Lights on mini constantly pulsing

[richardtc007]

Over the past 2 weeks I've noticed that the Google Home Minis  (5 of them) throughout my house frequently have four pulsing white lights. This is not the result of someone saying anything remotely close to "Hey Google" or "Ok Google" and it is not the result of an errant broadcast. 

I've noticed that it even happens when I'm the only one home and haven't said a word.

I've done the whole unplug and reset routine. Why are they all suddenly listening???

[UpdatedtoFail]

The pulsing lights indicate active listening. These things should only be passively listening for the key phrase. Active listening is not what any of us expect nor should expect. Whatever code change they made is making the devices essentially a recording device, which is absolutely a privacy violation. It's very clear they are stuck listening for a reply to a broadcast. My guess is someone altered the reply to broadcast code set to go forever therefore turning on active listening.

[Dre007]

Not really. It only listens for the activation phrase "hey Google", but the lights mentioned indicate active listening.

[Energi]

My perspective, for what it's worth, is that Google just like Amazon has abandoned all of these smart speaker devices...their entire business model originally was on selling them at or below cost so they could blanket and saturate the market and then somehow monetize them through services, search results, online purchasing, etc.   What Amazon found with Alexa devices  and Google with their smart home devices is they both found themselves losing hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars on these divisions because they were not able to monetize and actually make a profitable business, so they gutted these divisions including the developers that maintain them and they are no longer a strategic focus for any company in this space because there is no business model around these devices.   I like being able to use my devices to control certain aspects of a home like lighting etc but I've come to the realization by looking at the financials and what's occurred in these companies to understand that I need to abandon these devices myself because they will not be effectively supported going forward.   Apple is taking a different approach by selling their speakers at a much higher price point and making profit on the hardware itself which is their typical business model and then they are also trying to sell other profitable services, like Apple Music, on top of that.   That allows them to continue to maintain development because they've got profit margin to pay for maintenance etc.   Google and Amazon have no profitable business model in the smart speaker space, hence they are not putting any resources toward continued development and maintenance.   Focus for most organizations has shifted to generative AI which makes the problem even worse for maintaining legacy devices like google smart speakers.  Bottom line, I wouldn't expect any fixes for this issue or other issues in the future as these devices are no longer of any importance financially to these companies including Google.

[Ec23]

Fyi not just on the nest mini but also on my nest audio smart speaker. And clearly a privacy violation begging for a class action lawsuit... need more urgency from google on what should be a code red for the dev team to fix. Constant listening is a privacy and legal nightmare.

[GoHawks1225]

Not only that, but it renders the whole system useless as you can't talk to it because it won't respond until you unplugged the device. This has been going on for almost a month now and I'm unplugging my device daily. In fact, I hooked up one of my Google homes to a smart plug so that it automatically resets it everyday by turning it off and back on. 

[Kithas]

Mine will stop pulsing if tell them to stop; 'hey Google stop', not a fix but easier than unplugging.

[Sir_Olf]

Is there a website where we can see updates because it is highly annoying.

It even feels like Google is simply eavesdropping randomly.

[SCAREDEM357]

I find it hard to believe anyone is working on this problem.  There is no way a problem of this size affecting this many users has not been corrected or at least provided some kind of statement. 

[Robert_F]

The Google Home Minis in my home are also continually pulsing. It's so bright at night its affecting sleep. Is there any fix coming soon?

[JensJaviera]

Any updates yet? It gets really annoying now... After every broadcast we have to say 'hey google' to the other 4 nest mini devices we have 😞

Maybe the developer team wanted to warn users that there was a broadcast if they were away from the device? Just disable that line of code 😉 or let them just flash for 5-10 minutes or so.

[JensJaviera]

I can confirm this has been fixed now here.

Firmware  system: 356012


Firmware Cast: 1.56.356012


[meagrowpt]

Same problem

[Hartzinmt]

Just jumping on the bandwagon here to keep track of as the same as happening to us. For minis and one regular.

[nchiker5]

Hi Muddi,

Please provide an update for this highly annoying issue as this is still happening on all of my/our Google Home devices continually for months now.

[richardtc007]

How can there be NO progress on an issue as important as OUR PRIVACY! There should be nothing that Google takes more seriously than this. We deserve to hear from someone in a senior role who is leading the effort to resolve this issue and address this topic. If this were on the news instead of just a community thread, I wonder if we would get more attention. 🤔

[SCAREDEM357]

Wow it appears mines may be working now? Don't know if they finally fixed everyone's or if tech support fixer mines after being on the phone with them for an hour and not getting anywhere. 

[korpx]

Firmware version?

[BillyBob3]

Mine appears normal now too after a broadcast.

