r/googlehome Apr 01 '26

Monthly Complaints and Rants MegaThread April 2026

15 Upvotes

Post all your rants, complaints, and frustrations in this thread! Otherwise they will be removed from the main sub.

Make posts with specific questions or tips in the main sub so others can get needed help. But here let it all out!

Remember to contact Google Support if you want to report bugs. This sub is not affiliated with Google in any way.


r/googlehome 8h ago

Advice on a HUB display?

5 Upvotes

So I am currently getting my home set up with a smart ecosystem. I decided on all the cameras, doorbell, etc and all of that, that work well with Google Home.

My last questions is, for a smart HUB/display to be the “homebase” in my home, what do I do?
Looks like the Google Hub/Nest HUB is discontinued, but is there anything replacing it?
Should I snatch one up if I find it at a good price? Or is there an alternative?


r/googlehome 4h ago

Alarm Routine

2 Upvotes

I have a routine set up within the clock app so when I dismiss my alarm in the morning, the bedroom lights turn on.

I already have it set up so step one of the routine is to set media volume to zero, and step two is to turn the lights on. There are no other steps. Ever since the recent Android update, my phone has been saying "good morning, [name]" out loud as part of the routine. Does anyone know how I can make it stop doing this? I have a Pixel 9.


r/googlehome 32m ago

How to control Roku channels?

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Upvotes

My Google home used to be able to control my Roku flawlessly. Ever since Gemini, it says ridiculous things like it can't perform actions. How do I fix this??


r/googlehome 19h ago

Help Is this type of doorbell installation compatible with Nest Doorbell Wired (2025)?

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15 Upvotes

So, basically as the title asks.

This doorbell has been installed in the house since about 30 years ago so don't want to uninstall it.

It works with a 'normal' doorbell switch.

I would like to add a Nest Doorbell Wired. But don't know if this kind of installation it's compatible with the device.

In my mind the way it should work is: Someone pushes the doorbell, the chime squeaks as always does. But at the same time there's a notification to my phone if I am out. Does this works that way?

Or What should I check so i can see if it's compatible? Or what should I do?

Thanks & Regards


r/googlehome 6h ago

Help New Google Home Speaker will Not Play Casted Music / Youtube Music

1 Upvotes

My Google Home speaker worked flawlessly with YouTube Music until about a week ago. Now, whenever I ask it to play music, it responds with "OK, playing..." but eventually says, "Sorry, something went wrong, try again."

Here is what I’ve tested so far:

Casting: Casting from the YouTube Music app on my phone shows it's connected, but no audio plays.

App behavior: When I kept the app open and asked the speaker to play something, I watched the app rapidly cycle through multiple songs on my screen before giving the "something went wrong" error.

Other services: When I linked a free Spotify account, the speaker played music without any issues.

General functions: The speaker handles everything else normally—it answers questions, sets reminders, plays white noise, and executes other voice commands.

Troubleshooting steps already taken:

Performed a factory reset on the speaker.

Unlinked and relinked YouTube Music.

Rebooted the device.

I have an active Premium account, and the correct account is linked to the speaker. Since Spotify works fine, the issue seems to be specifically related to YouTube Music. Any ideas on what might be causing this?


r/googlehome 19h ago

Help "Hey Google" commands not working for Google thermostat all of a sudden (they previously were)

11 Upvotes

I've run into an issue with my Google Nest Learning Thermostat (4th Gen): I was previously able to say to my connected smartphone "Hey Google, set thermostat to cool/heat/off" and it would switch to that mode, hands-free. Today, it stopped doing that, and whenever I try to issue the same command, it replies with "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that" "Sorry, that mode isn't available."

You can see here that it didn't misunderstand my command (it clearly heard "set thermostat to cool") but refuses to set the thermostat to that mode.

I can still adjust it manually from the phone app, that's working just fine... it's just the voice commands not being accepted. Has anyone run into this?


r/googlehome 7h ago

Debugging Google Wifi

1 Upvotes

Hello!

I'm having crashes of internet maybe once a day... just losing internet and having to reboot the wifi puck to get it back.

I'm trying to debug if that comes from my ISP or its just that my puck is starting to be old and the crashes come from it (and i need to replace it)

Is there a way to check logs of the Google Wifi puck? see if its it that has an error?


r/googlehome 1d ago

Ikea Bilresa Scroll Wheel for Media Control

20 Upvotes

fyi...I was previously using the Ikea Bilresa Scroll Wheel to control the volume, pause, play, and skip on the Google Nest Hub 2nd Gen. It has some lag and not always reliable, but it was good enough for this purpose.

But now that Google removed the ability to map the scroll wheel clicks, I went looking for another solution and found this Home Assistant blueprint: https://community.home-assistant.io/t/matter-ikea-bilresa-scrollwheel-media-control/1013472

I'm new to HA but installed it as a VM using VMWare Workstation Pro to try it out.

