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Multiple devices responding at the same time

seknav
Community Member

Issue began week of December 20.

 

I've had multiple Google Home and Nest speakers in our home for years. Nothing has changed in the past 6 months. 2 weeks ago, multiple speakers are answering when the wake command is issued. I say 'Hey Google, what is 1+1?' and two or three speakers will respond with the information or action that has been requested. There are four speakers on the floor I'm on. One that I'm next to, and others in completely separate rooms respond. There is one in a bedroom (2nd gen Mini) and one in the bathroom (Nest Audio) which regularly go rogue. The other in another bedroom is silent.

 
I understand that upon hearing the wake command, multiple devices negotiate with each other to decide which will respond. In this case they don't seem to be following that procedure (the one in the other room or the bathroom jump in even though the one I'm standing next to is closest).
 
I've rebooted the devices and the wake sensitivity is already set to low.
 
Why is this happening and how can I resolve it?
 
I have read existing articles but this specific issue (multiple devices on the same network responding to one wake command) is not covered.
 
I asked this question in the Google Assistant community but was asked to post it here.
1 Recommended Answer

KiiFromGoogle
Community Manager (Admin)
Community Manager (Admin)

Hi everyone,

We recently worked with a Senior Product Manager on the Google Assistant team to write a blog about about what's happening when multiple devices respond to your Google Assistant requests. She shared some tips to help improve which device responds to requests overtime. Be sure to check out the blog post for all the detailsFAQs: Using Google Assistant and Multiple Devices.

 

While this thread is now closed, we started a new discussion about this topic to gather feedback. You can also submit feedback for the team through your devices at any time. 

 

Thanks! 

View Recommended Answer in original post

473 REPLIES 473

TescilleRiser
Community Member

I am having similar problems in the last 2 weeks. We have a Google Home Nest Hub Max and Nest Audio on the 1st floor - when I say “Okay Google set a ___ minute timer” to the Hub Max in the kitchen, there is a slight delay then the timer appears on the screen without an audio response. Then about ############sec later, the audio response comes from the Nest Audio in our home office. When the time is done, I see it go off on the Hub Max, but the audio alarm goes off in the office. We have 2 Nest Hubs and 3 Home Minis on the 2nd floor - similar incidents are occurring. I have unplugged all devices and plugged them back in - same incidents continue to occur.  I need a hard reset or something.

Interesting. So that makes a couple of us where this issue started recently. How long had it been working before this problem popped up?

Shrinsys
Community Member

Two weeks ago. One command multiple devices answer!

I am having the same exact problem the interesting thing I have noticed from following the support page is that I think something in the home app on the phone things you are not on the same network as the other devices which is why my phone and the nearest Google device answer at the same time. I have checked my wifi on the devices and phone nothing has changed in that respect 

Frostflavour
Community Member

I just bought a Google nest hub 2nd gen and 2 google nest audio and something is funky. The audio is cutting out and volume is going up and down. The hub says it can't adjust volume, some times when i ask it to play music in a speaker group it just says that something went wrong. Now im getting this issue of multiple devices answering the same question. What the hell kinda backwards **bleep**ty product did i buy here? 

Shinpads22
Community Member

I have the same issue. I will ask my mini or hub something and my phone will also respond. I've never had an issue before but keep having problems. Google please help!

frankly, i'm about to switch to Alexa.  I've rebooted and it got worse.  Then it got better for a short time.  I tried reporting the issue,, and a few wwks ago it started getting much worse.  I've about had it with Google.  I have two nests and a hub, a small investment, but still it's upsetting to have three paperweights now.   My phone is an Android, making it annoying to switch to Alexa, but if i don'get this resolved in the next few weeks, I'm switching.  

 

 

 

Did you end up switching? I've been reading that the Alexa devices are having issues of their own, some similar.

I haven't, no.  I read the same thing.  I went to their community.  Doesn't look as bad, but still issues and Alexa is a bit more proprietary.  I'm about to buy a "clapper" and call it a day.  LOL 

Rooster194
Community Member

Same thing happening to me. Only in the last few days. Tryed rebooting all devices. Making sure all on same network. But no good. 

