- Some Google smart speakers have recently stopped answering questions
- Users reported issues on a variety of different devices
- Google investigated and says the issue should now be resolved for most users
If you notice that your Google You’re not alone if your Nest smart speaker or hub seems to be ignoring voice commands – but Google says it’s discovered the problem and is rolling out a fix to stop your device from muting you.
This issue has been highlighted by Rita El Khoury et al. Android Authorityshe came back from Christmas vacation and discovered that she Google Nest Center and Google Nest Audio No longer responds to requests to tell her the weather. She is able to use the speakers to control her smart home devicesbut features like setting a timer are hit or miss.
She’s not alone, and these two devices don’t appear to be the only ones affected. Several other device owners reported similar issues on the company’s support forums.
“All of my Nest speakers suddenly became sluggish; they were all working, but starting yesterday, when I [try] Bypass ‘Hey Google’. Tom Druckerhe found himself facing a similar problem. “That is, ‘Hey Google are you there?’ got a response, but ‘What’s the weather?’ didn’t. All my speakers did it at the same time. So weird!”
another person explained that they have nine Google Home speakers — a Google Nest Hub Max display, and a combination of various first-generation devices — but all of them have stopped answering questions.
“I have a lot of devices connected to Google Home and I can still control them all, I just can’t ask certain questions,” they wrote. “I’ve tried restarting the Google Home device, and I’ve tried restarting the router a dozen times, but nothing Still nothing worked.”
Hey Google…
Google acted quickly, telling Android Authority via email that while its team is still investigating the root cause of the issue, it has fixed the issue “so all users should be up and running now.”
This should come as a relief to those anticipating its arrival. Google Assistant by Geminiwhich should allow your existing smart speakers to give you more comprehensive answers – but only if they’re willing to talk to you.