[sliyk]

Yup I have the same issue as well. Three speakers with pulsing lights for no reason. Location UK 

[Nexus69]

Ok, same issue here.. only after broadcast, led's keep pulsing infinitely until I unplug them (affects my google home and minis).. really annoying.  

[Kithas]

Mine stop pulsing if tell them to stop; 'hey Google stop', not a fix but easier than unplugging.

[Bobo9]

Same here. Happening after a broadcast, with all google devices. Canada...

[SunsetWookiee]

I am experiencing the exact same issue on all 5 of my minis as well. If I unplug them and plug them back in it the blinking sometimes stops for a time but inevitably comes back. This is super frustrating. 

[TheHabs]

Same issue. USA, 9 devices (8minis, one max). About to be 9 Alexa's  if they don't get this figured out quickly. 

[GoHawks1225]

I have a total of four of them (mini) which includes a first gen display and all the lights started pulsating about 2 weeks ago as well. I've been trying to brainstorm and troubleshoot since then. They also do not respond to my voice but they will broadcast when I use my phone which is a Google 6 Pro to broadcast. 

I'll reset each one and after the reset they work but then less than 24 hours later they're back to pulsating and not responding to hey Google. 

I've also retrained my devices by deleting the old voice match in creating new ones. 

To throw a wrench and everything, My Google big speaker things (I have two) are the only ones working flawlessly. 

[Kithas]

Mine stop pulsing if tell them to stop 'hey Google stop' not a fix but easier than unplugging.

[deakphreak]

Same here, light pulsate after broadcasting.... Happens on all my devices around the house. Come on google

[Stewbaru]

Same here

[Volensaeros]

All of mine blink after a broadcast, gen 2 minis USA 

[K0br4]

This seems to be a very widespread problem. Google is mining our data as an unprecedented rate. 

[AlGranto]

Same issue with my 4 google homes. Been happening for last 3-4 weeks, at least once a day. I’m based in Australia 

[jackdaniels]

Same as above.  Multiple devices showing the bug after a broadcast.  Has support confirmed whether or not these devices are staying in a listening mode?  If so I believe there are major privacy concerns.

[Glembke]

Same problem here. Extremely frustrating. 

[MattSteitle]

We've had the same issue for several weeks now. It's not confined to the minis though. Our Google Max speakers throughout the house also exhibit the issue. We also use the broadcast feature regularly. Continued Conversations is disabled in assistant settings. This is clearly a developer-introduced bug. Let's hope they're working on a resolution.

[dorankp]

We’ve noticed within the last two weeks that the behavior of broadcasts has changed. After a broadcast, the speakers no longer make the chime before the message, and the display will stay on the broadcast screen; my minis and speakers will get stuck blinking like they’re still broadcasting. Rebooting or issuing another command will unstick it, but it always comes back. Note that behavior does not happen if a broadcast is issued from the Assistant app, only the speakers and displays; the chime works and stuck issue doesn’t happen. Feels like a bug, 

[Scooby65]

I have the same problem, minis flashing and the home hub displays the broadcast animation. I quite often have to power off the hub to clear it.

2 years ago Google Home was excellent, now it's abysmal.
Voice recognition is way worse, processing commands SO BAD.
For example, I get a broadcast from the kids, I try and broadcast "I'll be right there", Google responses "There's nothing playing right now."
The only conclusion is that they are killing off Google Home, no way this is not planned.

[UltraMagnus0001]

they're probably switching to Bart

[niceguyjc]

I have the same issue - all of the devices get stuck in "working" mode after broadcasting. All the minis flash white, all the homes in a continuous color circle, and the hubs on the broadcast screen. I can still activate them and they go into "listening" mode but if I don't say anything after activating they go right back to "working." I have to tell them to "stop" for them to go to normal "non-working" mode. It's really annoying.

[Muddi]

Hey folks,

Thanks for bringing this up. I know the feeling when something strange is happening on your Google Home or Nest devices. Since we're getting similar reports, I'll go ahead and merge this thread with the main one so everyone will be updated on the progress of the issue. Please make sure to follow the main thread for updates and additional steps.

Also, please note that once merged, this original thread will be locked, and no further comments or updates can be made.

Cheers,

Muddi

[DeadlyMoldSpore]

What is this other "main thread" that you keep referring to?  I am having this issue throughout my house as well.  I have 13 devices and they all are basically doing the same thing.  I am not resetting anything because of the headache it would cause for me and for the fact that it has been confirmed over and over again that your recommended solution does not work.  I would like to know what other threads I can review.  Please provide something helpful, like a link to other related issue threads instead of unhelpful information like resetting has been reported to work... but as I can see from this thread... it has also been reported to not work - over and over again.