Sonos Connectivity: Known Requirements

Devices & Integrations
1

Like many others I struggled to get SmartThings to recognize and successfully add my Sonos devices.

Most people’s issues with Sonos discovery in ST seem to be network-related but there’s no single list of network requirements. I’d like to use this thread to create a definitive list.

Open questions remaining (please respond if you can confirm these requirements!):

  1. Does UPnP definitely need to be enabled? (Enabled works for sure.)
  2. Does Multicast definitely need to be allowed? (Allowed works for sure.)

Confirmed Requirements:

  • No additional device handlers or SmartApps are necessary to install in SmartThings for detecting Sonos devices.
  • A Sonos BOOST is not required for SmartThings connectivity.
  • Devices can be discovered by going to either My Home > Add a Thing or Marketplace > SmartThings Labs > Sonos > Connect Now.
  • Sonos device names do not need to be unique in SmartThings but should be.
  • Sonos devices can be discovered when connected via Wifi or Ethernet.
  • Sonos devices should be on same network as SmartThings Hub.
  • The wifi network can be 2.4GHz or 5GHz, channel bandwidth up to 20/40/80/160.
  • Sonos uses channel 1, 6, or 11 for it’s wifi. Avoid overcrowded channels.
  • Zero Config does not need to be enabled.
  • Sonos devices should have fixed (reserved) IP addresses, not dynamically assigned via DHCP.
  • The fixed IP number should be low on the vlan or subnet, otherwise SmartThings can take 20-30 minutes or more to discover.
  • Sonos devices do not need to be on same subnet as SmartThings hub, but should be for faster discovery

Important Notes:

  • It is not uncommon for Sonos device discovery to take 20-30 minutes at the ‘Add a Thing’ screen. This is unusual compared to most devices. Be patient. It has taken some people multiple 20-30 minute sessions at the ‘Add a Thing’ screen before the Sonos can be added. (NOTE FOR SMARTTHINGS DEVELOPERS: It would be awesome to get to the bottom of this and see if the network discovery process can be made more efficient).
  • Use Live Logging to see if SmartThings recognizes your Sonos at the ‘Add a thing’ Screen. Log into http://account.smartthings.com, click on ‘My Locations’, click the name of your location, click ‘Live Logging’ and then click on ‘Super LAN connect’ to filter. You should see a block for ‘----- adding a device -----’ around your Sonos(es). Even after this appears, it can still take 20-30 minutes for the device to appear as a new thing in the SmartThings mobile app.
2

You left off one important item:

SmartThings / Sonos connectivity works best if you have fixed IP addresses for the Sonos devices. So, use the DHCP reservation feature in your DHCP provider (typically your router) to reserve a fixed IP address for each of your Sonos devices.

If you don’t do this, discovery should still work but at some point in the future, when one of your Sonos devices gets a new IP address, things will start misbehaving.

3 Likes
3

Thx @chuckles, added to confirmed requirements.

4

W00t, SmartThings finally found and added all my Sonos devices. I’ve updated the requirements in the initial post with what I can confirm. Hope this helps someone.

5

Why is it across all my Sonos zones in an inconsistent way in some cases ST will only add the Zone (which can have >1 speaker) while in other cases ST adds each individual speaker? I understand what you wrote above – but this is inconsistent. All my Sonos devices have static IPs now.

6

I seriously tried everything - all of the above mentioned and add some. ST cannot find my Sonos speakers. Any suggestions?

7

Rebooted router and St hub?
Assigned static ip# to Sonos speaker(s)?
Everything is on same subnet?
Any settings on router that could be blocking/isolating devices or other etc?

1 Like
8

Yes all on reserved IP. Yes all rebooted several times. Sonos speakers working perfectly and can be detected everywhere else (IFTTT, Stringify, Google WiFi). just not ST. Any suggestions?

9

Classic or STSC app?

10

YES! So you wrote one thing that triggered me - subnet. So what I did was to hook my ST hub to one of the Google WiFi extenders - and now it works! Finally :slightly_smiling_face:

11

Just picked up a Sonos Play:1, worked through all these steps, and still live logging never even shows the Sonos being detected. So much for best in class speakers. From the sounds of others on the forum, I’d probably have better luck in connecting a dumb speaker to a $20 DLNA bridge device? All I need to do is play some relaxing music when the door opens, shouldn’t be rocket science.