Google Home FAQ

The Black Oil

Hey Google,

M50/M1 traffic – OK
Weather – OK
Alarms/timers – OK
Find my phone – worked for one Mini, not the other

Turn on/off Hue lights - Worked off with the first Mini. I only added the second tonight, hit and miss. Turn on TBO's lamp - works, but then 'sorry...' when I ask to turn it off. Could be a room assignment issue, I presume.

Cinema listings – No
What's this song - Very much no!
News headlines – defaults to BBC or Telegraph after it's done with t'Beeb. Can this be changed to an Irish based service?

moonboy52

The Black Oil wrote: »

Cinema listings – No
What's this song - Very much no!
News headlines – defaults to BBC or Telegraph after it's done with t'Beeb. Can this be changed to an Irish based service?

Cinema listings are working on my end.

What is this song works here when it is playing/casting

AFAIK no Irish content for news, just the list provided in the Google Home app

Double C

Anyone having trouble with home groups? I have a GH in the kitchen and a mini in the living room. I set up a group for them but when I cast to the group it plays fine on the mini, but it plays intermittently on the GH. I just rebooted both devices but no change. Any ideas?

ForestFire

Double C wrote: »

Anyone having trouble with home groups? I have a GH in the kitchen and a mini in the living room. I set up a group for them but when I cast to the group it plays fine on the mini, but it plays intermittently on the GH. I just rebooted both devices but no change. Any ideas?

I find intermittent play is down to the quality of you wifi connection to devices.
I presume you are steaming from spotify, but even from other sources I think it can be the same.

Unless you have the latest Wifi, the Wifi can only stream to one device at a time so constantly switches between the 2 devices streaming (Very fast switching). It also has to keep the two devices in sync.

You can use the following app to check you wifi quality around the home.
Play particular attention to congested bands and try to move your channel to a free areas if possible (Use the channel graph feature)

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netgear.WiFiAnalytics&hl=en

the heathen

Cinema listings – works for me
What's this song - works for me too. They've also added support for asking 'what album is this song from' in recent months.

bk

Yes, cinema listings working well for me. Might just be a case of not having data for your local cinema.

wexfordman2

Am I going insane!!

I'm trying to check my home firmware version and to do so in open the home app, select the devices button on the top right, and then click on the three dot tab next to my device.

Only thing is, I don't have a three dotbtab, I just have a x next to each device offering me the option to unlink it.

I know I'm missing something stupid here, can someone advise ?

wexfordman2

Also, quick query, can I connect the home to an external Bluetooth speaker ?

moonboy52

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Also, quick query, can I connect the home to an external Bluetooth speaker ?

Not sure why the 3 dots are showing up for you man. Might have to wipe the cache and data and try again.

No linking to Bluetooth, got to use a Chromecast Audio

The Black Oil

I haven't subscribed to Google Play Music, maybe that's why it won't recognise songs.

It's a bit funny with Hue lights.

Turn on TBO's lamp. Fine.
Turn off TBO's lamp. Sorry, I'm not sure how to help.
Turn TBO's lamp on. Fine.
Turn TBO's lamp off. Fine.

Turn on front lamp. Fine.
Turn off front lamo. Sorry, I don't understand.

Does it have issues differentiating the words 'on' and 'off', depending how/where they're used in a sentence?

moonboy52

The Black Oil wrote: »

I haven't subscribed to Google Play Music, maybe that's why it won't recognise songs.

It recognises songs on both Play Music & Spotify (have both).

I get the "Sorry, i don't understand" sometimes using my Yeelight's.

Seems to happen when the TV is on (background noise) or when i don't pronounce my words properly. (use my Irish accent :P)

OldMrBrennan83

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Double C

ForestFire wrote: »

I find intermittent play is down to the quality of you wifi connection to devices.
I presume you are steaming from spotify, but even from other sources I think it can be the same.

Unless you have the latest Wifi, the Wifi can only stream to one device at a time so constantly switches between the 2 devices streaming (Very fast switching). It also has to keep the two devices in sync.

You can use the following app to check you wifi quality around the home.
Play particular attention to congested bands and try to move your channel to a free areas if possible (Use the channel graph feature)

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netgear.WiFiAnalytics&hl=en

Thanks for that, that's a useful app. I was doing something else earlier and had to reboot the router and the groups have been working fine since! Hopefully that'll be it sorted from now on.

wexfordman2

moonboy52 wrote: »

Not sure why the 3 dots are showing up for you man. Might have to wipe the cache and data and try again.

No linking to Bluetooth, got to use a Chromecast Audio

God thats annoying!! How do you clear the cahce on the home app ?

bk

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

That seems to be more of a problem with Alexa. Hell it can even be very inconsistent between two of them in the same house!

