Having trouble with Speaker groups? Read this first

[kelanfromgoogle]

Hi everyone, 

Thank you for continuing to notify us of the reliability issues you’re facing with your Speaker groups. I escalated these issues internally and the team is actively investigating a resolution. If you’re able, all feedback is appreciated! Please keep it coming by saying “OK Google, Send Feedback." Providing details, such as mentioning that the issue is with the "speaker group," is especially helpful.  As always, we appreciate your feedback and are working hard to alleviate the issues. 

Thank you for the patience,
Kelan

[kelanfromgoogle · Accepted solution]

Hey folks,

Thank you for your continued patience while our team has been working to address the issues with Speaker group functionality. I want to give you all an update and confirm that a fix was identified which will address a specific problem where some devices, when acting as the group leader, cause an issue with audio not playing on other speakers that are part of the same group. However, you may experience that the main (or leader) device will still play the media as expected.

The following devices will cause this behavior when used as the group leader:

- Chromecast with Google TV (4K)
- Chromecast with Google TV (HD)
- Google Home (Fixed as part of firmware update 3.73)
- Google Home/Nest Hub (first-generation)
- Google Home/Nest Mini (first-generation) (Fixed as part of firmware update 3.73)
- Nest Audio (Fixed as part of firmware update 3.73)
- Nest Hub (second-generation)
- Nest Hub Max
- Nest Mini (second-generation) (Fixed as part of firmware update 3.73)
- Nest Wifi Point
- Pixel Tablet
- A small percentage of third-party speakers were also affected

Note: the issue must be fixed on the device that is the leader of the group in order for the other devices in the group to start playing consistently

The fixes are specific to each device type, and are dependent on upcoming scheduled update rollouts. We will update this post as the fixes begin rolling out for each device so you can test your own speaker groups.

There may be some devices that take longer to receive the update so if you’re still encountering issues, you can try these temporary workarounds:

Cast directly: if you’re trying to play audio in multiple rooms, cast the audio directly to the individual speakers.

Restart your devices: If you’re having trouble with your speaker group and are unsure which device is the group leader, try restarting all devices that are part of the speaker group. This can often resolve the issues.

As always, we deeply appreciate the feedback and your patience. If you are still running into issues with Speaker groups, please leave a comment below with clear descriptions of the behavior you're encountering. This feedback will help the team further investigate and mitigate anything else that might be causing this feature to not work as intended.

Thanks again, we're working diligently to get everything back to how it should be.

Kelan

[Hundry]

Are chromecast audios concerned? 

[rpwong]

Hi Kelan,

I'm having this problem with a Chromecast Audio, which demands to be the leader in a speaker group. Will Google release a fix for it?

From what I can tell, the CCA and Chromecast Ultra haven't had a firmware update in three years (I assume since they were discontinued), and I don't see them mentioned in your list of devices. Without a fix, my CCA is basically obsolete.

Thanks!

[ArtyMarty]

The thing is, the chromecast audio WAS working, and google broke it when they changed the firmware on all devices because of the sonos lawsuit, so they do need to fix it. (under Australian consumer law they do anyway)  or refund the full purchase price of the chromecast audio devices + expenses (which would include the YouTube subscription fees paid since 2015).. About $1800 in my case... 

[Uncle-Googs]

Same.  Everything used to work... then Sonos.  Google acts like we dont now any better... "Oh yeah... Reset your device..." - give me a break.

[MrKistic]

I have been thinking the same thing regarding the ACCC, this behaviour would not be allowed by a manufacturer if it was any other kind of product that did not have magical auto-updating software. If your coffee machine with an expected 10 year life stops working after 2 years they are required by law to either refund or repair.

Realistically Google should let us turn off automatic software updates and pin the firmware to a specific version. I just want my speakers to work in a group and I don't care if they aren't running the latest version or don't get the latest "features" they might offer in terms of voice recognition etc. If we could run them with the last version of the firmware that actually worked we would not have any of these problems.

[ArtyMarty]

I have an audio group with :

• 3x chromecast audio 
• Nest mini 
• Google home mini 

When I ask Google home hub or mini etc to play on that group, it usually ONLY plays on the chromecast audio devices. (one of the chromecast audio devices is pretty much always the group leader.) 

Sometimes it will play on all devices in the group correctly. 

Often it appears to work and play on all devices, however the Google mini or Nest mini in the group will keep announcing that "your YouTube account is being used on too many devices "

THAT MAKES IT 1000% MORE ANNOYING when it's a Google problem with a service I'm paying for!

