Nest Hub Max no longer playing audio on speaker group

[rhammond84]

Nest Hub Max is no longer playing music on the speaker group it is in when asked. All other speakers in the speaker group play, and I can manually add the Hub Max back into the group whilst playing audio through the display interface. 

Am presuming this is an issue with latest preview version firmware/cast firmware?

System firmware version: 12.20230611.1.59

Cast firmware: 1.70.375332

[morf]

I also think that if nobody from google is writing into this thread means that they don't know how to deal with it, if it is a "new feature" they have to inform us, and that's it, simple..but they even don't write this, so to me it is a problem that they don't know how to fix it, i.e only incompetence...

[t34wrj]

I reported this issue to the Google Nest Customer Support team (using my Google One subscription) some time ago. The last update I received was on 20 November 2023 - "I have received an update from our senior specialist and they are currently looking for a work around for this one. Once I have an update I'll get back to you." I have also provided Support with a link to this forum post. I have chased for an update and await this. 

[Bannman]

ANOTHER PROBLEM CAME UP: I give it the order to play a specific music and it responds that it will do it, but it doesn't do it on any of the available devices. He just stays silent. We continue to have problems with Google home groups.

I restarted wifi, restarted and unplugged devices and nothing. Still not playing music in groups.

[TomE]

This has happened to me since the first time I bought these things years ago.  Try saying "Hey Google, SHUT UP", then try again. I don't know why it works, or if this is the same problem,  but I suspect that sometimes there's a device trying to connect that can't or thinks it's already playing. 

[Archibald]

I've experienced exactly the same. It confirms your request but nothing happends. This behaviour started shortly after the audio group problems. It seems like GH is falling to pieces bit by bit... 

[TomE]

Hilariously, my hubs are working in my "all devices" group this morning. 

[Chuckee]

give it a day... lol 😐

[Lynuber]

How does one start a class action lawsuit against Alphabet because this is now beyond ridiculous. 

[Nore]

This issue is happening to me as well, I have 15 Google Nest devices on my Wi-Fi network, the speakers all work fine on multiple groups the hubs do not, same exact problem as everyone on this forum. I have to manually add them to the group, then the group name is no longer selected, and the new group being played has all speakers Plus the Hub name. This is happening to both of my Hub devices simultaneously, so 100% not my network, or anybody else's network, this is a Google Nest Hub integration issue

[Pdenker]

I'm having the same problem as everyone else. It's been like this for, it seems, a couple months. I have a mix of speakers, minis, hubs and an old Chromecast audio. I assumed it was the Chromecast that was causing the problem. But a lot of you having this problem do not have a Chromecast audio, is that correct?

[Archibald]

I also have a mix of devices, including a Chromecast Audio in my speaker group. In fact, the CC Audio is the only device that works as it should. My hubs are not playing audio in group, and my Minis keep disconnecting from wifi. All of this started at the end of August. 

[Rich0827]

I have one chromecast Audio (wish they still made them!) in my group, works fine.. just the max

[TomE]

I don't have any Chromecast audio devices, although I do have several Google TVs with built-in Chromecast, but they don't work as group speaker devices and never have. They don't even show up in the Google app as a device that can be added to a group - which is an annoying limitation in and of itself. My TV should be just as valid of a speaker group as any hub, but that's a whole other thread.
 
I have a couple of the very first-generation Google Home devices, a bunch of minis (some are nest, some are not), one Lenovo clock, and 3 Hubs (one is generation 1, and two are generation 2). 

What is broken right now is that no hubs will play music when in a speaker group with any devices that don't have screens. The hubs all work fine in a group with only other hubs, but as soon as you add even a single screenless device, they refuse to play music.  

Annoyingly though, my Lenovo Clock has a screen - and works just fine in a group with other screenless speakers. 

[Ruatha]

My Chromecast Audio is the best. The hubs don't play in groups and minus dissconnects

[morf]

I have to decide if move to Alexa system...Is it possible to know from GOOGLE if it is a new definitive feature for Google Hub or not? Google are you going fo fix it or not?

[TomE]

Mine (sort of) started working about a week ago, then it stopped working again. I don't know what that means, but it's getting old. I was planning on buying several more hubs to add to my home, but unless this gets fixed soon, I'm not willing to spend any more money on this broken system.  

[AdrianIosif]

Searched... Google (haha) for this issue I have since a couple of months and got to this thread. Amazed that it's a global and old issue, still Google didn't fix it. I will also report it to Google - all of us needs to do it daily!

[MittyOZ]

OMG Just found this thread.  Have been having this issue for ages and it's been driving me insane.  I have a single Hub and just like everyone else, when ordering Google to play to my "all speakers" group, everything plays except the hub, which can then only be added manually via it's touch interface or via the app you are playing from.  Incredibly frustrating.  Reading through this thread, what's even more frustrating is that google appeared to be helping up to a point, and now they seem to have adopted radio silence.  Hey Google, what gives?  

[TomE]

Mine all (sort of) started working about a month ago, but they still occasionally seem to refuse to work.  To be honest, it's driving me nuts too. 
To add to it, I now have another unexpected activity. I'll start playing music on my "all devices" group, and it will work. Then randomly, one of the hubs will start playing something completely different than the rest of the group. It's not audio off time from the same stream either - it's audio from a completely different source. 
This is why I didn't buy any new speakers this Christmas season. I'm not putting another dime into this system until it starts working correctly.  

