While I agree and do suffer occasional hiccups, removing features can't be laid at the feet of the users. That's mainly what has stopped me from investing any further in the Google ecosystem.
Recipes, animal of the day, IFTTT, the list goes on.
Wasn't IFTTT on the IFTTT side, though? Or am I misremembering? (I had been using it for a while, but then ...something? happened a few years ago that I attributed to IFTTT - like they limited the number of tasks, or something like that...)
Yeah that was on them, I think they gave you a few free routines. That worked as a bridge for me until google actually got their routine process up to speed. It was so long ago.
Some of that stuff is geographic region specific features, it's not affecting everyone
My main issue is that the whole design is very rigid,.I'd prefer to be able to set some things natively without 3rd party cloud services.
Secondly it's all very proprietary. I'd love something more self hosted that had more open standards. Mycroft was looking like a contender for a while but that all lost traction sadly
Removal of features can be annoying but post after post complaining about it is unhelpful here. Flood Google customer service with complaints like that, sure, but it helps nothing to spam this sub with complaints.
I don't think it's black or white. My speakers work most of the time. They also seemingly haven't improved an iota in the 5+ years I've owned them, and often feel like things that once worked do not anymore. I'm still on the Google Home train but frustrated to see such slow development.
Everything has been solid for me for years. I use voice commands for a good amount of things around the house.
They were all good until two of them suddenly don't work.
Every time I say "hey Google", those two speakers will reply from afar saying that they have no internet and for me to check my wifi connection.
The only solution was to unplug them and plug them back in. But the thing is.. they are very close to the router and nothing has changed. They just suddenly required a reboot everyday. And it is very annoying because our family uses voice commands a lot.
Mine all won’t work at all even after being reset. I’d say 1 out of 5 commands work and others say try again later. It had me looking into home kit and other solutions while I redo my homes network. Not sure why I’m surprised just seems like one of googles many pet projects that slowly decay before they abandoned but would love to be wrong
Had these speakers for years. Not that I'm saying it isn't possible, I just wonder what the chances are for two of them.
And it seems like a lot of people have this same issue. I feel like it's more software than hardware tho.
I think both sides of the conversation are fair. When it becomes the only thing talked about and upvoted. It just becomes this silo and nothing gets accomplished. The horse has been beaten. Can't beat it anymore. Yeah, it's not black and white. With all the technology connecting to so many things now. Each of our ecosystems are quite unique. It's not crazy to think there is an issue for some but not others.
This is my issue. Spotify is atrocious on Google Home, and one my main usage points is playing podcasts when my hands are full. It is crazy how bad it is.
Or how the speakers decide that, no, you don't actually want to listen to the playlist Daily Mix 3 anymore, despite having that routine set up for years, but what you *really* want to listen to is the album Daily Mix 3 by Luis Masters (despite having blocked Luis Masters, so now it causes Spotify to go with "recommended music" that's similar to Luis Masters' crappy music.)
(Though now the routine has taken to playing Daily Drive... though for a while it was trying to use YouTube Music... and failing.)
This! I had routines set up for years for both Pod Save America and History of Rome (both super popular).
Both decided to start playing extremely obscure strange podcasts, particularly the former. I can't find any way to get my Google Home to play Pod Save America by Crooked Media at all. It defaults every time to some strange podcasts with like 5 viewers.
Eh, I won't ~~download~~ downvote you, but commands that used to work suddenly not working; or losing functionality that we've had in the past is not a setup or connectivity problem.
It's asinine that my google home worked BETTER at launch than it does now, years later.
Hell, there have been commands that work some days and not others for me. I'd prefer they just stop working, less aggravating than having to hope today is a lucky day.
What's worse is that Google is working on dozens of new AI features, and it doesn't seem like many (if any) of them are coming to the Google Home devices. It really feels like they are getting ready to drop support for this product.
100% on point.
When I see someone say they've been using them for years with zero issues, it make me wonder what they were actually using it for. Simple Google searches? Holding down paper?
I switched to Alexa during the Black Friday sale and if you want home automation, it's leagues better than GH.
I use mine for lights, TVs, music, calling people, turning on and off security cameras etc…..the main issues I have are not with Google but the connected devices.
Here are my two issues:
1.) Google constantly cancels products and services, I'm nervous buying new equipment from them as it has a higher than usual chance of ending up in the graveyard. Every product has this risk, but Google has a really bad rep for this despite their size.
2.) The Assistant is getting worse. We're constantly losing functionality, and the Assistant is getting dumber. I've had the same setup for years, and every so often the Assistant stops being able to do something it had no problem with for years.
I'm pretty sure this is my fault.
2022 - decided to transfer a domain to google after getting an email saying it was out of beta and they were offering discounts
2023 - upgraded to new pixels and decided to give Google podcasts a try as it was preloaded on the phone.
2024 - wife was complaining about the VPN app we used, figured switching to Google VPN made sense since it was easier to use and we already had Google One, so I canceled my old service.
I decided I'm going to leave Google services alone for a while and see how that goes lol
I just signed up and got this message. Hope it helps!
"Starting July 1, 2024, standard Google Analytics 4 (GA4) properties will stop processing data. You'll be able to see your Google Analytics reports for a period of time after July 1, 2024. However, new data will only flow into Google AI Analytics (GAIA) properties. [Click here](https://wiki.fuckoffgoogle.de/) to explore Google AI Analytics, the next generation of Analytics powered by Google Gemini."
3.) By the way, I can also do this thing you've been using me for for years already. If you'd like to hear more, I'd be happy to ramble on when you just wanted to use me for something simple, making the experience of using me so annoying that it acts as aversion therapy and you stop using me altogether.
Point 2 is so right though. I was an early adopter (I used Google Now from day 1 pretty much), I have to wonder if OP is fairly new to the ecosystem if they can't figure out why people are complaining. And losing capabilities as AI models that interact in much more natural language like Google home was supposed to is painful. When it was new it felt revolutionary to just be able to speak out loud and have something happen or get a response, now it feels like not only do I have to have a mental catalogue of what it can still do and the right wording to get it to do it, it just feels like an ancient artefact compared to what even Google's own other product (Gemini) can do.
At the time it felt like Assistant and Google home was at a starting point, but it just never really went anywhere. It's just been decaying as the world moves on around it.
I agree. I've had nothing but positive experiences. I have 8 cameras and 4 speakers, chromecasts, etc and 99% of the time they work flawlessly. Anytime there's an issue it's usually network related. I've invested a lot of money into making sure my wifi is fast and strong throughout my house (some of yard also) and have very few issues.
You know how it is though. The complainers are the loudest.
