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Get music playing quickly on your favourite Sonos speakers
There’s a feature on Sonos speakers that’s probably our favourite one. It’s also one that made it across to the new Sonos app when the company redesigned it earlier this year. The problem with it is, it’s not particularly easy to find. It hangs out in the same place as Alarms now do on Sonos, and that’s not a place you’ll come across all that regularly.
We’ve rounded up the best tips and tricks specifically for the new Sonos app in a separate feature and you can also read our overarching tips and tricks in another feature. Here though, we are going to take you through how to create preset groups for your Sonos speakers so when you are having a BBQ over the summer or a dinner party in the winter, you can tap one button to get all the Sonos speakers you want playing tunes for your guests straight away.
What you’ll need
- Your Sonos speakers
- The Sonos app
- Your smartphone or tablet
The short version
- Open the Sonos app.
- Tap on the Settings cog in the top right.
- Tap ‘Manage‘ next to Your System.
- Tap on ‘Groups‘.
- Tap on ‘Create Group‘.
- Give your preset group a name.
- Select the speakers you want to be part of your preset group.
- Tap on ‘Save‘.
Once you create a preset group of speakers on Sonos, they will be available to choose by their custom name. The name of the preset group will appear above the list of speakers you have when you tap on the grouping icon (two speakers) in the mini Now Playing screen.
Tap on it and select ‘Apply’ and the music you are playing will then transfer to all the speakers within that preset group you have created. It is perfect for when you’re having a garden party for example, and you want to get music flowing through your home quickly rather than having to find a playlist and then select each individual speaker separately from the list.
You don’t need to create preset groups for everything of course, but having a couple like garden party, or perhaps football, means you can get music or commentary playing with just a couple of taps.
That’s it! You shouldn’t need to do anything else. Each time you want music to play on the speakers in one of your preset groups, just follow that last step. It’s worth noting that if you want your TV audio to come through other speakers in your home – good for sporting events – then make sure your Sonos soundbar is included in your the same group.
FAQs
Yes. Including your Sonos soundbar in a preset group is a good way to get TV audio playing throughout your home, which is perfect for watching sports, allowing you to follow the action around your home.
Sonos preset groups allow you to group specific Sonos speakers together and save them with a custom name. This way, you can easily play music on all those speakers at once with just a couple of taps, instead of having to select them individually each time.
Sonos doesn’t specify a limit on the number of preset groups you can create. It’s a good idea to only create groups you’ll realistically use though otherwise you’re going to clutter the options and make it harder to find than just selecting the speakers individually.
