"cast my audio" to speaker group option missing - goes directly to speaker group settings

[ghostprint]

About a week ago I lost the ability to cast my phones audio to my speaker group in the Google home app. Casting to a single speaker works fine but when I tap a group, it goes directly to group settings.

I understand that after the loss of the sonos patent lawsuit, google chosed to remove the ability to adjust speaker group volume (instead of paying for the patent royalties and providing it's customers a feature they played for, (but that's a different discussion all together)) As I understand, group volume has nothing to do with casting to a group 😒 

I presume this is a quick fix like "just remove that volume adjust screen for speaker groups from the app until we fix it properly". Screen, which incidentally also contains the "cast my audio" buton...

I personally couldn't care less about group volume adjustment (I do it manually, for each one), but casting my phone audio is the main reason I bought a bunch of nest speakers. This feature is (for the time being) still working from chrome browser on my pc.

Yes, I know how to cast audio from specific apps that support audio casting. This is not about that...

The (horrible) workaround I found is to remote to my pc from my phone and cast audio from there using the chrome browser 😒 (but this is asinine)

Is there a way to get casting to speaker groups for my phone back?

[hapblu]

Haven't read this whole thread, but I want to post the workaround I use in case it hasn't been shared here yet. I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S21 on T-Mobile using One UI version 5.1 and Android version 13-- in case this is specific to my device.

Once I start the media I want to cast, I head into my Quick panel and hit "Media output." From here, I can select from any of the cast-enabled devices in my home -- including groups.

Hope this helps!

[DrJeff]

Been using an old method from this thread, which meant being on a very old version of Google home.

Really easy to access, so will give this a try, @hapblu. Thank you!

EDIT: just tested this out. I must say, it's very temperamental in if it works or not for me. Despite being connected to the speaker group using the above method, the  audio still plays through the phone.

I tested this with two seperate S22's.

Of all the times I tested, it worked once, despite being under same conditions.

[tommykat1]

Thanks for this, @hapblu. I just gave your solution a whirl on my Galaxy S20, and it works but is dicey so far. The volumes of the individual speakers are incorrect, and the master volume of my phone is automatically turned up to max. (Obviously this can be adjusted.)  Also, connection time is slow, compared to using "Cast Settings" from the Google Assistant panel. Finally, the connection is spotty, with speakers distorted and/or constantly disconnecting, though this is an ongoing problem in "Cast Settings" as well. All this said, it's nice to see Google approaching this solution through their Android platform, in addition to Google Assistant. Hopefully, they'll get the bugs out of either or both soon.

[zabolots]

Have missed the ability to cast device audio to a speaker group since it was removed. Finally did some research today and read through this entire thread. While the workarounds discussed here "work", the connection is not a reliable as it was before the feature was removed so I continue to have to cast to the group from Spotify, which loses the "normalize volume" option which apparently is not compatible with casting from Spotify, which is annoying, but at least the connection is stable.

[DerekDrew]

Speaking "OK Google" and then speaking "cast my phone" no longer brings up my speaker groups in Youtube proper (I am talking about youtube but not youtube music), but speaking "OK Google" and then speaking "cast settings" still brings up the option to cast my phone's audio from a source like Youtube to my speaker groups.

[LaraCroft]

That's actually one of the more useful comments I've read. Thanks @DerekDrew !