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???

[artisticcheese]

I'm wondering if we are just unlucky or everybody who has Google Home having this issue, I can not imagine that every person with Google Home having this issue and it somehow passed QA by Google.

[Muddi]

Hey everyone,

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

[Loong]

My google home and minis have also been doing the same thing. Slow pulsing of all 4 color leds at the same time. This is very concerning if there is a bug / google getting hack and all our devices are constantly listening to all our conversations. This could be a huge security issue if a hacker is recording our voices and using it to portray as us acknowledging access to our accounts or fraudulently opening blank accounts under our identity. 

[BulldawgMike]

Same issue with my four.  All pulsing four lights constantly.  This is relatively new.  Doesn't seem to affect anything, but I'm unable to find out why this is happening.

[jmcrabb]

I had it send feedback yesterday with similar keywords but can do it again with those words later.

Firmware version is 356012

[survivant]

that's not an answer. There are no solution in it.

A page on google support that confirm they know the issue with a ETA could be better. 

Your answer is : Hey.. do there and tell them that you have a problem. 

[Ec23]

What about other devices not just minis? I have the nest smart speaker same issue what feedback do I send

... 

[FreeThink4Peace]

Not only have I provided feedback on this for weeks, but I have also provided video of three ouf our devices all having the same issue. Google's answer was to create a new Gmail account and start over.  WHAT!!!   You can see my longer response below.

[FreeThink4Peace]

It's NOT just the minis. Our OG Google Home is also affected.  Google Max does not appear to be affected ... for now.

[FreeThink4Peace]

To make this worse, and others should pay attention to this .. I've noticed both of my Android phones microphones (green light) become active for no reason and do not turn off until I restart the devices. This also started a few weeks ago after the update.

[Zebrasnnot]

So what is the solution? 

[Mjhotaling]

I am having the exact issue, rebooted several times. Each night I come home to them blinking( I have 8 devices)

[bushono]

you just need to say Hey Google to every single of them and issue will be fixed 😜

[SunsetWookiee]

This is becoming so frustrating. I've been dealing with this issue for over a month now. How can such a bad bug be allowed to continue for that long? I would appreciate this issue to be resolved soon. 😔

[Glembke]

Any updates? Resetting Google Homes isn’t fixing the issue. 

[NicholasPierre]

It’s telling you that you have either a reminder or you’ve received a broadcast from another device but haven’t replied to it (haven’t acknowledged it ) by broadcasting an answer back 

[jimk1987]

Broadcast can be a one way street, especially with automation/routines. This should not persist after a broadcast.

[jimk1987]

It's a bug with automations that broadcast messages. I confirmed this by clearing the blinking, by telling Google to "stop", then running my sons bedtime routine/automation (only broadcasts a message to brush teeth) again.

[donato1026]

Same here! Lights on mini constantly pulsing and it's annoying! When I say, "Hey Google..." and then say "... stop listening," they go out.

[TechDad78]

Last night my Google Home Hubs acted funny as well. They did not dime during the night but instead stayed fully lit. I kept swiping until it got to the clock and then it dimmed. Very odd

[Paul15578]

Why is this happening to all my speakers? Started about 2 weeks ago as well.

We need a proper solution please. It's ridiculous to say make sure you've got the right account linked etc.

I've had these speakers for years and changed nothing

[David_R]

Is there a fix for this yet????

[hellspice]

A fix ?, No feed back whatsoever.

This is what you expect from MS MVP support forum lol, maybe Google sold out @Muddi  ?

[MentalOne]

This didn't work for us either. All 4 of our speakers have this issue.

[SHWO]

We are having this very same issue for the last. month or so. Located in Australia and tried all of the above trouble shooting already including ensuring continued conversation is disabled. 

[Energi]

This issue of the pulsating lights is not just occurring on Google home mini speakers but also the original Google home speakers and it's happening on all of the devices as everyone says in the last couple months... I've continued conversations or other things or full reset does not solve the issue it continues to happen...based in the US.   

[KimT]

Same with all of ours. Haven't found a solution yet

[swogdog]

Same here!  Same timeframe, too.

[Scidhuv]

I'm glad it's not just me.

I thought it was maybe a reminder, but I asked and it didn't have any waiting.

Looks like there's a bug.

[Tadowman]

My minis do the same at night in rooms that aren't normally occupied.  It's almost spooky as if they're listening from a distant room so no one notices.

[SirRaath]

Count me in on this. Nearly all of my speakers are continually pulsing. I can get them to stop for a bit by interacting with the speakers, but they just start doing it again later on. Been this way for well over a week for me.

[Laupsavea]

If I say "OK Google, stop" the lights go out but only until the next broadcast.

[NicholasPierre]

As mentioned by others, this is a bug and the team at Google is working on a fix, all the solutions offered at this point are just workarounds. 

One such workaround is to say “hey Google, stop” whilst another workaround is to acknowledge the message by broadcasting back on the device that’s pulsating

[FreeThink4Peace]

THey never worked like this in the past. For years. They only started this behavior recently. My 98 year old Mother-In-Law is not going to respond to a Google device. If Google has added this "must respond" feature (which would be asinine) then they need to supply a way to turn it off.  I think if you read through this forum you'll see that noone is expecting this behavior and it is most likely a bug introduced. When I read up on the Google Broadcast feature it DOES NOT say anything about a need to respond otherwise all of the Google devices will perpetually pulse until the response is heard. Where did you read this?

[NicholasPierre]

I didn’t read it anywhere because an official explanation doesn’t yet exist, that’s why we’re here on this forum. I’ve tried it with all my nest minis as I got annoyed seeing the light pulsating after receiving a broadcast, and it worked 

[FreeThink4Peace]

I think you'll see by reading the hundreds of people discussing this, that it is "unexpected behavior".  The workaround you mention, which is to interact with one of the devices, does stop that device from pulsing, but not the others. This temporary workaround is mentioned multiple tmes in these threads and dos work on the individual device. But who wants to do that? I have been in contact with Google Nest and they are aware of the "bug" and purportely working on fixing it. THis only strated with the latest major release 5 weeks ago or so. It is not how they intend it to work not does it make any sense to work that way. If the devices stayed on for a few moments, such as in continued conversation, then "perhaps" it would make sense, but the lights stay on pulsing perpetually until the devices are either interacted with or unplugged.  This makes no sense. Your original message makes it sound like this is intentional normal behavior for these devices. It is not how they have functioned for the four or more years I have been using them along with the broadcast feature. Perhaps you should remove your post?  

[survivant]

Hello, I have few Google mini in my house (8).  There are 1st and 2th generation.  Since last week when I do a broadcast like : Dinner is ready.  The message is broadcasted correctly but now the lights are flashing on all the others google mini after the broadcast.

I Just have to go to each room and do this : Ok Google, stop.

and the lights stop blinking.  Why ?

[Muddi]

Hello survivant,

Thanks for visiting the Community.

I know how it feels when there's something wrong with your Google Home and Nest Mini devices. Let's try to get to the bottom of this. To confirm, does it broadcast the message or just show the lights? What happens when you broadcast a message from your phone to your speakers?

Also, it would be best if you could share a video so we can get a better picture of what's happening to your device. Please note that you don't need to take a video on all your devices. We just need to see the actual action of your device while broadcasting a message.

Looking forward to your response.

Cheers,

Muddi

[1234asdf]

Same issue. Is something going to be done about this??