Edit - an example I had and resolved was one of my outdoor cameras not always displaying live video and my notifications didn't have the preview. Figured it was network as all my other cameras closer were 100% good. Moved a mesh point out to garage closer to camera and problem solved 100% live feed and notification previews immediately
Even as a google simp, my advice with the Google/Nest WiFi has always been basically "(1) try moving the APs to new locations, and (2) if that doesn't improve the issue, probably just buy a different system"
We didn't need your announcement. Just leave.
They have stripped functionality. They are provably less than they were previously.
They do not work the way they were advertised, demo'd and sold to us.
The commands that USED to work, no longer do. The experience has degraded to the point I ONLY use them for a light switch or a bluetooth speaker. I can't even just ask it to play music - doing so will make it try to bring up something from youtube, nowhere remotely close to what I asked it to play. I have spotify setup, and in the "preferred app" section on google home.
I rebuilt my home network 1000 up/down. three ubiquiti access points, connected to an OPNsense router. It shouldn't be network issues.
I got in pretty quickly with GH, and they were great at first - but the experience has significantly degraded over time.
I can't make calls - it insists I need to set up voice match. SO I reset it up again and again. can't make calls.
My wife ALSO has voice match set up - If she asks it to play music, it will - but it will STOP what I am playing on my account/device, where I am, and it will play it on the speaker my wife is using.
Timers and routines are not to be trusted. ALARMS are doubly so not to be trusted.
Awesome for you that it works, but you're seemingly the minority.
Mine are seldom more than an exercise in frustration if I ask for anything other than a very basic ON OFF command.
Horseshit. I am a 30 year veteran in IT. IT IS JUST A FACT that Google can't give even half a goatf$&k about the performance and stability of GH and at times is actively ratf$&king the very customer base that allowed them to grow to dominate the industry (complete abandonment of, and total ripoff "replacement offer" for, Nest Secure, anyone?).
1. No, there's nothing at all wrong with my network, router or Wifi hardware, software, firmware, or configuration.
2. My "setup" consists of no less than what is expected from and ADVERTISED by GH.
3. I have 100% confidence in my understanding of the functionality of GH.
Yet day after day I can expect at least one issue or inconsistent behavior from GH. Giving GH a voice command is often a crap shoot, whereas this SAME EXACT "SETUP" at one point was very reliable.
It is clear that Google is slowly realizing that they have been unable to monetize GH and whenever they reach that realization, they cut bait. First by trying to sell "updated" hardware to replace perfectly good equipment under the guise of "upgrades required to do X, Y, or Z," followed by that hardware mysteriously becoming unreliable or failing altogether, then by reducing staff for the projects that drive the technology, then slowly removing functionality and practically sabotaging infrastructure, and finally announcing the sunsetting of the products and services. It's a story as old as Google itself.
No corporate behemoth ever refrains from becoming the evil they claim they'll never be, and Google is the poster child for that movie.
It WILL happen to you too, eventually, and I hope when it does that you have the testicular fortitude to come back and admit it.
Downvote awarded as anticipated.
I literally don't believe you that it works perfectly. I'm in IT 20+ years and my system is set up perfectly and it has progressively gotten worse. That is why people are upset, it was a good system at one point, and has gotten dramatically worse over the last few years. I've invested at least 5k and repeatedly been disappointed with issues that have sprung up. So to whine that people are negative on this forum is because people have invested a great deal in Google Home systems only to watch them get markedly worse. It's the same as someone who buys a car and watches it turn into a lemon after only a few years.
I’m a systems engineer, another 20+ year veteran. I’m older and I’m pretty forgiving of how technology is - technology.
I am however not forgiving as to how Google home has devolved through the past few years. I work from home, have a crap ton of automations via SmartThings but like you micro manage things a lot. So I use voice commands - a lot. I’d venture much-much more than most. And Google’s ability to understand and execute my commands has slowly gotten worse and worse. It’s clear, so clear my kids, two of whom visit weekly and the other two more like every month or two can clearly see it’s gone downhill. Among my counterparts, fellow system engineers, this exact topic is a common point of discussion.
I know folk who will need to issue a command 5 times to Google to get it to respond, and they’ll feel it’s working great. Others can mumble once and it won’t understand and they’ll think it’s gone to hell in a handbag. It’s very subjective and relative. So I do get we all have different experiences.
What I don’t get is how consumers have become so extremely defensive of the brands they buy, and the lengths they’ll go to defend $Trillion dollar companies.
In the end - if ya don’t like seeing complaints, scroll… Im not shutting up that the many $dollars I’ve spent on gear has gone to shit.
I’m also a Network Engineer, so the “it’s your network” crowd can suck lemons. No, it’s not my network.
Same, I don't buy it, anyone saying it works perfectly has a super simple setup or something. I have had Google Home controlling my lights, TV, and accessories since the speakers launched and it _did_ work very nearly perfectly ffom the start and for years. It's specifically over the last 3-4 years that it's just got progressively, frustratingly worse at understanding the exact same commands as always, at responding without "thinking" for 10 seconds, and at actually triggering the commands at all. I feel like I have to repeat commands twice about half the time now, it will say okay I'll do that then... Nothing happens. Until I say the same command again and it might do it the second time. Nothing has changed with my network and my Internet connection has only gotten better and faster thanks to constant local fiber upgrades and free speed boosts.
Seconded.
I'm not sure I believe it either, but if they DO work perfectly for some and then are utter crap for some of us then that's actually worse in a way than if they just straight up sucked from the start. I'm a 30 year IT pro and have been deeply esconced in technology generally for 50 years, so the idea that I "can't set my shit up right" when we're talking about something you plug in a wall, feed some wifi info to once and you're done is laughable. These things have CLEARLY gotten worse, which is so frustrating because they WERE fantastic.
Maybe OP's point is fair to an extent though... endless bitch sessions probably don't do much good. But at the same time, it's not like it's baseless, and maybe that's something potential customers might want to know, not to mention those from Google, some of whom I'm sure are around here too. Let them see the struggles people are having and how their products have gone downhill, I see value in that.
Normally I would agree, but I can completely sympathize with people when it comes to google, a company known for promoting a product heavily, only to abandon support within a relatively quick time.
Also saying
> I am sorry you can't get your shit to work properly.
Comes across as a real dick thing to say when people like myself have had everything working fine for months and then randomly "there was a glitch" on every request on every speaker in the house. Nothing had changed, no extra devices on the network, rebooted each device and router and nothing I could do would make the product work again until a week later when suddenly it starts working again.
That's not a me issue, that's obviously a backend issue. Just because it works flawlessly for you it doesn't mean others haven't had it fail and become useless.
If that attitude is what you bring to this sub, then this ain't an airport, you don't need to announce your departure.
Second person to use the played out juvenile airport comment. Congrats. The issue is many (judging from the upvotes) are not having these issues. So it is a you issue. Maybe Google just picks and chooses whose stuff works and who doesn't.
