Sonos is giving its speakers a new set of tricks, and this isn’t just a new hardware release. The company has been working on improving the Sonos app experience. The Sonos 27 has begun rolling out, bringing AI control through services such as ChatGPT and Claude. We covered the platform’s announcement last week, but the first wave of features is now becoming available to users. The update is free for Sonos S2 products, with individual features depending on the hardware.
Sonos handed ChatGPT the remote, and its app is getting a second chance
The big new addition is Sonos 27mcp, an Early Access integration built on the Model Context Protocol. Once connected and authorized, it lets an external AI assistant control your Sonos system from its own interface. So in practice, you could ask ChatGPT to play music in the kitchen or adjust the volume without leaving the conversation you are already having. Sonos names ChatGPT and Claude as supported examples, with the initial rollout focused on US English users.
Sonos is also developing its own music-focused AI assistant, Sonos 27voice, which can understand requests based on moods or vague descriptions of songs. That arrives in Early Access later this fall, initially in the US and English, while customizable agents with their own personalities and voices are planned for 2027.
Your backyard speakers can become movie-night surrounds
Portable surrounds are another useful hardware feature. A matched pair of Move 2 or Sonos Play speakers can detect their position near a compatible soundbar and automatically switch into rear-surround duty. The supported soundbars are Arc Ultra, Arc, Beam Ultra, and Beam Gen 2. When movie night is over, you can pick the speakers up and take them elsewhere.
Headphone linking is also coming, allowing the new Ace Ultra headphones to move audio between the headphones and compatible Sonos speakers over Wi-Fi. It arrives in Early Access on September 29 alongside the headphones. The original Ace does not receive this feature, so existing headphone owners should not assume the software update unlocks full system integration.
The app still has something to prove
For many Sonos owners, the app improvements may matter more than another AI assistant. The 2024 redesign removed familiar features and introduced serious reliability problems, damaging the company’s reputation among its most loyal customers. Sonos 27 expands the improved navigation in July, with Home, System, and Search tabs, better room organization, and a virtual volume knob controlled with a two-finger gesture.
The September update also adds Siri and Shortcuts support, a refreshed iPad layout, and additional queue and music-service controls. Presets and new system-health views are due later this fall. The update is rolling out in phases, so it may not appear on every device immediately. Sonos has confirmed that the navigation rollout is moving beyond the earlier optional testing phase. After the trouble caused by its last major redesign, the real test will be whether these improvements make the system more dependable in everyday use.
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