Google Speaker Groups not working

[MsLevis]

I'm also having similar problems-  Have mix of Google audio cast and google enabled speakers across the house- most of the time casting doesn't work - If I go into the home app the groups are disappearing and re-appearing alot- I'll select a group that worked the day before and only one speaker plays - it still shows all devices playing-  I can try it a few times- go in and out of the google home app and try to force it that way- sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't - all the firmware is up to date and it's just SOOOOO frustrating -  I even went and got a new google home speaker thinking maybe gen1 was causing an issue- nope still same problem-  COME ON GOOGLE!!!  

[KtownGypsy]

There is NO solution.  100s of thousands of us  consumers who bought these garbage speakers struggle with the same B.S almost every time I try and use them. Years after launch and they're worse than ever. Shame on google

[treeder6]

100%. They don’t care 

[Jake]

Hey NikolaiM,

I wanted to check in and see if you managed to see Muddi's post. Please let me know if you have any questions from here. I would be happy to assist, and make sure you are good to go.

Best regards,
Jake

[tennis13]

I have all (old and new) mini's plugged.

[Ilga]

Hi Garrett

On my newer s20 samsung phone when I select a group of speakers the settings come up not the  control  screen so I can't cast audio from my phone. This still works on my s7 which has not updated the ap for about a year.

I have reinstalled the ap. T

[Csmand]

Dan's suggestion of restarting the units helped my system. This is the first time that I addressed the problem, prior to that I just got frustrated about it. Today I had a little free time.

[Hanky]

Hey garret. I’ve been following the threads for this problem for a long time. That’s clearly a problem. Either you’re not very good at your job, and putting two and two together, or that’s something You’re not telling us. Please just be honest.. what’s up with google home and the speaker grouping  issues? Seems like a lot of people have spent their hard earned on systems that aren’t delivering what was advertised. Myself included. 
just be honest mate. 

[LoHa]

Hi Garrett- I had a Google home mini. I liked it and recently purchased a Google nest audio to put into a different room. I have them in a group. I can’t tell one to connect / play music on both. I have to go into Spotify acct, hit cast to my group, it says “connected”, but then quickly switches back to only Google home when I hit play. I have to then go into Google home app, media and click on the other speaker to get them both to play. This is not how it’s suppose to work. Why won’t media play on my speaker group automatically? Thanks

[SimonTemprell]

I think there are thousands of frustrated users looking for ways to rectify the numerous connection problems with this unreliable system.

[Rotorguy3]

Of course

[Paddler4xpb]

Garrett or whomever else.  My Google Nest Wi-Fi 3 unit system (incl router) works great, but the default speaker group name, Home, no longer works, hasn't for sometime.  Each time I run mesh test, all is good, Avg 350 maps down, 13 up (Comcast restricts upload speed significantly)  Others in this community have had this issue, is there a fix? 

[aljmllr]

Hi Garrett,

The option to cast audio to a group is no longer available and I've run out of ways to try to make it happen. We use it to play audiobooks in our whole home. Any tips on how to get that working again? Thank you for your time 

[TechAddiction]

The way I've been able to get it to work is to use an app and cast it to the group.  I use Google Music and SiriusXM and both will cast to both of my speaker groups.  I have two Hom Max in a stereo group and then two Chromecast Audio devices in a speaker Group.  I'm able to use the volume rocker on my phone to control the group volume as long as the app is active on screen.

[Yirmoma]

Why can't I control my speaker group's volume with my voice anymore it's really frustrating to run around the house and try to talk to each one when the volume of the newscast change with each commercial and each news thing and can literally be 50% louder or quieter... Giving me some really terrible experiences here like every single time I try to use my device. 

[Yirmoma]

And also it just won't play the news on a speaker group anymore anyhow... Got to love all the features that come with this worthless talking weather device which is about the only thing it can do accurately next to telling the time and reading you sonnets from Shakespeare when you don't ask for them. 

[DiagonalDog]

Yes this is still an issue. The answer cannot be that I'm expected to run around my house every week (at best) and restart them all to get it working again. Why can I not oh idk have a "reset all Google homes" option from the home app so it's easier at least?

[Coundon]

I have a Google mini and a Google nest hub. Can only get one to work with the group. If the mini is playing then the nest hub displays the song but no sound. Tried too many different steps.

[Missty17]

Yes please, can I speak with someone to see if they can help with connection

[rick8864]

My casting to a speaker group stopped working just a few days ago (around 1/18/23).  If I say "hey google play kjzz on speaker group" my google mini replys "do you want to play radio" I say yes and it starts playing kjzz on just that speaker, not my group of 7 google minis and 1 nest hub mini.

[Rotorguy3]

While music is playing, open google home app, choose media, then select speakers you want played. Also I found, not naming them with word group, better to name it something like home or work, just don't add the word group or mention it. In other words. Hey Google, play some music on work.

[kfer95]

The app does not display them - they are connected to the internet and I have verified this while on the phone with my internet provider. The speakers will display in the app sometimes but not at others. If I click the speaker group circle it will not connect them all. 

[OmaCoder]

Be glad it's worked up until this point!! 😟

[Chadbendel]

I'm gonna wipe out my entire network this weekend and start a brand new home in Google home app. I'm having issues with my brand new nest thermostat too. 