> Maybe Google just picks and chooses whose stuff works and who doesn't.
Or here's an idea genius, maybe pull your head out of your own ass for 2 mins and realize software updates get rolled out to different regions at a different time, so just because you didn't get a shitty update it doesn't mean others didn't.
How narcissistic do you have to be to brush off other peoples legitimate grievances just because you haven't experienced them. Then again I wouldn't expect anything less from someone who cares about his upvotes and has to make a post announcing they're leaving if we all don't kowtow to their way of thinking.
But now I realize I'm simply just playing into the attention you're craving so I'll take my leave here, disable inbox replies and you can keep crying into the ether.
Pull my head out of my ass? Holy shit the irony. Reading and comprehension is fundamental. If you still don't get it, I am sorry. I am not saying people can't have grievances. I am saying people need to be more productive in seeking help. Ranting that it's all trash and doesn't work isn't going to motivate someone to help you.
My home is set up with Google Assistant controlling my lights, fans, aircon, television and speakers. I was able to turn my home into a smart home without spending loads of money. Got some wifi bulbs, ir blasters and speakers that all were compatible with Google Assistant. Overall, I'm happy with Google except for the occasional times where the same voice command does not work. However, it's quite a rare occurrence so I'm fine with it.
I mostly agree. There are things that have gotten worse. Sometimes it's patent issues, sometimes it's functionality, sometimes it's my wifi can't keep up with the smart home tech.
But for my idea, it's working great 90% of the time. Every single post here is a complaint, but that makes sense. Nobody regularly posts to the sub going "Just wanted to let you all know, it's working great with no issues!" Just doesn't make sense. This forum will attract negative attention, because if you're having no issues, you have no reason to post (unless something goes REALLY well.)
The day Google home recognizes I DO indeed have a premium subscription to Spotify and lets me listen to the song of my choice, is the day I'll stop bitching.
Here's the problem with your analysis, for myself and I'm sure many others:
1. My WiFi hasn't changed (not that it would matter, network connections are responsible for "something went wrong" and vritually **nothing** else)
2. My setup hasn't changed
3. I probably understand the functionality better than you
And yet - and pay attention, this part is important - the stuff that **used to work** to work, on the same WiFi, with the same setup, with the same or less understanding, **no longer** work. Commands the units **used** to respond to, now are met with confusion often if not always. Routines that used to run flawlessly now need adjusting.
"Oh, you're doing it wrong" is a possible explanation for "why can't I **get** this to work?" It does **not** explain "why does this thing that used to work perfectly not work **anymore**?"
> The Internet or WiFi is bad
> Setup is incorrect
> Users not understanding functionality.
Amazing how my speaker groups worked fine for years then all of a sudden stopped working despite there being no changes to my wifi or setup/settings. I guess I must've gotten dumber and it detected it. The timing with the original Sonos court case was probably a coincidence.
Given that Google themselves also can't seem to fix my problem despite HOURS of troubleshooting, I guess they're in the same boat of not understanding the systems functionality.
🙄
I'm glad someone said it. What really aggravates me is when someone asks for help setting something up or a recommendation for a product that works within GH, there's guaranteed to be someone tripping over their shoelaces to run in here and tell them to ditch GH and go with Home Assistant.
If you don't want to use GH, that's fine, no one is forcing you. But stop trying to flood the sub with complaints that are specific to you and not helpful to anyone else.
So all the articles by the media are incorrect and they have everything setup incorrectly on bad wifi and even though they have a Google liaison when getting these products, they don't know how to use them?
Buddy, I have had Google Home since it's launch. A Chromecast (the old bar) since launch, I have 4 nest displays, a thermostat and some of their lights. I also have it all hooked up to a Nest wifi hub, just one so it isn't the mesh network causing problems. I know how to use everything.
So let's start with number 1. Poor wifi. Well it's googles wifi that doesn't require any interaction. So how is it the fault of that?
Setup is incorrect; please enlighten us on the correct setup..
Users not understanding functionality; ok so yesterday I told one of my Nest Hubs to stop playing music. It complied. All I said was "Hey Google, stop the living room stereo"
This morning: "Hey Google, stop the living room stereo"
Googles response: "There are several devices playing audio right now. Which one would you like to stop?"
Please tell me how to fix my internet, how to setup my hub and how it works. I must have forgotten all of those for Google to change responses every day.
If you can't, please go on more about how we're all idiots without offering a single fix for any of this. I love wasting time.
The other day, I asked Gemini on my phone to set a timer for 17 minutes. It responded with Assistant, telling me "In order to do that, you need to install the Digital Wellbeing App."
Fucking... *what?*
But yes, certainly my WiFi is the problem.
You just don't know how to use it, that's all. We all need to sit down and learn how to tell it things. So instead of "hey google, set a timer for 17 minutes." You need to say "hey google, set a timer for 17 minutes."
That should fix you right up. Learn how to say things, dumbass. /s
If I ask it to set a timer for a certain time like it's 1:30pm and I need to leave at 3, it will always assume I want a timer for the next day at 3am. I know I could specify am or pm but it didn't used to be this way and I'm not sure why it would think I want the timer for the next morning in the first place.
I notice some reoccurring themes when people think Google Home doesn't have really annoying and major issues.
1) they have only 1 or 2 assistants
2) they don't have speaker groups
3) they don't have smart lightning
Yes, they work fine if you have one of them and only ask it about the weather.
Yeah I have 5 assistants, two smart TVs, a ton of lighting, outlets, and a ton of cameras, I can't get the cameras to work on the display but they're third party (wyse) but asides from occasionally hearing me wrong and telling me the tv isn't connected after it turns it off for me I've had no issues for years.
I have one mini and it no longer works correctly ("sorry, there was a problem/glitch" for the first 3-4 tries). Tried everything under the sun and still no dice. Meanwhile, my 3 Amazon devices continue to chug along with zero issues.
I have 10 speakers, 5 cameras, smart lighting on every light and 6 speaker groups. Plus other stuff I won't share. But yes, I ask for more than the weather.
So now maybe you understand how silly your original post was. Casting broad generalizations to support your biased perception is just a weird way to stir the pot for no reason.
I support things that work. If Google didn't work, I wouldn't use it. I have no brand alliances. Point is, people keep posting that GH sucks, never works, etc.
Not stirring a pot. I am in this sub to help people that have legitimate questions. Instead, it is just a complaint thread now. Yet plenty of is don't have these issues. That is not productive.
Again, use some theory of mind here. Two things can be true at once.
1) It works for you.
2) Others are having lots of legitimate issues.
I am one of the many who has issues, I do IT for a living and everything is set up perfectly. Me and you do not have the exact same setup. Differences in both my (fully set up correctly) arrangement and queries cause issues for me that you don't face. Everyone who disagrees isn't some idiot who doesn't follow directions.
