the devices automatically connect to Ken’s system
  2. When Ken goes back to Lifely’s house, steps 1-6 are no longer necessary.  Any Sonos devices Ken brings just automatically show up on Lifely’s system, appended with “ (Ken)”

What I really like about this solution:

  • I don’t need to know the remote host’s account/password.  Once I share my system, I’m connected to the remote system and can manage groups, but the host retains ‘system’ control over everything.

 

 

I’m sure the music services the two of you are paying for would love this sharing arraingement you’ve got setup.

 

  • It allows you to choose your path.  If you’re going to a host that doesn’t have a Sonos system, use Manage Networks.  If you’re going to a host that does have a Sonos system, use Share System.
  • Set it and forget it.  No more resetting/adding.  Just bring your devices and share your system once and then it is done.

Perhaps this is a pipe dream, but is this possible?  If not, why? If so, what is the best way to get this feature request up the chain (if not already)?  In my opinion, this is a game changer for Sonos as the ecosystem gets larger and more people want to easily share their Sonos products.

 

I can’t imagine there are a ton of people out there that one to bring their speakers with them to their friends house to be honest.

 

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