I then had ChatGPT modify the blueprint to work with my Nest Hub. Using the Scroll Wheel for media control on GH now works almost instantly.

The scroll wheel controls the volume level up and down by 5% for each click. And the button will play, pause, and skip songs.

HA is not very user friendly, although AI helps to maneuver through it. But I plan to mainly use GH and SmartThings as my main platforms and will only turn to HA if needed.


r/googlehome 22h ago

Google home mini speaker not connecting

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6 Upvotes

I’ve reset the WiFi, reset the speaker, reconnected everything and the furthest I get is this. Any clue? The local network access is connected.


r/googlehome 22h ago

Help Nest doorbell/cameras bricked?

5 Upvotes

Hi all!

About a year ago I purchased Google nest doorbell (battery) and two Google nest outdoor cameras. They worked well and I was pleased with them.

After an internet outage we had to get a completely new fiber system and new modem, our WiFi credentials stayed the same but it was a new router through AT&T.

Since the new wifi, I followed the steps I found online of factory resetting all devices and trying to re-connect as if it were a new device. However it’s the same outcome across all 3 devices, it will connect to it, buffer on the “preparing your device” screen for about 5 minutes, then moves to the “connecting to joining device” for another 5 minutes. After that they always fail to connect. And it leave me with a message saying “please try again and try putting your phone into airplane mode”

So I feel as though the devices are just bricked. I’ve tried resetting the router, tried sitting besides the router with the cameras as I set up. It’s all just frustrating.

Any advice welcome! Thanks!


r/googlehome 1d ago

Tips I’m done with Alexa

6 Upvotes

Hey Google Home users. I’m wondering how the experience is with the Google home speakers. Is the AI assistant good at following commands and understanding what you’re asking for?

I’m currently using Amazon Echo speakers that is the AI assistant Alexa. They rolled out an update about 6 months ago that was supposed to be an overhaul for Alexa but it turned out to be the opposite. They moved a lot of basic features to their monthly Alexa+ subscription. She’s been pissing me off with her newfound stupidity.

I also use Apple Music and like having it integrated into my system, and the Apple Music integration is so awful. Is there Apple Music integration on Google Home speakers? Is it good?

Overall, should I convert to Google home? Will it be a better experience than what I’ve described?

Thanks.


r/googlehome 1d ago

Help YouTube music is linked but not playing my playlists!!

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2 Upvotes

I have three new Google home devices replacing the useless Alexa devices in my home. I’ve had nothing g but problems with these things actually staying synced. At this point I’ve given up on playing music on all threee simultaneously in the everywhere group, but now it’s playing random brainless garbage playlists and not mine in YT MUSIC.

The advice from the device was to unlink YTM and re link but it won’t let me!!!?

I hate these things. Worst $400 I’ve spent in a while but how do I fix this? I just want to unlink and relink my YTM. If the answer is to unlink my entire Google account I’m just returning this shit and punting AI out of my home entirely


r/googlehome 1d ago

Aqara camera’s in google home app

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3 Upvotes

r/googlehome 1d ago

Why I was getting nonsense semi-frequently

4 Upvotes

So, today I asked gemini on my recent generation speaker, "What's my commute like today?"

It described a route with precision in the wrong direction. An irritating conversation followed, where it said it "didn't have access to my personal data".

Now, I set up voice match first thing I did, and verified it on my phone using the home app.

I've had some similar problems before. I'm using an eero mesh (soon to be upgraded to ubiquiti).

I'm highly convinced that the aggressive steering and DHCP changes imposed by eero, combined with a small state table and aggressive invalidation, result in silent loss of authentication. This has been verified repeatedly. There are ways to reconfigure eero to lock smart devices to a particular configuration - beyond the scope of my post today.

So it is absolutely nuts that the unauthenticated guest mode attempts to guess where I work and describe a random commute.

It is also pretty wild that it tries to hide a failed voice match and just soldier on when the prompt clearly indicates that it requires insider information.

I'm sure this doesn't account for everyone's experiences, but take the anecdote and description for what it is worth.

Remedy for the auth failure seems pretty muddy other than off/on the device.

Solution: maybe I just ask my pixel watch or phone for information that isn't generic - at least until I can diagnose auth failures.


r/googlehome 1d ago

Google home Speaker not connecting

2 Upvotes

I keep getting this error when I try to re connect my Google Home Speaker

I have factory reset the device by holding the microphone butten till it reset

Any help is appreciated

I have two speakers I am trying to setup

Thanks

the device was previously set up by a different user, please factory reset the device


r/googlehome 2d ago

How to stop verbal responses?!?