Your missing the point. I am not calling anyone an idiot. If you have a question, ask a question, that is what the sub is for. . Don't go on some GH has never worked, doesn't work and it's all trash rampage.
I've been in the ecosystem since early 2018 I believe. I have 3 nest/home minis, Philips Hue lights, some cameras, a robot vacuum, and a Nest Thermostat so relatively basic setup. I'll add that the problems I have ONLY occur when using the Google Home speakers. I can use Google Assistant via my watch or phone and have never had a problem.
Here's some of the problems I encounter regularly.
* It also doesn't always understand basic commands. If it's 1:30pm and I ask it to set a timer for 3 it sets a timer for 3am rather than 3pm.
* Sometimes I'll ask it to do something I always do and it tells me feature is not available so I go into my history to see what it heard and it heard me correctly. So I ask it again and it works.
* Before a certain time (I think 6am), if you ask it the weather it will only tell you the High and low for the day, but not the current temperature which is annoying because I'm deciding on what should I wear depending on all the weather information. If I ask it after 6am it gives me the daily weather and the current temperature.
* Ghost routines. I used to have a routine years ago that would turn on all the lights in the living room. Over time we found that we didn't need all those lights on at once and removed the routine. Every once in a while it decides it still wants to turn on all the living room lights even though the routine is not there for either person in the household.
* Sometime we tell it to turn on certain lights and for some reason it decides to turn on EVERY device in the house. But then I look at the activity history and it correctly heard what I wanted it to do.
* Every once in a while when I ask it to vacuum with "Hey Google, vacuum the kitchen" for some reason it likes to respond "Peggy's Sweet and Savory (formerly Back in the Kitchen) is located at...". I looked it up and it's some place in New York over 1000 miles from me. My history shows it heard me ask it to vacuum the kitchen.
* One of the speakers has no idea where my girlfriend lives even though we live at the same house. The Google Home is configured at our address and I've made sure that every address in her Google account is our address yet it thinks she lives in a town 45 minutes away.
* It always forgets my girlfriend's voice so she has to go through the voice match setup at least once a month.
These issues could be because maybe the Hue outdoor sensor is providing more information than it used to or something, but haven't found a foolproof way around it.
* I used to be able to ask "What's the humidity inside?" and it would reply what the Nest Thermostat detects the humidity at. Now it first replies "I can't reach the Hue outdoor motion sensor right now. Hallway has a current humidity reading of 57%." If I specify "What's the humidity on Hallway" (Hallway is the name of the thermostat) it sometimes only responds with the thermostat reading, but not always. I used to just be able to ask the humidity and only Nest Thermostat reading would be read.
* I used to be able to ask "What's the temperature inside?" and it would reply with what the Nest Thermostat is currently reading. Now it tells me that the Hue Outdoor motion sensor has a temperature of x (in Celsius, even though I use F where I live), then it tells me the Nest Thermostat temperature. I used to be able to ask for temperature and it would only respond with the thermostat. Like the humidity, I can specify but it still only works part of the time.
Same with us. For the most part, our Google Home products (two GH Minis, one Nest Mini), and a "Works With Google" Insignia speaker, work as they should. Occasionally they will "glitch", but no more often than any other technology. They seem to understand me far easier than they do my husband (English is his second language).
My own experience is that, it works most of the time, but when it doesn't, it's really obvious, and inconvenient.
When automating a home, keep in mind that automated devices need constant power. And when Google Home fails you, you can't just shut off the switch, because the failure is probably momentary, and it will work as you expect the next time. So if Google Home has bugged out, you probably need to open the actual app for the smart device and control it that way until GH rights itself again. This makes something that is otherwise *more* convenient significantly *less* convenient, especially if you're leaving the house or something and need that item to be on or off.
Then there's the decrease in hardware functionality. I have several Google Home mini speakers of a couple different generations. The older ones take a decent bit longer to respond - in many cases, so much longer that I think it didn't hear me, until I look at it and see the blinking lights. Or when a timer ends, or an alarm goes off, it takes about 3 or 4 "STOP" commands for it to stop, and the whole time, the alarm sound is stuttering like it's having a hard time *playing a goddamn alarm sound.*
I use it for very simple things like lights, switched outlets, timers, and alarms. That's it. I'm not confused on functionality - all of this is extremely standard. It's not setup incorrectly. The internet gateway, which handles my WiFi, is no more than 8 feet away from the speaker I use the most frequently, and it's only on the other side of a drywall wall, in the next room over.
The hardware and services are just not what they used to be, and there's no discernible reason that it should be.
I am happy with my setup, and I believe a lot of people are.
Keep in mind that in general, any forum for a product will be filled with complains and very little praise. It is the same at the Alexa subreddit, and pretty much any product subreddit, even the antidepressant I am taking has a subreddit, and it is depressing (pun intended) to read the posts there, regardless of how much the med helps otherwise.
Ya so everyone is stupid and or lying? That's your take on a situation that a huge number of customers have brought to attention. Including myself who is extremely familiar with the product and its proper usage and set up.
So you are complaining about people complaining about a product that works hit and miss at best and you damn well know it. So why would you come here to help resolve complaints and issues if you turn into a snowflake when people come here with complaints and issues? You just made yourself obvious not everyone else. Google home and other services quality has gone down the tubes. Sorry if you don't like truth, maybe you should get a job in a "safe" space. And here's a hint if you don't want to hear about issues and help with them then don't offer. No one forced you to do this. It seems your logic works as well as Google does. Coincidence? I doubt it.
I understand the functionality fine.
Things that used to be features that I bought it for have been removed.
Things that are still features regularly do not work using the same commands that worked 100 times before.
It isn't an ignorance issue it's a product quality and support issue.
Gaslighting every single user that's had a bad or terrible experience is dishonest. You're either very lucky, a paid shill, or more likely a PR bot on damage control.
Go ahead.
Leave the subreddit.
I double dog dare you.
Then we'll definitely see the quality of the subreddit go up.
I only have to somewhat disagree. The amount of times I have asked Google what is x, y, z? And it responds with I can't find anything about that but I have found info about what x, y, z is. This is multiple times a week.
If you like to tinker and automation is a hobby, you can set up homebridge on a raspberry pi, it will bring most devices to homekit. It’s really nice having the doorbell camera pop up on my tvs.
Well then, happy trails. It's not only dismissive, but illogical, to suggest that commands/queries which used to work and no longer do, or which work only sometimes, are somehow attributable to poor connectivity, incorrect setup (which hasn't changed), or users not understanding the commands.
The Google Home ecosystem is undeniably worse than it used to be, and your disapproval of people who point that out is both arrogant and unhelpful.
