You can now say ‘Hey Sonos’ to control your Sonos speaker and not much else

Sonos’ voice assistant is now live in the US, laser-focused on playback controls

Sonos announced its voice assistant dubbed Sonos Voice Control last month, with claims of offering "unmatched privacy" and the ability to continue a conversation without repeatedly saying "Hey Sonos." The company promised to roll out the assistant as a free update to all compatible speakers and soundbars in its product catalog in early June. True to its word, Sonos Voice Control is now available for all Sonos speakers with a built-in microphone.

Engadget reports that if you have a compatible Sonos speaker, you set up the voice assistant through the Sonos app. After that, you can say "Hey Sonos" and ask it to play music from Sonos Radio, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, and Pandora. Support for YouTube Music and Spotify is missing for now, but that may change in the future. Once you start listening to music using an incompatible service, you'll still be able to use voice commands to control music playback.

You can also use the assistant to control entire Sonos systems in your home regardless of whether they have a built-in microphone or not. For example, you can ask the Sonos speaker in your living room to play music on the speaker in your bedroom. The assistant lacks support for controlling your smart home devices or telling the weather status, though, which could be a bummer for many.

The reason might be that Sonos puts privacy at the core of the experience. Sonos Voice Control will process all your requests locally—no data is recorded or sent to the cloud. One standout aspect of the assistant is that it has been voiced by Breaking Bad's Giancarlo Esposito, who has one of the smoothest pipes in the business. The assistant is slated to make its way to France with French support later this year. But for now, it is only available to users in the US with English support.

With this move, Sonos is not replacing Google Assistant or Alexa on its devices. You can continue to use Assistant or Alexa if you prefer them. However, having its own voice assistant could be helpful for the company down the line, especially as its fight with Google has gone from bad to worse.

To celebrate the launch of its voice assistant, Sonos is offering a rare 20% discount on its two portable speakers: Move and Sonos Roam. The sale will last from June 4th through June 12th, so you have a few days in your hand to decide whether you want to buy the speakers or not.

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