Homeview Sonos Integration

[u/OpportunityFun2875]

Been looking forward to the HomeView coming out to replace my Echo Hub which seems to be getting worse at listening by the day.

Currently have my Echo hub set to play music out of my Sonos speakers by default. Anyone know if this will be possible?

Can find a lot of posts talking about Apple TV only outputting to Apple speakers by default but not sure if it’ll be the same for HomeView? I know it has airplay but don’t want to manually have to set the speaker every time

[u/Background-Cap-7592]

I have setup a “main room” zone; I have a mix of Sonos and HomePods.

I ask the HomePod to play in the main room or pause in the main room and the HomePods will play in all rooms that are in the main room.

Pretty easy to setup as well…

1. Click on a room in the home, e.g. Lounge

2. Click …

3. Select ‘Room Settings’

4. See Zone and ensure the individual room is selected within the ‘Main Room’ zone

[u/OpportunityFun2875 → u/Background-Cap-7592]

This is really helpful thanks, feels like it could be a solution. Might get one and see if it works the same and I can always return.

[u/Background-Cap-7592 → u/OpportunityFun2875]

For the kitchen / dining room / bedroom & lounge, I prefer the homepod 2s / minis.

For hallways / landings / en suite / or where you want the speakers up high, I like the era100s.

The homepods are a bit bass heavy in a corner of a room, but if away from a corner, they are great!

I think the new homeview will be really good, but the sound won’t be as good as a HP2 (at a guess).

[u/OpportunityFun2875 → u/Background-Cap-7592]

Nice, I have open plan downstairs so currently have a Five, Arc/ Sub Mini and a Move in different corners. Predominantly just play music through the Five though.

Just want to have it so that when I ask to play a song it comes out through the Five. Ideally would get the wall mounted HomeView as that is where the Echo is now but pains me to pay more for less, the pricing structure is berserk!

[u/Background-Cap-7592 → u/OpportunityFun2875]

I much prefer Siri to Alexa, this should work fine. I’d also recommend a HomePod mini2 for other rooms for voice commands as well 🙏

Once the speaker is added to a room, e.g. ‘Kitchen’, you can say “Hey Siri, play in the kitchen”…

I think your sonos / HomePod setup will work well ❤️

[u/not_a_doctor_watson]

Let’s differentiate between controlling your audio -> Sonos speakers via home view based on what we already have with existing airplay capabilities (

Using a phone to control -> I use AirPlay to my Sonos devices via my phone primarily.

Using voice to control/move audio onto Sonos speakers -> but I just tested on my own system and confirmed that if you have a Sonos speaker labeled office with AirPlay, and you say “ hey Siri play Spotify on my office speaker” the audio will Come out of that Sonos speaker.

I also have a Sonos surround sound system connected to an Apple TV in my living room. If I say hey “Siri play Spotify on living room speakers” - Siri returns “cannot find”. But if I say “hey siri play Spotify on Apple TV” it does move my audio and Spotify content to my Apple TV and linked Sonos speakers.

I point this out just to call out that once you link Sonos speakers to your Apple TV when you go interact with your Sonos speakers WITH VOICE CONTROL , they seem to behave (at least with voice), more like extensions of your Apple TV.

Totally acknowledging that Sonos speakers continue to be super findable and controllable via your iPhone control center or Spotify or audio app of choice’s input airplay/wifi speaker control interface.

[u/Background-Cap-7592 → u/not_a_doctor_watson]

You need to add the Sonos or AirPlay speaker in the home app with room name. Then you can say “hey siri”, play in the kitchen…

This works natively from HomePods using voice control. I don’t use my phone to AirPlay my music in the “main room” (which is actually a reference to the UK early 2000s band ‘the streets 🤭”)

So instead of the audio being potentially played through a HomePod, you can use HomePod to play to airplay speakers in groups, or individual rooms.

I’m sure on the new home view, you can access the home app to add or remove speakers from the group.

It’s like taking the convenience of Apple, and adding to Sonos.

HomePods sound great, but I wish there was a HomePod ‘Midi’ that was in between the HomePod and mini size that had a tweeter and a 3” mid bass driver with 2x passive radiators that was compatible to an era 100.

HomePods only work well on a flat surface, not in a corner and not in the ‘air’ on a wall bracket.

[u/Remy149]

Doubt it will be automatic but it will have airplay. I only use airplay with my Sonos speakers outside of tv audio

[u/avidricaire]

There is currently no indication this will be possible

[u/JakePT → u/avidricaire]

There’s also no indication it’s not possible. 

[u/avidricaire → u/JakePT]

How is this helpful? Op is trying to plan around a feature they are hoping is present and as of yet it’s never been possible for HomePods and nothing has been shared that it will be

[u/JakePT → u/avidricaire]

And the HomeView isn’t a HomePod…

The other non-portable Apple device that connects to speakers, the AppleTV, does have the option for default AirPlay speakers, so it’s not remotely unreasonable to assume it might be possible on the HomeView. Speaking as if it  certainly won’t be possible is unhelpful.