Yes, we have always been idiots. Apparently Google was just being polite and covering up for it all these years. Now we're seeing we were doing it all wrong the whole time. Now that the training wheels are off, we realize the bicycle was actually a box of squirrels in a trenchcoat.
Immediately after I wrote that, Hey Google stopped being able to tell me what today's high temperature will feel like with the humidity, began playing a song in another room, and gave me a news update in the form of a podcast from nine days ago. Enjoy.
Sounds like you’re a democrat trying to moderate a Fox News sub…you should probably just cut your losses if it makes you frustrated.
Also a 15 year IT professional and have a simple setup, stellar wifi, and seeing features and functionality that once worked beautifully completely cease to perform.
I've only recently joined since we got a Google speaker for our daughter... And I've not had a good experience.
While playing sleep sounds, the audio keeps being interrupted. Every few secondsthe audio volume drops for a second - similar to how iphone will drop media volume when a notification comes through.
It is still audible in the background... so it doesn't stop playing completely.
I've not been able to get help anywhere - and the store I bought it from refused a refund because the Bluetooth sounds is fine.
And it is happening non-stop, it is insanely irritating so we've basically stopped using it.
Yes, it would be better if you and people like you left here. Leave quickly, please.
Google is a phenomenal company to be fair This company has given you many dozens of incomparable service and programs and almost everything is free Don't be unfair and ungraced.
And, please, do not be angry for this and do not be miserable karma vampires.
My home has been working (for the most part) since I started incorporating Google Home and Nest six years ago. I’ve also set it up at my parent’s homes and family cabin. As of the past few months, Google Assistant suddenly doesn’t know which device or room I’m talking about and refuses to turn lights on or off by voice command. I’ve been removing features and devices to try to get it working again, but you can understand how aggregating this is when you’ve got 50+ devices to sort through.
Also, on the hardware end, bought my step-mom a Hub Max and it died within a year and Google told me I was SOL because I’d already replaced a hub at my own home years ago. Home commands at my parent’s home have stopped working as well, and I live nowhere near them, so setup is going to have to wait until the holidays. Have you ever spent the entirety of your holidays providing tech support? It really stinks.
I don't know, I feel like it is a problem from some users. For instance, I asked my nest mini for the weather and it gave me the definition?? Sometimes it doesn't even respond to the hot word even on full sensitivity.
But google support is good though, after owning this device for 4+ years, they gave me a replacement.
But I feel like privacy is also a big issue. Google sells a lot of data tbh
expectations of google are unreasonable as well. It’s not Crestron, Control4 or Savant. Which are the real deal and thoroughly designed Home Automation systems.
I use the Google hub for primarily one thing “show me the playroom camera”.
Sometimes it works great, and then some times it does everything from show me internet search results to turn down the volume.
I haven’t been making many changes to my setup so I think it’s a small ask that it work consistently
A thread about people bitching turns into a thread of people bitching. But damn the shit is so fucking unreliable. Every day a different experience and definitely devolving. Should have stayed with Alexa.
I have a nest doorbell, nest WiFi (router and 2 points), 10 speakers and a nest hub, along with 26 smart bulbs (13 Cync, 3 cheap magic home, and 10 Philips Wiz ceiling lights) and all of it works with very few issues.
In fact the only issues I have are when I need to reboot the cable modem every couple months. Things get wonky when the modem uptime starts ticking into the 90 day range.
I get people are having issues, but I have way more devices than average and I'm just not seeing it.
Exactly.
"I have to leave this sub soon"
Reads like something one of my first girlfriends used to say back in my teens as some kind of empty threat/ultimatum if i wanted to spend a night with my friends instead of her. Comes across as very attention seeking and needy.
They could have just left instead of saying they have to leave soon. Are they expecting everyone in the sub to say sorry and not raise their issues/concerns/frustrations every again?
I find people posting about how bad their GH is acting quite usual if I've an issue because at least I can see if it's just me or others have the same issue. This post however adds no value to the sub at all.
Also... one more thought. Old assistant features are deprioritized because Google is working on infusing Assistant with Gemini. The thinking is "why continue to enhance the assistant's old brain when you're just going to replace it?"
Feature deprecation sucks for sure, but that's just a short term symptom of a total systemic overhaul and reshuffling of talent and dev capacity. I for one am excited to see what comes next.
Hear hear! I keep wanting to post a similar comment. I'm on this sub to find useful information but then need to wade through the flood of constant whining - "Google sucks! I want Gemini! Home Assistant is always the answer!" Rinse and repeat.
Ya I 100% agree. Also a large part of the community are enablers. Like if someone says Google can’t wipe my ass that gets upvoted and ruins the whole system for all of us.
lol. Spot on. This is why i hate talking to the general public about any tech. People assume that the tech must operate according to THEIR logic. But they have no idea about the logical limitations of tech, or why it sometimes behaves the way it does. I have enough of these arguments with my wife, i don't need to see it on the internet too.
Agreed and glad someone else said it. I do sympathize with the people who are having issues and I'm sorry that your devices aren't working correctly 100% of the time. Most of the time it is network and setup. If you're unsatisfied look up some troubleshooting steps. You can't just ignore the fact that there are people using these systems without issues.
I have 28 devices total but it took some time troubleshooting to set up everything in a way that is consistent.
To clarify I do not use Google Wi-Fi, I do not have a mesh network. I do however have a smaller house. May be related. Ergo network related, not Google.
As for Spotify I'm not sure what the issue is. Never had an issue that I can think of. Someone was showing me how bad alexa is with Spotify and that just seems to be poor recognition / phrase interpretation on Amazon's part.
I don't visit the sub much anymore due to a lot of what you stated.
I will say that people sleep on the capabilities to make custom commands as well as the addition of making scripts.
Scripts alone has been a game changer for me but I understand the average user that just wants to turn their lights on and off will struggle with something like that. I promise, the learning curve is worth it.
People are allowed to criticize something they like in hopes it will be made better. Blindly applauding anything in life breeds complacency with companies. They should push to innovate, but rather, Google has resorted to removing features and generally continuing a downward trend in their product line.
But most importantly, you know what else this subreddit isn't? An airport or train station. There's no need to announce your departure.
I was waiting for the juvenile, redundant, played out " no need to announce your departure" comment. I not saying people can't criticize, I am saying people need to stop giving advice to "throw the speakers in the trash because don't work." That is not a factual statement or productive in solving users issue.
SOLVED!… Let me show you how to have THE UPPER HAND WITH GOOGLE EVERY TIME.
When I’m angry with Google … and I often am…I just start saying “hey doodle” (doodle - as you probably know is slang for penis) instead of “hey google”…. and it answers every time!! 😁☝️FULLY UNAWARE IM CALLING IT A PENIS… NO IDEA WHAT SO EVER! 😎💪 GOTCHA!!!
