Sonos speakers have no built-in intercom feature — but you can use them as a local announcement system over UPnP on your home network. The free Android app HausFunk records a voice message and plays it through your Wi-Fi on any Sonos rooms — no cloud, no account, no extra hardware. Music that was playing resumes automatically right where it left off.
Why the Sonos app can't make announcements — and how to do it anyway
The official Sonos app still offers no intercom or announcement feature. If you want to call "Dinner's ready!" into every room, your only other options are workarounds: Alexa announcements run through Amazon's cloud and need an Amazon account; Home Assistant solutions require your own server and configuration effort.
Yet every Sonos speaker has spoken an open, local protocol since the very first generation (2005): UPnP on port 1400. That's exactly what HausFunk uses — the app sends the recording straight from your smartphone to the speakers, without any audio leaving your home network. It works across generations: from the Play:1 (2013) to the Arc Ultra (2024), and with S1 and S2 systems side by side in the same household.
How an announcement works with HausFunk
- Install and open the app — HausFunk finds all Sonos speakers on your Wi-Fi automatically (SSDP discovery, takes a few seconds). No sign-in, no setup.
- Select rooms — tap the room cards to pick one or several rooms. Announcement volume can be set per room.
- Record — tap the microphone button, speak, tap again.
- Done — the announcement plays in the selected rooms. If music was playing there, it resumes automatically at the remembered position — including track and playback position.
What the app can do — as of June 2026
HausFunk has been available on the Google Play Store since May 2026 and has been installed nearly 600 times since then (as of June 2026). The app is completely free, with no ads and no in-app purchases. The interface is available in 5 languages (German, English, French, Spanish, Italian).
Voice announcements to any room
Record, pick rooms, send — with individual volume per room. Stereo pairs and home-cinema setups (e.g. Arc + Sub + surrounds) are correctly treated as a single room.
Play music from your phone on Sonos — something the Sonos app can no longer do
Since version 3.2, HausFunk also plays local audio files straight from your smartphone on Sonos — MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC and OGG. Either via the Android share menu ("Share → HausFunk" from any app) or via the built-in file picker. The official Sonos app removed its "On this device" feature on Android back in May 2023 and hasn't brought it back since — Sonos itself points to workarounds like Bluetooth, NAS shares or cloud uploads. HausFunk closes this gap directly, the same local way as announcements: your phone serves the file over Wi-Fi, the speaker plays it.
Music resumes after the announcement
Before every announcement, HausFunk remembers what's playing — including track number and playback position — and resumes exactly there afterwards. This works with the Sonos library, Sonos playlists, radio stations and Spotify started from within the Sonos app.
Saved announcements (quick messages)
Since version 3.3, frequent announcements ("Dinner's ready!", "Leaving in 5 minutes!") can be recorded once, named, and then sent again to the rooms you want with a single tap — without re-recording them each time.
HausFunk, the Sonos app, Alexa or Home Assistant — which fits when?
| Feature | HausFunk | Sonos app | Alexa Drop-In / Announcement | Home Assistant |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Announcements on Sonos | Yes | No | Echo devices only | Yes (with configuration) |
| Runs fully locally | Yes, Wi-Fi only | Partly (cloud account needed) | No, Amazon cloud | Yes |
| Account required | No | Yes (Sonos account) | Yes (Amazon account) | No |
| Play local phone files | Yes (MP3/WAV/M4A/FLAC/OGG) | No (removed in May 2023) | No | Limited |
| Extra hardware / server | None | None | Echo devices | Own server |
| Setup effort | None (auto-discovery) | Low | Medium | High |
| Cost | €0, no ads | €0 | Device cost | €0 + server hardware |
Privacy: what happens to the recording?
Nothing that leaves your home. The voice recording is cached on your smartphone, sent directly to the speakers over Wi-Fi, and deleted immediately after the announcement. HausFunk uses no cloud, no analytics services, no tracking, and stores no data in Google backups. The only permission the app requests is microphone access. Details are in the privacy policy.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. HausFunk uses the UPnP protocol, which every Sonos generation supports identically — from the Play:1 (2013) through Play:5, Beam, Era 100/300 to the Arc Ultra (2024). S1 and S2 systems also work side by side in the same household.
No. Announcements run exclusively over your local Wi-Fi. HausFunk needs neither an internet connection nor a user account — the app's internet permission is used only to communicate with the speakers on your home network.
Yes. Before the announcement, HausFunk saves the playback state including track and playback position and restores it afterwards. This applies to the Sonos library, playlists, radio and Spotify when started from the Sonos app.
This is a limitation of the Sonos platform, not the app: streams sent directly to the speaker via Spotify Connect, AirPlay, Apple Music or Amazon Music use a cloud session that technically cannot be restored after an interruption. HausFunk detects such streams and warns you before the announcement — afterwards, playback has to be restarted once in the source app.
Yes, since version 3.2. The app plays MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC and OGG files from your smartphone on any Sonos rooms — via the Android share menu or the built-in file picker. The official Sonos app removed this feature ("On this device") on Android in May 2023 and no longer offers it.
Almost: there's a technically unavoidable offset of typically 100 to 300 milliseconds between rooms, because each room is addressed individually. For everyday announcements this is practically unnoticeable.
Nothing. HausFunk is free, contains no ads and no in-app purchases. The app is a private project — anyone who likes can support it voluntarily with a donation.
No, HausFunk is an Android-only app (Android 8.0 and up). An iOS version is not currently planned, as it would require a complete rebuild.
No. No analytics services, no tracking, no accounts. Voice recordings are deleted after the announcement and are excluded from Android backup. The app requests microphone access as its only permission.
Yes. Stereo pairs and bonded home-cinema configurations (soundbar + sub + surround speakers) appear correctly as a single room. Temporary playback groups from the Sonos app also remain selectable as individual rooms.
Try HausFunk
HausFunk is available for free on the Google Play Store. All features, screenshots and legal information are on the HausFunk product page.
About the author: Dr. Philipp Wagner has been developing HausFunk as a private project since 2026 and runs a mixed Sonos system of S1 and S2 devices himself (Play:1, Play:5, Era 100, Arc, Arc Ultra, Sub). Contact:
Trademark notice: HausFunk is an independent product and is not manufactured, endorsed or authorized by Sonos, Inc. Sonos® and all related product names are registered trademarks of Sonos, Inc.