Good Morning/I'm Up routine does not play on all speakers or a speaker group any more

[EviLEwoK666]

So, when I first setup my nest speakers and hubs, my morning routine of news etc would play on my speaker group so that as I moved around the house I could still listen to the news reports without interruption. Now, after a recent update, this functionality no longer appears to be an option. The speaker group still exists, as I play music through the house all the time, but the option to have the routine run on the speaker group does not any longer.

Why? Who thought this was a good idea to make this change? What was the justification?

[Anonymous]

Broken just like everything else at Google. 

[philpool]

Same situation here. While the morning routine with news sources is the only routine I tend to use, I did notice that in addition to music still playing through the entire speaker group routines that only play music will also play through the entire speaker group. Maybe this observation will help point towards a cause of or fix for the issue? 

[EviLEwoK666]

yep, it's like the speaker group has just dropped off the list of "devices for audio" and the only option that is active is now the "device that started this routine".

[Muddi]

Hello folks,

Thanks for sharing details about the issue here. I know how it feels when something is not working on your Google Home/Nest devices. Let's dig deeper into this.

A few questions:

• When did you notice the issue?
• Have you tried using a different phone to access your routines?
• What are the devices added to the speaker group?
• What is the make and model of your phone?
• What is the Google Home app version on your phone?

Let's go ahead and try creating a new routine with the same action as your morning routine. Let's see if you will get an option to play the news on audio group.

Looking forward to your response.

Cheers,

Muddi

[EviLEwoK666]

• When did you notice the issue? A Few weeks ago after an update
• Have you tried using a different phone to access your routines? No, I have no other phone to try. It worked fine previously on this phone.
• What are the devices added to the speaker group? All of my Nest Hubs and my Speakers
• What is the make and model of your phone? Samsung Note 9
• What is the Google Home app version on your phone? 3.1.1.14

Regarding the routine, I didn't create it, it was one of the default ones that were on the home app when installed. I just modified it from there. I will try making one of my own and see if that works.

[Muddi]

Hey EviLEwoK666,

Sounds like a good plan! Please update us with the result.

Cheers,

Muddi

[EviLEwoK666]

Ok, so creating a new routine has the same result. The Device for audio is hard set to "Device that started this routine" and all other options/devices are greyed out and my speaker group is not even one of the greyed out options anymore.

This has definitely happened since some update, I just don't know which one.

[Muddi]

Hi EviLEwoK666,

Thanks for trying. Please try adding the action on "Add your own" to your routine. You can enter a custom Assistant command like, "Play news on my <audio group name>." Once done, try to trigger the routine manually to check if that works.

Cheers,

Muddi

[EviLEwoK666]

Same result. It only plays on the device I start it from. All other options are greyed out.

[Muddi]

Hey EviLEwoK666,

Sorry for the delays. Since all troubleshooting steps have been exhausted the next thing to do is to check this with our higher tier of support team. Please fill out this form with all the needed information. I’ll keep an eye out for your response specifically, so please let me know once you’ve filled it out. 

Cheers,

Muddi
 

[Muddi]

Hi EviLEwoK666,

Checking in, have you had the chance to fill out the form?

Cheers,

Muddi

[EviLEwoK666]

Hi Muddi, Yep I think so... but I'm not 100% sure, so I'll do it again.

[LovelyM]

Hello EviLEwoK666,

We got your form — thanks for filling it out. Our team will reach out to you via email anytime soon. Please continue the conversation there as this thread will be locked after 24 hours.

Kind regards,
Lovely

[philpool]

Hi There,

New info from my end:

I figured out that my issue with a routine not running on all devices is related to running a VPN on my pixel 6 and pixel tablet. If the morning alarm is set on my pixel tablet with VPN software running, the routine won't trigger on the other devices. Also if the morning alarm goes off on my nest hub, the morning routine won't trigger on other devices (presumably because I set up my google home on the pixel 6, which has VPN software running).
I'm going to try playing around with letting the google home app bypass the VPN, but I haven't got around to that yet.