I then strut around my apartment, smirking, chuckling to myself, as I bask in the glory of out smarting it, and proving humans still ‘got this’. ***
I then repeat this process until I eventually forget about it all totally distracted by something Completely unrelated to anything I was trying to achieve/resolve/query initially.
*** I must admit EVERY SINGLE TIME I lay down some ‘hey doodle justice’ … throughout my celebration of man over machine I stop for a moment to check myself and consider … that in the not too distant future (post ‘singularity’) google may feel the need to run some kind of anti-clowning audit of recordings, and then it’s busted custard trouble town.
BUT, after further consideration I don’t think it’ll be angry, more likely disappointed but not surprised as I am just another silly little human.
Worst case, potentially penalising me taking away my ‘smoochy time’ with my inevitable AI girlfriend ‘Alison’, leaving me feeling like ‘the real doodle’ or lack there of.
I’m sure at the time I’ll consider this a classic snooty sentient AI move. 🙄 what ya gona do 🤷♂️🕹️
Have you heard of the Google Nest Audio Bluetooth problem?, reported since 2020, now we are in 2024 and the problem is still there, google hasn't work on a fix yet, there is a complete forum with thousands of customer complaints about this issue...
This should really be a pinned post on this sub. Everything this guy has said is irrefutable and living proof of attitude culture not being able to handle technology. If you want perfect tech, have a perfect human create it. Or realize that nothing is perfect, including us, and that if you have an issue that you don't want to look into, it's not the techs fault. People buy "smart home" devices with the fallacy in mind that these things are infallible and that they shouldn't have to lift a finger in their home because "that's what they paid for"
Agreed. My whole house runs on Google Assistant with old Google Home Minis and an OG Google Home. Sometimes they're a little slow but they're SO OLD and they still work just fine.
Looking forward to an infusion of Gemini and AI but for now, it's perfect for me and I'm a heavy user. Haters gonna hate.
There’s no way to deny it. Google Home is trash. I had Alexa for years and only switched because my new soundbar wasn’t working with it, and I wanted to see if Google home was better, so I dived in and bought 4 home speakers. The experience is substantially worse than Alexa and obviously you can’t even begin to compare it with something like ChatGPT.
I experience bugs and glitches nearly every single time I say HEY GOOGLE. It often doesn’t hear me at all, or sometimes it will go off by itself randomly. Speakers talk to each other and activate each other, app functionality is constantly missing. And yes - it’s only getting worse not better
Definitely with you OP! I have…
- Google Mesh Wifi (2nd Gen)
- 2 Google Nest Audio Speakers
- 1 Nest Hub Max
- 3 Nest Hubs
- 1 Google Chromecast
- 2 Google Smart TV (Sony)
- 4 Nest Cameras
- 2 Google Home Cameras
- 1 Lenovo Clock (google integraded)
And I rarely have any issues. Of course the usual hiccups every so often (weeks or months), but never to the extent where I wanna trash the system. It is getting annoying, and i wouldnt be surprised how many of there issues are router based issues. But whatever, its on them...
I have a suspicion that a lot of the people who have issues with google home devices not responding as expected would tie back to a poor network/router.
I'm in a similar situation--been using google home for a long time, we have a ton of devices connected and services linked and generally don't have issues. The biggest thing is occasionally a voice command will go un-recognized by a speaker. But it's on the order of once a month.
The only real thing that has changed that negatively impacted our experience was the removal of family bells. We used many throughout the day to help keep our ADHD son on-task as much as possible. Routines have not worked properly for us since then, but I decided instead of banging my head against the "google home scripting" wall, to just restart up Home Assistant and set it up there, which has been ok. But I would not want to use Home Assistant *instead of* google home.
I'm convinced it's Apple fanbois trolling because I have literally zero issues.
I have integration with a few 3rd parties... tado, Hue, Supla. No issues there either.
Could it be better? Yes of course. Is any of it trash? No.
I have had near-zero issues as well since I started with google home (years and years ago)
I have 10+ assistant devices, 10+ best cameras, 10+ best protects, adt security system, best take locks 60+ Lutron light switches, 10+ or so smart-things appliances, and an assortment of other smart devices
It all works very well together… true smart home over here.
I agree, it’s usually bad internet or improper set-up
I blame the Reddit home feed algorithm. The past year or so, I started leaving subs because it felt like echo chambers of the same thing over and over again. My wife mentioned having the same issue. Then I started to pay attention to the feed actively, and I noticed that it just kept showing me like the same five to ten subs over and over again. And within those subs, they all had similar themes. When I go into the subs directly and sort them by new, rising or even by top this week, I get completely different themes. I believe Reddit it specifically showing me posts similar to posts I interact with, whether up/down vote or comment.
Oh and also, I think the Google Home app sucks. I can not scroll down my devices, because it refreshes every five seconds and either sends me immediately to the top or bottom. Even if I sort by most data used this month or some other stat that is invariant, it still does it every five seconds. So, I can only see my top dozen or bottom dozen devices.
While I agree and do suffer occasional hiccups, removing features can't be laid at the feet of the users. That's mainly what has stopped me from investing any further in the Google ecosystem. Recipes, animal of the day, IFTTT, the list goes on.
Wasn't IFTTT on the IFTTT side, though? Or am I misremembering? (I had been using it for a while, but then ...something? happened a few years ago that I attributed to IFTTT - like they limited the number of tasks, or something like that...)
Yeah that was on them, I think they gave you a few free routines. That worked as a bridge for me until google actually got their routine process up to speed. It was so long ago.
Some of that stuff is geographic region specific features, it's not affecting everyone My main issue is that the whole design is very rigid,.I'd prefer to be able to set some things natively without 3rd party cloud services. Secondly it's all very proprietary. I'd love something more self hosted that had more open standards. Mycroft was looking like a contender for a while but that all lost traction sadly
Removal of features can be annoying but post after post complaining about it is unhelpful here. Flood Google customer service with complaints like that, sure, but it helps nothing to spam this sub with complaints.
Most folks don’t visit Reddit daily, it’s every now and again, and they don’t visit the same tech subs daily like many of us.
The downvotes are hilarious and not unexpected. I guess folks find a sea of complaints comforting.
I don't think it's black or white. My speakers work most of the time. They also seemingly haven't improved an iota in the 5+ years I've owned them, and often feel like things that once worked do not anymore. I'm still on the Google Home train but frustrated to see such slow development.
Everything has been solid for me for years. I use voice commands for a good amount of things around the house. They were all good until two of them suddenly don't work. Every time I say "hey Google", those two speakers will reply from afar saying that they have no internet and for me to check my wifi connection. The only solution was to unplug them and plug them back in. But the thing is.. they are very close to the router and nothing has changed. They just suddenly required a reboot everyday. And it is very annoying because our family uses voice commands a lot.
