LG Thing WK7 Chromecast Speaker - Centralized issue discussion

[keeya]

Who should we blame here? LG tells us to contact Google, and when we contact Google they say LG hasn't updated the Chromecast version of their product. It's an high end Smart Speaker and it should not become a paperweight. I have two of those, one still work but I made the mistake of reseting the other and now I cannot use it anymore. There are dozens of people facing the same issue. This is not normal, I've contacted EU legislatives services about similar issues in the past and sure will do again to explain this if it doesn't come to a positive resolution. Feel free to share if you have the same speaker.

IF YOU DON'T COMPLAIN, THEY WON'T FIX IT:

GOOGLE:

https://support.google.com/googlenest/

Chromecast -> Contact Us

--

LG :
https://www.lg.com/

Customer Service > Contact Us

------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE DECEMBER 2024:

Google and LG have no intention to fix this, if you live in Europe fill a complaint to your local Consummer Center here:

https://commission.europa.eu/live-work-travel-eu/consumer-rights-and-complaints/resolve-your-consume...

Scroll down, select your country and fill a complaint.

The European law protect consumers, we don't have to bend the knee to LG and Google.

Si vous vivez en France, vous pouvez poster une plainte ici :

https://signal.conso.gouv.fr

Edit March 2025 : here are the steps to use your  speaker as a bluetooth speaker, it's a hack and lose all assistant features but so don't throw it way it still kinda functionnal....

1. After initiating pairing between the WK7 and Google Home, answer NO to the question "Does the assistant respond?"
2. The app will display the message "There may be a problem." You will have two options: "Quit setup" and "Help Center." You should choose "Quit setup."
3. Once in the Google Home menu, the speaker will still be visible. Click on it.
4. The page that appears will display the speaker's volume in %; click on the gear in the top right corner.
5. In the settings, select Audio.
6. In the list that appears, select "Paired Bluetooth Devices."
7. Then click "Enable Bluetooth Pairing."
8. From the list, select the WK7 speaker again.

9. Finally, you will be able to see in the Bluetooth menu of the smartphone that the WK7 speaker is connected via Bluetooth.

Edit2:

you might want to add a reply to this post to let Sundar Pichai (CEO of Google) how happy we are :

https://x.com/lelapinroi/status/1904120988415000817

Please be polite.

[Bricko]

Same issue. Absolutely unacceptable 

[Ron2024]

Let make a complaint Here:

https://www.lg.com/nl/ondersteuning/product-ondersteuning/?csSalesCode=WK7W.DGBRLLK

[ChromecastUser]

They state that the problem lies with Google.

[keeya]

The problem is, yes LG is fully responsible for not updating the Chromecast firmware (even though they tell us to contact Google which is crazy) but even on the Google side, until very recently we could still pair the speaker to Google Home just fine but now it fails, since LG didn't update the firmware or anything, it is Google (Home) that broke the support. If you are in Europe and see this message in some months and it's not fixed (don't hold your breath), check your local european consumer center and drop them an email explaining the situation.

[GrZeCh]

Same here. I've peformed reset process and now I can't do anything about it. Does anyone have any idea if maybe using older Google Home app on older Android phone could help here? I've found old Sony Xperia with Android 5.1 where I've installed older Google Home app but still I can't discover my speaker.

[Barzi]

I tried that and it did not work.  I used an old Galaxy S8 with an old version of Google Home still on it and I also used an old router that I had previously set the speaker up with.  It went through exactly the same set up process and failed to configure the speaker.

[LG_WK7_FAULTY]

Hi all.... So I'm in the UK... .mine has now turned in to a brick 🤔. I have a Q for you all. Does the function button no longer light up blue.... I have also tried factory resets etc and was able to add to Google Home , albeit with an error at the end of set up. I can see it in Google Home ok and can adjust the volume. But the Google assistant and Casting no longer works. Also via the function button or the SoundBar App cant get bluetooth to work. I was however able to get bluetooth to work while in Goggle Home, via going to the speaker then tapping Audio it gives me a bluetooth option I connected and tried a song from my phone and it worked. I even turned off my WIFI and it still was connected so I know the bluetooth Module works ok. It seems very suspicious as I have being seeing lots of adverts for LG XBOOM recently and now all ours are dying. 🤔

[polytrauma]

Yes, the top button does no longer light up blue when not successfully configured in google home. Tapping it will do the same as saying "okay google", but reply with the suggestion to login via the google home app.

[Barzi]

I wondered that too and the words "planned obsolescence" spring to mind.  I'm trying to get hold of Trading Standards to report this as its wrong that LG/Google can just turn off our tech when a new version hits the market.

[Barzi]

The same happened to our speaker when we had to reset it due to getting a new router.  So far LG and Google blame each other and neither is taking responsibility to fix the issue.  I tend to think this is a Google issue primarily as when I went back to the original router I used to set it up along with the old phone with an older version of Google Home originally used to set it up  it still failed to configure the speaker.  Something changed on Google's side which bricked our speakers.  I have tried various routers, phones, tablets, versions of Home, creating new Home's and still it fails at configuring it.  We just need honesty and integrity from Google and LG and for them to work together at resolving it as certainly knocked my confidence in both companies to the extent that I'm not buying LG again and have no confidence in Google Assistant only products.

I'm in the UK and this might need referring to Trading Standards. Was this planned obsolescence of our speakers which is unlawful?

[levisn1]

I'm from Poland. Same issue. Google home doesn't even see the speaker. I reset it multiple times and still nothing. Can somebody tell us what to do?

[polytrauma]

Same experience as described by others here with my LG WK7.

[keeya]

I received an answer from french LG customer support (I invite you to let your local LG customer support know about this too by sending them a message). In they reply they say LG / Google are aware of this (I'd like it to be true but...) and also gave me direction to make it work (but doesn't work for me), here is auto translated message they sent me :

Regarding your request regarding your LG WK7W speaker, you tell us that it no longer connects to Google Home.