Restarting all the devices in the group might get it to work correctly one time, for a little while, but if I make a second request to play music it either goes back to playing only on the chromecast audio devices or playing on the chromecast audio devices and the minis in the group, but thinking the minis are an additional seperate request so they keep announcing the "YouTube account being used on too many devices" rubbish 

[Uncle-Googs]

Welcome to the google ecosystem.

Pixel phone, google fi, google wifi, nest minis, neat audios, paid YouTube music service... and I cant consistently play music.

What joke.

[MrKistic]

I've had the same issue for a while now. I only have one chromecast audio in the group but after a certain period of time, usually around 24 hours, starting music on the group only plays on the chromecast audio. If I remove it from the speaker group and then add it back the speaker group works properly again; at least until the next time it fails but it normally works for at least a day.

It's an annoying workaround but I can deal with it for now. It would be interesting to know if you can pinpoint which of yours is the leader and whether you only need to remove and add that one or if you'd need to remove and add them all.

[InertAgent]

The latest production firmware releases fixed this issue for me, where the Chromecast Audio was the only one playing in a group. Before the new firmware, there was a always a duplicate group leader because they didn't see that the Chromecast Audio was already the leader. I can see the group leader with the go-chromecast command available from https://github.com/vishen/go-chromecast/.  In Windows powershell I use the command ".\go-chromecast.exe ls | sls 'Cast Group' " 

[JohnLand]

The current 3.73.429109 software plays better, but my problem is the Cast Audio running 1.56.28.1627 software. I have 5 Cast Audio devices along with 10 other speakers from Google and other partnered manufacturers. The problem is the "Group Leader" is Always going to a 'Cast Audio Device' and the normal upload for the leader is 30 - 60 Kbps. If I add to many speakers to a group it will literally double the upload with each speaker added. I have had it jump up to 1.5 to 3.0 Mbps, that's when things go south rather quickly. I have repeated this over and over again and would more than willing to demonstrate how adding one speaker doubles the upload, load!

[DJL]

All my speakers are 2nd Generation, and I have rebooted them many times and have also reset them many times , still nothing.

[Yevhen1]

Проблема осталась и я не понимаю, что сложного решить её? Это не сложно, но Гугл по прежнему топчится на месте 🤔

[RussdaFuss]

It's sad. Google is researching quantum computers and can't get a bunch of speakers to play the same music at the same time.

[JohnLand]

I have 15 devices that I want in a group just to play music. I also have another 4 devices to speak commands to control the speaker group etc. Then add in 3 Chromecast with Google TV, 7 Nest Cameras both inside and outside. This all worked until google mucked it all up well over a year ago. 

I have been able to determine that a speaker group will always pick a chromecast audio as a group leader. I believe it creates this in my router logs (user.notice IMPROXY: INFO[imp_verify_multicast_addr@258]: Group) based on the time stamps, I don't have confirmation on this. What I do know for a fact is when adding more than 5 or 6 devices I can see the leader upload choke out the group when the upload get near the 1 mbps. Even with just 5 in the group I can choke it by opening up my live 7 camera feeds. If I close the camera feeds sometimes it will settle back down after a few minutes and resume playing.

Sounds like a wifi router problem? Yah that was my thinking also so I replaced my router setup again for the 3x last May. It's a Wifi 7 with 3 nodes, 2 on main level, 1 in basement in a small 1,000 square foot ranch with 1 Gigabit fiber drop inside.

I have finally found a solution that has been working steadily for the past 3 days with a group of "14 devices" in it! Google sold a "Ethernet Adapter for Chromecast" the store shows it out of stock and the install instructions are still up. You can still get the same adapter from other manufactures. I installed one on the audiocast picked as a group leader. The upload speed has been 3 to 6+ mbps with no stammering or stuttering even with the 7 nest live feeds running! Another very interesting thing the download speeds on other speakers in the group jumped from say 20Kbps to almost 300Kbps.

Again this all worked before google mucked it up and I have no doubt they will muck it up again. Already working on a replacement plan.

[mrxree]

Utterly useless community management

[JohnLand]

Congratulations again! You clowns shoved out another untested firmware version 3.74.437716. Just who is testing this????

I actually had a few weeks of 14 speakers actually playing all together reasonably well. Just last Friday before you again shoved this down our throats I played music for 13 hours.

That's IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Groverjkelley1]

Not fixed as of 11/19/2024.    