Recently added 6 smart switches to the house through smart life app. DS you seem to start around the same time but I'm not sure why this would happen or if there's a solution

seknav
Community Member

Can everyone edit their posts with an estimated date that this began to happen? We all kind of say this week or that time, but it's all relative based on when it was posted. If we just put a date then it makes it more obvious when this all started.

Pattio
Community Member
  • About 2 months ago now, Feb. March 2022

GodsRaven
Community Member

From what I'm seeing, it all started the beginning of the year.   Not sure if the date, but that's when mine started, not long after Christmas.

alecmcd
Community Member

This is happening in our home now too. Have had a Lenovo screen in one room and recently replaced insignia speaker in another room with a nest hub. Now the nest hub is doubling responses intended for the Lenovo screen in another room. Not sure when it started but we added the new Nest Hub (second gen) around Early November.

TescilleRiser
Community Member

Has anyone found a workable solution? Or how do we go from this community board to getting Google to fixing this problem. I think it is an operating system problem if multiple homes have similar issues.

Exactly. I wanted to see if I was the only one with the issue and it looks like there's a few of us. I figure if we can show that it all happened around the same time we can report it more formally. Maybe hit the tech news sites to see if they'll pickup the story. I don't think there are enough of us yet though.

 

Bougie
Community Member

Yup same problem here with my Home Mini, Nest, and 2 Hubs, plus my phone. All working great a week ago and now they're all responding. Rebooted all devices - didn't work. Reconnected WiFI, nothing. Still have to try unlinking my account or creating a new home in the Google app...but that seems excessive.

Bougie
Community Member

I believe I fixed the problem... I removed all my devices from the Google home app. Then I factory reset all four (2 Hubs, 1 Nest mini, 1 Home mini). Re-linked and added the two Hubs first with no issue. Added my Home mini and found that a neighbour must have one as well (another showed up in my list). I picked my device but the connection dropped and re-directed to my closest Hub's WiFi to my neighbours device. This in turn unlinked my Home mini even after I added it. I had to go back in to my Home mini to re-link to my house WiFi. Now the 2 Hubs and the Home mini are back to normal. This occurrence probably happened before which caused the simultaneous responding as the devices were on separate networks...im guessing (emphasize guess). This could just be my situation  but I thought I'd throw it out there. It may not even have been the other device that caused it, could easily have been a simple network issue which put the devices out of synch.

KeithM415
Community Member

I think it was the factory reset, not the wifi issue. I'm having the same problem and just checked all 4 speakers and they are all on the same, my 5ghz Wi-Fi SSID

Cozy-B
Community Member

Similar, likely related problem here.  My devices aren't responding in unison, however my phone will always respond at the same time as my Home devices (1st Gen Home and a mini) also respond.  They used to negotiate and the phone would stay silent.  The strange thing is that I have a 2nd Mini that works correctly...in that when the phone and it are in the room together, both will wake but only the mini will respond.  All devices are on the same network, same account, etc, etc.  I can't figure out what's going on and why one would work fine but the other two don't.  This all started relatively recently...like the last month or so.

Rooster194
Community Member

https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2022/1/6/22871304/google-home-speaker-group-volume-control-cha...

 

This might have something to do with it!

 

Sonos sued google and won over group speaker technology! 

This shouldn't have affected the set ups in November but anything is possible

GORDONexplosion
Community Member

Same problem, suddenly phone and Home responding to "Hey Google."  Except the phone keeps talking "Ok, but you have to unlock your phone first."  Noticed it maybe a couple weeks ago.  Existing troubleshooting pages ("make sure you're using the same google account on all devices!") don't work.

Rooster194
Community Member

*SOLUTION*

So i was at my whits end with this issue, so i turned to the factory reset as i have 6 devices in my home and sometimes 3 devices would respond. 

 

I factory reset ALL my devices, minis and Hubs. Then reconnected them all one by one and the issue has resolved. I made sure they were all on 2.4Ghz wifi. 

