How to Control Sonos with Amazon Alexa

Authored by: Support.com Tech Pro Team

1. Introduction

Many Sonos speakers now come with a built-in microphone, and can be used in combination with Amazon's Alexa service to provide a simple, voice-activated personal assistant to control your home and beyond. This guide will show you how to add the Alexa service to your Sonos speaker so that you can control you music with your voice.

Before You Begin:

Sonos Setup
You will need to have the Sonos App installed and your Sonos speaker setup first.

• How to Install the Sonos Controller App
• How to Set Up and Connect Sonos to WiFi
• How to Set Up Amazon Alexa with Sonos

Alexa App
You will need to have the Amazon Alexa app setup.

• How to Install the Alexa App

2. Voice Commands for Alexa Enabled Sonos

If you’re giving a command to Sonos using an Alexa-enabled device like an Echo Dot, you’ll need to include the room name in your command unless your Sonos speaker is part of an Alexa group.

Alexa control for your TV requires an HDMI-ARC connection between the TV and the Beam or Amp.

Some Example Music Commands and What They Do

Play, Pause, and Stop

"Alexa, play some music."
When asking Alexa to play music, the song will begin playing from Alexa’s default music service unless you specify a different service in your command.

"Alexa, pause the music in the living room."
You can add “in the (room name)” to the end of your commands if you want to play music in a specific room. Otherwise, the music will play on the speaker that responded to your request.
If you have multiple Alexa-enabled devices, Alexa will accept the command from wherever it hears you, and then play music using the other speaker system.

Skip, Next, Previous

"Alexa, skip this song."
Skip to the next or previous song

Play [artist], Play [album], Play [song], Play [genre]

"Alexa, play jazz in the office."
Play a specific artist, album, song, or genre

What's Playing?

"Alexa, what’s playing in the living room?"
Find out what song is currently playing

Turn it up, Turn it down, Louder, Quieter, Softer

"Alexa, turn it up in the bathroom."
Turn the volume up or down

Mute, Unmute

"Alexa, mute the bedroom."
Mute or unmute the speaker

Set the volume to [0-10 volume levels]

"Alexa, set the volume to 5 in the kitchen."
Set a specific volume level

Turn on the TV, Turn off the TV

"Alexa, turn on the living room TV."
Turn your TV on or off

Set Mode to TV

"Alexa, set mode to TV on patio."
Switch your speaker to TV audio

Announce, Tell everyone, Broadcast

"Alexa, announce that dinner is ready." or 
"Alexa, I want to make an announcement (increases limit to 40 seconds)."
Broadcast a ten-second message to everyone in your home over your Alexa-enabled devices. Include your message after the command

Switch to Speech Enhancement mode, Switch to Night mode

"Alexa, switch to Night Mode in the family room."
Enable speech enhancement or night mode on Sonos home theater speakers

Alexa understands a huge number of different commands. If you're not sure, simply try saying what you want, and it will try to help.

Now you can even add famous voices to your Alexa service, the first of which is Samuel L. Jackson.

Things Sonos Cannot Do With Alexa

• Playing songs based on saying the lyrics
• Setting Sonos alarms and sleep timers
• Thumbs up/down setting cannot be initiated with voice and is not reflected in the Sonos app
• Alexa Routines cannot be used through the Sonos app or device
• Voice Calling cannot be used through a Sonos speaker