Sonos adds Google Assistant in US with a free software update promising additional countries to follow in July 2019. Google Assistant is now built-in to Sonos One and Sonos Beam and can be used with any connected Google Home product to easily start a song, queue a TV show, check the weather, and control the smart home. The free software update is available now in the US with support for the UK, Germany, Canada, Australia, France, and The Netherlands coming in July with additional countries to follow on a rolling basis over the following months.
Patrick Spence, Sonos CEO said, “We partnered with Google to build this integration from the ground up, layering in the best of the Google Assistant into the Sonos ecosystem of products and partners. Today we’re the first company to have two voice assistants working concurrently on the same system, a major milestone for the industry. We imagine a day where we’ll have multiple voice assistants operating concurrently on the same device, and we’re committed to making that happen as soon as possible.”
The Google Assistant is Sonos’ second built-in voice assistant. Customers on Sonos will have the ability to choose an assistant for each individual speaker, with multiple voice assistants on a single system. With the Google Assistant on Beam in the living room and Alexa on the Sonos One in the kitchen, start a song with the Google Assistant, ask Alexa what’s playing, and vice versa.
Additionally Sonos will support the Google Assistant’s top first party actions and features, including Continued Conversation, Broadcast mode, and the ability to choose a different voice.
Sonos and Google Assistant features
- System control – listeners can start a song using AirPlay from Apple Music, ask the Google Assistant to go to the next track, and turn the volume down in the Sonos App. In addition, just one supported voice-enabled device allows for customers to request music or content to be played on other Sonos speakers in the system (Play:1, for example)
- Music, news, and radio – Request and control streaming services including Spotify, YouTube Music, Google Play Music, Pandora, TIDAL, TuneIn, iHeartRadio and Deezer. Use voice to go to the next song, change the volume, or pause
- Easy control for TV with Sonos Beam – Turn on the TV with the Google Assistant using Beam’s HDMI ARC connection and CEC, switch from TV to music, and adjust the volume. Add a Chromecast Ultra to get additional features with voice for TV, including requesting specific shows or movies from streaming services
- Get answers, manage tasks and plans – get information and applications from the Google ecosystem and have them sent directly to an Android phone
- Connect with Smart Home – control home devices with Google Assistant
