Sonos secret features: Make the most of your Sonos speakers

Sonos Secret Features: Make The Most Of Your Sonos Speakers

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If you have multiple Sonos speakers and don’t know how to make them worth the money, you will know it once you have read the article. There are plenty of features most users have not yet discovered, and here we will walk you through everything to make your Sonos experience absolutely enjoyable.

Further reading: 37 Tips, Tricks Of Sonos Speaker: Maybe You Don’t Know

What Are The Features Of Sonos Speakers?

Sonos supports a wide variety of features. Here are some of them that are worth knowing.

  • Play music from phone

You can play the music stored on your phone on your Sonos speaker by opening the Sonos app and opening ‘This Mobile Device’ to view all the songs on your phone.

  • Music to lull you to sleep

With the ‘Sleep’ function, you can set a time after which Sonos will turn off on its own.

  • Wider reach for TV sound

When paired with the Sonos system, your TV sound will reach other rooms with Sonos speakers.

  • Mute button uses

The mute button of your speaker can have multiple functions. To play or pause the song, press it once, skip to the next song, press it twice, and press and hold to mute just one speaker.

How Do I Get The Most Out Of Sonos?

If you have a Sonos system at home or office, you have to take full advantage of the speaker system. To get the most out of Sonos, there is a feature called Trueplay that tunes all the speakers to sync with the surroundings wherever they are kept.

Go to Settings tab > System > Select Room > Trueplay > Trueplay tuning and then follow the instructions.

Sonos secret features
Image source: J n S

Further reading: What is Sonos? Here’s Everything You Need to Know About the Wireless Sound System

Sonos Secret Features

Control Sonos Through Spotify

There is a way to control Sonos directly from the Spotify app. Follow these steps to get it done.

  • Open the Spotify app
  • Go to the Now Playing screen
  • Press Devices Available found at the bottom of the screen and select your Sonos speaker or group of speakers.

Now you can play music on Spotify, and it will be streamed through the chosen Sonos speaker.

Stream directly from your iOS device to your Sonos speaker with AirPlay 2

To play music from your iOS device to Sonos speaker with AirPlay 2, follow these steps.

  • Open Control Centre in the iOS device by swiping down from the upper right side of the screen.
  • You will see the audio card in the top right corner. Tap AirPlay icon
  • Choose the Sonos speaker/speakers to stream music using AirPlay

To play music directly from iOS apps Apple Music, open the app, press the AirPlay icon, and choose the speaker.

How to Unlock AirPlay for Old Sonos Speakers

If you have at least one Sonos speaker that supports AirPlay 2, you can group this speaker with older speakers to play music via AirPlay 2.

  • Open the Sonos app on your device
  • Press ‘More’ seen at the bottom right
  • Press ‘Settings’ and then ‘AirPlay.’
  • Turn on ‘Group non-AirPlay speakers’ to group it with the newer speakers

Make Sure Dolby Atmos is Working on Sonos Arc

Dolby Atmos audio is supported by Sonos Arc. Many factors like HDMI connections on the TV, physical source devices, and streaming services determine whether the speaker can play audio. If Dolby Atmos signal is sent to Sonos Arc, you can see a Dolby Atmos icon in the Sonos app in the ‘About My System’ menu and on the ‘Now Playing screen. If the icon is not visible, it means that the Dolby Atmos signal is not being received.

Control Sonos With Your Voice Through Alexa

If you have installed the Alexa app, you can control Sonos with your voice instead of physically going to the speaker to get something done. All you need is to give voice commands to Alexa to get the task done.

  • Open the Sonos app
  • In the Settings tab, press Services & Voice > Add a Service > Amazon Alexa > Add Amazon Alexa
  • When redirected to the Alexa app, press ‘Enable to use’ to sign into the Sonos account and enable Sonos skill
  • Now Alexa app will discover the devices
  • Once Alexa is configured, you can give her commands to play some music

Control Sonos With Your Voice Through Google Assistant

  • Open the Sonos app
  • In the Settings tab, press Services > Voice > Add a Service under Voice and then select Google Assistant
  • Sign in to your Sonos account and add the same music service account to both Sonos and Google Assistant
  • After the Google Assistant is configured, you can give commands to play music

Use Siri To Control Apple Music On Your Sonos Speakers

  • Open the Apple Home app on your iOS device
  • Press + seen on the upper right corner
  • Press ‘Add Accessory’ and then ‘I don’t have a code or cannot scan.’
  • Select the speaker you want to add
  • Choose the same room name as in the Sonos app

Set Parental Controls

With the parental controls set, children cannot listen to explicit content.

  • Open the Sonos app
  • Under the Settings tab, tap ‘System.’
  • Press ‘Parental Controls’ in the System Settings section
  • Press Filter Explicit Content

Add A Playlist To My Sonos

Your favorite playlist can be added to Sonos so that it becomes easy to play it with just a tap.

