topic Re: Error message when syncing devices in Speakers and Displays

Error message when syncing devices

FJO — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 05:50:59 GMT

When I ask the assistant to sync all devices (on my hubs, minis, phone or tablet), I get the response:

”Sure, syncing devices for 4 providers. 3 things aren't available. You might want to try setting them up again.”

This happens when asking using voice on Nest Minis or Nest Hubs, and also when asking the assistant app on my phone or tablet.

The 4 providers linked to Google Home are Philips Hue, Harmony, TP-Link Kasa and Nest (although Nest doesn’t explicitly show on the “works with Google” linked services list in the GH app).

Including “virtual devices” from Harmony remotes, my Google home app lists 31 devices, so it’s hard to identify what is the assistant struggling to sync, as the error message doesn’t specify which “3 things” are not available and all my devices seem to work.

If Hue is not available, the error message from the assistant is “syncing devices from Nest, Harmony and TP-Link Kasa, Hue is not a available”, and unlinking and relinking the Hue account resolves the issue.

This suggests that the issue may be Google Home struggling to sync with Nest devices (I have 3 devices added via the Nest app: a Nest Hello and 2 Nest Protects), but there is no clear way to unlink and relink the Nest service as it is not listed on the works with Google section of the app (it used to be), and all 3 devices seem to work.

Any ideas how to resolve this and how to identify which devices is the assistant talking about?

Re: Error message when syncing devices

kiltguy2112 — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 23:36:58 GMT

Why did you ask it to sync devices, was something not working?

Re: Error message when syncing devices

FJO — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 07:03:18 GMT

It was after fixing an issue with Hue. The error went from 2 things to 3 things.
Syncing devices fixes many issues, and doing it regularly tends to keep all running smoothly. This issue has been around for a while, and is common across users, checking if someone has found a solution for it, or found which integration(s) or device(s) cause the problem.

Re: Error message when syncing devices

FJO — Sun, 02 Jan 2022 11:12:33 GMT

Chatting with other users on Google Home groups, it looks like this is a common issue.

This happens when asking using voice on Nest Minis or Nest Hubs, and also when asking the assistant app on my phone or tablet, suggesting that is an assistant issue, i.e. not something device-specific.

I originally raised this issue on the assistant community, and quickly got a formal Google response to raise it here. I did that, and 2 weeks later, still not a peep… even when this seems to be a quite common issue, that has been going for a long time.

I have also sent feddback on this from different devices, and know of people that have done the same.

Any chance on getting a formal response from Google Nest on this?

Re: Error message when syncing devices

FJO — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 07:36:55 GMT

Does anyone from Google Nest reads or adds to these threads?

Re: Error message when syncing devices

Aquinox — Sat, 09 Apr 2022 05:41:30 GMT

I have the same issue. Disappointing.

Re: Error message when syncing devices

DJSuprimeW — Wed, 27 Apr 2022 17:46:30 GMT

here the same issue, but only when i say to google mini/google hub: sync my devices, its saying okey i sync your devices and then its says my phone is not avaible try to ad my phone again?... i tryed to delete and reset each product, delete my house in google home, and make a new one and added one for one again, but still that error.. someone an idea or fix ?....

Re: Error message when syncing devices

Aquinox — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 04:37:39 GMT

what seemed to fix it for me was I had a few rooms that were not being used. I deleted the rooms and things started working as intended

Re: Error message when syncing devices

DJSuprimeW — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 15:42:30 GMT

thank u for the answer! i have no empty rooms, i reset all, and delete the house. and making a new house, install all again.. but still the same.. and with my 7 cameras now if i got a notification and i clik on it. for the videoclip, then its says an error for vieuwing that video... or an error to stream the live camera.. so idont know, i know one thing, that is i deleted my first house in the app. but i dont delete my devices from that house.. mabey my phone is still connected to that deleted house and connected to that devices in that old delted house?... but when i play music on youtube music and i cast it to my nest hub/nest mini speakers its all working.. something is F** up in my whole google system... i deleted the google home app and nest app few times and resetting all, but no luck... 😞

Re: Error message when syncing devices

Jake — Mon, 09 May 2022 19:12:11 GMT

Hey all,

Sorry for the late reply. I wanted to follow up and see if you are still in need of any help? Please let me know if you are still having any trouble from here, as I would be happy to take a closer look and assist you further.

