Google Home FAQ

JimmyVik · 22-03-2021 8:41am

This morning google home has full on dementia

ilovesmybrick · 23-03-2021 1:06pm

In case anyone has the same issue I had with the app, they've moved the alarms and timers section in the speaker settings. Rather than appearing on the first page you now need to go and look under 'audio' to find the running alarms and timers. Really irritating as it's something I use quite regularly when I'm moving around the house to check on how long is left on dinner etc....

JimmyVik · 23-03-2021 1:12pm

ilovesmybrick wrote: »

In case anyone has the same issue I had with the app, they've moved the alarms and timers section in the speaker settings. Rather than appearing on the first page you now need to go and look under 'audio' to find the running alarms and timers. Really irritating as it's something I use quite regularly when I'm moving around the house to check on how long is left on dinner etc....

Mine cant even remember how to set an alarm the last few days.

whatawaster · 26-03-2021 1:58pm

Google home has seriously gone downhill for me. It is clearly worse than it was 3/4 years ago.

I put our daughter to sleep with rain sounds playing. Every night for the last 4 years I have said "Hey Google, play the sound of rain". And it used to just work, all the time. Now there is a 50% chance she is getting "The Sound of Silence, by Simon & Garfunkel"

Very disappointing, and given how good all this worked a few years ago, I thought the ecosystem would be in a much better place by now.

It's got to the stage where I'm actually considering HomePod mini's. If the smart-home stuff is going to be crap, regardless, I might as well have better sound quality, and AirPlay capability (iphone users only in our house)

Mantis Toboggan · 26-03-2021 2:05pm

Why not just use the white noise.

whatawaster · 26-03-2021 2:13pm

Mantis Toboggan wrote: »

Why not just use the white noise.

I thought that's what I was doing? Ask it to play rain sounds and it just plays all night. As opposed to playing rain sounds on Spotify which doesn't automatically keep playing.

If there's a more reliable way than mine I'd love to hear it!

Mantis Toboggan · 26-03-2021 2:16pm

whatawaster wrote: »

I thought that's what I was doing? Ask it to play rain sounds and it just plays all night. As opposed to playing rain sounds on Spotify which doesn't automatically keep playing.

If there's a more reliable way than mine I'd love to hear it!

Try saying play white noise, should do the trick.

whatawaster · 26-03-2021 2:21pm

Mantis Toboggan wrote: »

Try saying play white noise, should do the trick.

No doubt I'll get "White Riot by The Clash" or "White Christmas by Bing Crosby"!

Thanks for the suggestion, but too superstitious to change up the type of sounds. She is sleeping through the night!

copacetic · 04-04-2021 3:12pm

Anyone else’s Spotify stopped displaying songs names, artwork etc? We just get Spotify logo now. Artwork got better about 8 weeks ago, now gone altogether.

04-04-2021 3:30pm

whatawaster wrote: »

Google home has seriously gone downhill for me. It is clearly worse than it was 3/4 years ago.

I put our daughter to sleep with rain sounds playing. Every night for the last 4 years I have said "Hey Google, play the sound of rain". And it used to just work, all the time. Now there is a 50% chance she is getting "The Sound of Silence, by Simon & Garfunkel"

Very disappointing, and given how good all this worked a few years ago, I thought the ecosystem would be in a much better place by now.

It's got to the stage where I'm actually considering HomePod mini's. If the smart-home stuff is going to be crap, regardless, I might as well have better sound quality, and AirPlay capability (iphone users only in our house)

Don’t go near anything with Siri on it if you’re frustrated by Google because as bad as it’s getting it’s nowhere near as useless as Siri. They may be going in opposite trajectories but it’ll be a long time before they switch places.

TaurenDruid · 04-04-2021 6:08pm

copacetic wrote: »

Anyone else’s Spotify stopped displaying songs names, artwork etc? We just get Spotify logo now. Artwork got better about 8 weeks ago, now gone altogether.

Nope - mine's showing playing a Spotify playlist now and the album cover is shown, along with lyrics and 'interesting facts' in instrumental bits.

copacetic · 04-04-2021 7:29pm

TaurenDruid wrote: »

Nope - mine's showing playing a Spotify playlist now and the album cover is shown, along with lyrics and 'interesting facts' in instrumental bits.

It’s driving me nuts, hub max shows detail in the ‘today’ screen, home app shows details. Full screen shows Spotify logo. Arghh

henke · 08-04-2021 4:07pm

Does everyone's Nest Home Mini stop working every so often and just respond "Hmm something went wrong, try again in a few minutes" and is only resolved by a power cycle? Happening me at least once a week.

