Google Home Mini is probably the device that put the Google Home ecosystem on the map. It is simple, quite affordable (especially nowadays), and a great hub to start building your own smart home grid. However, some users report that they get the error “Could not communicate with Google Home Mini” whenever they try to access the speaker in the Google Home app.
Some users blame the Sonos fiasco that saw Google losing rights for some patented speaker functionality while others claim that that’s just another sign of the ecosystem decline caused by Google’s neglect of the Google Home services. Either way, we have a few solutions to recommend before you toss a small gadget in the bin. Check them out below.
Table of contents:
- Restart your phone and the speaker/display
- Check the network
- Remove and link the Google Home Mini again
- Clear data from the Google Home app
- Reinstall the Google Home app
- Reset the Google or Nest speaker/display to factory settings
Could not communicate with my Google Home Mini during the setup
If you can’t communicate with your Google Home Mini during setup, reset the device to factory settings and try again. Just make sure that the network isn’t the one to blame for the issues.
On the other hand, if you managed to set up Google Home Mini but the device suddenly can’t be interacted with through Google Home App, we suggest restarting both devices, inspecting the network, and troubleshooting the app by clearing data or reinstalling.
1. Restart your phone and the speaker/display
Start by rebooting both your Android or iPhone and the smart device that couldn’t communicate with your Google Home. This should address the problem in most cases. To restart your Google Home Mini, just unplug it, wait 20 seconds, and plug it in again.
Wait for some time until both your phone and Google Home Mini connect to the network and check if you can access it in the Google Home app on your phone. If that does nothing, continue to the next step.
2. Check the network
The next thing to check is the network because Google Home Mini is quite susceptible to connectivity issues. Especially if you have a few of them in your home and they are far from the router. Make sure to use the 2.4GHz wireless band during setup because Google Home Mini doesn’t work with 5GHz wireless bands. If you own a lot of smart devices dependent on stable network connection and experience problems, consider upgrading your Wi-Fi router or getting Google Wi-Fi Mesh.
Also, ensure that the router firewall isn’t blocking Google Home Mini and that the network is stable. Your internet connection doesn’t have to be super speedy but it needs to be stable for Google Home Mini to work without hiccups.
Finally, you can remove the saved network from Google Home and add it again. Follow these steps to forget the network:
- Open Google Home.
- Tap on the Google Home Mini.
- Tap on the gear icon (cog) to open Settings.
- Select Device information.
- Tap on Wi-Fi and select Forget network.
- Now, tap on plus sign in the top right corner or Add device, then select Set up a device > New device, and set up Google Home Mini anew.
This action won’t delete any of the saved preferences because this isn’t a factory reset but a new setup is required to re-connect to a Wi-Fi network again. Sadly, if the error is permanently reoccurring and not occasionally, you won’t be able to access Google Home Mini settings while the device is effectively offline.
3. Remove and link the device again
The next thing you should try in case you still get the Could not communicate with Google Home Mini error is to remove the device and link it again. That can be done in the Google Home app. The problem with this solution is that, again, it won’t work if you can’t access Google Home Mini from the app and the error occurs every time you try to do so.
Here’s how to remove and add Google Home Mini again to Google Home:
- Open Settings.
- Open Google Home Mini from the list of devices.
- Tap on the gear icon to bring out Settings.
- Tap Remove device at the bottom and confirm.
- Add the device again from + (Plus or Add) > Set up a device > New device.
4. Clear data from the Google Home app
We were trying to tackle the device itself in any way possible but what if the problem is with the Google Home app? The first troubleshooting step for this is clearing the local data from Google Home. This data can (rarely) get corrupt, especially after major system updates. Of course, this option is available only on Android.
Follow these instructions to clear the data from the Google Home app on Android:
- Open Settings.
- Select Apps.
- Open Google Home from the list of installed apps.
- Tap Storage.
- Clear data and restart your Android phone.
- Open Google Home and check if the Google Home Mini appears in the list of available devices. Expand it to see if you can increase/lower the speaker volume.
5. Reinstall the Google Home app
Unlike Android, you can’t clear the local data on iOS. What you can do is reinstall the app. Still, this is a viable step to take on Android, too, because clearing data might not be enough to sort out the problem.
Here’s how to reinstall Google Home on Android:
- Tap and hold on to the Google Home shortcut. Any shortcut will do.
- Tap Uninstall in the contextual menu.
- Open Play Store.
- Search for Google Home and install the app.
And this is how to reinstall Google Home in iOS:
- Tap and hold on to the Google Home shortcut.
- Select Remove App.
- Tap Delete App.
- Then navigate to App Store and install Google Home again.
6. Reset the Google or Nest speaker/display to factory settings
Finally, if none of the previous steps worked for you and the Google Home Mini is still not accessible through the Google Home app, you can reset the device and set it up again using your smartphone.
The reset procedure is rather simple and all you need to do is tap and hold the bottom button until you get voice feedback. 10 seconds should be enough. Once you reset the device, just follow the instructions we provided in the previous steps to set up the speaker again.
For the 2nd Gen of Google Mini, Google Nest Mini, you need to turn off the mic first with the physical button. Then just tap and hold on the top of the speaker (just above the LEDs) for 10 seconds. If you need instructions for other smart speakers and displays, you can find them on the official support page provided by Google.
If you’re still having issues, there’s a chance that the device is faulty or Google Home App is a buggy mess. You can leave your feedback to Google in Google Home > Account > Help & feedback.
Thank you for reading and feel free to share your thoughts with us. How is Google Home Mini serving you? Would you say that the overall experience declined or improved over years? Tell us in the comments below.
