For months, users of Google’s Home and Nest speakers have been complaining that their devices can’t hold a steady Bluetooth connection to a phone or an external speaker, and now Google says it’s looking for a fix.
Android Police spotted a reply to one of the Bluetooth complaints from a Google Nest support rep, who said that Google is “working on finding a solution.”
“I know how annoying and challenging it can be…to not have such an important feature work properly,” the Nest support rep wrote. “Our team is aware of this issue and are currently investigating for a fix.”
The problem arises when you try to stream music to a Google Home or Nest speaker from your phone or another device via Bluetooth, or when you want to stream audio from a Google smart speaker to a paired Bluetooth speaker that you’ve designated as a default speaker for music playback.
Users on the Nest support thread say that when streaming audio to a Home or Nest speaker, the device often drops the connection after only a few minutes or so. I tried streaming some Spotify tunes to my Google Home Mini speaker via Bluetooth on my iPhone XS, and indeed, the Home Mini lost the connection after a minute or two.
Google Home and Nest Mini users have also complained that their speakers have trouble maintaining a connection to an external Bluetooth speaker, with the Google devices frequently disconnecting and reconnecting to their designated “default” Bluetooth speaker, or losing the connection entirely, forcing the speakers to be paired again. In some cases, users have reported that their Bluetooth speakers started beeping in the middle of the night after they’d lost their connection to the Google Home speakers.
Because most Google Home and Nest speakers (with the exception of the Google Home Max) lack a 3.5mm audio jack, you’ll have to stream your tunes wirelessly if you want to hear music over an external speaker.
Luckily, Wi-Fi audio streaming seems to be working fine for Home and Nest devices, although you’ll need a Chromecast-enabled speaker to make it work.
If you’ve been having Bluetooth trouble with your Google Home or Nest speaker, just say “Hey Google, send feedback,” and then say “GHT3 Bluetooth IN keeps on disconnect” when Google asks what needs to be improved.