How to Fix Alexa Multi-Room Audio Not Working or Unreachable

Alexa-enabled devices, such as the Echo and Echo Dot, have a great feature that allows you to listen to the same audio in multiple rooms. However, it doesn't always work as expected. You may find that music doesn't play on one or more of your Echo devices, or that one or more Alexa-enabled devices are unreachable during setup. Audio might not be synced correctly between the Echo devices.

If Alexa multi-room audio doesn't work for you, there are some easy steps to take to get this feature back up and running.

Causes of Alexa Multi-Room Audio Not Working

If Alexa multi-room audio doesn't work correctly, the problem might stem from a sync or connection issue that prevents one or more Echo devices from working with the multi-room audio feature.

In other cases, the issue is caused by the inclusion of Bluetooth speakers. Since Bluetooth introduces a delay, the multi-room audio feature may not work at all, or you may experience an unpleasant delay between Echo devices.

The problem might stem from an Amazon outage or hardware failure. Whatever the reason, there are troubleshooting steps that can return synced music harmony to your Alexa-enabled devices.

How to Fix the Alexa Multi-Room Audio Not Working Error

To troubleshoot an Alexa multi-room audio not working error, perform each of the following steps in the order we set here.

1. Connect the Echo devices to the same Wi-Fi network. If Alexa-enabled devices aren't connected to the same network, you'll experience the device unreachable error. Connect the Echo devices to the same Wi-Fi network and see if this solves the problem.

   If your router creates multiple Wi-Fi networks, make sure all your Alexa devices are connected to the same one. If the devices aren't, multi-room audio won't work.

2. Switch the Echo devices from 5 GHz Wi-Fi to 2.4 GHz. If your router has both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks, connect all your Alexa-enabled devices and your phone to the 2.4 GHz network. Wi-Fi networks on the 2.4 GHz band are slower but are more reliable, which is important if Alexa devices are spread out across a large area.

3. Disconnect Bluetooth speakers from the Alexa-enabled device. If you have any Echo devices paired to Bluetooth speakers, remove the connection before including that device in your multi-room group. The Alexa app may fail to add them, or you may experience an unpleasant delay between the audio output of your various Alexa devices if you do manage to include them.

4. Try different Alexa commands. If you normally say, "Alexa, play (playlist) on all devices," try saying, "Alexa, play (playlist) on the (everywhere group)." Replace "playlist" with the name of one of your playlists, and "everywhere group" with the name of your multi-room audio group.

5. Play music from a different supported audio source. If you're playing Spotify, ask Alexa to play music from Pandora, or another supported source, on your multi-room group.

   Alexa multi-room music supports Amazon Music, Prime Music, Apple Music, Spotify, Sirius XM, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio.

6. Restart the Alexa-enabled device. Restart any Echo device that isn't working with multi-room audio, then check to see if multi-room audio works.

7. Restart the router and modem. After the router and modem are back up and running, make sure your Echo devices are connected to the correct Wi-Fi network, then check to see if multi-room audio works.

8. Delete your multi-room music group. Delete the group from the Alexa app, and then create it again from scratch. After you delete and remake the group, say, "Alexa, play (playlist) on (group name)."

9. Delete and reinstall the Alexa app on your phone. After you reinstall the app, create your multi-room music group again. Check to see if it works by saying, "Alexa, play (playlist) on (group name)."

10. Reset the Amazon Echo device. Perform a factory reset only on the devices that aren't working with multi-room audio, as you'll have to set up the device again, reconnect it to Wi-Fi, and add it to your Amazon account.

11. See if the problem is on Amazon's end. Contact Amazon support to see if the company is experiencing any issues. Or, visit DownDetector to see if there are any Amazon outages.

12. Visit the Amazon Alexa help page. Amazon offers a wealth of Alexa troubleshooting information along with chat help and forums. You may be able to find your answer there.

    Check the Amazon Echo subreddit for similar complaints, or search other social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook for complaints.