Google Home is straight up trash

[Anonymous]

Every day is an issue. This platform is straight up utter trash. Google Assistant works 10 percent of the time. Nest Hub Second Gen keeps switching to light theme even though auto is switched on. My speakers never do what I say. I either get Sorry Something Went Wrong or it does something totally different. My scheduled routines just stopped working with no explanation. Devices will say they aren't connected even though they are. Nothing ever works. This whole ecosystem is complete and utter garbage . I am so close to just tossing all of this sh*t in the trash and going to Alexa. A multi billion dollar company and they can't get their crappy Pixels to not overheat or their other devices to just work. So done with all this buggy Google hardware. 

[RussdaFuss]

This is also my current opinion about Google Home and all Google devices. The system has no longer been usable since around the beginning of September. The support is not helpful at all either. They have known the problems long enough and should act, but they don't!

[Juni]

Hi folks,

Thanks for reaching out. We hear you — we can understand why you feel that way. I'll do my best to get you off the ride and on the right path. A few questions: when did it begin? Were there any recent changes before it started? Also, what steps have you taken so far? 

You can both try to refresh your devices and observe if it makes a difference. First, reboot your Wi-Fi router, and once the network is back up, do the same thing to your Google Nest displays. If this did not work, you can do the factory reset; this erases all your personalized settings and restores the factory default settings. It won’t automatically reconnect to WI-Fi, and you’ll need to set it up again. Check out the article below to know more about it.

Factory reset Google Nest or Home speakers or displays 

Thanks,

Juni

[RussdaFuss]

Hello June, thank you for your effort!

The problems started around the end of August or beginning of September.

I tried the following:
- Router restart
- Nest Hub factory reset
- Deleted Nest Hub from Google Home and re-added it
- New home created in Google Home app
- Nest Hub, Home mini and Chromecast Audio moved to new Home
- Renamed speaker group
- Speaker group deleted and recreated
- Uninstalled Google Home app on all Android devices and reinstalled it on only one device

All actions failed to resolve the problem. The Nest Hub does not play music in the speaker group when the music is started via voice command or via an app (TuneIn, Deezer, Spotify, YT Music) on the smartphone. The Nest Hub works individually and plays music. Music playback can also be started later on the Nest Hub if music is already playing on the speaker group.

In addition, a number of new problems have emerged in the last 2-3 weeks. For example, music will no longer play on the speaker group if the music is to be started via a routine in Google Home, for example when the alarm goes off and a morning routine is started.
In addition, individual smart speakers sometimes report that no music can be played on the group because the device was not found.

[Juni]

Hi RussdaFuss,

Thanks for the details you’ve shared. Sorry that you are still experiencing it after all the troubleshooting you did.To cover all bases, if possible, could you try to use another network, then observe if it makes a difference? Let us know the result by updating this thread.

I look forward to your response.

Best,

Juni

[RussdaFuss]

Hello Juni,

unfortunately, this is technically difficult to implement. I don't have the hardware to set up an alternative network.

I also fear that the result of this complex test setup is already certain in advance.

All the options I had to isolate the error indicate that the source of the problems can only be fixed on the Google servers.

[Juni]

Hey folks,

Thanks for trying that, and I'm sorry that you are still experiencing it. Since the steps didn't work on your end, we'd be happy to take a look into this for you. Please fill out this form with all the needed information, then let me know once done. 

We also need your device's firmware version. Check out the steps below on how to get it:

1. Make sure your mobile device or tablet is linked to the same account as your speaker or display.
2. Open the Google Home app .
3. Tap your device's tile.
4. At the top right, tap Settings Device information.
5. Under "Technical information," find Cast firmware: X.XXX.XXXXX.

Thanks,

Juni

[RussdaFuss]

Hi Juni

I filled out the form and sent it.
I have specified all cast firmware versions and system firmware versions.

[Juni]

Hi RussdaFuss,

We got your form — thanks for filling it out. Our team will reach out to you via email to further assist you. Please keep your lines open as they may reach out to you via email anytime soon. 