Good luck and please try fixing this problem soon 

[mr7uca]

Fyi adding an old Chromecast Audio device to the group of various devices with this issue also allows them to play as a group. I just added one and I finally can play music in a group with my Chromecast with Google TV and my Marshall Acton II Wi-Fi speaker.

[Rdj110]

When I ask one speaker to set a timer it sets a timer for all speakers in the house. Sometimes I ask a question like what's the temperature outside the speaker I'm asking the question of is silent the lights just flicker on it. But then some other speaker in the house will turn around and give the answer. I have never had a problem like this. All have always been functional unless the Wi-Fi was down. I've adjusted everything I can find on the speakers nothing is working for me. This started about December 26th.

[Ronald021255]

First I will make an overview of my wifi environment:
My modem/router is a Ziggo Connect box with 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz dual band. 5Ghz band optimization on
1. Nest Hub (2nd gen)
2) 2 X Nest Audio in stereo pair
3) Google Home speaker
4) 2 Nest Mini in stereo pair
5) Nest Doorbell
6) Nest thermostat
7) Nest Camera
😎Hue Bridge
9) Wifi pods from Ziggo 5Ghz channel optimization must be on
10) 4K Chromecast

The problems actually arose when I added the Nest Audio speakers. But before that I regularly saw the Nest Hub lose its connection and log in again.
Sometimes I hear the left audio speaker report that the connection with the other audio speaker has been lost and the music stream then continues on the left. Usually the right speaker comes back after a few seconds, but sometimes it remains silent. The sound on the left speaker also cuts out at the same time as the right speaker.
I bought the Nest Audio speaker a few months ago and they run on fw 3.74
I use the speakers with the microphone off and set it as the default music player on the Hub.
I usually give the Hub a command to play music from Spotify or to play a radio station on TuneIn. In both cases, the stream stops several times a day and I have to restart the music stream, which often does not work.
I have carried out the suggested steps. Modem/router reset. Also reset to factory settings with the provider. The speakers have also been restarted several times and even reset in the setup.
If I stream spotify to my Google Home speaker I haven't interruptions

Not sure but I think the Nest audio products en Hub have problems with the dual band routers with a channel optimalization on

[GARYSMIFF]

recently suffered issue with a Speaker pair ( 9 nest mini's in my home), " I can not connect to the other speaker in the pair" looks to be a Group setting, worked it out, ensure 5Ghz is the primary connection( shut off 2.4 whilst you build pairs) and then not to add stereo pairs to any groups until they are a paired, if you see they are then added to other Groups without you adding it to those groups, delete that group and start fresh. living the dream now 🙂

[Lardo]

What's weird is, my Google Home Max is the one causing me the issues. Any group it's in, it won't play on any other speakers. 
The firmware for the Google Home Max is different to that of any of my other Home speakers!!! Why is this???

[scragin]

Correct. My Google Max speakers show: 

System firmware version: 275994

Case firmware version: 1.56.275994

My Max stereo pair had been working fine (finally!) when I only launched music from Spotify on my iPhone (change device to Stereo; shows Left playing). But today, it randomly stopped playing. I reselected Stereo in Spotify several times, but it always just stopped minutes later. So I got tired and "Hey Google'd" my kitchen display to play the same list on Stereo and it's been working fine. So many intermittent issues with these **bleep** speakers!

[scragin]

More intermittent info. I tried getting my Stereo Max speakers to play today and they didn't show up in Spotify. When I went to Google Home app, it showed disconnected (like SO MANY times before). I said F-it and listened thru earphones from phone. Then, I noticed that Stereo showed up again in Spotify. And it also showed up in Google Home. WTF? That never happened before. I used to have to reset both speakers to factory, re-register in G-Home and Re-pair. So I guess the moral of the story is that there is no consistent bad behavior--it's the worst of all issues, the intermittent failure in multiple modes. WTF did Google do to create this clusterf--???

[scragin]

Well, my Max speakers were reconnecting on their own for a while, but now I'm having to do the same old factory reset; reregister in Home; re-pair. I haven't even tried any other speaker groups because they likely wouldn't work. I just wanted a single Max stereo pair that works. Unfortunately, it has yet to happen reliably. I'd really like to cut lose with some fine expletives to express what I feel about Google right now, but I'd probably get banned...

[Anonymous]

For several weeks now, my Google has been speaking the weather forecast in English instead of Dutch with some gestures. When I shout Hey Google, what will the weather be like? Today's weather is in Dutch, but when you shout Hey Google, what will the weather be like or how warm, she will speak English. Is there a known bug?