To add a Playlist to Sonos, press the required playlist > tap on the three dots on the top right > Add Playlist to My Sonos

Add a song to My Sonos

  • Find the song you want to add
  • Press the three dots, and tap Add to Sonos Playlist
  • Select the playlist to which you want to add the song

Edit My Sonos

To edit the order of items in the My Sonos tab, go to My Sonos and tap on Edit. Here, you can long-press and rearrange the order or make other edits. Press Done once finished.

Add A Playlist To Sonos Playlists

Adding a playlist makes it easy to access the playlist with a single tap when you want to.

To add a Playlist to Sonos, press the required playlist > tap on the three dots on the top right > Add Playlist to My Sonos

Create A New Sonos Playlist

  • Open the Sonos app and tap on My Sonos seen at the bottom left
  • Tap on Edit at the top right and then tap on Playlists
  • Tap on New Playlist > Name Playlist

A new playlist will be added to the Sonos Playlist section for you to add songs.

Add a Song to Sonos Playlists

  • Find the song you want to add
  • Press the three dots, and tap Add to Sonos Playlist
  • Select the playlist to which you want to add the song

Edit Sonos Playlists

Many users keep on editing their playlists either because they are bored of the same songs or want to add the latest releases to the lists.

  • Open the Sonos app and press My Sonos in the bottom left
  • Come down to Sonos Playlists and press the Playlists title
  • Press the playlist to be edited and tap the three dots in the top right corner
  • Here you will find the ‘Edit Playlist’ option to edit the way you want

See Recently Played Music Quickly

There could be days you are in a different mood and don’t want to stick with the recently played songs and want to delete them from the Recently Played section.

Clicking on My Sonos, scrolling to ‘Recently Played’, and turning it on will let you quickly see the music you played recently.

Clear Your Recently Played Music

  • Tap on My Sonos and then on the recently played header
  • Tap on Edit on the top right
  • Select the songs you want to delete and press Delete or press Clear All at the bottom

Add Songs To Queue

Adding songs to a queue lets you listen to songs in random order and not from any saved playlists.

  • Press the Search button at the bottom and select songs in the bar at the top
  • Type the title of any song in the search bar
  • When the song title appears, tap on the three dots to the right of it
  • Add to End of Queue

Edit the Queue

To edit the queue, go to the Systems tab and expand the now playing section and press the two lines seen near the room name at the top. Here you will see options to Clear, Edit, or Save the Queue.

Edit option lets you drag and drop the songs in any desired fashion. Save will let you save the Queue as a Playlist, and you can even name it. You can later find it under Sonos Playlists.

Create A Group Or Ungroup Speakers

Grouping speakers is the greatest advantage of a multi-room speaker setup. To group or ungroup speakers, press the Systems tab, and you can see the Sonos speakers as a list. Press the square symbol with the arrow seen at the top right of the room card of the speaker you want to group. Now Select or deselect speakers according to need and tap on Done. The selected speakers will play the music.

Play Different Music In Different Rooms

Different music can be played in different rooms by selecting what each speaker should play and grouping the speakers that would play the same music. You can then select the music each group will play. Press the Systems tab at the bottom of the app to access the speakers from where you can group or ungroup them.

Grouping can also be done using touch. Tap and hold the Play button on any Sonos speaker to group it with a room’s speaker that is already playing. If different songs are being played in different rooms, tap and hold play until the desired song is played.

Add A Music Service

Hundreds of music services are supported by Sonos, including Apple Music, Spotify, and Amazon Music. Sonos even supports some of the lesser popular music streaming services. Steps to add a music service are:

  • Go to the Settings tab at the bottom of the app and then Services & Voice
  • Press Add a Service under Music and Content
  • Press the desired music service that is listed or search using the search icon
  • Tap Add to Sonos and sign in

Search For A Song/Album/Artist/Station/Podcast

The search option in the Sonos app will allow you to search for song, album, artist, station, or podcast in the music services that you have signed into. Open the Search tab and type in what you are looking for after selecting the type of music like song or album. Alternatively, you can go to the Browse tab to search through any music service you have access to.

Turn Crossfade On

Turning the Crossfade feature on ensures that the room or place you are plays something or the other at all times. This enables one song to blend into the next one and so on. To turn Crossfade on, press the three dots seen to the right of the song title in the Now Playing screen and Toggle/Tick Crossfade on.

Set An Alarm

Setting the alarm is the best option, whether you want to wake up listening to your favorite song or get alerted when the match starts.

  • Press the Settings tab in the bottom right of the Sonos app
  • Go to System > Alarms > Add alarm> Set the time, room, music, frequency, and volume
  • Tap Save

You can send the alarm settings to Sonos speakers in other rooms by pressing the room and toggling ‘Include Grouped Rooms.’