Best regards,
Jake

Re: Error message when syncing devices

Jake — Fri, 13 May 2022 17:32:44 GMT

Hey all,

I wanted to check in and see if you are still in need of any help with your device? Please let me know, as I would be happy to assist, and answer any questions you may have.

Best regards,
Jake

Re: Error message when syncing devices

Jake — Tue, 17 May 2022 19:11:39 GMT

Hey all,

I want to ensure you are good to go, and everything is working properly. Please let me know if you are still having trouble, as I will be locking the thread in 24 hours due to inactivity.

Best regards,
Jake

Re: Error message when syncing devices

FJO — Wed, 18 May 2022 06:38:02 GMT

Hi Jake,

Thanks for coming back on this. Please don’t lock the thread as the issue I described is still there, and no solution has been suggested. Hopefully you have a way to resolve this!

When I ask the assistant to sync all devices (on my hubs, minis, phone or tablet), I still get the response:

”Sure, syncing devices for 4 providers. 3 things aren't available. You might want to try setting them up again.”

The 4 providers linked to Google Home are Philips Hue, Harmony, TP-Link Kasa and Nest (although Nest no longer explicitly shows on the “works with Google” linked services list in the GH app).

As mentioned, This seems to be a very common issue… any idea of which devices can be the ones causing the issue and how to resolve it? Could they be the Nest smoke alarm and doorbell?

Re: Error message when syncing devices

FJO — Wed, 18 May 2022 06:28:12 GMT

Hi Aquinox,

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don’t have unused rooms in the app, so that can’t be the cause…

Re: Error message when syncing devices

austwhite — Fri, 27 May 2022 01:56:15 GMT

This issue has been on my system for a while. It initially was just 1 device unavailable, but does not say which one. Recently this has changed to 2 devices unavailable, again not saying which ones. There are no unused / blank rooms on my system. There are no unused entities.

It seems there are phantom integrations installed, maybe ones that no longer integrate with Google, but no way to see these and delete them.

Any ideas on this appreciated, so I am commenting and following this. It has been an issue for a couple of years now that I know of.

This does not seem to affect operation of detected devices, but it is an annoyance to have it and of course it leads to the issue of a possible security risk having something unknown linked to the account, even if it is not working.

Re: Error message when syncing devices

FJO — Wed, 06 Jul 2022 13:08:46 GMT

Mine started as 1 device, then 2, now 3... it never identified which device(s) are causing the problem and all devices seem to work.
This has been happening for years, and I sent feedback in several occasions, and finally posted this last December hoping that Google would acknowledge the issue and maybe someone could suggest a solution.

7 months since it was posted and not a peep from Google, despite several comments confirming that the issue is common...

I am starting to wonder if anyone from Google Nest reads or adds to these threads, or if we are all wasting out time...

Re: Error message when syncing devices

austwhite — Wed, 06 Jul 2022 23:40:26 GMT

Either they don't read or care or they don't know how to fix it. I've sent feedback via the devices multiple times also

Re: Error message when syncing devices

FJO — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 06:50:28 GMT

My experience so far is that community specialists only comment that they will lock a thread if not replied to in 24 hs, but I never seen any helpful comments from them…

Re: Error message when syncing devices

FJO — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 05:54:53 GMT

Anyone from Google has any suggestions?
I originally raised this issue on the assistant community, and quickly got a formal Google response to raise it here. I did that, and now, more than 7 months later, still not a peep… even when this seems to be a quite common issue, that has been going for a long time.is the plan to fix this when Matter goes live?

Re: Error message when syncing devices

OGdropcam — Sun, 31 Jul 2022 18:14:51 GMT

I'm also having a problem synching my nest mini so it can alert me when my doorbell is pressed. Spent hours on chat with support and at one point it worked for a few minutes. However, the next day it was back to not working and not synching.

The nest app was supposed to be retired a looooong time ago and Google has been unable to integrate it into the home app with nest legacy devices so this is a very old problem they have never solved.