[okey1]

Same here, used to work fine in groups, but now the stereo nest audio speakers do not work in a group All my Google minis and soundbars work fine, It's definitely an issue with the Google nest audio

[Whyvonne]

I have two Nest Audios, paired, two Nest Minis, and all four speakers in a speaker group (House Party).

My morning routine includes playing a podcast from the Nest mini in my bedroom. This went fine, until I tried to get the podcast to play on the  House Party speaker group. The cast icon read "Connecting..." but never connected.

When that didnt work, I tried to change the speaker to any of the other individual speakers and the speaker pair. For the individual speakers, it said it had connected, and looked connected in the Google Home app, but was not playing and speaker volume could not be changed.

I tried playing the same episode from other apps, including Podcast Addict, Spotify, YouTube Music.  The audio would either (1) not connect to any speaker, speaker pair or speaker group, or (2) say it was connected but no audio.could.be heard and the speaker was unresponsive in the Google Home app.

I have (1) restarted the router, (2) removed myself from Public Preview and reinstalled the Google Home app, (3) reset all the speakers.

Any help would be appreciated. Google Assistant was a workaround earlier today, but now Assistant is playing the wrong media (noted in a separate post). It is getting to be pretty frustrating to use Google Home.

[Eddie18]

I have exactly the same problem that only statrted happening today

[Hgodfrey3]

I have 7 speakers total. One home, 6 minis.  I have Google Fiber. I create my group with all 7 but they constantly disappear. The group disappears all the time also. It seems like once I connected the 2nd router, this got worse. The mesh test says it's perfect.  I deleted EVERYTHING, reset all speakers and started over. Still not working! It's so annoying! 

[Dastud]

I have given up on playing any speaker group thru a command or routine. No telling what speaker will play. I now tell my hub to play "whatever" and it plays a Pandora channel. I then add the speakers thru the hub screen and everything plays fine. Never underestimate Google's ability to F things up.

[Ericpapaluca]

Are you going to push a fix for Chromecast Audio? My group is still not working with one nest mini, a nest audio stereo pair, and a Chromecast Audio for my subwoofer. If there's no plan to make it work you should buy these devices back from us. Please let me know.

[BeerNecessities]

I have similar problems with my chromecast audio working with 2 nest minis and my nest hub.  Only sometimes in the morning will I get my nest hub and minis to join in with my chromecast audio and JBL Link 20.  I am aware that google is working on firmwares for other speakers not updated yet.  It would be nice to know how long this could take as I've been waiting for a year for a fix for this.

[CHAZZER]

Agreed.

In fact I am thinking of testing 2 echo's for my outside speaker group to work inside my Google home environment. 

[NF63]

Still facing these issues and while the groups were created and are visible in Spotify, I can no longer edit my groups in the Google home app. 

In fact some cast devices dong show up at all

[ski22]

Glad I found this. I've been fighting this problem for a while without realizing it's a known issue. The only way I found to fix it is to find the group leader using Wireshark and then reboot it.

So annoying; I wish I could go back to the older firmware when everything worked.

I mean, seriously, does Google not have QA labs to test this stuff out before creating misery for its users?

[RussdaFuss]

Welcome to those who suffer from Google's incompetence.
What you write is very interesting. How is the group leader displayed in Wireshark? How do I recognize it?

[ski22]

I actually use MikroTik wireless routers at my house. They have a tool built into the routers based on tcpdump/Wireshark called 'Packet Sniffer.' I simply start it, monitor traffic sent to a random Google speaker, and look at what the source IP is; this tells me the group leader.

If you're running Wireshark on a computer, your wireless router would need the ability to mirror an Ethernet port or mirror wireless traffic to the computer running Wireshark.

I happen to be a Tier 3 Advanced Network Engineer, so this is basic-level stuff for me. Clearly, I understand this is more sophisticated than what the average home user would know how to do, so for most people, this isn't going to be an option.

And to be honest, the latter method is high on the PITA department in general.

The easiest solution would be if Google made it possible for the Home app to identify the group leader or just actually fix the problem by letting users go back to older firmware.

[RussdaFuss]

Thank you for the explanation! You have provided an important answer to a question that has been asked several times. A question that Google has not answered several times.

[RussdaFuss]

Based on your observations, can you say what determines which device is the group leader? I suspect that it is not as simple as automatically always being the device on which the voice command is executed?