Sheep Shagger · 08-04-2021 5:15pm

Nest wifi will be controllable only in the home app from July (makes sense).

https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/google-getting-rid-of-the-google-wifi-app/?ftag=CAD6b2b181&bhid=&mid=13326968&cid=2104003399

chapterthree · 13-04-2021 10:04am

Definitely something going on. It used to be a lot more responsive before. Also some incorrect answers like it misunderstands me more often.

chapterthree · 13-04-2021 10:05am

Still waiting for Apple Music support for Ireland like they have in the UK.

TaurenDruid · 13-04-2021 12:08pm

"Hey Google, turn off the kitchen light."

/soft bing noise as it does what's asked, quietly, cos y'know, people might be sleeping. Good job, Google engineer who thought of that...

"Hey Google, turn off the hall light."

/soft bing noise as it does what's asked, quietly, cos y'know, people might be sleeping. Good job, Google engineer who thought of that...

But "Hey Google, turn off all the lights."

"OK, I AM TURNING OFF ALL THE LIGHTS AND TELLING YOU THAT I'M DOING IT, TOO, EVEN THOUGH YOU CAN SEE THEY JUST TURNED OFF. NICE DREAM YOUR PARTNER WAS HAVING THERE. BE A SHAME IF ANYTHING HAPPENED TO IT!"

A couple more lines of code, Google engineer, that's all it would have taken...

jogdish · 13-04-2021 12:31pm

TaurenDruid wrote: »

"Hey Google, turn off the kitchen light."

/soft bing noise as it does what's asked, quietly, cos y'know, people might be sleeping. Good job, Google engineer who thought of that...

"Hey Google, turn off the hall light."

/soft bing noise as it does what's asked, quietly, cos y'know, people might be sleeping. Good job, Google engineer who thought of that...

But "Hey Google, turn off all the lights."

"OK, I AM TURNING OFF ALL THE LIGHTS AND TELLING YOU THAT I'M DOING IT, TOO, EVEN THOUGH YOU CAN SEE THEY JUST TURNED OFF. NICE DREAM YOUR PARTNER WAS HAVING THERE. BE A SHAME IF ANYTHING HAPPENED TO IT!"

A couple more lines of code, Google engineer, that's all it would have taken...

It's so annoying at times! Would love:
1) three physical function buttons that would map to a command, im sick of speaking everything when a simple button press is easier
2) If someone could hack it, security implications I know but there are somethings it just can't do, eg stream a radio station from a URL not tunein.

timetogo1 · 13-04-2021 12:52pm

TaurenDruid wrote: »

"Hey Google, turn off the kitchen light."

/soft bing noise as it does what's asked, quietly, cos y'know, people might be sleeping. Good job, Google engineer who thought of that...

"Hey Google, turn off the hall light."

/soft bing noise as it does what's asked, quietly, cos y'know, people might be sleeping. Good job, Google engineer who thought of that...

But "Hey Google, turn off all the lights."

"OK, I AM TURNING OFF ALL THE LIGHTS AND TELLING YOU THAT I'M DOING IT, TOO, EVEN THOUGH YOU CAN SEE THEY JUST TURNED OFF. NICE DREAM YOUR PARTNER WAS HAVING THERE. BE A SHAME IF ANYTHING HAPPENED TO IT!"

A couple more lines of code, Google engineer, that's all it would have taken...

Plus the
I can't turn connect to some lights because they're already off.

The Black Oil · 16-04-2021 9:03pm

The issue of BBC stations dropping off for no reason seems to have resolved itself, I think.

Next issue is 'I've sent ______ to your phone', just doesn't work any more. Is there something I've to do?

oranbhoy67 · 17-04-2021 2:40pm

the nest audio speaker group has never worked quite right for me maybe 80% of the time it was ok for a while but still with frequent disconnects

now its only playing thru one outlet in each group

I have a nest hub, nest Hub Max, Chromecast with Google TV, Nest Mini, & Chromecast Audio, the Hubs display the screen but no sound , the mini doesnt seem to be producing sound in groups neither.. it seems to be either only the Chromecast Audio works or the Chromecast with Google TV

in short, a balls, a real disappointment I have tried deleting and remaking the groups, different combination of groups, made sure they are all on the same 2.4g wifi .. im kinda stuck on what to do next. any suggestions

Ive always used android and Chromecast and my nest doorbell works fine so its not all bad but tbh no more nest products for me unless this gets fixed which I cannot see happening

kinda ironic that the discontinued CC Audio is the thing that works the best out of the lot

RunDMC · 17-04-2021 7:59pm

Have you tried contacting Google? Sounds like a support issue to me.

