Sonos has now expanded its ongoing Works with Sonos program to include support for IFTTT integration, bringing millions of automation options to its smart speaker lineup. For clarity, the program is intended to ensure that as many products and services as possible work alongside and in conjunction with Sonos-branded connected products. The addition of support for and partnership with the generally brand-agnostic program IFTTT – which stands for ‘if this, then that’ – is a relatively big step toward that goal. In short, that’s because IFTTT is available for Android and other platforms and effectively allows users to create their own algorithms for automation.
For example, an Android user might create a program which begins each time they receive a Facebook message or a message from a specific contact that causes their Sonos Speaker to play a notification tone or other sound. Delving deeper still, a user might add a condition which checks for a song being sent within a message. The program could then use the speaker to play the song automatically when one is detected – or to simply read the message aloud when certain keywords are spotted in a message. However, those extend well beyond Facebook. Sonos provides a further example wherein a radio station begins playing when the smart lock on the front door is disabled or a specific song playing everytime a delivery order for pizza is on the way. The possibilities are effectively endless thanks to IFTTT’s integration with more than 600 applications and thousands of active developers working to create complex programs through the application for their IoT smart home environment.
Moreover, it isn’t at all difficult to set up a customized program to run. Those are based on the simple concept which can be summed up with the phrase “if this happens, then make that happen.” That’s also the flow shown when creating a new IFTTT command, with the creation UI set up into two pages – one for the “if” and the other for the “that.” Each page contains easy-to-read options clearly laid out to be as straightforward as possible. When Sonos actions are selected, in the meantime, users will have access to playback and volume controls or pre-defined favorite songs, albums, or artist playlists.