Google Home FAQ

jogdish

I havea GH and two minis, all in the app appear as part of "home"

I ask my GH to broascast - sorry looks like there are not any other devices on your home network,

I tried unlinking and re linking, nothing

THE ALM

Having a few issues of late with voice commands and linked devices.

Have Hue, Hive, Smartthings and Kasa all linked and had been working fine up to a day or two ago. Now it wont recognise Hue or Kasa.

When I try the 'sync devices' command it tells me that the account owner will need to sync, I am the owner with Miss Alm added to the account.

Tried unlinking and linking everything again and Hive, Smartthings and Kasa will appear in the linked devices list but Hue does not show even though it says it has been linked successfully. Have also de-activated Google from within the Hue account.

It there somewhere it says who the account owner is if it thinks I am not?

Might have to delete everything and start from scratch!

Mantis Toboggan

"have you tried turning it off and on again"?

THE ALM

Mantis Toboggan wrote: »

"have you tried turning it off and on again"?

Actually I haven't, rule 101, must try it when home:rolleyes:

THE ALM

Well the old off on didn't do much and still getting the same problem.

Tried unlinking all devices, then deleting all accounts and then removed the home app from all phones and a tablet. Factory reset both Google Homes and a mini and started from scratch and still getting the same problem.

Re-added Hive, TP Link and Harmony. These will work though the app but voice control just gives me a 'sorry I don't know what xxxx you want to turn on'. Tried re-linking Hue and although it says it was successful there is no sign of the items in the app or by voice.

When asking to sync my devices I will get 'Sure syncing devices for Harmony, Hive and TP-Link Kasa. The account owner will need to sync TP-Link Kasa and Philips Hue. Sorry, an error occurred while syncing Smartthings'. I haven't re-linked Smartthings so not sure why I am getting the error message.

I looks/sounds like account data is being stored and resetting everything hasn't cleared it especially considering Smartthings wasn't re-linked and it seems to think it is.

Any advice welcome before getting on to support.

bk

Sounds like there is some misconfig between your google home account and voice match. Try asking the GH "Hey Google, who am I?". Make sure it is responding with the same account your Googel Home app is logged into.

THE ALM

bk wrote: »

Sounds like there is some misconfig between your google home account and voice match. Try asking the GH "Hey Google, who am 1?". Make sure it is responding with the same account your Googel Home app is logged into.

Thanks bk will give that a try when home this evening. Checking online would show that it is a problem encountered by others and seems to be caused when doing factory reset.

I did notice that after I did the reset that the google homes and mini appeared twice in my assistant devices list along with the two groups that they had been linked to, the new group and previous group before the reset, deleting one group has removed these, I am thinking that the original setup isn't fully cleared and may be cached on google servers and the reset didn't clear these fully.

I can get rid of the smartthings error by re-linking the account but unfortunately this causes a problem with duplicate devices and I can see no way of just deleting the duplicate devices without unlinking the service they are attached to which brings me back to the error syncing smartthings.

Bored Accountant

THE ALM wrote: »

When I try the 'sync devices' command it tells me that the account owner will need to sync, I am the owner with Miss Alm added to the account.

I had the same issues with Google & Hue couple of weeks back. Can't remember exactly what I did that solved it, but I unlinked Hue from Google and re-added again.
I also re-logged into the Hue App with my google account and granted all the permissions again - I think it was this that solved it for me. (and then re-added all the Hue devices in Google)

THE ALM

Thanks Bored Accountant, unfortunately I can't unlink Hue as, although it says it has been linked, there is no sign of it in the devices list so can't remove it.

I have since been on to support who have given me a list of what to do:-

-unlink all smart devices connected to your Google Home devices.
-Make sure that the only account that is linked to your Google Home is your
account.
-Reset smart devices, clear bridge and hubs.
-Setup smart devices and test it on its native app.
-Perform FDR with your Google Home.
-Re-link Smart devices one at a time.
-You can try it first with Philips Hue, once everything is working relink next
smart device, either Hive, Harmony or TP LINK Kasa.

This is going to be a bit of a pain having to reset all smart devices/hubs etc. as they have been working on the native apps no problem and I am a bit reluctant to do this especially with smartthings as it will mean adding different device handlers etc. again which can be a pain in the backside and has taken me a while to get some sensors added. I may just turn off the various hubs and just reset Hue as it will be the easiest for me to sort out and start from there.:eek:

Bored Accountant

THE ALM wrote: »

unfortunately I can't unlink Hue as, although it says it has been linked, there is no sign of it in the devices list so can't remove it.