R

Mickeroo · 20-04-2021 10:33am

BBC news stopped working for me the last few weeks.

03-05-2021 7:03pm

May have been covered here or elsewhere but has anyone else found that you can no longer view how long is left on a timer on a device using the Home app (iOS)?

TaurenDruid · 03-05-2021 8:00pm

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

May have been covered here or elsewhere but has anyone else found that you can no longer view how long is left on a timer on a device using the Home app (iOS)?

Not on iOS, but my timers on the hub stop displaying after a minute or so, until I tell google to 'display timer'. Odd why they think I'd rather see the logo of the radio station I'm listening to than the timer I set up for cooking, but hey, google... /shrug

TaurenDruid · 19-05-2021 10:38am

So is there a trick to getting Google to recognise a comma, or a second clause in a sentence, or is it just not possible?

What I mean is, can I get Google to understand "Hey Google, play blah on Spotify and set the volume to 4"

instead of

"Hey Google, play blah on Spotify... Hey Google set the volume to 4"

Bluefoam · 19-05-2021 10:43am

TaurenDruid wrote: »

So is there a trick to getting Google to recognise a comma, or a second clause in a sentence, or is it just not possible?

What I mean is, can I get Google to understand "Hey Google, play blah on Spotify and set the volume to 4"

instead of

"Hey Google, play blah on Spotify... Hey Google set the volume to 4"

Google does have contextual continuation of commands...

fletch · 19-05-2021 10:44am

TaurenDruid wrote: »

...
What I mean is, can I get Google to understand "Hey Google, play blah on Spotify and set the volume to 4"

This should work already

Clareman · 19-05-2021 10:45am

TaurenDruid wrote: »

So is there a trick to getting Google to recognise a comma, or a second clause in a sentence, or is it just not possible?

What I mean is, can I get Google to understand "Hey Google, play blah on Spotify and set the volume to 4"

instead of

"Hey Google, play blah on Spotify... Hey Google set the volume to 4"

You have to say AND clearly and slowly in my expierence, once you get the hang of it its handy enough just feels weird at the start

https://www.cnet.com/home/smart-home/you-can-now-string-two-google-home-commands-together/#:~:text=The%20Google%20Home%20can%20now,and%20turn%20off%20the%20TV.%22

TaurenDruid · 09-06-2021 5:08pm

Today FM seems to have disappeared for me today from TuneIn when I ask Google Assistant to stream it from the hub. The assistant says "I looked for Today FM on TuneIn but it either isn't available or can't be played right now." Tried Spin and Newstalk - no Spin, but Newstalk was there. Oddly, Today FM is available on my phone's TuneIn. Thought it might be to do with their recent takeover, but then you'd expect all three stations to be gone. Just a temp glitch, maybe?

ilovesmybrick · 09-06-2021 5:49pm

TaurenDruid wrote: »

Today FM seems to have disappeared for me today from TuneIn when I ask Google Assistant to stream it from the hub. The assistant says "I looked for Today FM on TuneIn but it either isn't available or can't be played right now." Tried Spin and Newstalk - no Spin, but Newstalk was there. Oddly, Today FM is available on my phone's TuneIn. Thought it might be to do with their recent takeover, but then you'd expect all three stations to be gone. Just a temp glitch, maybe?

Just came here with the same issue! All my other stations seem fine, but no Today FM. Was working grand yesterday afternoon. It must be the annual Google Home "Lets lose a radio station" event.

TaurenDruid · 09-06-2021 5:55pm

ilovesmybrick wrote: »

Just came here with the same issue! All my other stations seem fine, but no Today FM. Was working grand yesterday afternoon. It must be the annual Google Home "Lets lose a radio station" event.

And it's back (and so is Spin). Possibly someone in Marconi House sat on the wrong button!

Rattlehead_ie · 09-06-2021 6:03pm

One annoyance I have after swapping from Alexa to Nest is re grouping and setting up of lights.
Lights cant be part of 2 different groups or rooms.....
So for e.g
6 lights in the downstairs lights group, I can turn them on/off all at once or individually.
However, if I want another group called Night lights that only contains 3 of the 6 downstairs lights, it cant be done.
Anyone with a suggested work around?

Raoul · 09-06-2021 6:14pm

I was having issues with news talk last week.

