How to control your Sonos speakers with Spotify

Sonos and Spotify partnered earlier this year to solve a problem that has frustrated Sonos and Spotify fans alike: Sonos’ app isn’t very good, but it’s the only one that works with the company’s otherwise great connected speakers.

This changes today for “Premium” Spotify users — the two companies announced that you can now control your Sonos speakers using Spotify’s mobile app. The setup is a little confusing, however. Here’s how to get started.

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Set up your speakers

Make sure your speakers are properly set up using Sonos’ app and check that you have a Spotify Premium account. Test this by playing “Whateva Will Be” by A Tribe Called Quest because it’s a good song. Your Spotify account should be connected to your Sonos app, and you should already have the Spotify app on your phone.

Download the latest

Make sure you’ve downloaded the latest version of the Sonos app.

You need to update your Sonos hardware, too. The Sonos app will handle it for you.

Weird: “Set up Sonos account”

If you see this screen, hit “next,” tap “set up Sonos account,” and enter your email. You have to reset your password. I have no idea why you need to do this. I just went with it.

You’re done

You should see this screen with an animation showing how to control your speakers via the Spotify app.

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Open Spotify, play a song, and choose which device you want to stream music to by tapping “Devices Available” on this screen.

If you want to change how you’ve grouped your speakers, Spotify will redirect you to Sonos’ app. You have to keep both apps on your phone.

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After you’ve set everything up, you can also use Spotify’s desktop app to control your speakers.

Issues?

Put your device into Airplane mode briefly, turn it off, and check again. Make sure you’re connected to the same Wi-Fi network that your Sonos speakers are connected to. Try reauthorizing your Spotify account in Sonos’ app by going to Settings > My Services > Spotify > Reauthorize Account.

Other app integrations

Sonos said in August that a similar partnership with Pandora is also in the works, but the company hasn’t said when the integration will arrive.

Sonos’ app has earned a reputation for being buggy and difficult to use, but it’s improved lately. We have no reason to believe that Sonos will fully integrate into every streaming app out there, so some of you may be stuck with the official app for a while.

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We’ve reached out to Sonos to find out if similar partnerships with other streaming companies are also in the works. We’ll update this post when we hear back.

Have a question? Ask us on Twitter!

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