GHome is much more consistent in my experience and works very well.

moonboy52

wexfordman2 wrote: »

God thats annoying!! How do you clear the cahce on the home app ?

On Nova Launcher anyway, it is hold down the icon and select "app info" and go into "Storage"

ForestFire

wexfordman2 wrote: »

God thats annoying!! How do you clear the cahce on the home app ?

Are you sure your phone is connected to your Wi-Fi.

When I check at work the devices menu only show my devices as a text bar with the X to remove.

At home and connected to Wi-Fi I see the graphics for each device and the menu dots.

wexfordman2

moonboy52 wrote: »

Not sure why the 3 dots are showing up for you man. Might have to wipe the cache and data and try again.

No linking to Bluetooth, got to use a Chromecast Audio

Would you beleive, when i was googleing it, a chat link from google support came up and its sorted.

I actually had to reboot my router to sort it. I was pretty feckin sceptic, but it bloody did it.

the heathen

bk wrote: »

That seems to be more of a problem with Alexa. Hell it can even be very inconsistent between two of them in the same house!

GHome is much more consistent in my experience and works very well.

Plus, I expect a lot of the inconsistency exists between the users rather than GHome devices/UI

wexfordman2

Well, my two minis arrived, quite happy with them, but wouldn't be listening to music on them, they work perfectly as an assistant device or listening to talk radio. If they do add Bluetooth connectivity to external speakers then that would be great, bit not a deal breaker for what I am using them for (I might swap him one of the full homes if he really wants to play music)

OldMrBrennan83

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the heathen

moonboy52 wrote: »

It recognises songs on both Play Music & Spotify (have both).

I get the "Sorry, i don't understand" sometimes using my Yeelight's.

Seems to happen when the TV is on (background noise) or when i don't pronounce my words properly. (use my Irish accent :P)

Just wondering, have you been able to get it to trigger the preset scenes?

bk

Patww79 wrote: »

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What questions specifically are not working for you? What are you trying to do?

Maybe you GHome firmware hasn't been updated?

Mine works very consistently, I haven't heard 'sorry I can't do that yet but I'm learning every day' in months!

The Black Oil

moonboy52 wrote: »

It recognises songs on both Play Music & Spotify (have both).

Asking it to recognise something played on Youtube on a desktop (or device without GHome app) is essentially beyond its capabilities, then? Seems to be the case.

bk

The Black Oil wrote: »

Asking it to recognise something played on Youtube on a desktop (or device without GHome app) is essentially beyond its capabilities, then? Seems to be the case.

No, it doesn't currently have that function, it can only tell you the music it is playing/controlling.

However it looks like SoundCloud (which would do this) is coming to GHome soon:

https://blog.soundcloud.com/2017/05/17/soundcloud-coming-google-home-soon/

redzer_irl

Has anyone managed to get Dublin Bus Finder working?

https://assistant.google.com/services/a/id/1372f1f9e2353df8/

wexfordman2

Prob not a specific google home thing, but I used to use google play music, and switched last week to spotify premium. The main difference I see, is that with play music, if I ask to play a specific song, it will play it, and then move on to a similar song of similar genre or artist, really liked that feature.

Spotify does'nt do that at all, it just plays the one song and then gives up. Unless I am missing somehting ?

jogdish

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Prob not a specific google home thing, but I used to use google play music, and switched last week to spotify premium. The main difference I see, is that with play music, if I ask to play a specific song, it will play it, and then move on to a similar song of similar genre or artist, really liked that feature.

Spotify does'nt do that at all, it just plays the one song and then gives up. Unless I am missing somehting ?

Being cynical it could be like the youtube(owned by google) auto play feature, each next auto play gets them extra views and money from adds, or at the very least boosts numbers to make them more appealing.

wexfordman2

jogdish wrote: »

Being cynical it could be like the youtube(owned by google) auto play feature, each next auto play gets them extra views and money from adds, or at the very least boosts numbers to make them more appealing.

Fair point, but as a feature it was really nice! I might switch back to play music I think. I went to spotify as I switched to vodafone, so went for the spotify deal, at 5.99 its cheaper, than play at 9.99

The high horse brigade

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Fair point, but as a feature it was really nice! I might switch back to play music I think. I went to spotify as I switched to vodafone, so went for the spotify deal, at 5.99 its cheaper, than play at 9.99

I pay for the family deal of GPM which is myself and another 5 users for €15 a month

OldMrBrennan83

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The high horse brigade

Patww79 wrote: »

They're very strict about who the 5 users are though aren't they?