Cheers,

Juni

[SilentSoulsSr]

I am sorry you need to say sorry all the time.

[cayitodj]

My google hub and front door cameras used to work excellently with the home up but they are not even showing on it anymore.

now the display is all is doing is asking me to activate button but when I click on it nothing happens.

[Juni]

Hi cayitodj,

Thanks for reaching out. You can try to factory reset your Google Nest Hub. This erases all your personalized settings and restores the factory default settings. It won’t automatically reconnect to WI-Fi, and you’ll need to set it up again. Check out the article below to know more about it.
 

Factory reset Google Nest or Home speakers or displays  

Regards,

Juni

[Anonymous]

I've done all that and then some. No amount of resetting, unplugging, replugging, and troubleshooting doesn't do anything. The whole ecosystem is just pure garbage. All the money I've spent on these speakers, thermostat, and hubs have all gone to crap. It's all a buggy mess. All this overrated paperweights are 1 step from going in the rubbish bin. Waste of my hard earned money for Google to not care about fixing bugs. For example I've had the Nest Hub 2nd Gen. keep changing back to light theme and not switching to dark theme even though auto is enabled. It will just go back to light theme and I'm blinded at night. This is been going on for a year and Google keeps telling me to factory reset. Guess what? That doesn't do a **bleep** thing. That is just one example. Seriously thinking about switching to Alexa and dumping this Google garbage. Google has gone to crap these last few years. It's not my network it's Google's **bleep**ty hardware not working . 

[Anonymous]

You can close this thread even though you replied to the other poster instead of the OP. I fixed my own issue. Tossed all the buggy Google trash Home hardware and switched to Alexa. Problem solved. 

[Juni]

Hey MikeBanks39,

I understand. The input provided will undoubtedly be included in our future efforts to better understand and support users.

Best,

Juni

[cayitodj]

I have my Google hub and front door nest camera connected to the app but they not  showing on it.  

[jonahsahn]

FYI this "Juni" guy answering questions in the thread is CLEARLY an a.i. bot. Google has no shame in this realm. The Google Home has become garbage. 

[Juni]

Hi Jonahsahn,

Thanks for posting. Could you tell us more about your Google Home device concern? We’d love to help. 

Regards,

Juni

[neg]

Yeah, I bought Google Nest Hub second generation for sleep monitoring. No sleep monitoring in my region. Loses connection to WiFi all the time and when it does, it has to be restarted or added again in the app (really? Cannot it just reconnect like every WiFi device I own). Ok, so when I reboot it (daily) I give voice command to play Spotify playlist. It "hmm.. something went wrong" me every single time. Works on the second attempt. UI is clunky and not very responsive. I cannot really think of any practical use of it. Waste of money.

[Juni]

Hi neg,

Thanks for posting. What is the distance between your Google Nest Hub and your Wi-Fi router? Could you tell us the troubleshooting steps that you have taken so far? If possible, you can set up your Google Nest Hub using another network and observe if it makes a difference.
 

I look forward to your response.

Regards,

Juni

[neg]

I moved in next to the router to check it and now is updating, update goes to 100%, device restarts, start updating... and in this loop forever. I even left it for a night and it was still doing it in the morning. I am giving up and just throwing it away. I know that it is old and cheap device, but I am still amazed that Google released such a clunky, unuseful device.

[TXD124]

same mines crapped itself and doing the same. Luckily i do have alexas and i might just dump this crap. Honestly it just ewaste at this point especially when i cannot fully reset it to stock firmware 

[RussdaFuss]

Here's the latest joke!

Google Home Speaker is online and playing music from TuneIn.

If I now ask the home speaker to stop the music, the speaker says: "I can't establish a WiFi connection."

Crazy crap!

[Nevermindbut]

I agree, this devise has so much potential yet it seems it's getting less and less useful. We have several  in our house. The number of times they glitch or unable to respond in staggering. I also don't understand why Google doesn't intergrade Gemini so users can test the new functionalities AI offers.

If things do not improve quick I am afraid we'll change to Amazon. 

