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Soro app brings HomePod-like intercom to Sonos speakers

Back in 2020, Apple launched its handy intercom feature for HomePod and HomePod mini. Fast forward to 2023 and that feature isn’t yet native on Sonos speakers. Now Soro For Sonos has received an update that brings intercom capability and more.

Soro first launched back in 2021 as a way to take Siri and Apple’s Shortcuts app support further on Sonos speakers with 24 different useful actions.

Now Soro has received a neat update that brings a HomePod-like intercom for Sonos users. While integrations like Amazon Alexa’s announce feature do work through some Sonos speakers, Soro Siri intercom support is nice for those who want to stick with a native Apple experience.

New with Soro 1.4

  • ‘Speak Text’ action aka Intercom for Sonos: Similar to the Intercom action available for the HomePod, this action lets users play messages (or media files) on any of their supported Sonos speakers utilizing the text to speech features built into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS and continue the already playing content after the message. Users can set the voice and the language to any of the available ones on their device (downloaded under Spoken Content – Voices option in Settings) and adjust the pitch and speed rate as well. In addition to using text to speech, the action can take local or remote media files as input.
  • Additional new actions:
    • Create Alarm, Delete Alarm and Update Alarm
    • Create/Separate Stereo Pair
  • Various fixes to improve speed of execution and reliability

Supported speakers with the new intercom feature include: Sonos One, Amp, Port, Play:5 (gen 2), Beam, One SL, Move, SYMFONISK table lamp with WiFi, SYMFONISK WiFi bookshelf along with all newer speakers using the Sonos S2 system.

As for official intercom support from Sonos, back in January, a rep from the company said that feature request was shared with the “relevant teams for consideration.”

Get Soro

Soro For Sonos is available on the App Store as a one-time purchase of $7.99 (universal app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac) with no in-app purchases or subscriptions.

And here are the other Siri Shortcuts that come with the app:

  • Group/Ungroup
  • Set Volume
  • Play/Pause/Stop
  • Mute/Unmute
  • Load Music and Favorites
  • Load URL
  • Set a Sleep Timer
  • Set Line-In input
  • Set TV input
  • Speak Text
  • Create/Separate Stereo Pair
  • Get Alarms
  • Create/Update/Delete Alarm
  • Change Repeat/Shuffle
  • Adjust Equalizer Settings (Treble/Bass/Loudness/Trueplay)
  • Turn Speech Enhancement On/Off
  • Turn Night Mode On/Off
  • Adjust subwoofer and surround sound settings
  • Set Crossfade
  • Set TV Autoplay
  • Set TV Dialog Sync Delay
  • Get Bandcamp Purchases
  • Wake Speaker
  • Set Touch Control

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Author

Avatar for Michael Potuck Michael Potuck

Michael is an editor for 9to5Mac. Since joining in 2016 he has written more than 3,000 articles including breaking news, reviews, and detailed comparisons and tutorials.


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