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

[WhyWhy99]

Cast directly to a single device...that's your answer? You are cheating people that bought these devices specifically to use in speaker groups, you have known of this problem well over 6 months, yet refuse to fix it. OK Google, wake up the chatbot to give us an update.

[Gazer2740]

Hi there, I'm a new user of the Google home nest speakers. I have two nest audio speakers connected in a stereo pair and I have one nest mini generation 2. I can cast audio from YouTube music directly to the nest speaker stereo pair or directly to the mini. However, when I tried to cast to my home group which comprises all three speakers YouTube music will not play. I also cannot use voice commands to play music to the home group. 

I have read all the posts above and all my speakers are using the 3.73 firmware level.  In fact, this was the firmware level on the speakers when I set them up as far as I can tell just a couple weeks ago. 

Of course I have rebooted the speakers, of course I have removed and reset up the home group.

Are there any next steps? I actually ditched Sonos for this setup instead due to their disaster with their application. I was hoping Google stuff would work better. 

Help?

[okey1]

Hi

Workaround is to play music to stereo speaker then open google home and you should see the speaker playing...then click the cast button then you can tick all other speakers to play

That will work

[Uncle-Googs]

Sometimes that works... But that is not a stable solution.

However you are assuming the first stereo pair in the room you are in shows up..  i have 2 stereo pairs in my garage.  Sometimes neither show up to start the first cast, to then add more.  Or... One shows up... But the other (even in the home app)... Never shows up on the list.  Neat!  But then the "simple fix" is just... Split pair.  Factory reset, reconnect the speakers, re-form the stereo pair, reboot wifi.

This is not a solution or workaround.  Its something to try - but still not reliable.

[Gazer2740]

Okay well this seems to work sometimes. I didn't know this was a possible ok, this seems to work sometimes and is a workaround. However, I agree with other community members below that this should work when I click the home group. Why doesn't it when I have the latest version? What am I missing here. Is this just one of the things that doesn't work?

[mrxree]

This is not actually a resolution to the issue and shouldn't be categorized as an answer. Do better.

[ArtyMarty]

I notice there is no "chromecast audio" in your list. 

I have a group with:

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

The chromecast audio device in my kitchen is almost always the "group leader" as when I reset that one the group always stops. 

Obviously as chromecast audio do not have a microphone, they are never the device that I use to request the music on, it's usually a google home hub.  (sometimes a mini) 

Can you confirm that the updates will also roll out to the chromecast audio devices? 

[aesopal]

FYI my max speaker (original, not nest) has started working again in speaker groups in the last couple of days. My other speakers worked fine post 3.73 update as long as the max was excluded from the group.

Great to see you one assigned dev got round to it eventually 😉 x

[kappadappa]

Still waiting for a fix for the Nest Hub (2nd Gen)

[WhyWhy99]

Hey GOOGLE, is the mic still off? Just bury your heads in the sand?

[kappadappa]

Are the rest of these devices ever going to receive updates to resolve the problem? Particularly the Nest Hub 2nd Gen.

[Groverjkelley1]

The problem has reoccurred (11/19/2024). 

can tech support please look into this?

error message “Oops! We are unable to cast at this time.”     

Checked all devices are on same WiFi network, all updated, rebooted and Google Home app is up to date. WiFi router rebooted and no error messages except the “oops” message.   

The devices have been working fine up until today.  No changes have been made.  All other devices (lights, mini speakers and controlling smart TV’s are all working fine only casting Pandora to mini speaker groups is not working.   

[mrxree]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news - Google does not provide "support" services for the cast (and related) functionality.  That's why you've found yourself posting your request in a community forum - a forum, btw, that is a public record of how terribly Google has managed this technology and the extent to which it has abandoned its users. 

Google provides documentation and this forum where you might get help from a random stranger.  

I look forward to seeing the next wave of companies/services that swoop in to capitalize on the void left by the Google cast shipwreck.  Keep an eye on WiiM - they started out making streamers/amps, but they have now begun to license their software to other OEMs.  

[tobiasrubin]

The Nest Audio is not fixed with firmware update 3.73.  What is your UAT process because it is broken.

[SmithMD]

It's December now and I still cannot get music to play on my All Speakers group by asking Google to play on All Speakers.  This after buying 5 more speakers, for a total of 8 now,  The ONLY reason I continue to buy and use Google home/nest speakers is to play on all speakers group or a specific 2 speaker group in master bedroom.

Thinking I should have just bought the Sonos speakers that I wanted to start with.

Please fix groups.  I want all of my Google speakers to play the same music when I ask Google to play music on all of the speakers.

[Uncle-Googs]

Using Googe Nest/Wifi mesh by chance?  I 12 ish nest speakers and 3 hubs.  I was ready to gut the entire system.

Started the process by replacing Nest Wifi mesh with TPlink Deco... Since doing that - no issues since. Been about 3 months now.  

