Google Home slow to respond

[Axon54]

Over the last 2 weeks my Google Home is very slow to respond. It sits and the lights spin after a command and many times it does not execute the command. Also, when I tell it to play a radio station it plays it on a nest speaker in another room. I have rebooted it by unplugging several times plus 2 factory resets and no change.

[Princesss · Accepted solution]

Hi everyone,

Sorry to hear about the slow responses from your Google Nest speakers. If you're currently experiencing this, here are some things you should check first:

• Check the distance of the Nest speaker-- it should be within range from the router or network preferably within 15-20 feet for a good and stable connection.
• Make sure that there are no other devices or appliances that may interfere with the connection. For example: a TV, microwave oven, or other electronic device.

Once you've checked on those, give these troubleshooting steps a try:

1. Unplug your Google Nest speaker and plug it back in after a few minutes. It may also be helpful to unplug your router to refresh its network settings and to avoid congestion on the network.
2. If that doesn't do the trick, perform a complete reset and follow the prompts to set up.

If you don't see improvement after performing the steps above, please give us a call or chat via this link: https://bit.ly/3adTfGB. We'll be happy to look into this further!

Best,

Princess

[KBinPA]

I don't have lights to control.   For me its the minis and the hubs. 

[SweatyPalms]

11 Home devices in my house. Same problem on all of them. Just started recently. 

[Gap]

Very curious to know specifically what kinds of devices are giving you trouble? My garage door opener, tvs, thermostat, shark vacuum, all work fine. In my case it is the switches in electrical receptacles that are causing problems. In other words the little switch that you plug into the socket and then plug your lamp into it. I have several of those that control lights, coffee pot etc. Those are the things that are giving me issues. Those all are connected to an app called Smart Life by Tuya. I can control the devices directly in my phone through the Tuya App and it seems to work okay. This app is linked with Google assistant and when I try to speak the commands to Google assistant is when I have all of the problems described. It didn't used to be like this, it started a couple of months ago. So again what types of devices specifically are giving you trouble and do you use this app also?

[Axon54]

My issues are all with Google Home. My 2 nest minis work just fine.

[hidi]

I'm having the same or similar issue with my Google Home Mini since around September 2021. It takes about four seconds to the light spin after I talk to it then responds.

Not sure if I should get in touch with Google tech support to tell them, but I analyzed the network traffic from/to Google Home Mini using Wireshark, and it seemed that once I talk to Google Home Mini, it somehow spends up about four seconds to resolve DNS's A record of embeddedassistant[.]googleapis[.]com. Also, the TTL of embeddedassistant[.]googleapis[.]com's A record was 36 seconds, so I guess my Google Home Mini have to resolve DNS's A record every time, and that is also causing the delay.

[Gap]

Thank you for your input hidi. You are way ahead of me technology knowledge. My question regarding the DNS issue is that a back end Google thing? Could it be something in my local Wi-Fi setup or mesh network causing the issue?

[hidi]

Unfortunately, I am suspecting that there's nothing much we can do about it, as the DNS issue is Google's fault. Google should extend the TTL (Time To Live) of embeddedassistant[.]googleapis[.]com's A record, so that the Google Home Mini does not have to fetch the A record every time we talk to it. Or, Google should modify the Google Home Mini's firmware to fetch A record in the background before the TTL expires.

[Axon54]

Not sure if anyone else has noticed but when I first posted here Oct 16, 2021 I had 3 replies from Frances a community specialist. Since then nothing. It’s like we don’t exist.

[TriLife]

I have in excess of 100 SonOff devices in my home, managed by UD ISY994 and Polisy. My Pixels (2*) work well all the time. My 3 Minis work most of the time. And the Home Display seems to repeatedly have problems. But not 3-4 secs. More like 50 secs, if it responds at all. It then says " three was a glitch, try again later...

Another weird behavior, which started around the same time: 

Assistant responds to my commands everywhere, direct switch control and running programs. But it only executes switch commands for my wife, not the programs/scenes... Despite her being part of the family...

