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

[Boogieman]

I have had speaker group issues since i got google home 2nd gen - 4 mini, 3 displays, 1 jbl google home compatible, 1 Samsung Atmos top of the line soundbar, 1 chromecast for LG TV since LG dont work well at all with google home, 1 Bosch washer and 1 bosch dryer, 1 AC from woods, 1 Xiaomi robot vacuum, 1 JBL boombox connected to a mini via BT as main sound device).

To be frank, google home is beyond bad when it comes to playing music on anything but the device you are talking to.

If i say play music on all speakers (a group called all speakers, but in Swedish) it has never worked well with the new version of google home.

I HAVE ALLWAYS had to recide to download a VERY OLD bersion of google home via an APK available online, create groups from there and then dont touch anything, force play store not to uodate app and live with the crappy old interface and no updates. (Not that the new interface is any better, so messy and not like any other software or app).

Today one screen, jbl, roborock were missing and no groups worked.

Same ol same ol, unlink device to reconnevt

Tried accessing groups and remove readd device but today it said i was not allowed ro edit the groups i created , WHAT?

Rebooted google home and now ALL GEOUPS ARE GONE. 

GOOGLE YOU NEED TO REFUND PEOPLE OR GET THIS HORRIBLE CODE WORKING ASAP!

Today suddenly soundbar was gone, my roborock s7 vacuum was gone. I constantly need to reconnect accounts all over my system by chosing UNLINK (clever name to reconnect something google)

[youpickone]

Time for a class action lawsuit. There has been way too many people that cannot use the product that they bought from Google and Google should reimburse the people and also give them extra money for the pain that they have suffered trying to get the stupid speakers to work!

[CHAZZER]

I said the same thing months ago

[ski22]

Cool, find a law firm, retain a lawyer, and become lead plaintiff for the class action suit, I'm sure a lot here will then join the suit. 

[Boogieman]

The funny thing is that my friends google home, which is generation 1 works without issues 😝

Seems like goofle products gets worse for each generation.

One thing that google should understand and that is likely the culprit is that each device has a name and then another name (kinda hidden name) for example my display in the kitchen was renamed to

KitchenScreen but later renamed to

Kitchen Screen (yes just a space difference).

Click cogwheel for device, then device information, there the ORIGINAL name given can be seen (and cant be changed in the new version of home and also DOESN'T change if you change the name of the device. In OLD version of google home, that WORKS with groups, it changes both names to the new name and everything works. In new version only the new name changes (not the old in device info) and groups doesn't work very well untill you reinstall old app and rename from there and create group from there all over.

[Vicki3]

my daughters works too and we bought them at the same time, I might try 

alexa

[Boogieman]

To get google home you either need to be a proper computer geek / programmer or i guess devloper at google. That's how messy they are to setup. My old xiaomi home that is way cheaper never had this much issues. Im defentitely never getting Google products ever again. I can imagine how messy their smart phones must be LOL

[Nikovl]

Seems to be kinda fixed now with the new update . I can play groups again but the app still a bit funky.

[Diego6]

I'm having an issue where I can ONLY use my Nest Audio device in a speaker group, not my LG C4 with Chromecast built in (which I can play music and cast video to individually but not while playing music through my nest audio, which I can also cast to individually). Seems so many people have complained for so long, and if I call in to google, nobody really knows if I can or cannot.

Google documentation says I should be able to but then I just can't? And it's been working on a fix for supposedly how long? I just don't understand. Any assistance would be great. 

[scragin]

The default response to these inquiries is: "Google doesn't care." Which is true. Get some Sonos or Amazon products that work as advertised.

[GreasedPig]

If Google would allow us to remove our past devices/group names from the google spy network then it would resolve many of these issues, but alas the past continues to hideout deep inside their black cloud somewhere regardless if you delete the device or group name.  Best thing to do, is create a new google account so you can have an empty device list and the "secret google cache" cant cause you all more grief.  I don't work for Google either but I do "know many things"  Tired of asking the Google Bitch to play something on my "Home Group" or my "**bleep** Group" and it not working.  I am going to switch to Alexa and see a shrink for my new PTSD problem thanks to the Google Spy System.

[RMuser]

This gave me the clue to a solution, without deleting your account. Instead go to your group in settings and delete the problem group, then create a new one and give it a new name, one you've not used before. 

This enables the new group name to be used almost normally, although I've had to create an automation to play radio stations reliably on a group instead of asking.

It looks like Google indeed keeps a cache of things we can't alter, if they get corrupt there is no easy to fix things.

[youpickone]

I totally agree exactly what's happening with me. At first I spent a lot of time on this useless website posting complaints and then I just said **bleep** it. I'm done. Google got my money. I went somewhere else. I'm using some other product and I'm done with Google

[youpickone]

Google also censors our responses because I didn't say bleep!

[Vicki3]

I have tried everything even getting my IT man in to make sure my wifi is ok which it is.  I am still using my mini as it is the only one that still works my hub on the other hand it still not working. I have rebooted re started everything I can fine but nothing radioapp shows then goes back to photo frame

[Kwalsh]

Hello I am also having trouble with the Audacy app on my google home. Started about 10 days ago. It replies that it’s going to open Audacy and then it seems like I can’t , it just has the the circle spinning & shuts off. 

[Denis_d]

Group of two nest audio in stereo pair + google streamer.

No sound from Google streamer, only picture

[nebsta]

@kelanfromgoogle new software updates have been released for Nest Hub Max, Nest Hub (second-generation) & Nest Wifi Point since your post above. Can you confirm if any of these updates included the fix for this bug?

[youpickone]

Thanks for nothing

[Uncle-Googs]

Its been at least 6 monts plus since my last update.  I would post under that update so people could follow along but the UI for this forum is trash.  I ranted about that a few posts back.

Anyway - determined to de-google my life - i cancelled YouTube music.  Things already started working better.  I then gutted my Google Wifi Mesh and switched to Deco.  That combo has been stable.  Things just work.  I liked YouTube music - so switched back - but right away back to trash.  In my experience it was the combination of youtube music and google wifi.

After some trouble shooting with google support I..... LMAO - just kidding on this part.  Google didn't give sheet.  But - then Kellan reached out and..... LOL - not.  Nobody gives a sheet.  We are all on our own here.  Good luck.

[khompitoon]

<top> wix

[GoBananas]

And yet more than a year later NOTHING has changed. Google engineers please fix this hot mess you call Google Home. Google Home app Speaker Groups are still painfully UNSTABLE, UNSTABLE, UNSTABLE!!!! The created groups disappear, reappear, then disappear over and over again.

[Tetraden]

It's July 2025 now. Over a year later. The firmware version is 3.75.

We still can't stream to speaker groups.

Looks like Google developers are unable to establish even remotely stable UDP connections. Must be the best of the best...