 

Hope this works for you too.

Rooster, I just went through factory resets in the entire house. Had some Nest Audios, Nest Minis and Google Minis. So far so good. Great idea! This might be the solution...

 

Ridiculous that it was necessary though and very disappointed Google haven't said a thing.

 

I'm consistently disappointed in Google's implementations and their support but I'm glad we can help each other solve their product issues.

I'm so glad it helped you out ☺

 

After spending lots of time setting up my home just the way i like it, it felt so wrong to delete it all. However, it had to be done. 

I've just tried this but unfortunately didn't work for me. Hopefully Google will look into it

I also, uninstalled the Home App. You could try that? 

Shall we just sell the whole lot and but new ones then? Nup.. Google need to fix this

Nicholas Hutchings

Good luck with that.  After 10 months of calling Google, complaining to "community specialists" and "community managers" here, writing 1 star reviews for this stuff, it's still nothing.  All they do is claim it's our fault, ignore the problem, or give the same answer - reset everything.  I'm over it.

Yeah.  I did that too.  I have uninstalled EVERYTHING!!!  All devices, all apps.  Took every back to square one.  Then I reinstalled the software, reinstalled the devices, including the Google devices, and everything worked well for about a day.  Then it all started going downhill again.  It's been 10 months and I cannot tell you how much I hate Google Home.  It would take me at least an hours worth of typing to tell you everything wrong with this system.

They won't.  It's been 10 months and the problem still exists.  Resetting only fixes it for a day or two.  Then the problem returns.

No it doesn't. Google just needs to fix the problem. Factory resets are not a solution. They simply encourage moving to Alexa. 

 

Google caused the problem. Google MUST fix it 

Nicholas Hutchings

Jake
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey all,

 

Sorry for the late reply. I wanted to follow up and see if you are still in need of any help? Please let me know if you have any questions from here, as I would be happy to take a closer look and assist you further. 

Best regards,
Jake

bcx
Community Member

I've pretty much come to expect that this is simply the way things are - multiple devices answering, wrong devices far away answering, constant "Something's gone wrong" announcements etc. The most fun is when 2 or more devices all respond with different announcements. I have added new nest devices, factory reset others, deleted and reinstalled the app, replaced my routers, changed locations. Welcome to the world of Artificial Stupidity.

GodsRaven
Community Member

My granddaughter visits often and we've started calling Google names (stupid, etc) and laughing at her.  She will suddenly interrupt our conversation with "answers to things we haven't asked her questions about, play music when we haven't asked for it, etc.  The other day after such an event my granddaughter told her to be quiet.  Google responded with, "sure, playing the song Quiet by......"whoever it was.   I just tell it to shut up now.  For a few weeks it asked me if I wanted to send a report when I told it it had screwed up.  It no longer bothers.  I think I've hurt its feelings.  ROFLOL.  I'm so over Google. 

I have a lot hooked up to this to reset everything.  I've tried the reset once and it actually made things worse, but I'm going to try one last time, then just get rid of the whole system and switch to Alexa and consider it an expensive lesson learned. 

Thank you. As so many others seem to be experiencing, I'm still having the issues. The new Nest hub means it doesn't happen 100% of the time, but it's still about 80%. 

cnschulz
Community Member

Yes please, can you please confirm that devices on the same local network but diffent frequencies 2.4/5ghz will still work together seemlessly of have we had a regression? I have the above problem now and it's only been happening for a month or so. I've been using both wifi frequencies for years without issue and I do not believe this is a problem. Please confirm. 

swd10a
Community Member

they SHOULD work together on BOTH frequencies... but DO have problems depending on what you have... (Version #1 of a Google device or Version #2.. a MIX CAN cause problems?) I even had one Google Support tech reconfigure my wireless network to 2 differently named networks and then switch ALL of the Google devices BACK STATICALLY to the 2.4  range. Said that this is what they are "supposed" to be at.... NOTHING I found with Google said that. Helped for a min. but then same stupid problems came back. Google is LOSING their users over this!