Sonos has launched Sonos 27, an app and software update that lets outside AI assistants and agents control users’ speaker systems.
The update arrives alongside new soundbar and headphone launches, with Sonos moving to annual version numbers for the software platform that powers its entire product range from this release onward.
The launch follows Sonos’s troubled 2024 app update, which shipped without several key features and drew widespread criticism from users. That episode preceded the departure of former chief executive Patrick Spence and a 2025 in which the company released no new products.
Sonos hosts a public MCP, or model context protocol, server that any outside AI system such as ChatGPT can discover and connect to, letting it play songs, move audio between speakers or groups, and adjust volume without opening the Sonos app.
Sonos is also previewing Custom Agents, letting users build their own assistant with a chosen model, persona and voice, alongside a new Sonos 27 voice assistant built by the company itself for music and mood curation rather than general-purpose tasks.
A separate capability called Sonos Fabric lets compatible products sense the location of other speakers in a system and automatically adapt their role using a high-frequency sound signal, so a pair of Move 2 or Play speakers placed behind a sofa can switch to working as surround channels for a soundbar without manual setup.
Sonos Fabric also extends to the newly announced Ace Ultra headphones, linking them to a Sonos system so audio can be sent directly from speakers to the headphones as if they were another connected device. The feature launches in early access alongside the Ace Ultra headphones on September 29.
App redesign and new controls
Beyond the AI features, Sonos is redesigning its app navigation with persistent home, system and search tabs and the ability to pin favourite speakers, changes already tested over the summer that become the default alongside lock screen controls on iOS when the wider update rolls out on September 8.
The app update also introduces presets, letting users save a group of speakers, content and volume settings and recall the whole configuration with a single tap, avoiding a manual rebuild of a regular listening setup.
Apple users also gain a virtual volume knob, letting them twist two fingers anywhere in the app to adjust system volume, a redesigned iPad app suited to the larger screen, and support for Apple’s Shortcuts app to trigger custom automations through Siri.
Sonos 27 will roll out to any hardware currently running the company’s S2 platform, covering almost every product sold within the past decade aside from a small number of older S1 devices.
Sonos has not yet detailed how Custom Agents or the Sonos 27 voice assistant will work in practice, with further information expected as the software update continues to roll out.