[SweatyPalms]

I noticed that, Axon. It's like the so-called specialist realized they were in over their head and ran for the hills with their tail tucked! LOL 

My Home devices only started acting up about a week ago. So annoying!

[Sphynxmama]

Same. Thought it was internet maybe due to poor weather, or maybe network settings on phone making it slow, so reset that, rebooted the router, and still our nest minis are slow to respond, half the time it doesn’t even listen to me, or one in another room will. Our speaker group will randomly lose one or two, speakers intermittently, and it even added the chrome cast to the speaker group- I know neither hubby or me did it. 

[Nomoreusernames]

Declaring same issues as described here to up the customer base count for reporting this issue.   House full of devices that are seemingly hungover and dumb.   As a human who cannot control human instincts, I'm finding myself shouting at them and I don't believe this is where I imagined we would be in 2022. 😔  

[Sphynxmama]

100% this. All the devices are suddenly acting hungover and dumb. 

[GoogleAddictVa]

OK. I fixed my Google Display Lag issues. In a nutshell my 1st Gen Display was taking about 20 seconds to turn on/off the lights. The first thing I did was factory reset it. I made sure I connected to my Xfinity 2.4 Ghz Network connection. I logged into the xfinity router page and made sure the wifi settings were set to 802.11 G/N with the bandwidth set to 20/40. I saved it, the router restarted and everything has been running well for about a week. The router did get bogged down again at some point, and the lights were lagging again. So after I reset the router everything went back to normal. For me, it was a router issue. My 1st Gen Display does all I expect of it.

[DannySteezy]

Same light problem here, google home mini running firmware 1.56.282045. When I ask it to turn the lights on it won’t respond is just stays loading. However the lights turn on instantly when using the google home app. 

[Daimne]

Same issue with google mini first generation  nest. Tech support was not useful. After factory reset the device worked at an adecvate speed for one day. Now it's in lagging mode again.  May be it's time to give up on google mini, as alexa continue to perform. Although, alexa has many more skills, it's not that intelligent though....

[Daimne]

Cast firmware: 1.56.282045

System firmware version: 282045

[pksjc]

Has anyone heard of a fix yet.  Our Google Homes are very slow too.  Been weeks and nothing we do makes it better. Tried all the suggestions on this thread with no improvement.

[Axon54]

I have disconnected my Google Home first gen. The next move is to trash it. I will not be forced to buy a new one nor any other Google products. Google has succeeded in alienating its customers. We are being ignored. 

[Togalounge]

If I may join in.. Same lacking in response from the hub. It dos a reset more often too, all by it self. 

[pksjc]

I find that if you go into the Google Home app and reboot the home speaker using the "Reboot" option, it'll start responding much faster.  But it'll only last a few days before going slow again.  So this is obviously a software glitch.

[diogokiss]

Thanks for the tip. That helped me. Let's see for how long. 

[Universe]

Same issue here. Struggling of this Google fault for a half of a year.

I've got Google Home and Google Home Mini. Everytime when I ask about smthng, I should wait for 5+ sec to hear the response. Also, both of Google devices didn't hear me correctly. 

[GoogleAddictVa]

- Google home display - 1st Gen:

Earlier, I replied I had fixed the "slow to respond" issue. I reconfigured the router & all was good for a day or so. Then it would get slow again. So I reset the router & it was fine. However, the cycle never ends. I have to reset the router every time it acts up. No Good!   Did you know the Alexa app can be downloaded from the Microsoft Store? It can run in the background. It can also run in "show mode" where your PC becomes an Echo. 

[DWhitney]

Add me to the list of people that have had a working system for years and all of a sudden in the past week, it's gotten REALLY SLOW just as others are describing it here. Nothing else changed. Google voice commands on Google home devices are just REALLY SLOOOOOOW. Annoyingly so. 

[DWhitney]

Update.... So I shared (maybe in another thread), that I had gotten mine to behave normally again a couple weeks ago by forgetting the wifi network and rebooting the google home device. It took it about a full day where it would even get back on my wifi (kept erroring out) but when it did finally (by itself when I let it sit there all day), it was back to normal. 

