Where have the Media Control devices gone, with recent updates?

[hornetster]

In the previous version of Google Home, there was a specific "Media" page that could be accessed, so if a device was casting to a speaker, it was possible to open the media 'page' and add/remove devices to the cast.

This no longer seems to be available??

Thanks.

[mdshoaibkhan]

Hi,

Google has recently made some changes to the Google Home app, and it's possible that the "Media" page you were referring to has been removed or moved to a different location. Here are some steps that you can try to access the media controls and add/remove devices to a cast:

1. Open the Google Home app on your device.
2. Tap on the device that is currently casting media.
3. If you're already on the device control screen, tap on the media controls button (the icon with the play/pause button and the name of the media).
4. If the media controls button is not visible, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to reveal additional controls.
5. Once you're on the media control screen, you should see a list of all devices that are currently casting media. To add or remove devices from the cast, tap on the "Cast" button and select the devices that you want to include or exclude from the cast.

If these steps don't work for you, it's possible that the media controls have been moved or changed in the latest version of the Google Home app. You can try contacting Google support for further assistance with this issue.

Thanks.

[jschroeder624]

This doesn't work. If I use my Google Home Max and the AUX port as the input, there is NO WAY to cast this to other speakers.  I assume this removal of functionality was purposeful. I say NO WAY, but if I use the Google Home app on my iPad it works as it used to and I can still do this, but I'm not carrying my iPad around with me. This is just stupid. Can I revert to the previous version of the Google Home app and never upgrade?

[JSFEcho]

This response makes no sense. The functionality isn't there at all. Perhaps you have the old version.  I am on version 3.1.1.14. 

[hornetster]

Don't think I would really accept this as an answer....

Yes, if you hit the "correct" button, you will be taken to an area that allows you to control devices, but if you go the the actual device that is casting (in devices) there is no way to control/add other devices.

I still think that the previous version was much simpler/more straight forward...

[zidsrik]

bump. the old controls were so useful, and supported flexible casting to different devices. there's no way to easily cast to one device vs another since this new update. the only workaround I can think of is to create multiple home groups that have different mixes of devices, which is ridiculous for someone like me with 5+ speakers around our house

[O0timbo0o]

I've got 8 chrome cast audios round my house and the latest update has ruined it 

[elbello]

What in the world...

That was by far one of the best features of the home app. How do you just remove it? 

Sounds like it wasn't even known it existed. I just got upgraded today and i want to go back. It was so simple to walk around my house to different rooms and quickly move the music to that room flawlessly. 

Google you are losing it. Supposed to make things better.

[Metfan12845]

This is terrible Google! Fix it! Bring back the media icon. Wth?

[zidsrik]

oh, and another issue. now when my partner casts from her phone to a home group, I have no way to control the media like before. all I can do is go to the INDIVIDUAL speakers to adjust the volume or stop the cast

[emsa23]

THE feature that made me hold on to the ecosystem. Adding and removing speakers from playing groups was a key feature. 

Sad. 

[jschroeder624]

Agreed. Google is making it more difficult to hang on to this ecosystem, but I think that is on purpose. You don't just remove functionality like this and say 'Whoops', we forgot about that nice little feature....

[jschroeder624]

It looks like the 3.1.1.15 version may fix this issue. It was released yesterday, but I can only find it on APKmirror (works for me): https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google-inc/google-home/google-home-3-1-1-15-release/google-home-3-1-1-...

[JSFEcho]

Is the media controller in the updated version that ends in .15?

[jschroeder624]

Sort of. I believe it auto detects when you are playing something and shows up as a hovering card near the bottom so that you can click on this and then have the controls like before to cast to whichever device you choose and whatever combination and volumes you choose.

[JSFEcho]

Any idea when they might release that for my pixel 7 pro?

[JSFEcho]

I did install it. Thank you for that. But I have to say it doesn't work.  The media thing only shows up and stays there only stays available for a short period of time.   And then it goes away and there's no way to get it back without manually stopping the app and clearing the cache. So still really really bad. Also since this update, my speakers keep doing weird stuff when I am trying to play music. They play things that I don't ask for. When I say play something on a certain speaker it plays it on something else. When I say play something on the device I'm speaking to, it wants to play it on something else. When I say to stop, it said wants to stop something else that's not even playing. Google's original slogan was do no evil. I think in the last year or so most everything has been evil. I constantly am having problems especially with my speakers and home hubs. Of which I have many at both my home and my camp.

