How to Set Up a Sonos Speaker

Sonos makes Wi-Fi speakers — not Bluetooth. That distinction matters. Bluetooth speakers connect directly to your phone and the audio cuts out if you walk too far away. Sonos speakers connect to your home Wi-Fi network, which means the music plays consistently regardless of where your phone is in the house. You use the Sonos app on your phone as a remote control, but the speaker streams music on its own once you've set it up.

Sonos speakers are known for their sound quality and for making it easy to play music in multiple rooms at the same time. If you have a Sonos speaker in the kitchen and one in the living room, you can sync them so the same song plays in both rooms at the same volume — or play different music in each room independently.

To get started, plug your Sonos speaker in and download the free Sonos app on your iPhone or Android. Open the app and tap Set Up a New System (or Add a Product if you already have a Sonos system). The app walks you through connecting the speaker to your Wi-Fi network. Keep your Wi-Fi password handy.

Once connected, the app prompts you to name the room the speaker is in — this is how you'll refer to it when grouping rooms or asking a voice assistant to play music in a specific space. Choose something descriptive like "Kitchen" or "Bedroom."

Adding music services is done in the Sonos app under Browse. Tap Add Music Services and you'll see options for Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Pandora, iHeartRadio, YouTube Music, and others. Sign in to any service you already subscribe to and it integrates directly — no phone required to play once you've started a song.

Sonos Radio is a free built-in feature that streams radio stations and themed radio channels without any subscription. It's a great fallback if you don't use any streaming services.

TruePlay is a room calibration feature (available on most Sonos speakers) that uses your phone's microphone to measure how sound bounces around your specific room and adjusts the speaker's output to compensate. Run it once after setup for noticeably better sound.

For TV audio, Sonos makes dedicated soundbar products — the Arc (premium), Beam (mid-range), and Ray (compact). These connect via HDMI ARC to your TV and can be expanded with Sonos One satellites for surround sound.

Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa can both be added to Sonos for voice control. Go to the Sonos app settings to enable whichever assistant you prefer.