I think I was the same, would add Hue, but still didn't show up as linked.
For out of Home Control of Hue, do you log in using your google account? Try logging out and back in using that and will ask you to accept new permissions which will give google home control again I think.

Also when the new Google Home app came out, I had a 'Home' set up on my username and my wife had a 'Home' same set up on her username with all the same devices, but she could see the new Hue stuff. Probably because she had a newer phone and I had logged into the Hue account more recently on her phone.

THE ALM

Bored Accountant wrote: »

I think I was the same, would add Hue, but still didn't show up as linked.
For out of Home Control of Hue, do you log in using your google account? Try logging out and back in using that and will ask you to accept new permissions which will give google home control again I think.

Also when the new Google Home app came out, I had a 'Home' set up on my username and my wife had a 'Home' same set up on her username with all the same devices, but she could see the new Hue stuff. Probably because she had a newer phone and I had logged into the Hue account more recently on her phone.

Use the google account alright and had already deactivated the login within hue and unlinked it to the home before trying again. A message pops up saying it has been linked plus a brief assign rooms message before it disappears.

I have deactivated all apps within the Hue account, will remove it from Miss ALMs phone when home and unlink her from the home account also and see if I get anywhere before I start resetting hubs...

54and56

Hi all,

Is it possible to set a multi week repeating alarm on the Google Home with a predetermined text to voice announcement?

I'd like an alarm which says "Don't forget to put out the black and green bins tonight" to be played every 2nd Monday at 8pm and a corresponding alarm on the alternative two week schedule to say "Don't forget to put out the black and brown bins tonight"

I have it set on my phone calendar but if I'm not home it can be forgotten whereas the Google Home would be heard by whoever was in the house and they could then make sure the relevant bins get put out.

Possible?

THE ALM

THE ALM wrote: »

Thanks Bored Accountant, unfortunately I can't unlink Hue as, although it says it has been linked, there is no sign of it in the devices list so can't remove it.

I have since been on to support who have given me a list of what to do:-

-unlink all smart devices connected to your Google Home devices.
-Make sure that the only account that is linked to your Google Home is your
account.
-Reset smart devices, clear bridge and hubs.
-Setup smart devices and test it on its native app.
-Perform FDR with your Google Home.
-Re-link Smart devices one at a time.
-You can try it first with Philips Hue, once everything is working relink next
smart device, either Hive, Harmony or TP LINK Kasa.

This is going to be a bit of a pain having to reset all smart devices/hubs etc. as they have been working on the native apps no problem and I am a bit reluctant to do this especially with smartthings as it will mean adding different device handlers etc. again which can be a pain in the backside and has taken me a while to get some sensors added. I may just turn off the various hubs and just reset Hue as it will be the easiest for me to sort out and start from there.:eek:

Well that didn't work!

Reset everything and started again just setting up one speaker using my account. Haven't linked any devices yet but when I go to add them the tp link plugs are already listed, trying to unlink gives me an error message 'couldn't update the setting, check your connection '

When I ask to sync my devices I am back to getting the same error even though hue and smartthings have yet to be setup. The only devices that seem to link and unlink correctly is hive.

It seems that my config data is being stored somewhere and not being wiped causing the problem.

Support are due to call me back today so will have to see what they say.

Bored Accountant

THE ALM wrote: »

Well that didn't work!

Try setting up a brand new Google Account... :eek:

THE ALM

Bored Accountant wrote: »

Try setting up a brand new Google Account... :eek:

That will be my next plan of action if I can't get it sorted with support...

Bored Accountant

THE ALM wrote: »

That will be my next plan of action if I can't get it sorted with support...

So I just added few new lights tonight and ran into exact same issue (again).

There is some useful steps to try at this link;
https://support.google.com/googlehome/forum/AAAAXWcshA0zOuZeuOQEns/?hl=en

First I logged out and back into Hue with my Google account,
Then I cleared the cache on Home App.
Then I unlinked Hue in Home App, Google threw usual error about not being able to complete update. So I killed the app, relinked Philips Hue. Killed the app again and suddenly my new devices had appears.

fullirish

Got the hue strip and really like it for under a counter but the plug is quite bulky and the wire coming out of the plug jams against the counter meaning i cant plug in the plug fully, any one else come up with this problem ?

bk

fullirish wrote: »

Got the hue strip and really like it for under a counter but the plug is quite bulky and the wire coming out of the plug jams against the counter meaning i cant plug in the plug fully, any one else come up with this problem ?