[BeerNecessities]

That's about when the hubs were fixed.

[Uncle-Googs]

Maybe?  But i went from trash to functional the same day.  I mean - its not like google has provided any feedback or guidance on the issue what so ever.  So the perception to me was - this fixed it.

IMO - if you are done with google and ready to gut everything google.  Start with your google WIFI...

[Dastud]

Do you have any speakers playing with Chromecast Audio? I seem to have more drops with those than the nest speakers. Which Deco system do you have?

[JohnLand]

I've converted 4 out of 5 Chromecast Audio over to Ethernet rather than wifi, along with a Home Max speaker. They are playing in a single group along with 6 Nest Audio speakers, and a JBL + Klipsch. 

[youpickone]

none of this works.  I have 4 nest speakers and my speakers are all on 3.74.444798 firmware.  They are all on the same wifi network.  I have rebooted, factory reset, deleted group and all devices and the google home app and reinstalled them all multiple times so I must be insane.  Isn't that the definition of insanity?  Each speaker works fine by itself but when I ask to play rock on the home group (I have tried other names too) it only plays on one speaker and it's always the same one.  I have made groups with fewer speakers and the same thing happens.  Can I get my money back so I can buy Sonos or something else?

Neil Kologie

[milnivlek]

Sadly I've lost confidence that Google will ever fix this properly. And even if they do fix it, I can't assume they won't break it again later.

So I switched a few months ago to an open-source solution using Snapcast, Spotify Connect, Home Assistant, and Raspberry Pi's (search for it -- there's a Reddit thread with a good amount of detail). It requires quite a bit of technical know-how, so this definitely isn't a suitable option for most people. But I'm happy to report that my multi-room audio is now rock solid. It's a night and day difference compared to my struggles with Google speaker groups over the past year. And even if problems do arise, I have much more confidence that I can reach an actual developer who will respond and take action.

Just putting this out there in case it makes sense for anyone else.

[Nikovl]

Hi , 

Is there any further update? Getting really frustrated about the fact I can't cast too speaker group from Spotify. Online radio works fine. 

The app shows all my speakers offline but the one that is playing is showing up playing Spotify but in the list offline ! 

The app also randomly changes the name of the speakers.

Reboot, re-install , factory reset....  Non solved the problem . 

[Piet-S]

No further update. I also send a email to Google on 31/12, they should answer in 1 or 2 business days (auto reply). Untill now: no reply or reaction at all.........

[IronSean]

So the Nest Hub second generation as of 2025 still has not resolved this issue?

[GlowingMoose]

First things first, this all worked perfectly before the infamous Sonos lawsuit! I'll never buy a Sonos due to that. Curse those guys for ruining this for consumers...

I have 8 Home Mini, 2 Google Home Max, 2 Nest hubs, and 1 Hub Max from the golden era of Nest Audio when they all used to work perfect. Then after the speaker group Sonos lawsuit updates I purchased 2 of the new Google Nest Audio speakers and i continued to have issue with groups. I would go to YouTube and try and cast it to a group and it would just sit there and not play any music like it was frozen. I was able to get it working if I started YouTube Music, cast it to a single speaker then go to Google Home and click on the screen where it showed music playing on a device and then from that screen cast it to a speaker group and it would work (kind of). Now some of the time it would still not play on all speakers but it would work better. I recently purchased 2 additional Google Nest Audio speakers and still had the same issues. I got to thinking that it may be an issue with generational hardware or software differences on the different hardware. I created a group with just my new Google Nest Audio Speakers and low and behold it worked flawlessly!!! Thinking it may be an  issue with generations of hardware I created a group with old hardware and it still would not play to the group directly from YouTube Music. I really think there's still some code from the Sonos Lawsuite era breaking the old devices because I know it used to work.

Please look into this and I'm convinced that will fix it.

<Puts on tinfoil hat>

Or, Google knows this and is being greedy and doesn't want to fix the code and force people to buy all new hardware. If so, then Google is just as bad as Sonos... I know corporate greed mosters would not believe this but i'd be more willing to replace old gear if they'd just fix it and let me upgrade them all on my time line. Plus, the Google Home Max speakers sound awesome! And they haven't made a nice big speaker to compete with it. Speaking of which the Google Nest Max speakers have trouble even being put in a speaker pair and have issues disconnecting all the time. 

SIDENOTE: My home WiFi is Ubiquiti UniFi and every speaker is no less than 10ft from any accesspoint and all of them are on their own SSID on a routable VLAN with beamforming and band-steering disabled. The network has access to the internet and is not isolated from the rest of the network.

 

I really hope someone looks at this because I've spent a lot of time and money figuring this out...

[MadWeezel]

Any udpate to this issue? Has this been resolved? Would love to add my Max back into my play groups.

[Piet-S]

No, update and no response on my e-mails to Google.........