[KevHodges]

I have built up my google smart home ever since the launch and have 5 x google nest minis, 4  x google nest homes 2 X google nest hubs 1 X google nest hub max 1 X google nest door bell and 2 X google nest external  cameras all of which have been factory reset on numerous occasions, I have 4 other family members that all have google nest hub max devices and we have all reverted to using what's app for family calls as it is now a nightmare connecting to each other. This use to be an excellent service when it started out and many promises were made by google about fixing it, yet they have made it worse, I have sat here and read all of these comments and 99% of the issues raised are and have happened to me and my family members on many occasions, is it worth listening to your Juni A.I. responder or is something going to get done withe the google servers as financially I feel this is wasting my time and money

[Artee60]

I have the same issues, when I ask a hub to call a room it says I am not setup for that, I ask it again, it works. The audio quality on calls between hubs is sometimes OK, other times rubbish. It is driving me mad. 

[Arrowstotles]

I can say okay Google 10 times and 9/10 it'll ignore me lmao. Can't get the basics right so the rest I don't even wanna imagine. 

[famousbanaan]

I remember when I bought Google speakers all the way back in 2017 they worked great, quickly, and accurate, you could play games and get unique responses, but nowadays it's all stripped away it can only say a couple things and takes ages to load, google have known these issues for years and they arent doing anything about it it's baffling to me that this huge corporation that built this ecosystem just breaks it on purpose and abandones it just sad

[ToledoFoodie]

The Google Home App is an absolute nightmare - and the Google Nest Cameras aren't much better. I was an early adopter of Drop Cam and had four in my home. They worked flawlessly. Rock solid. I paid for Nest Aware so I had 24/7 recording that allowed me to go back to any point in time in the previous 30 days. Worked extremely well. Then, along comes Google who buys Dropcam. Support for Dropcam will be discontinued in a few weeks - April 8th I believe - so I replaced all my Dropcams with Google Nest Cams this past Thanksgiving and Christmas. What a nightmare. I paid for Google Nest Aware plus so that I would have 24/7 recording with a 60 day history. I'm lucky if they detect motion or sound and record it. And, when they do, they will record a few seconds of it then stop.  None of my (8) Nest cams will record 24/7. I have 7 wired (plugged in Nest Cams and one battery Nest Cam mounted outdoors on my garage and a Nest Hub Max. It became apparent early on that battery life in the camera was no where near what is claimed so I keep it plugged in all the time. I have the Google Home app on my iPhone and a Windows 11 PC.  The majority of the time when I try to view a camera, it shows as not connected, unavailable, etc. Control (setup, settings) of the cameras - primitive as it is, can only be done through the phone app. Why not the PC or Mac app version too? On the rare occasion one of the cameras records an event, the vast majority of the time when I go to view it, I get the message "This video isn't available yet. Try back later" Later never comes. What the hell good is paying for 24/7 recording? I cannot tell you how upset and disappointed I am in the extremely poor quality of the Google cams and the piece of garbage that is the Google Home App. Then there is the Nest Hub Max. What exactly is this thing good for? The vast majority of the questions we ask of it, we get the response "I don't know but here's what I found on the web". Well, if I wanted to read web results I would just go to my PC and search myself. Then, on many occasions, the lady that lives in the hub starts speaking when no one has asked anything of her. I thought all communication had to be prefaced with "Hey, Google" but she just starts yammering when no one has asked her anything. I just find it mind boggling that a company like Google has put out such absolute garbage. And, appears to be in no hurry to fix any of it.

[GGLHomeSucks]

My sentiments exactly. The latest? the Google speaker actually offers me written replies...on a speaker with no display! It answers: "here you go" to my questions. 

Seriously?

WTF, Google? did you send your tech department to a Chinese sweatshop?

I AM switching to Alexa. I gave so much feedback and everything on this platform has ceased to work while nothing has been repaired in two years of steady decline.

Just useless, useless, useless....and aggravating as SH*T too!...Which none of us need when looking for efficiency in such devices. Very counter productive to use Google now. More work than it is a help!