You probably are searching for ways to automate your home and incorporate the very cool feature of voice controlling your devices. Especially considering all the excellent features Sonos brand of speakers has got, if they can also be used for this purpose, that will be perfect.
Nevertheless, does Sonos work with Google Home? The simple answer is yes. Sonos is compatible with the Google Assistant and can incorporate voice control features to your Google Home setup. Since these speakers have built-in microphones to capture your voice commands, you say the instructions and watch your virtually smart Assistant execute your instructions.
So in this article, along with other beautiful packages, you will learn how to set it up with Google Home, a list of commands you can use, and even why Sonos is the best for voice assistant. Here we go.
How to setup Sonos with Google Home
We will now outline simple step-by-step procedures on how to set up a Google Home to control Sonos. It is necessary to find out if Google Assistant is available on Sonos within your region. After accomplishing this setup, you will be able to use the Assistant to play, pause, skip, adjust the volume of music, and more on your Sonos. Here is how to go about it:
Step 1: First, ensure your Sonos app is up to date, and you have got your Google Assistant app downloaded into your mobile device. Launch your Assistant app and sign in to your Google account to proceed.
Step 2: In your Sonos app, we will like to activate the Google Assistant service. To do that, tap the “Service” tab and navigate to the “Voice” option. Tap on “Add a Service” under this option and then select Google Assistant.
Step 3: Now, on your Google Assistant app, you are required to sign in to your Sonos account. So in your Google Assistant app, follow the prompt to accomplish this step. This will establish that vital link that’ll enable you voice control your Sonos using the Assistant.
Step 4: For music to play on Sonos using the Assistant, you ought to ensure that you have added the same music service account to both the Google assistant and Sonos app. Google Assistant supports music play from YouTube Music, Google Play Music, and more. To select supported music services on the Assistant, tap on your Assistant’s app’s profile icon, afterward select “Services.” Next, tap on “Music,” which will display supported music services under “More Music Services.”
Moreover, to add music to the Sonos app, open the “Settings” tab and click on “Services & Voice.” Under the section tagged “Music & Content,” tap on “Add a Service.” This will display a list of services from which you can select which one you wish to add. Tap on “Add to Sonos” and follow the on-screen prompt to complete service addition to your music service account.
Step 5: Finally, after completing the setup, use the Google Assistant to test some of Sonos’ commands. If you have got everything correctly set up, your commands will be executed seamlessly.
List of Commands you can use with Sonos and Google Home
Google Assistant has got a vast range of commands it supports without being too restrictive on how it ought to be said. You can even group your devices, giving them unique names to aid specific command execution. However, note that you have to start with the activation word of either “Hey Google” or “OK Google” before issuing any command. Below is a list of music-related commands we can make use of.
Next, previous and skip – This will change the music to either the next or previous one. In a sentence, you can say, “Hey Google, play the previous song.”
Play, pause, and stop – It will automatically start or stop music play. Simply saying, “Hey Google, play music” is sufficient.
Play artist, album, song, or genre – This will prompt the Assistant to play a specific song based on your command. So you can say, “Hey Google, play heal the world by Michael Jackson.
What is playing? – You are enquiring about the music that’s playing. You can simply say, Hey Google, what’s playing?
This smart Assistant is also capable of giving you information about even a background music. You can say, hey Google, who sang that song playing? It will listen to the song and offer all relevant information pertaining it.
For volume control, you can turn it down, turn it up, louder, mute, unmute or even make music softer. You can also set volume to a particular level or percentage. In form of a command you can say, hey Google, make music louder.
And for lights, turn on or turn off the light. It will automatically execute your request. This too can be done to your smart plugs, television, or any other compatible device. For example you could say, Hey Google, turn off the television. And instantly it will go off.
For enquiries about the weather, you can say, hey Google, weather report. And it will issue out information about how the day’s weather presently is and how it will likely be later on. You are not only restricted to weather enquiries but you can also find out about the scores to a match, news report and other relevant questions.
The list of commands goes on and you are free to construct them in your own words, provided the action required is supported by this Assistant. And the cool thing is that Google gets smarter over time.
Can you Control All your Google Home Devices with Sonos
Yes you can control all your devices, smart plugs etc with Sonos. This is possible because these devices are already compatible with the Google Assistant. Sonos only acts as an intermediary that incorporates voice control feature for the automatic control of these devices. The built-in microphones of the Sonos captures your voice commands. So once your commands are picked up by Sonos, it is relayed to the virtually smart Assistant which is responsible for executing your instructions.
Can you group Sonos Speakers with Google Home
No is the answer. For now, Sonos devices and Google Home devices can’t be grouped together to play the same sound in sync. The integration of Sonos with Google Assistant is still in its tender years with further advancements being required. The present integration only brings Google Assistant to Sonos that’s got built-in microphones and supports automatic control using Google Home devices. It is also impossible for the present time being to set Sonos as your preferred speaker within a Google Home app.
Why Sonos is the best for Voice Assistant
Sonos is the best for voice assistant because it supports all voice assistants, Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant. With this, regardless of the Assistant you seem to like, you are well served with just this single brand. Of course, one type of Assistant is better than the other in a particular service it renders. So, financially, you are freed from the burden of purchasing more than one type of speaker just to support the different virtually smart assistant setup your home has. For some persons, they capitalize on the deeper information gathering of Google Assistant, using it to look up information. While they make use of Alexa for music purposes because of the number of music services it supports.
Take away from this article
At this point, you’ve seen how well integrated the Sonos and Google Home devices are. From our primary question about Sonos working with Google Home, you’ve seen that it is definitely possible because Sonos is compatible with the Google Assistant. Contained in here too is a simple step by step method on how to set up Sonos to work with Google Home. After establishing such a connection, you’ll be able to use the Assistant to play, pause, skip, adjust volume of music and more on your Sonos.
The Sonos too can be used to control all your Google Home devices like smart plugs, lights, etc because of their compatibility with Google Assistant. But regardless of all these positives, you’ve seen that the Sonos speakers cannot be grouped Google Home. This eliminates the possibility of playing music or other audio in sync on these two devices. Even with this slight set back, when compared with other speakers, Sonos ranks as the best speaker for Voice Assistants.
While other speakers only supports only one or at most two smart assistants, Sonos is compatible with all three virtual assistants. So you are alleviated of the stress of having to worry about which speaker will best support your home’s virtual Assistant set up. And with this you are capable of capitalizing on the various services offered by the different assistants, taking advantage of their strong sides. Without any doubts, you’ll now be able to maximize the potential of your Sonos for your automated home set up.
We researched 100s of smart speakers and these speakers are the best. read for more here.
Sam has been a Smart Things expert for years and the author of DIY SmartThings. Recently he’s really more into Nest smart devices and has a lot of experience with all sorts of projects from converting a regular Home to completely a smart home with the background degree in Electronics.