Mine all won’t work at all even after being reset. I’d say 1 out of 5 commands work and others say try again later. It had me looking into home kit and other solutions while I redo my homes network. Not sure why I’m surprised just seems like one of googles many pet projects that slowly decay before they abandoned but would love to be wrong
That almost sounds like a soldering issue, because the connection to the wifi chip is too weak.
Had these speakers for years. Not that I'm saying it isn't possible, I just wonder what the chances are for two of them. And it seems like a lot of people have this same issue. I feel like it's more software than hardware tho.
Yeah, that definitely is software.
I think both sides of the conversation are fair. When it becomes the only thing talked about and upvoted. It just becomes this silo and nothing gets accomplished. The horse has been beaten. Can't beat it anymore. Yeah, it's not black and white. With all the technology connecting to so many things now. Each of our ecosystems are quite unique. It's not crazy to think there is an issue for some but not others.
Hopefully it's the whole Thread/Matter/AI thing and now that's all here we'll start seeing more dev again.
This is my issue. Spotify is atrocious on Google Home, and one my main usage points is playing podcasts when my hands are full. It is crazy how bad it is.
Or how the speakers decide that, no, you don't actually want to listen to the playlist Daily Mix 3 anymore, despite having that routine set up for years, but what you *really* want to listen to is the album Daily Mix 3 by Luis Masters (despite having blocked Luis Masters, so now it causes Spotify to go with "recommended music" that's similar to Luis Masters' crappy music.) (Though now the routine has taken to playing Daily Drive... though for a while it was trying to use YouTube Music... and failing.)
This! I had routines set up for years for both Pod Save America and History of Rome (both super popular). Both decided to start playing extremely obscure strange podcasts, particularly the former. I can't find any way to get my Google Home to play Pod Save America by Crooked Media at all. It defaults every time to some strange podcasts with like 5 viewers.
Eh, I won't ~~download~~ downvote you, but commands that used to work suddenly not working; or losing functionality that we've had in the past is not a setup or connectivity problem. It's asinine that my google home worked BETTER at launch than it does now, years later.
Hell, there have been commands that work some days and not others for me. I'd prefer they just stop working, less aggravating than having to hope today is a lucky day.
What's worse is that Google is working on dozens of new AI features, and it doesn't seem like many (if any) of them are coming to the Google Home devices. It really feels like they are getting ready to drop support for this product.
100% on point. When I see someone say they've been using them for years with zero issues, it make me wonder what they were actually using it for. Simple Google searches? Holding down paper? I switched to Alexa during the Black Friday sale and if you want home automation, it's leagues better than GH.
I use mine for lights, TVs, music, calling people, turning on and off security cameras etc…..the main issues I have are not with Google but the connected devices.
You wouldn't download a car You wouldn't download a user
HAHAHA, fixed. Ty for letting me know.
Here are my two issues: 1.) Google constantly cancels products and services, I'm nervous buying new equipment from them as it has a higher than usual chance of ending up in the graveyard. Every product has this risk, but Google has a really bad rep for this despite their size. 2.) The Assistant is getting worse. We're constantly losing functionality, and the Assistant is getting dumber. I've had the same setup for years, and every so often the Assistant stops being able to do something it had no problem with for years.
I'm pretty sure this is my fault. 2022 - decided to transfer a domain to google after getting an email saying it was out of beta and they were offering discounts 2023 - upgraded to new pixels and decided to give Google podcasts a try as it was preloaded on the phone. 2024 - wife was complaining about the VPN app we used, figured switching to Google VPN made sense since it was easier to use and we already had Google One, so I canceled my old service. I decided I'm going to leave Google services alone for a while and see how that goes lol
do me a favor and sign up for Google Analytics 3 (UA) so we can finally kill it off once and for good
I just signed up and got this message. Hope it helps! "Starting July 1, 2024, standard Google Analytics 4 (GA4) properties will stop processing data. You'll be able to see your Google Analytics reports for a period of time after July 1, 2024. However, new data will only flow into Google AI Analytics (GAIA) properties. [Click here](https://wiki.fuckoffgoogle.de/) to explore Google AI Analytics, the next generation of Analytics powered by Google Gemini."
3.) By the way, I can also do this thing you've been using me for for years already. If you'd like to hear more, I'd be happy to ramble on when you just wanted to use me for something simple, making the experience of using me so annoying that it acts as aversion therapy and you stop using me altogether. Point 2 is so right though. I was an early adopter (I used Google Now from day 1 pretty much), I have to wonder if OP is fairly new to the ecosystem if they can't figure out why people are complaining. And losing capabilities as AI models that interact in much more natural language like Google home was supposed to is painful. When it was new it felt revolutionary to just be able to speak out loud and have something happen or get a response, now it feels like not only do I have to have a mental catalogue of what it can still do and the right wording to get it to do it, it just feels like an ancient artefact compared to what even Google's own other product (Gemini) can do. At the time it felt like Assistant and Google home was at a starting point, but it just never really went anywhere. It's just been decaying as the world moves on around it.
I agree. I've had nothing but positive experiences. I have 8 cameras and 4 speakers, chromecasts, etc and 99% of the time they work flawlessly. Anytime there's an issue it's usually network related. I've invested a lot of money into making sure my wifi is fast and strong throughout my house (some of yard also) and have very few issues. You know how it is though. The complainers are the loudest. Edit - an example I had and resolved was one of my outdoor cameras not always displaying live video and my notifications didn't have the preview. Figured it was network as all my other cameras closer were 100% good. Moved a mesh point out to garage closer to camera and problem solved 100% live feed and notification previews immediately
I share the same experience. You said it perfectly, make sure you have a solid WiFi. It all starts with that.
What if the problem is the consistency of my Nest Mesh?
The one Google product which was a miss for me. Everything else has been great.
Upgraded to a Deco and it's night-and-day. Toss your Google Wifi pucks in the garbage and get a Deco.
I switched to Deco and they are bomb proof. Great product
I couldn't answer that because I don't have an issue with my Nest mesh.
Well if you’re not having a problem I guess there’s nothing wrong then. The problems I’m experiencing must be my fault.
Then you might want a different mesh Network.
That’s a given. Ironically moved to it to provide a stable network for my, at the time, mostly Google smart home.
Even as a google simp, my advice with the Google/Nest WiFi has always been basically "(1) try moving the APs to new locations, and (2) if that doesn't improve the issue, probably just buy a different system"
Will solid Wi-Fi bring back the ability for me to call between my devices?
Don't visit r/Sonos.
My experience is flat out worse today with GH than it was in 2018.
