Nest Speakers Not Appearing in Airplay

[elfatrelfa]

I am trying to play media from my iphone and mac laptop to a set of nest speakers 4 - I would like to be able to do so individually (if I am in a room) or together (if we are moving about the house, or having a party), but the speakers do not appear either individually or as a network - how do I set these up in airplay as a network or individually.  I am not trying to do this via bluetooth but over the network.  

[Ashepherdson]

Wouldn't be able to do it via airplay, you would download the Google home app on your phone and setup the speakers through that app.  It would be controlled via the Google home app as well.

[elfatrelfa]

Thanks. It’s unfortunate, because it seems like the home app is very limited and doesn’t let me play my music (from iPhone or Mac), won’t let me stream audio from video content (unless from chrome cast), or really do anything else (other than stream pandora through the home app, which is also extremely limited.

Hate to say it, but this  feels like a major fail, and I’m likely to return these speakers. Thanks again!! 

[Ashepherdson]

You can stream a ton... YouTube music, Plex, Netflix, Pandora, TuneIn radio ..etc etc ... Don't be afraid to explore. 

The reality is airplay is a mac only service.. so not a possibility unless apple were to open it up 

[Onewave]

Yeah, thank you. I just realized how you can cast audio from video content in Plex app to Nest Mini, and are not allowed to do the same in YouTube app. It’s a marketing disaster.

[Ashepherdson]

Probably more of a licensing or "we want you to use YouTube music" thing than a marketing disaster.  You can however stream YouTube video to one thing (ie your Chromecast) and the audio stream to one of your nest speakers.. I do that often for surround sound 🙂

[Onewave]

YouTube is the biggest platform for news and podcasts, while YouTube Music is only for music. Most often I listen to YouTube in the background, as I don’t need to watch just a talking head. In this thread I came to a conclusion there is a technical limitation to cast audio from video content to a speaker. Turns out there is none. I really should have gone with HomePod mini instead.

[Ashepherdson]

That's the danger when you have multiple ecosystems .  I mean for the price of the homepod mini you could just get a Google hub.. it's cheaper, has a great speaker , and can play all the YouTube videos you want. food for thought anyways, and for all we know Google may eventually allow casting YouTube videos as audio in the future.   

[Onewave]

They literally wrote on their official site: "Or stream to Nest Mini from your phone" and then the list of apps, YouTube included. I couldn’t even think there would be such struggle.

Nest Hub wouldn’t fit nice on the wall of my kitchen)

[Muddi]

Hey elfatrelfa,

I appreciate @Ashepherdson help here. I can confirm that connecting the Google Home/Nest devices via airplay on iOS devices is not supported. As an alternative, you can cast or connect via Bluetooth to play the audio from your phone to speakers.

Also, connecting the speakers to TV for an audio output for video playing is not officially supported. We're always looking for ways to improve -- we'll take this as feedback, and we'll gladly pass it along to the team. You can also send feedback using your device by saying, "Hey Google, send feedback." Visit this link for more steps.

Let us know if we can help you with anything else, and we'll be happy to lend a hand.
 

Cheers,

Muddi

[Muddi]

Hey elfatrelfa,

Due to inactivity, I'll go ahead and lock this thread in 24 hours. Feel free to start a new thread if you need assistance with your Google speakers and we'd be glad to assist you further.
 

Cheers,

Muddi

[elfatrelfa]

Thanks again! I figured out a solution of sorts - if I stream music via Bluetooth to one speaker, I can expand to all speakers and play through my phone - it seems to work well enough (though it takes 30 seconds of set up). 

the issue I find with Bluetooth (especially with any video streaming) is I get a delay from the origin to nest audio (oddly the speakers all sync).  My record player is 2-3 ahead of the speakers, the TV is 1-2 seconds ahead.  I am trying to see if the tv allows for a delay, but it doesn’t seem to yet.