Perhaps something like this would help:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009YZN1LM/ref=twister_B075DKT8CP?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

THE ALM

Bored Accountant wrote: »

So I just added few new lights tonight and ran into exact same issue (again).

There is some useful steps to try at this link;
https://support.google.com/googlehome/forum/AAAAXWcshA0zOuZeuOQEns/?hl=en

First I logged out and back into Hue with my Google account,
Then I cleared the cache on Home App.
Then I unlinked Hue in Home App, Google threw usual error about not being able to complete update. So I killed the app, relinked Philips Hue. Killed the app again and suddenly my new devices had appears.

Tried all those steps alright but didn't get me anywhere.

Issue has now been escalated to a Senior Specialist so will see where that gets me.

Everything has been reset and I have started by connecting one Home for now and though I haven't linked any devices my TP Link plugs appear in my devices and I cannot unlink these and just get a connection error. Asking it to sync devices will bring up the message about the account holder needing to link TP link and Hue and an error message for smartthings and Harmony, none of these devices have been re-linked since I did the reset of everything and none appear in my devices list with the exception of the plugs, very strange...

Senior specialist has asked me to try a different phone which still throws up the problem.

Bored Accountant

THE ALM wrote: »

Senior specialist has asked me to try a different phone which still throws up the problem.

Wow really sounds like your google has gotten itself in a knot.

THE ALM

Bored Accountant wrote: »

Wow really sounds like your google has gotten itself in a knot.

sure would appear that way:eek: so hoping they come up with a fix because I really don't won't the hassle of having to setup a new account and start setting up everything again.

As said, it appears to me that my config data is stored somewhere (on the google servers) and that resetting everything hasn't cleared it and the devices are stuck in limbo now...

THE ALM

New email this morning from Senior Specialist to see what is a good time to call so waiting for the call this morning to see if we can get anywhere.

Noticed this morning when I launched the app and select discover that it has found a new device to set up and it is a chromecast! Now I do have a chromecast audio in a spare room but it has been unplugged for 2-3 months so not sure where it is finding it to set up.

ixoy

Weird one: Anyone else had issues with turning off captions/subtitles on Netflix via voice command? All other Netflix voice commands work - including turning *on* subtitles and switching languages - but it will not turn them off. It sometimes starts with subtitles too, which is very frustrating!

THE ALM

Well, still waiting on my call from Senior Support! In the meantime I thought I will set up a new google account and see where that gets me and that is with no problems as it happens. Set up new account, add devices and then link services all with no problems. It does make it a bit messy alright as everything is obviously linked to my previous email.

Linked services, hue, hive etc. using my initial google account which seems to be fine. Going through things like google calender, shopping list and have shared these with my new google account and then go into the new google account and make these the primary services. Will have to work through everything and see if there are any problems over the next few days....

Still interested on hearing from support as to why the problem arose in the first place and might reset password for initial google account in case it is due to some security breach, you never know....

McMurphy

Going to get a mini for my great uncle (The man's 86, but fantastic with technology), after I seen his cumbersome laptop/tablet/Bluetooth speaker set up.

Where's the best value to pick one up atm in a bricks and mortar here, or should I hang on for black Friday?

Sheep Shagger

Johnny Dogs wrote: »

Going to get a mini for my great uncle (The man's 86, but fantastic with technology), after I seen his cumbersome laptop/tablet/Bluetooth speaker set up.

Where's the best value to pick one up atm in a bricks and mortar here, or should I hang on for black Friday?

Probably wait for Black Friday although the deals Currys and Harvey Norman dont extend to Google Home from what I can tell bricks and mortar here are pretty rubbish.

Normal price is €59, recently picked some up in Dixons Dublin airport for €38

howamidifferent

Anyway to get it to set an alarm to play a radio station at a set time.
I can say play todayfm or set alarm but not set alarm to play todayfm at x time?

Google home by the way.

Fishy1

With my Google Mini, I say “Wake me at 7am with Rte Radio 1”. It works fine.

I’ve even moved it on a step further by saying “Wake me every weekday at 7am with Rte Radio 1”

The Black Oil

Pronunciation antics again. It's fluctuating between saying BBC 5 Live, as in somewhere you live, and live, as in...seeing a band live, for me.

Re commute updates, it sends directions to me phone. Previously it did not. Is there a way of knocking this off - don't need directions for work, just the rough state of traffic is enough.

micks_address

Apologies if asked but is there a release date for the home hub in Ireland?