Learn how to master your Sonos using your voice
Controlling your Sonos speakers with Alexa delivers a much more convenient way of accessing and playing your music. It will make enjoying your tunes a lot easier too, especially while the new Sonos app continues to be updated in order to correct a few of its current hiccups.
While Sonos’ latest speakers – like the Era 100, Era 300, the Roam 2, Move 2, and the newest Sonos Arc Ultra – come with Alexa built-in, many people don’t realise you can control any Sonos speaker using the Alexa Skill. That means you can add voice control for a very small sum, using an Echo Spot or an Echo Pop, and totally transform your music listening setup.
Read this: The best Alexa commands
Read on for everything you need and a complete list of voice commands to get the most from your Alexa/Sonos set up.
The Sonos Alexa skill explained
If you’re the owner of a Sonos system and an Amazon Echo speaker, you can use the latter to control your entire Sonos system. This includes playing music from some streaming services and controlling the playback of radio and offline music, too.
Missing manual: The essential Sonos guide
Downloading the Alexa skill for Sonos is easy. Head to the Alexa app and then search for Sonos from the Skills menu. Once downloaded, you’ll need to connect your Sonos and Amazon accounts together and that’s it, you’ll then be able to ask Alexa to play music on your Sonos speakers even if it isn’t a new speaker and doesn’t have Alexa built in.
How to connect Sonos and Alexa
If you have one of the latest Sonos speakers with Alexa built-in, this is slightly different from what we mentioned above. That allows you to use your Sonos speaker as Alexa, meaning you don’t need an Echo device to control your smart home devices or ask Alexa for information, for example.
We’ve got a quick step by step below to help you connect your Sonos system with Alexa. Once that’s done, you’re ready to roll and you can ask Alexa to play music on your Sonos system, allowing you to bypass the Sonos app entirely, or you can ask Alexa some of the other things you would normally ask an Echo device.
What services can you use the Sonos skill for?
When it comes to asking for music via Alexa, you’ll need to be signed up and using one of a handful of services. Those services need to be linked in your Alexa account. You can choose from the likes of:
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Amazon Music
- YouTube Music
- TuneIn Radio
- iHeartRadio
- Pandora
- SiriusXM
Now, if you have an active Amazon Music account, then Alexa will prefer to play that. To make it play one of the other types of services you’ll need to specify to Alexa that you want it to play music “from [supported service]” at the end of your command.
That’s unless you change your default music providers…
You can enjoy your Spotify playlists with Echo-enabled voice commands as Spotify has special status with Alexa, meaning you can set the music as a permanent source.
To set Spotify as your Echo’s default audio provider: Open the Alexa app > More > Settings > Music & Podcasts > Family Default Services > Spotify.
The latest Sonos speakers all support the Apple Music skill – and that means you can take advantage of it and make Apple’s streaming service your go-to through Alexa.
You’ll still need the skill downloaded from within the Alexa app, but, once it is, and Apple Music is set as default, you’ll be able to speak out commands without having to add, “on Apple Music,” to the end of every request.
To do so: Open the Alexa app > More > Settings > Music & Podcasts > Family Default Services > Apple Music. And keep scrolling below to discover some essential Sonos/Apple Music commands.
Essential Sonos commands for Amazon Alexa
Before we hit a list of commands, here’s how to build up a Sonos command.
- Say “Alexa”.
- Say “play” followed the name of the artist. If choosing a song, you’ll likely need to say “by [artist name]”.
- Now, if you have more than one, you need to specify the Sonos speaker you want to play to. At the end of your command say “on [Sonos speaker name]”.
- Remember: If you’re using a specific service that’s not your default music streaming service, you’ll need to add “from [service name]”.
- And here’s a full example: “Alexa, play Motorcycle Emptiness by the Manic Street Preachers from Pandora in the lounge”. A mouthful? Yes it is.
General playback commands
“Alexa, pause/stop/resume (in the room name)”.
“Alexa, skip/next song (in the room name)”.
“Alexa, play the next/previous song/track (in the room name)”.
“Alexa, play my (playlist name) playlist (in the room name)”.
“Alexa, resume on (room name)”.
“Alexa, previous/next song/track”.
“Alexa, what’s playing in (room name)?”.
General volume commands
“Alexa, turn it up/down (in the room name)”.
“Alexa, louder/quieter (in the room name)”.
“Alexa, set the volume to 5 (50%) (in the room name)”.
“Alexa, mute (room name)”
“Alexa, unmute (room name)”.
To start Spotify playback
“Alexa, play music in the (room name)”.
“Alexa, play (artist) in the (room name)”.
“Alexa, play (song name) by (artist) in the (room name)”.
“Alexa, play the album (album name) by (artist) in the (room name)”.
“Alexa, play (activity) music in the (room name)”.
To start Apple Music playback
“Alexa, play music in the (room name)”.
“Alexa, play Beats 1 Radio in the (room name)”.
“Alexa, play New Music Mix on the (speaker name)”.
“Alexa, play (playlist name) on (room name)”.
You can also associate Amazon Echo devices with Sonos speakers through the Alexa app; creating groups where the Sonos speakers are the default music playback for a command heard by your Echo devices.
Before, if you had, say, an Echo Dot in the office along with a Sonos Play:1 and you wanted to listen to some music, you’d have to say something along the lines of, “Alexa, play George Michael, in the kitchen.”
You can now ditch that extra bit, and simply say, “Alexa, play George Michael,” and the output will come directly from the Sonos speaker.
