Hardware

Not all apps are software-based. Physical interfaces for a listener's sound are a key part of great experiences. Your hardware integration presents one of the quickest ways to get music and other content playing.

Many hardware integrations feature a screen. For these apps, other sound experience guidelines are relevant. You should follow these as well. If your hardware doesn't have a screen, user interaction becomes less obvious. Great experiences may need more user training and consistency. The guidelines in the section will help ensure that your app achieves this consistency.

Response Light Recommendations

All products have their own personalities and research findings on how to handle hardware lights. If you want your app to maintain maximum consistency with the Sonos experience, these are our recommendations based on our own testing and hardware.

Suggested

• Connecting or powering up: 8 white light flashes, repeated at 750ms between light flashes until connected or failure.
• Action taken: 8 white light flashes, repeated at 750ms between light flashes until connected or failure.
• Error: 4 red light flashes upon each action at 750ms between light flashes, repeat optional if applicable.
• Nothing to play or empty queue: 6 amber fashes over 1500 msec (6 x 250msec), no repeat.

Capacitive Touch Recommendations

All products have their own personalities and research findings on how to handle capacitive touch. If you want your app to maintain maximum consistency with the Sonos experience, these are our recommendations based on our own testing and hardware.

Suggested

• Single tap: Use for play/pause or quick actions.
• Multiple taps or hold on volume.
  • Tap or hold to the left of or above the play control to increase volume.
  • Tap or hold to the right of or below the play control to decrease volume.
• Swipe to skip forward or back.
  • Swipe from left to right to skip forward.
  • Swipe right to left to skip back.

Button Touch Recommendations

All products have their own personalities and research findings on how to handle hardware buttons. If you want your app to maintain maximum consistency with the Sonos experience, these are our recommendations based on our own testing and hardware.

Suggested

• Single press for quick actions. Single touches should result in immediate responses to an assigned action.
• Press and hold on a button is best used for ramping effects, such as:
  • Increasing or decreasing volume.
  • Scrubbing forward and backward on a track.