It has been more a year in the waiting since Sonos first announced plans to support both voice assistants when it released the Sonos One back in 2017. Sonos have yesterday rolled out a software update enabling Google Assistant Control on the Sonos One and Sonos Beam, making them the first smart speakers that supports both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. Do note though that while both voice assistants are supported, you cannot use both of them at the same time.
When the company’s first smart speaker, the Sonos One was released in 2017, the speaker shipped with Amazon Alexa with the company promising an update which will enable Google Assistant in 2018. While Sonos One users waited patiently for the promised update in 2018, Sonos announced in November that support for Google Assistant will be delayed, arriving in 2019 instead.
Six months have passed since that announcement, the company has finally released a software update enabling Google Assistant Control making good of the promise it made over a year ago. Given that I am one of those who prefer Google Assistant over Amazon Alexa, the update from Sono is certainly something I was looking forward to.
If you are using an Android Smartphone, chances are you would have Google Assistant app pre-installed, you can always install it from the Google PlayStore if it is not installed. You can then activate Google Assistant by tapping “More” at the bottom right of the Sonos App and select “Voice Services” which will bring you to the first screenshot you see below.
If you only see Amazon Alexa in the “Voice Assistant” selection screen, check to see if you have Google Assistant app installed as well as the Sonos app updated. You can then select Google Assistant to add the Voice Assistant service to your Sonos One or Sonos Beam. As advised earlier, while both voice assistants are supported, you cannot use both of them at the same time. Enabling Google Assistant will disable Amazon Alexa and vice-versa.
When adding Google Assistant to your Sonos One or Sonos Beam, the Google Assistant will check if you have previously set up your voice, if you did not set up your voice previously, the Google Assistant app will set up your voice records before prompting you to sign in to your Sonos account to provide the permissions required for Google Assistant to control your Sonos system.
With the authorisation of the permissions, the Google Assistant then searches for supported devices on your Sonos system, authorisation will then be sought to allow the device to access the Google account linked to Google Assistant.
Once authorised, Google Assistant will assume control of the device and request for your selection of default music service when you ask Google Assistant to play music. Once you have made your selection, you would have completed the Google Assistant set up for your Sonos One or Sonos Beam.
Currently, Sonos’s Google Assistant support is limited to the US with the company expecting to expand support to the UK, Germany, Canada, Australia, France, The Netherlands and more over the coming months.
