Airpods pause with Sonos integration

[fivecents]

PLAN

Premium Family

USA

DEVICE

Macbook Pro 2018

MacOS 10.14.3

When my Airpods are connected to my Mac and I'm streaming music via the Spotify app for Mac to my Sonos system (in-home), removing the connected Airpods from my ears pauses play.  This behavior makes sense if I'm listening to the music on my Airpods (ie. not streaming to Sonos speaker), but this is not the case as it is playing via Sonos speakers.

Of note, the Sonos integration on the Spotify App was used to initiatie the stream.  NOT the Sonos App with Spotify integation.

[Peter]

Hey @fivecents.

Thanks for reaching out to us about this.

Just to confirm, do you want for Spotify to not pause when you remove your AirPods?

Also, is there a reason why you are wearing your AirPods while streaming music from your Mac to your Sonos sound system if you're not listening to the music on the AirPods?

We're asking this to get a clearer picture of how you listen to Spotify so we'll be in a better position to help 🙂

Thanks! Looking forward to hearing back from you.

[fivecents]

Thx for responding Peter.

Yes, when the situation exists (ie. streaming Spotify to Sonos), I do not want it to pause playback.

The situation is one in which I'm on a call (ex. Skype) or listening to some other program using AirPods, but also streaming music to Sonos for other members in the house.  To be more specific, I'm streaming some music in the home from my Mac while doing work that requires me to be on my AirPods (ex. a conference call), and when my wife asks me a question, I take out my AirPods to hear her, but don't necessarily want the music to stop playing (being enjoyed by the entire household independent of my actions). Make sense? 

[Peter]

Hey @fivecents.

Thanks for getting back to us and for clarifying that - it makes a lot of sense now 🙂

I think the only way to be able to avoid this happening is by streaming to Sonos from another device, e.g. from a mobile device. That way, even if you have your AirPods connected to your desktop, removing them shouldn't have any effect.

Let us know if that solves the issue for you! We'll be here in case you have any further questions.

[ProxxiM]

I am working in a space with two other people and am in control of the music on our Sonos speaker, which I control with Spotify on my MacBook.

But sometimes I need to watch a small video or have a call, in which case I use my AirPods. The music continues playing when I start using the AirPods, but stops when I'm done and put them back in their charging case. I don't need the music to stop at that moment. To me it makes no sense the music even stops, as it was not even playing on the AirPods: Why would they even be in control of stopping the music in this use case?

[Alex]

Hey @ProxxiM,

Thanks for reaching out about this in the Community!

This music pause is most likely happening because Spotify detects that a sound output device is disconnected, which is what happens when you put the Bluetooth headphones away. 

Can you try streaming music from your phone to the speaker, and then watch a video from your Mac with the headphones connected and let us know if the music stops. 

Keep us posted on this.

[ProxxiM]

Hi Alex,

With that setup there's no problem. But that's not the way that I want to use Spotify. Can't there be a setting to override this behaviour?

[Yordan]

Hi @ProxxiM,

Thanks for the confirmation.

This isn't possible as of yet. When the app detects that an output device has been disconnected, the music pauses automatically. You can use the workaround mentioned by @Alex in the meantime. We do understand this isn't exactly what you'd like, but currently there aren't any plans to change this functionality. If there are any, we'll make sure to post an update.

The Community is always here if there's anything else you need assistance with.
 

Take care.

[markegge]

Bump. With the fancy way that AirPods now connect to both my Mac and my iPhone, it doesn't matter if I start the Spotify playlist on Sonos from my iPhone or my Mac, every time I pull out my AirPods (e.g. at the end of a conference call) it pauses the music that's being streamed.

[Steijn]

Why would you pause the stream when you'r not stream over the AirPods? It's just doesn't make sense, and very annoying!! Adding a setting to disable this behaviour would be a welcoming feature.