Google Home users complain that update makes their speakers useless – update

Several users of the original Google Home are complaining about an update that makes their speakers unusable. It seems to be mainly about users in the Google Home preview program.

On a forum of Google and on Reddit, among others, users report that their Google Home no longer works and that an orange LED in the background starts to blink slowly. There is therefore no response after giving the command ‘Hey Google’. Possible solutions like reconnecting, disconnecting the power, or factory reset don’t always seem to help. A user says that Google has stated that his copy has stopped working and he is getting a new one.

According to Android Police, it mainly concerns users from the Google Home preview program; they get early firmware updates to be able to test them. A Google community employee says the company is working to resolve the issue and multiple complaints about the issue have been received. It is not yet clear when the problems are expected to be solved and whether permanently unusable speakers will be replaced.

In October last year there were also similar problems with the regular Home and Home Mini, although it was a stable update that was separate from the preview program. Users’ speakers were then found to malfunction after a firmware update. Google confirmed there were issues and replaced affected users’ speakers at no cost. The company also said it would come up with a software solution to prevent the problem from happening again.

Update, 11:49 am: Google says it has since resolved a server configuration issue that could cause problems for “a small number of people” using their Google Home. This fix has been released and according to Google that means that the speakers should function normally again, without the users having to perform any actions.