[Phlynn]

Garrett DS,

I have been researching the speaker problem and have read many threads where you post basically the same message and never any useful advice or response.  I have to wonder if you are an AI bot from Google?  Perhaps you can help us trust your input by providing your bio as to why you are a community specialist and what that means? 

[Will1978]

I got a new phone and since I did, the group won't respond and play music, it only plays on my phone.  My email #

[MadPotter]

Up until a few days ago, my 2 google nest minis were in a group and I could command to play the same music on both, so in my lounge room and in my studio. Now they are still listed as being in a group but the group function does not work while the Nest Minis work independantly. I googled trouble shooting and saw someone suggest delete the group and reform it. It worked. FOR ONE DAY! Now they don't work as a group again. I have deleted and reformed the group several times; I have rebooted everything several times; I have followed online guides on how to check if I have the latest versions of the google home app etc - there are no instalments needed for anything but they still do not work as a group. They did yesterday after I deleted and remade the group. Now even that doesn't work. WTH????

This is SO frustrating!

[OmaCoder]

Welcome to the party. Just over one year now that I've been dealing with this. 

[MadPotter]

Thanks OmaCoder. I guess I just write this up to another thing I won't bother with trying to find a solution for!  Good luck with your issue!

[Twotone420]

Go to your Google home app, and under "media" you should be able to play your groups and other devices, or if you are already playing something you can add devices from the "media" in your Google home app.

[MadPotter]

OMG,  Twotone420 - that actually worked even though I can't use voice commands to play to a group! Thank you. Frustration level has just gone down to 'moderate!

[Brian_B]

"Play on all speakers" stopped working.  Not sure what google has screwed up this time....

[Joey3]

I have a speaker group consisting of 2 Google mini's, one Google home speaker and a Pioneer receiver. About 2 years ago the Pioneer receiver stopped working in the group, even though it is on the same network. Spent days rebooting devices, doing factory resets, renaming groups, etc with no luck. Today I discovered that (with all devices in the speaker group) if I unplug the Google home and all Google mini's the receiver works by itself if I say " play speaker group. If I just plug in  any one or more Google speakers the receiver stops working while the Google speakers work. Any ideas?

[MsLevis]

And the problem continues-  have to reboot all the chromecast audio devices- to get the "group" to work vs just one speaker -  the reboot doesn't always work - it's very intermittent --  also noticed it tends to choke more when I try to cast Spotify from an older iPhone 12.5.4 vs a current os...  anyone else seeing issues from the OS?

[DanS]

I haven't had an issues with casting from my Android devices to the groups.  All of my issues are with voice commands to play music from Deezer (my default music provider).  I can play to any one speaker with a voice command.  If I try to play to a group of speakers, it is hit-and-miss.  Forget about trying to "Shuffle" a playlist to a group.  That almost never works.

[frances]

Hi @DanS 

Thank you for sharing your solutions and comments! I appreciate your help. 

In regard to your shuffle playlist on Deezer command not working, does this issue only occur on Deezer? How about other sources of media? (YouTube, Pandora, Spotify, etc.)

I look forward to your response, thanks!

[DanS]

The shuffle command works with YouTube and Spotify (although I am limited to testing with public playlists since I am not a subscriber).  These do seem to be issues with Deezer.  I have identified these issues so far:

1. I cannot use Google Assistant to play Deezer music on a Google Nest speaker pair.

2. I cannot use Google Assistant Shuffle command on any Google speaker.

3. I cannot use Chromecast from the Android Deezer app to cast to the Google Nest speaker pair.

[Mryder85]

I'm also having this issue. I used to have 2 mini's and a Google enabled Vizio sound bar on one speaker group.  The sound bar stopped working on the speaker group a couple months ago. (Still shows up on the google home app and will play on it's own)

The 2 mini's will play music when voice commanded, but never in a group only 1 at a time. When I access the google home app to manage playback on the mini it shows that neither is playing music, and all the options are grey. 

I've deleted speaker groups and tried to create new ones, but now when i "create a speaker group" No device found on this Wi-Fi network is the message it gives me. Everything is up to date, everything has been reset. (including wi-fi and network). 

So frustrating!

[frances]

Hi @Mryder85

Thanks for reaching out.

In regard to speaker groups, that feature is only compatible with: Google Home, Google Nest Mini (2nd gen), Google Home Mini (1st gen), Google Home Max, Google Nest Audio, and Google Nest displays, Google Nest Wifi point, Chromecast with Google TV, Chromecast, Chromecast Ultra, Chromecast Audio, and devices with Chromecast built-in.

With your Google Nest Minis not playing a speaker group after you have tried a variety of troubleshooting steps is concerning. I have made a case for you so that you can receive more help from the support team. This will be sent to the email address associated with your community profile. Your Case ID is: 3-8418000031774.

[gab3ur]

Are Harman Kardon smart speakers (Citation series) compatible with Audio Group? The are chromecast built-in 

[Jimbo1982]

Hi,

I'm having exactly the same issue where speaker groups drop in and out of existence, only some speakers in a group play when selecting a group, volume control doesn't affect all speakers etc.

I've just changed my WiFi (same issues before and after) which led me to factory reset my devices and set up new groups. In terms of other problem solving steps, I end up rebooting my phone most days to try and get round to this. I force close on Spotify, Google Home most days to try and get it to work, and all my patches, apps are up to date.

This issue has been present almost daily for 3-5 years that I can remember, across two house moves, and two households (I split from my ex).

It's so exasperating.

James.