No restriction, the 5 users can be anyone

Patww79

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Would be willing to be one of the five if you're looking for "volunteers"!

BrookieD

my 8 year old loved it yesterday as he asked it to spell a word for homework.... Mrs Brookied well put out as she is normally the goto for stuff like that...lol

druss

My three year old also likes to get GH to spell his name. And to say good night to him. He has a huge lisp, so there is a lot of shouting going on.

moonboy52

So not working on Google Home (but i hope it will soon), but Google Assistant on the phone can now identify "what is this song"

Black Oil was asking about it a few days ago

https://www.engadget.com/2017/11/06/google-assistant-song-id/

McG

my 2 year olds regularly shout "OK Google [insert current favourite song]" not that it ever recognises what they're shouting, and when we were visiting my parents and my Dad put on CDs for them they spent half the time standing over the CD player, yelling "OK GOOGLE!"

bk

McG wrote: »

my 2 year olds regularly shout "OK Google [insert current favourite song]" not that it ever recognises what they're shouting, and when we were visiting my parents and my Dad put on CDs for them they spent half the time standing over the CD player, yelling "OK GOOGLE!"

Like my 2 year old trying to touch the TV to try and scroll through the options on the youtube app

It is kind of insane how good they are with technology. I can only imagine what they will have in 30 years time!

wexfordman2

bk wrote: »

Like my 2 year old trying to touch the TV to try and scroll through the options on the youtube app

It is kind of insane how good they are with technology. I can only imagine what they will have in 30 years time!

I've had a smart lighting system since about 2001, tied to the alarm system motion sensors. My kids grew up with it, but in the earlier years it was amusing tonwatxh them wave their hands in a friends house to try and turn on the lights :-)

spuncy

Picked up the Google Home Mini today and it's great!

Worked perfectly until I went to link it to both me and herself.. Both of us have iPhones and the multi user option never appeared. Tried with both my gsuite account and a normal google account. Eventually managed to get it working, apologies if this has already been mentioned in the thread..

I had to get my Android tablet (Lenovo Yoga Tab 3) and install Google Home. It showed the multi user stuff but it crashed/stopped when I tried to record my voice for Hey/Ok Google.

Then looked up how to install the actual Google Assistant on the tablet (not available in the Play store), but found the link: https://www.xda-developers.com/get-google-assistant-on-android-lollipop-marshmallow-nougat-tablets-without-root/

A little more messing around and some parts of Google Assistant were activated and went back into Google Home, whereupon it recorded my voice and linked the account fine. I added the second account on the tablet and she recorded her voice there too.

After that, both appeared as linked accounts on the iPhones and you can manage the settings in each but it doesn't show multi account stuff.

Pain in the arse, but got there in the end.

bk

I think if you set your iPhone to the US Region (iPhones settings) that the Google Home app would then have given you this option.

spuncy

Ah thanks bk, I was going to change app store to US the other day to get Google Assistant app on iOS but it warned me about cancelling subscriptions if I changed or something. Strange that they don't just release it together with US/UK..

bk

spuncy wrote: »

Ah thanks bk, I was going to change app store to US the other day to get Google Assistant app on iOS but it warned me about cancelling subscriptions if I changed or something. Strange that they don't just release it together with US/UK..

You don't need to change the app store location, just the general region on your phone.

spuncy

bk wrote: »

You don't need to change the app store location, just the general region on your phone.

D’oh!

jogdish

I wrote this, and as i did, solved my own problem, I will leave this here in case:
Solution : I was using firefox, make chrome the default web browser, works fine
***Solved***
So ,
I have a Belkin Weemo smart home plug. Works perfect using the weemo app on phone.
I go into the Google home app -> home control -> select weemo, this opens a page in browser telling me to switch weemoo on/off, I do and it verfies my weemo. The page then goes to load and all i see is a blank page

BrookieD

Just reset my Wemo lihgts, through IFTTT and now under my voice control.... love it....

matrim

The Google Home is getting intercom / broadcast functionality

Black_Knight

matrim wrote: »

The Google Home is getting intercom / broadcast functionality

Nothing here yet. Running Firmware version 99956 on my home. Cast version 1.28.99956

jogdish

Okay I can control my wemo socket, by saying, turn off wemo switch.

Is there a way to change it to turn off the TV/radiator/light basically whatever word I want.

matrim

jogdish wrote: »

Okay I can control my wemo socket, by saying, turn off wemo switch.

Is there a way to change it to turn off the TV/radiator/light basically whatever word I want.

You can set "shortcuts" in the home app. It's basically a phrase you pick that maps onto something else

I have one called "Light it up" which is another way of turning on my hall lights because I found that saying "turn on hall lights" was too unreliable.