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You can now set Sonos speakers as the default playback option for Google Assistant

You can now set Sonos speakers as the default playback option for Google Assistant

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Requesting music from a Sonos speaker becomes a little bit easier

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Sonos only added Google Assistant as a voice playback option for its smart speakers last year, and the two companies are still working toward adding new features and building out a more robust software relationship. (Strangely, this relationship seems unaffected by the ongoing patent infringement lawsuit between the two companies.)

The newest feature, added through a server-side update today, is the ability to set a Sonos speaker as the default option for Google Assistant, a Sonos spokesperson tells The Verge. That means you’ll be able to request a song be played over your Sonos speakers through a Google phone, Home speaker, or Assistant-powered Smart Display without having to specify the room name, as your Assistant profile and that specific Sonos speaker or setup can be linked automatically from your profile.

You’ll also be able to have multiple default Sonos speakers, meaning you can link up to multiple Google devices to play depending on which one you’re sending the request to. If you want the Home speaker in your office to sync playback to the Sonos speaker in your office, you can set up that up in the Google Home app.

It’s a nice little shortcut that removes some of the somewhat laborious voice requests we often have to make of smart assistants today, some of which require you to specify multiple strings of information just to get a simple task performed. Now, you can just say, “Hey Google, play the new Tame Impala album,” and it should automatically sync playback to your Sonos speaker of choice.

Update February 19th, 1:57PM ET: Clarified that Google Assistant will let you have multiple default speakers, so you can have various Sonos devices paired to different Google devices.