- Some Google smart speakers recently stopped answering questions
- Users reported the issue with a variety of different devices.
- Google investigated and says the issue should now be fixed for most users
If you’ve noticed that your Google Nest smart speaker or hub seems to be ignoring voice commands, you’re not alone, but Google says it has identified the issue and is rolling out a fix to prevent your devices from giving you the silent treatment. .
The issue was highlighted by, among others, Android Authority’s Rita El Khoury, who returned from her Christmas vacation to find that her Google Nest Hub and Google Nest Audio were no longer responding to requests to tell her the weather. You were able to use the speakers to control your smart home devices, but functions like setting timers were hit or miss.
I was not alone and it seems that those two devices were not the only products affected. Several other device owners have reported similar problems on the company’s support forums.
“All my Nest speakers suddenly went silent; they were all working, but since yesterday, they all freeze when I go in [try] “It’s saying, ‘Hey Google, are you there?’ gets a response, but ‘What’s the weather?’ gets no response. All my speakers did this at the same time. Strange!”
Another person explained that they had nine Google Home speakers (a Google Nest Hub Max display and a mix of several first-generation devices) and that they had all stopped answering questions.
“I have many devices connected to Google Home and I can still control them all, but I can’t ask certain questions,” they wrote. “I’ve tried restarting the Google Home devices, I’ve tried restarting the router a dozen times and still nothing.”
Hello Google…
Google acted quickly, telling Android Authority via email that while its team was still investigating the root cause of the issue, it had resolved it “so all users should be up and running now.”
This should come as a relief to anyone waiting for the arrival of Gemini for Google Assistant, which should allow your existing smart speakers to give you more comprehensive answers, but only if they’re willing to talk to you.