HOWEVER, the problem has returned today. Slow as hell.

CLEARLY indicative of a memory leak.

Fix your **bleep** google!

[pksjc]

I also have a Lenovo Smart Clock that has the Google Home feature in it and it's very fast.  Just like Google used to be.  So whatever update they pushed out 3 - 4 weeks ago, it caused it and it's only affecting the the Google Home device.

So let's hope they find whatever it is and push out a fix for it soon.

[MyUsernameHere]

So that was 3 weeks ago. No update on this yet. My Alexa and Siri people keep trying to get me to switch. I'm trying to keep it Google across the board but this is becoming embarrassing.

[Gap]

I feel your pain.  I am just a user like you and I have seen NO REPLY from Google support and I don't expect they will reply at this point.  Clearly something has changed somewhere.  For me the problems seem to be isolated to controlling smart plugs.  Otherwise, the repose in general seems to be fine.  For example if I ask google questions it is quick to reply but if I ask google to turn off the lamp it may or may not turn off the lamp and if it does it may be instant or take a long time.

[pksjc]

Mine is slow regardless.  At first, it was only slow turning lights on/off, but now it's slow for everything.  Just asking a simple question like "what's the weather" can take 8 - 10 seconds for it to respond.

[Sphynxmama]

Same

[TriLife]

So, this is probably my 4th post here.

My Google Home Display has returned to normal. Ever since my daughter and boyfriend returned to their home.

Reflecting back on the times I've had problems with the Google Home Display, it only happens when I have guests at home. That is l, when there's more Wifi traffic. My daughter also complained of repeatedly getting kicked off the wifi in the kitchen (where the display sits).

I'm wondering, if (at least in my case), the problem is due to access point overload... I have 6 APs in the house, the remaining Minis being connected to one of those. They all work well.

The kitchen AP has the most (20+) devices connected. I have a total of 130+ devices in my house, mostly Sonoff switches.

[Jshel]

Hi I'm using the Google nest mini with the latest firmware and I'm having the same issue of a long response time. Nothing has changed about my network I have also tried using my phone as a hotspot and I still have the same issue. This issue started in December-ish, has there been any update to fixing this issue? Thanks

[Axon54]

There have been no responses from Google. Several of us have been told there is nothing more they will do. Nice isn’t it? 

[Jshel]

Axon, Thank you for the update and quick response at the very least.

[pksjc]

After a reboot, it's much faster but it doesn't last.  I also did a speedtest.net test on my cell connected to the same APs as the Google Homes when they become slow.  It's not the WiFi equipment or the ISP as I'm seeing fast upload and downloads on the same AP the Google Homes are connected to.  I'm getting at least 260Mbps down and 273Mbps up with a 7ms ping and 13ms jitter.  

[Micha]

Rebooted both my Home max and my home mini yesterday. They still linger for 8-10s before they turn the lights on/off.

[Jshel]

Just to be perfectly clear the troubleshooting steps that I have taken include factory reset of all Google nest devices and my network router and multiple reboots of all devices as well. I have also performed the same actions but placed all of my smart devices on my hotspot Network. But it doesn't take long for the devices to return to having a good 10 second delay if they even respond. Smart devices on my network include the Google home mini, The nest thermostat, and a couple of smart outlets. Seeing the quantity of people with the same issue within the same time range, leads me to believe a firmware update has issues. Most likely with the Google home devices. Google support please stop with the misdirect troubleshooting and address the real issue here. Thank you for your time.

[Axon54]

That's exactly right. Resets only work for a short time and the delay returns. I have disconnected Google Home and replaced with with a nest mini and everything is now working as it should. Google has refused to acknowledge that Google Home is the issue. And yes Google misdirected me countless times when troubleshooting refusing to acknowledge the real problem is with Google Home. My original posting dates back to Oct 16, 2021. How many Google support replies do you see on this forum thread? They don't care!

[Sphynxmama]

We only have three google nest minis We don’t have a google home, and we are having all the problems you and many others seem to be happening,  We’ve done all the troubleshooting steps.