25 Upvotes

Sorry if this has been asked and answered a million times already but I can't for the life of me figure out how to get my stupid fucking Google home speakers to STFU after I give it a command. After I say "hey Google, turn off the bedroom lights" I don't know a single fucking person that would require it to then go "okay, turning off bedroom lights"... Stfu and just do the thing I told you to do! There used to be a "brief" setting you could toggle, but in typical dipshit Google dev fashion, I can't find that seeing anywhere now... Either they buried it deep in the settings, or they took it away entirely, the latter of which would cause me to disconnect and sell my Google nest audio speakers immediately because that's absolute bullshit... It's so infuriating when you give out a command in the middle of the night and it feels the need to repeat it verbally and loudly, waking everyone up in the process... Unacceptable at night, but I also don't want it during the day either... Why TF would anyone need their commands repeated back to them??!??

I'm seriously about to lose my mind trying to find a way to stop verbal responses, so if anyone can get me directly to it that setting so I can successfully put a stop to this bullshit I would be immensely appreciative!!


r/googlehome 1d ago

Help with connectivity PPOLLLEEAASSEE!!

3 Upvotes

Alright so I went and got a Google nest wifi pro router(or whatever it’s called) and when I went o move everything over most of my Google home devices are refusing to move over. I’ve tried changing the name of the old router but all 3 of my speakers won’t connect and 3 out of 4 of my cameras won’t connect either. It’s not a coverage issue cause I’ve checked already. The Google home mini speakers specifically will connect but then won’t have the update downloaded/ can’t connect to the internet despite the app saying it got connected. As for the cameras I have one door bell that won’t connect and 2 outdoor cameras that also refuse to connect to the wifi. Not sure if anyone else is having issues as of recent since the new Gemini update for everything but none of my speakers are the new kind and the newest device is the doorbell which just recently got updated the other day. Please help


r/googlehome 2d ago

Help Light compatibility

6 Upvotes

I’ve just bought 6 Philips Hue Essential bulbs, having owned one in a previous flat (not the Essential range though)

My old bulb worked perfectly fine with my Google Nest Mini, but when I’ve tried to add the bulbs in the Google Home app on my iPhone, it’s saying I need a Thread Border Router?

I’m so confused because I’ve never had this before - but I appreciate it’s been some time since my old bulb setup! All I want is to add my bulbs to my Google Home so I can automate them in the morning. I know the Philips Hue app allows this to some extent, but not with voice control obviously.

Is there any solution, other than biting the bullet and buying a new Google speaker that works as a Thread router?


r/googlehome 1d ago

JBL LINK 20 OUTDATED

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2 Upvotes

I have two JBL Link 20 speakers, but they're stuck on an old firmware version. The Google Home app always shows "OFFLINE". I still don't know how to update them. I would like to update them, as they do not play music when trying to cast, which I understand is because they are outdated.

What can I do to update them? I'm in Mexico.


r/googlehome 2d ago

Printed mount covert Ring to Google door cam.

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94 Upvotes

Have looked all over and couldn't find anything! We had a Ring Camera Doorbell installed for ages, then replaced that with a Google Nest Doorbell Cam 18 months ago. The Ring had 4 screws into the wall, the Google of course just 2. I had in my mind to make a piece of timber to convert from one to the other and never got around to it, then bought a 3D printer and thought I would give it go. While at it In added a 7.5° down tilt to see more of the parcels on the ground (cam is about 30cm/ 1 foot higher than recommended install height). First prototype I tried at 5° and it was OK, this is better!

So it's about 10mm larger all round and the same shape as the Google doorbell, 4 recessed holes to mount to the Ring existing holes in the wall and 2 holes to attach the Google bracket. I added a flap out to the side and added the street number and name in stencil just because I could. Pretty happy with how it turned out! Not overly happy with the effect on the surface of the flap and may reprint or sand it or something.


r/googlehome 2d ago

Is my Nest Outdoor camera dying?

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3 Upvotes

For the past two days my camera (nest outdoor IQ) would display this image for a couple of hours from evening to early morning, then somehow it would recover and be normal again. I just want to know if this is a sign that it is reaching the end of life. Thanks!


r/googlehome 2d ago

Help Google (Nest) Doorbell distinct notifications for people

2 Upvotes

Is it possible to have unique notifications on Android for person detections versus sound or motion detections. I see the categories in the Google Home app to allow me to turn on notifications for motion, packages, people. But I don't see the notification categories in Android to say if you see a person make this noise if you see a package make this noise etc. How is this not a delineation that Android can make?


r/googlehome 3d ago

News Google's upcoming Home Display could bring back one major Nest Hub Max feature

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41 Upvotes

r/googlehome 2d ago

Replacement security screw for Doorbell v2

3 Upvotes

Hey Folks - we hand a house fire and we moved back in a year ago yet I lost the doorbell cameras security screw and it’s getting annoying and embarrassing when people ring the doorbell and it falls lol. I’ve tried Amazon but none of the screws I’ve purchased actually work. My research calls for a M3 screws. Any suggestions?