[Dastud]

When Google says "We're looking into it. We'll get back to you," you can write off them doing anything.

[t34wrj]

Google have just told me that "We'll look into this" having chased a further update from the Google Nest Customer Care team!

[aarontax]

The fun really starts when you manually add your hub to your speaker group. And then when you tell your speaker group to stop playing, the hub will continue playing like a zombie speaker and you have to tell Google to stop everything over and over again to shut the thing off. The other fun thing these days is that when I ask Google to play something on my speaker group, the hub will respond and try to do a Google search and start spitting out things that it have found (without playing in the group of course)!   

[morf]

Alexa is the solution...it works great...

[ipTpM6jbPKBbHVH]

This may have been suggested previously as a workaround but I did not see it mentioned anywhere so Ill write it up.

It has definitely been working for me.

Its an extra step every time but it does work to get music playing on all the speakers you want at the same time.

The trick is to start on the hub then move/stream transfer the music to a speaker group that includes the hub.

I have:
1 Nest Hub Max
3 Nest Audios
And another Chromecast built in speaker system

This works for all of them and multiple speaker groups with and without certain speakers

Start here:
Nest Hub Max Audio Settings:
Default music speaker:
Select "Nest hub max" only

Nest Hub Max Groups
Select this
Create device group
Create a "NEW GROUP NAME”

Next:
Go into each speaker you want to be part of the group
Make sure the default music speaker is set to itself for each speaker
Select Groups to add the speaker to the NEW GROUP NAME

Then start playing music ONLY on the Nest Hub Max Via voice
Once the music starts use the stream transfer function

“Hey Google, move the music to the NEW GROUP NAME”

stream transfer:
https://blog.google/products/google-nest/move-your-music-stream-transfer/

I had better luck creating the speaker groups thru the speakers rather than
HOME > Settings > Devices, groups & rooms
But that does not seem to be consistent

It may help to delete all the speaker groups and start from scratch but delete items at your own risk

Let me know if you have any questions.

Good luck

[Davidsdesk]

Wow, @ ipTpM6jbPKBbHVH  you are new and bestest friend! (Well--you and ChatGPT...) It worked! Holy Crap--it worked! 

[AdrianIosif]

It's good to have a workaround, thank you! But it's just not normal.

When I am leaving home I am asking google (using the nest mini speaker next to my entrance door) to play some background music on the speaker group. The music will be playing on all the speakers in the group but not on the Nest Hub Max. I just do not want to travel through 2 rooms to get to the Nest Hub Max, to start the command from there, then to transfer it etc. I just want it to be automatic (hey, it's supposed to be a smart home system, isn't it?) and simple. 

[Rich0827]

I am back to working again.. 

[Chuckee]

try again in an hour....

canˋt Google just make a statement on this.  a bunch of people bought nest hubs over Christmas and are pulling their hair out....

[r_d]

Got a new home network, reset and reconnected all devices (Nest Hub, Chromecast Audio, Nest Mini) and I'm facing the same issue. JFC this is infuriating. Someone really needs to go after Google for breaking their own products.

[Davidsdesk]

Resolved, for me. I've been fighting this problem for months, but the post from ipTpM6jbPKBbHVH  above seems to have resolved the issue. Specifically,   setting the default speaker for each device to itself and then re-creating my speaker groups through the speaker groups thru the speakers rather than HOME > Settings > Devices, groups & rooms. I am now able to play music on any speaker group by saying, "Hey Google, play (Spotify, etc.) on downstairs. It now works like it did originally.

[Dastud]

I hope so! I thought I had it fixed. Worked for 1 day

[BrokenSpeakers]

I don't understand the delay at all. Why would this take four months to fix? Does google not use version control? Roll back the software to a state where it was working and build from there? Why are we stuck in broken speaker group limbo? This is a problem they had solved at one point why are the unable to recreate working speaker groups!? 

[TomE]

I have no proof, but I still think this all has something to do with the Sonos lawsuits.

[BrokenSpeakers]

Yeah I'd agree, but its broken in a very specific way. It's not like Sonos has speaker displays. Why would all other speakers work but Displays be left out?

[Chuckee]

i have Nest Displays and Lenovo Displays.  The Lenovos work but the Nests don't....

[mrceolla]

I wonder if this is because displays run on Fuchsia now, vs the old Cast OS that all the speakers still use. What a cluster...

[Albperalb]

The problem is that they update the devices, and in each update the issue changes. In my case, now I can put manually music on a group named "sound". But If I tell "hey google, put some music on group sound", It plays on the device, not in the group... 

[Miggihiiri]

I just bought wifi speakers specifically so I could play music with my nest hub 2nd gen and you can imagine my disappointment when the nest hub did not work in the same speaker group... google home has been quite disappointing with all it's bugs. Hoping this will get resolved soon.

[Albperalb]

Well, right now the issue only happens with Spotify. If I ask "play music on YouTube Music in group Sound" ,or "play radio on TuneIn in group Sound" it works. But with Spotify... Nothing happens.

[BeerNecessities]

I've observed this behavior also although just briefly.  My speaker group works sometimes.  Usually after a reboot or something like that.  Come on Google please fix this.  It's been broken since last summer.