I inform you that LG is aware of the phenomenon and that Google has been contacted about it.

A fix must be made directly by Google. However, there is no information on the duration of development of the fix or when it will be deployed.

LG does not have control over the synchronization with the Google Home application.

While waiting for this bug to be corrected, here is an alternative pairing method.

1. After launching the association between the WK7 and Google Home, you will have to indicate the answer NO to the question "Does the assistant respond".
2. The application will display the message "There may be a problem", two choices will be possible: "Quit installation" and "Help Center", you will have to choose "Quit installation".
3. Once on the Google Home menu, the speaker will still be visible. You will need to click on it.
4. The page that will be displayed will be the volume in % of the speaker, you will need to go to the cogwheel at the top right.
5. In the settings, you will need to choose Audio.
6. In the list that will appear, you will need to choose "Associated Bluetooth devices".
7. You will then need to click on "Activate Bluetooth association".
8. In the list, you will need to choose the WK7 speaker again.
9. Finally, you will be able to see in the Bluetooth menu of the smartphone that the WK7 speaker is connected via Bluetooth.

[polytrauma]

I haven't tried it this way, but I can confirm it works as described if you just fully go through the google home configuration of the device. It will end with a final error message, after which you can only cancel the process. After that it will work as described from point 3. onwards. But this will only provide bluetooth functionality, no chromecast, no google assistant.

[Ron2024]

Bluetooth workshop bit I can not make the wk7 speaker work in Google home.

Why o why not??

[keeya]

glad it helped, better than nothing I guess, got it to work in bluetooth too for now...

[levisn1]

1 which version of Google home you have installed?

2 when you click on Add devices, I assume you click on the Home name and after on Google Nest or Partner device, are you able to find the speaker?

[keeya]

I have the latest google home from playstore (3.25.1.4), to find the speaker I actually had to go in the phone bluetooth settings and add it (pair) there, it's a hit and miss I think

[levisn1]

Can you be more clear? Because in the instructions you provided you didn't specify this step. Also, without all the steps you suggested, was the speaker visible from your phone Bluetooth discoverable devices? Also, before everything, was the ring of your speaker blue or fixed white? My problem is that I have the same version of Google home as you do but nor the Bluetooth scan, nor inside the Home app I can find the speaker, which is turned on with fixed white light ring.

[keeya]

The speaker can't go into bluetooth mode (trying to switch by pressing the button on top or with lg soundbar app doesn't work) so yes the ring stay fixed white (I thought I had do do that also but no, you can still stream in bluetooth anyway in normal wifi mode) I'm no expert the solution works for me but i make no promise, after step 7 I went into the bluetooth phone settings (long press bluetooth icon, I think I scanned for devices because I didn't see it and then it discovered it and paired it)

[levisn1]

Before step 1, is your Google Home able to see the speaker or no when you click on add device?

[keeya]

yes, I deleted the home, re created it, pushed the reset button on the speaker, started the detection in home app, heard the voice, added to a room, finished with the error and then click on the speaker which is seen correctly and that you can hear if you move sound slider, and then rest of the steps

[levisn1]

I gave up. The speaker is not visible. Tried with another old phone with an old Home version. Nothing. I've reset the speaker but still no signs of it neither via bluetooth nor in the Home app. I deleted the home, recreated and still nothing. I think mine has a  completely bricked software which turned off Bluetooth completely.

[keeya]

drop them a message, the more we complain, the better chance we have they fix it

[Ron2024]

Bluetooth workshop. But google home not.

[keeya]

yea really its a workaround, they have to fix this ...

[Ron2024b]

16-11-24 

Till yesterday it all worked well. After the google home update, the speaker does not work anymore in google home. Only bluetooth with music app on iphone.

I tried also everythinh to solve this problem with the wk7 speaker.

No more LG for me!!

[LG_WK7_FAULTY]

So I did an on line chat with LG UK support, and he knew this was not fixable with the usual dance they do with, have you reset it etc... I asked him to escalate it. He said all he can do raise it as a kinda customer report/complaint, and I might not get feedback or response. So I don't hold out much hope. I did mention its world wide issue with many annoyed LG customers with potential massive amounts of Ewaste. If we all wanted just bluetooth speakers then we would have bought one and not a WK7.

[keeya]

interesting that he didn't seem to be aware of this issue from others people while the french customer service seemed aware of it, let's keep the pressure on them, I also put a 1 star rating on trustpilot that I will remove if they fix this

[Barzi]

I complained to LG in the UK. They are aware of the issue and have escalated it in Support.  They mentioned contacting Google who I have also complained to.  I'd like to think a fix is coming but I don't trust either to put the resources into finding a solution.

[YNOS]

I have come here because I have the same problem. I am also affected from Spain. Very bad Google. Goodbye Google, hello Alexa.

[keeya]

send your local LG customer support an email otherwise  they won't know and will do nothing about it

[Ron2024b]

i think its a lg-problem. 

athe update makes google home crassh…

[keeya]

Lg certainly never updated the firmware..... but it used to work anyway, it's probably related to Google updating their Home app but it's totally inacceptable

[Cocacolisten]

Just chiming in as another user with a now paperweight... Really sad that nothing has happened...

J from Sweden

[Ron2024]

Please make all a complot Here:

https://www.lg.com/nl/ondersteuning/product-ondersteuning/?csSalesCode=WK7W.DGBRLLK

[levisn1]

How? Where do I have to click exactly?

[Ron2024]

A complaint

[Ron2024]

https://www.lg.com/nl/ondersteuning/product-ondersteuning/?csSalesCode=WK7W.DGBRLLK