Set A Sleep Timer

If you want to sleep listening to soothing music, the Sonos speaker can play you a lullaby. Choose the song or album you want to listen to and open the Now Playing screen with the album art and volume control. Tap on the three dots > Select Sleep Timer > Choose the Duration. You can make either of these 5 choices: 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 1 hour, and 2 hours.

Make the most of Sonos Radio

The best thing is that Sonos Radio comes for free with Sonos making it exciting to try new stations. But the listening experience is not just limited to radio stations. If you wish, you can replace the TV commentators with that radio.

Press the Browser tab seen at the bottom and go to Sonos Radio. Search for the desired station or Select category.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXdZvYvbElM&t=4s

Catch Every Comment

The Sonos speakers, including Beam, Arc, Playbar, Playbase, and Beam 2 have a feature called Speech Enhancement to amplify the sound of voices so that you can clearly hear the voices of actors and commentators even if they utter something like a whisper.

Press the Systems tab > Select the room that has the Sonos home theatre speaker > Press the square speech icon and turn it white. Now the Speech Enhancement feature is enabled.

Use Night Sound For More Considerate Late-Night Viewing

Again, this is a feature that is incorporated in Sonos speakers like Beam, Beam 2, Playbase, Arc, and PlayBar. When the Night Sound feature is turned on, the soft sounds are enhanced, and the loud ones are suppressed so that you don’t disturb anyone while watching something.

  • Press Systems tab
  • Tap on the name of the room where you have the Sonos home theatre speaker
  • Press the moon icon and turn it white. Now the Night Sound feature is turned on for a private viewing experience.

Hear Your Favorite TV Programme All Over Your House

If you own Sonos Beam, Beam 2, PlayBar, Arc, or Playbase, these can be grouped with other Sonos speakers at your place to listen to TV sound everywhere.

  • Open the Systems tab
  • Press Group on the room where your Beam, Beam 2, PlayBar, Arc, or Playbase is kept
  • Tick the speakers you want to be grouped with this speaker

Bring Your Own Music

Remember the last time you went to a party at a friend’s place and got bored just because of bad music? You can now take your music wherever you go if you don’t like the music being played there. Connect to the Wi-Fi, open the Sonos app, and add your favorite songs to your friend’s queue.

Use Sonos For A Bedtime Story

What if your speaker can voice bedtime stories to your kids? It can be anything like a recorded story or even a message from someone your kid loves. The person can send you an MP3 file that can be synced with your music library. The file can then be played with the ‘On this iPhone/Device’ feature.

Find Out What You Listen To Most On Your Sonos System

If you are curious to know what has been your mood lately, you can track what you were listening to on your Sonos speaker. You can sign into Last.fm within your Sonos app and find out more about your listening habits.

Join The Sonos Beta Program

Sonos now allows you to test its latest features before the actual launch of these features. For this, you have to sign up to the Beta Program to get a trial of pre-release software. Tap the three dots seen at the bottom right to open Settings. Go to Advanced settings > Beta Program > Join Beta Program.

Further reading: The Best NAS Drive for Sonos

FAQs:

How to send music from Roam to another Sonos speaker with Sound Swap?

There is a feature called Sound Swap specific to Sonos Roam using which you can press and hold the Play/Pause button on the speaker for nearly five seconds so that its music is sent to the Sonos speaker that is nearest to Roam. Remember that Roam has to be on Wi-Fi for this feature to work.

What makes Sonos special?

The specialty of Sonos is that it is the best option for a wireless multi-room speaker system. Supporting over 100 streaming services, the speakers from Sonos are also popular for their superior sound quality. Sonos has been in the field much before most of its competitors, and it is evident in the performance of its devices. With many features that are improving day by day, Sonos offers a complete sound experience to its precious users.

Why do Sonos speakers sound so good?

Typically, Sonos speakers have to be kept in an ideal position to sound good. But there is a feature called the Sonos Trueplay feature that makes the sound great wherever you place it. This feature is available on iOS devices only. The microphone on these devices can measure the speaker’s response in the room and make the sound sync with it. The setup process adjusts the speaker by enhancing the bass and treble to out the best sound.

Does Sonos listen to your conversations?

Users lodged complaints about Sonos listening to conversations and collecting private data. As a solution, a new product named Sonos One SL was launched, which comes with no in-built microphone. So there is no way for the speaker to listen to people taking in private spaces. No microphone would mean that you cannot give voice commands to the speaker as well.

Conclusion

The highly competitive Sonos speaker is a privilege to own and now you know why. With never-ending features, the speakers from this company touch the hearts of millions of users every day. From the start of the day to the time you hit the bed, there is nothing that gives you better company than these fantastic speakers. Get ready to listen to the best music ever.