Also, just Google home in general. Saying stuff like it's experiencing a glitch. Almost as soon as I say "hey Google"

dinneenp · 10-06-2021 8:11am

Am i the only one who can't get Today FM playing today?

jtown · 10-06-2021 9:24am

dinneenp wrote: »

Am i the only one who can't get Today FM playing today?

Its gone for me too - GH

TaurenDruid · 10-06-2021 12:03pm

It went for some of us yesterday during the day but was back later on. It was still available on TuneIn, just not when GH tried to access it. Am out today so can't check.

They just got rid of Paul McLoone and Claire Beck and cut back Ed Smith's hours so my own desire to tune in via GH has been greatly reduced, in any case :-(

mollser · 10-06-2021 4:32pm

Today FM still not working grrr. It's our main use for the speaker (sadly!)

jtown · 10-06-2021 10:20pm

mollser wrote: »

Today FM still not working grrr. It's our main use for the speaker (sadly!)

Not good

Ryath · 10-06-2021 11:30pm

Wasn't working for me this morning either. I normally just say Hey Dougal play Today FM! Usually works but does play Today by the Smashing Pumpkins sometimes. But wouldn't work this morning after trying a few times.

Ok Google Stream today FM on Tunin worked for me then.

bobbyg · 11-06-2021 11:38am

I can get it on my google nest minis but not on my google hub, very frustrating. If I tell the nest mini to stream it on the hub it works

Mickeroo · 11-06-2021 11:40am

Have the same problem, only started happening in the last couple of days. Will stream Newstalk no problem.

TaurenDruid wrote: »

It went for some of us yesterday during the day but was back later on. It was still available on TuneIn, just not when GH tried to access it. Am out today so can't check.

They just got rid of Paul McLoone and Claire Beck and cut back Ed Smith's hours so my own desire to tune in via GH has been greatly reduced, in any case :-(

They're axing the Paul McLoone show?

TaurenDruid · 11-06-2021 2:27pm

Mickeroo wrote: »

Have the same problem, only started happening in the last couple of days. Will stream Newstalk no problem.

They're axing the Paul McLoone show?

Yup. Paul's last show was last night. I was wrong about Claire Beck, she's staying, but Ed Smith's been cut to 10 to midnight, Sunday to Thursday, too, so no more Ed's Songs of Praise.

Mickeroo · 11-06-2021 2:30pm

I was listening for a little while last night but had no idea it was the last show. Gutted! I wonder will Ed be playing more similar stuff to Paul now after moving slots I wonder? Would be a shame if not, I don't think there's any similar shows left else where that I know of.

The Black Oil · 12-06-2021 10:25am

Mickeroo wrote: »

BBC news stopped working for me the last few weeks.

Yep, used to be first, but now it's RTE and then CNBC.

Something with Hue lights, dunno if this is more them or Google - sometimes it misinterprets.

Hey Google. Turn off TBO's light/Turn TBO's light off.
OK turning off 7 lights.*

Also used to have the soft bing, but that's gone too.

Mickeroo · 12-06-2021 11:41am

"Hey Google put on today fm" is back working for me this morning.

Fishy1 · 12-06-2021 12:42pm

Mickeroo wrote: »

"Hey Google put on today fm" is back working for me this morning.

Seems to be back for me too : “Hey Google, play TodayFM”.

Stoner · 21-06-2021 12:43am

The Black Oil wrote: »

Also used to have the soft bing, but that's gone too.

I think they might be considering giving us a confirmation option, lots of complaints and request for them to turn off the confirmation.

I'm not crazy about them myself, however sometimes i find that it turns off all the lighting in the house rather than the ones in the room I'm in, so maybe its not ready, dropping the bing is welcome

TaurenDruid · 21-06-2021 5:17pm

Stoner wrote: »

I think they might be considering giving us a confirmation option, lots of complaints and request for them to turn off the confirmation.

I'm not crazy about them myself, however sometimes i find that it turns off all the lighting in the house rather than the ones in the room I'm in, so maybe its not ready, dropping the bing is welcome

Hopefully it's a user-selectable option! I much prefer a quiet "bing" at 01:30 toble to "OK, turning off all the lights! There was a problem turning off the kitchen light! Check that the device is switched on and connected!"

jogdish · 03-07-2021 1:33pm

Is it possible to buy a physical 'smart' button that will trigger a command on a Google device. Eg im in bed, tap the button and the radio plays what I want instead of the phrase.

Google Home FAQ

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