[ChrisMess]

I have the same problem with both my Google hub and Google hub Max. When I say: "hey Google, good morning," The audible response starts at the low volume setting, but within a couple of seconds, both hubs significantly turn up the volume by themselves.  I do not notice this volume problem at any other time. I have done a reset on both units but the problem persists. How can I fix this?

[sfrey]

I have been having the same speaker group issues as mentioned here.  I followed all suggestions I found.  But I still have a default music groups (All speakers, Google Minis, and Home speakers) that I am not able to do anything with.  I was able to create my own group and add 6 of my minis to the group.  However, there are still 2 minis in one of the default groups that I am "not allowed to manage"  I have removed those 2 minis, did a factory reset, and re-installed.  All minis are on version 3.75 software.

[MoritzRoessler]

Suddenly Google Home simply stopped including the Nest Hub when I play music on a Speaker Group. 
I tried everything to get it back working. Recreated all speaker groups. Nothing works. This is really frustrating. Please fix this, I'm not the only one having this issue and apparently its been months.

This is supposed to be automatable, I don't want to add the Nest Hub manually every time I want to listen to Music.

This product really changed my perspective on Google. It just worsens every day and it seems Google doesn't invest a single dollar into this product.

Definitely not going to buy next gen hardware in the future if you don't fix the old one.

[luciaaa]

Hi, @MoritzRoessler ,

Thanks for reaching out to the community.  I'm sorry to hear your speaker group isn't including the Nest Hub anymore. I’m happy to help you find a solution.

To better assist you, I have a few questions about your device:
 

• What model of speakers do you have?
• When did the issue start?
• Have you ever used the speaker group feature successfully before?
• Do you receive any error messages?

In the meantime, I recommend checking out this article for some troubleshooting steps: Create and manage speaker groups.

Keep me posted.

Best regards,

Ana.

[MoritzRoessler]

Hi, thanks for helping out.

 - I have 3x Nest Audio, 4x Nest Mini 2nd Gen, 1x Nest Hub
 - The issue started when I posted above post
 - Yes, it worked as expected before
 - When I use the script editor to "work around it" by executing two actions:
    1. "Play Music"
   2. "Play the music on Home"

   It says "Ok, playing on Home... ... ... oops, this didn't work"

When I activate the speaker group using the google home app, the Nest Hub get's included. 

I tried everything in any combination. It seems the Speaker Group which "OkGoogle" knows about always excludes the Nest Hub. The non-cached speaker group in google home is always up to date. 

Idk if the speaker groups get cached on device and replicated across speakers, but there is a mismatch between using speaker groups with OkGoogle and using them through Google Home 

[RussdaFuss]

"but there is a mismatch between using speaker groups with OkGoogle and using them through Google Home "

Yes, I can confirm that. It's the same for me. I can no longer play music on a speaker group using a voice command, but I can select the speaker group in the Google Home app. But even then, no music is played on a Nest Hub, even though the device is part of the group.

Since yesterday evening, I've had a new error that I've never heard of before. It's now become a regular routine to delete the speaker group and create a new one.

Since yesterday, no device can be added to the existing speaker group, no device can be deleted from the group, and the entire speaker group cannot be deleted in the Google Home app.

As I've said several times before, it's getting worse every day. The whole system is a bad joke!

[Groverjkelley1]

Mini 2 speakers.  My original posting gives you answers to all your other questions.   

[Filler]

I am really fed up with Google. I have several speakers and displays and the speaker group option no longer works. I can set up the devices in a group but when I cast to the group several of the speakers don't play. I also have 2 LG WK7 speakers which I can link to Google but can't add to a speaker group.

The group option used to work very well but now it's a nightmare. I have tried factory resetting everything, re-booting the modem/mesh system etc to no avail. Has Google really given up on it's customers??

[Uncle-Googs]

So... I mentioned one Problem Pair in a previous post since everything was "fixed".  After some troubleshooting - imagine that - the name of the pair was mismatched in the app depending on where I looked.  I must have messed up on that one.  Separated.  Renamed to L and R.  Re-Paired with STEREO Name... It is behaving now. 

Kellan - I suggest someone look at the name process around Pairs.  Unless I just happen do all this effort at the exact time your mentioned "fix" is coming out... it has to be related.

[scragin]

You need to add the discontinued Google Max speaker to your list. I've had the issue for years. See my other post.

[greggegregg999]

I have two Chromecasts, connected to two different TVs. I had to reset one Chromecast. I used to have a speaker group that contained both Chromecasts. Now when I try to recreate the speaker group, the recently reset Chromecast does not show up to add. I can see it in the Home app, I can play music to it alone, but I cannot see it to add to a speaker group. 

Can anyone help?

[illashiza12]

It seems like you may need to ensure both Chromecasts are on the same Wi-Fi network and have the latest firmware updates. Check the Home app's device settings and try restarting both Chromecasts if needed.