[jschroeder624]

I can verify it is still working on my app (3.1.1.15 installed from APK mirror). Perhaps this is why it hasn't been released in the Play store yet, being that it is not working on all devices. I don't even know how someone got a hold of a version which is newer than what is in the Play Store...? Bummer that it isn't working, hopefully the next version will fix that? They say on the update page that they are coming out with updates "Over the next few days...."

Mine is Samsung Ultra 22. I can absolutely guarantee that it was not working on 3.1.1.14. This is how it looks now below:

[JSFEcho]

Thanks for all that. Mine looks very similar when it's there. Which it isn't all the time. Also I'll click on a speaker to add it and it won't play. Just a lot of quirky bad stuff. It's just frustrating to have invested so much time and money over the years and have the stuff consistently not work. Every time there's an update, there's a random thing that just gets broken. It's a big time waster.

[hornetster]

If you check the About bit in the home app (or on Play Store), there is a statment there about them rolling out a bunch of stuff for media control...

"Over the next few days, we’ll be rolling out the following:
Use the Home app to control on/off, volume, playback, inputs and more for your connected streaming and media devices.
Users who have opted into presence sensing will receive helpful alerts if their phone location is incorrect.
Camera users can now choose to include video clips when submitting feedback on camera events."

[MichaelJBarnes]

I hope they do this soon. The ability to simply ask it to cast to a speaker group is horrible as well. Music don't play in the entire speaker group. Mostly it's playing on on a different speaker than the one I request from.

[hornetster]

Google is KILLING any advantage it may have had in the Smart home market - becoming absolute rubbish...

[KatAndMark]

We have a pair of Google Max speakers, one of which receives an AUX signal from the stereo which connects to our turntable. We want to cast this to a speaker group so we can also include our Nest Hub Max which is in our kitchen (open plan). Otherwise our music only covers half of the room.

It sounds like this new update shown above will finally solve this for us! Signed up to public preview so can hopefully test it soon and report back. Currently on 3.2.1.7 in UK and still having the issue though. This is is an even newer version than 3.1.1.15 which was mentioned above.

So currently we still cant do this. The AUX plays on the pair but we can only stop casting not change the device/group.

 And here's a view from favourites.

 

 

Screenshots are from Pixel 7 Pro

Also tested on Pixel 6.

[KatAndMark]

Hello, still waiting for a response from Google on this.

[Thegreentimtam]

This is ridiculous. Audio groups is the only function I use in the home app. It is fundamental to the ecosystem, and the entire reason I invested in it.

I just had to walk across the house to the kitchen, where my Google Nest Hub is, in order to control it. WTF?

[hornetster]

Must admit the Google Ecosphere seems to be gradually disintegrating...

Used to be able to do much more, than you can at the moment, unfortunately!!

S'pose we'll see what happens down the road...

[KatAndMark]

The silence from Google here is deafening.

Still no solution for this.

[deionalims]

Hello all.

I also experience the same frustration regarding the "Now Playing" tab and not being able to add or remove devices when audio is playing.

To give more context, here what I can experience. Everything actually works fine when I stream music from Youtube Music. The "Now Playing" tab is displayed and I can easily add or remove devices like before. However, I also stream music from my Home Assistant instance and unfortunately the "Now Playing" tab never shows up when I do. the icons of the devices playing music actually show that music is streaming so I believe that displaying the "Now Playing" tab whenever a device is detected to actually stream audio should be possible. 

Hopefully this will be added to up coming versions of the application. 

[deionalims]

Hello,

Following back on my usage (not sure anyone reads but anyway...).

So the "Now Playing" does not always show even when streaming audio from YouTube Music. I need to kill the app and restart it to make it appear sometimes.

If anyone from Google reads this thread, please can you put back the button that shows any audio playback currently playing. That was a killer feature heavily used here. 

[ChrisGrantmke]

Why google... Just when I find a way I can still use your product and I buy a few more pieces of hardware you KILL the only useful feature and now I STRUGGLE. 

[O0timbo0o]

Seems someone is listening, Google home update just release, media control is back.. Of sorts but at least now you can select or turn off  different speakers on the fly.  

[KatAndMark]

I'm on the latest preview and still seeing no improvement in the required functionality. I still can't play my AUX device into a Google Max Pair across a speaker group.

 

 

[KatAndMark]

It's crazy to me that this doesn't just work 🥲 

 

 

[Colonel1234]

Google did this because of patent infringement from Sonos or they wouldn’t have made this dumb move