Giving Up On Google Home

[RobertoTaylor]

I have about 12 Google Home speakers throughout my home. It’s a mix of Google Homes, Minis and two Max’s. I’ve had these speakers for years and bought them because I loved being able to create different speaker groups to play music throughout our house.

Over the years though the app/service just keeps getting worse. Especially when Google lost the lawsuit against Sonos and now I can’t control group speaker volumes with voice commands.

So why am I giving up on Google Home? Well, the app has gotten so bad now that 9 times out of 10 it doesn’t show all my speaker groups or doesn’t even recognize it’s playing music when I start playing it though voice commands.

If I start playing music with a voice command like, “OK Google, play Chill Hits on Home Group” and some of the speaker volumes are not the same as the others, I can’t adjust the group volume in the app because it doesn’t even show up. If I tap on the Media icon which should show what’s playing and show the volume, it doesn’t. It only shows all of the speakers individually playing so I would have to manually go in and adjust the volume in each speaker.

I will be selling all my speakers and just keeping one of the Minis as I use it as a doorbell for my Nest Hello doorbell.

Time to switch to Sonos.

/rant

[pghgeek]

I recently bought a Google speaker and the group play function will not work from Spotify.  I had used Google speaker groups several years ago when I had an apartment and am I to understand that it doesnt' really work anymore since the Sonos lawsuit?  Should I return the speaker and go with Sonos?  I have tried deleting the group and renaming it, but sound only ever comes out of one speaker, if I pick the other speaker the app just clocks on the speaker.

[RobertoTaylor]

The lawsuit the lost only had to do with being able to control a groups volume with voice commands. For example, before you could say, “Ok Google, set Home Group to 50%”, and all of the speakers in that group would change the volume. You’re no longer able to do that with a voice command, so you have to go into the app and then manually control the groups volume from there if it actually shows the group playing which is the issue I’m having. 

[Jake]

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

[Jake]

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

[Jake]

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

[Jake]

Hey all,

It has been a few days since the last reply, and I am going to lock the thread at this time. If you have any questions, please feel free to create a new post. 

Best regards,
Jake

[Les71]

Yes, Google is getting worse ...

The so called software company on the planet that seems to regress instead of progress. From annoying voice responses using the Nest Audio speakers (why can't we turn that off in 2022 ??????) to useless groups of Nest audio speakers.

Good luck trying to update the WifiSSD once you get a new router, that feature used to be there and was easy but it's not that simple nowadays. It now requires you to reset all speakers and start from scratch.

I'm not buying anything from Google again, they should STOP selling hardware and just focus to software.