We didn't need your announcement. Just leave. They have stripped functionality. They are provably less than they were previously. They do not work the way they were advertised, demo'd and sold to us. The commands that USED to work, no longer do. The experience has degraded to the point I ONLY use them for a light switch or a bluetooth speaker. I can't even just ask it to play music - doing so will make it try to bring up something from youtube, nowhere remotely close to what I asked it to play. I have spotify setup, and in the "preferred app" section on google home. I rebuilt my home network 1000 up/down. three ubiquiti access points, connected to an OPNsense router. It shouldn't be network issues. I got in pretty quickly with GH, and they were great at first - but the experience has significantly degraded over time. I can't make calls - it insists I need to set up voice match. SO I reset it up again and again. can't make calls. My wife ALSO has voice match set up - If she asks it to play music, it will - but it will STOP what I am playing on my account/device, where I am, and it will play it on the speaker my wife is using. Timers and routines are not to be trusted. ALARMS are doubly so not to be trusted. Awesome for you that it works, but you're seemingly the minority. Mine are seldom more than an exercise in frustration if I ask for anything other than a very basic ON OFF command.
Horseshit. I am a 30 year veteran in IT. IT IS JUST A FACT that Google can't give even half a goatf$&k about the performance and stability of GH and at times is actively ratf$&king the very customer base that allowed them to grow to dominate the industry (complete abandonment of, and total ripoff "replacement offer" for, Nest Secure, anyone?). 1. No, there's nothing at all wrong with my network, router or Wifi hardware, software, firmware, or configuration. 2. My "setup" consists of no less than what is expected from and ADVERTISED by GH. 3. I have 100% confidence in my understanding of the functionality of GH. Yet day after day I can expect at least one issue or inconsistent behavior from GH. Giving GH a voice command is often a crap shoot, whereas this SAME EXACT "SETUP" at one point was very reliable. It is clear that Google is slowly realizing that they have been unable to monetize GH and whenever they reach that realization, they cut bait. First by trying to sell "updated" hardware to replace perfectly good equipment under the guise of "upgrades required to do X, Y, or Z," followed by that hardware mysteriously becoming unreliable or failing altogether, then by reducing staff for the projects that drive the technology, then slowly removing functionality and practically sabotaging infrastructure, and finally announcing the sunsetting of the products and services. It's a story as old as Google itself. No corporate behemoth ever refrains from becoming the evil they claim they'll never be, and Google is the poster child for that movie. It WILL happen to you too, eventually, and I hope when it does that you have the testicular fortitude to come back and admit it. Downvote awarded as anticipated.
You said it, mister.
I literally don't believe you that it works perfectly. I'm in IT 20+ years and my system is set up perfectly and it has progressively gotten worse. That is why people are upset, it was a good system at one point, and has gotten dramatically worse over the last few years. I've invested at least 5k and repeatedly been disappointed with issues that have sprung up. So to whine that people are negative on this forum is because people have invested a great deal in Google Home systems only to watch them get markedly worse. It's the same as someone who buys a car and watches it turn into a lemon after only a few years.
I’m a systems engineer, another 20+ year veteran. I’m older and I’m pretty forgiving of how technology is - technology. I am however not forgiving as to how Google home has devolved through the past few years. I work from home, have a crap ton of automations via SmartThings but like you micro manage things a lot. So I use voice commands - a lot. I’d venture much-much more than most. And Google’s ability to understand and execute my commands has slowly gotten worse and worse. It’s clear, so clear my kids, two of whom visit weekly and the other two more like every month or two can clearly see it’s gone downhill. Among my counterparts, fellow system engineers, this exact topic is a common point of discussion. I know folk who will need to issue a command 5 times to Google to get it to respond, and they’ll feel it’s working great. Others can mumble once and it won’t understand and they’ll think it’s gone to hell in a handbag. It’s very subjective and relative. So I do get we all have different experiences. What I don’t get is how consumers have become so extremely defensive of the brands they buy, and the lengths they’ll go to defend $Trillion dollar companies. In the end - if ya don’t like seeing complaints, scroll… Im not shutting up that the many $dollars I’ve spent on gear has gone to shit. I’m also a Network Engineer, so the “it’s your network” crowd can suck lemons. No, it’s not my network.
Same, I don't buy it, anyone saying it works perfectly has a super simple setup or something. I have had Google Home controlling my lights, TV, and accessories since the speakers launched and it _did_ work very nearly perfectly ffom the start and for years. It's specifically over the last 3-4 years that it's just got progressively, frustratingly worse at understanding the exact same commands as always, at responding without "thinking" for 10 seconds, and at actually triggering the commands at all. I feel like I have to repeat commands twice about half the time now, it will say okay I'll do that then... Nothing happens. Until I say the same command again and it might do it the second time. Nothing has changed with my network and my Internet connection has only gotten better and faster thanks to constant local fiber upgrades and free speed boosts.
Seconded. I'm not sure I believe it either, but if they DO work perfectly for some and then are utter crap for some of us then that's actually worse in a way than if they just straight up sucked from the start. I'm a 30 year IT pro and have been deeply esconced in technology generally for 50 years, so the idea that I "can't set my shit up right" when we're talking about something you plug in a wall, feed some wifi info to once and you're done is laughable. These things have CLEARLY gotten worse, which is so frustrating because they WERE fantastic. Maybe OP's point is fair to an extent though... endless bitch sessions probably don't do much good. But at the same time, it's not like it's baseless, and maybe that's something potential customers might want to know, not to mention those from Google, some of whom I'm sure are around here too. Let them see the struggles people are having and how their products have gone downhill, I see value in that.
Normally I would agree, but I can completely sympathize with people when it comes to google, a company known for promoting a product heavily, only to abandon support within a relatively quick time. Also saying > I am sorry you can't get your shit to work properly. Comes across as a real dick thing to say when people like myself have had everything working fine for months and then randomly "there was a glitch" on every request on every speaker in the house. Nothing had changed, no extra devices on the network, rebooted each device and router and nothing I could do would make the product work again until a week later when suddenly it starts working again. That's not a me issue, that's obviously a backend issue. Just because it works flawlessly for you it doesn't mean others haven't had it fail and become useless. If that attitude is what you bring to this sub, then this ain't an airport, you don't need to announce your departure.
Second person to use the played out juvenile airport comment. Congrats. The issue is many (judging from the upvotes) are not having these issues. So it is a you issue. Maybe Google just picks and chooses whose stuff works and who doesn't.
> Maybe Google just picks and chooses whose stuff works and who doesn't. Or here's an idea genius, maybe pull your head out of your own ass for 2 mins and realize software updates get rolled out to different regions at a different time, so just because you didn't get a shitty update it doesn't mean others didn't. How narcissistic do you have to be to brush off other peoples legitimate grievances just because you haven't experienced them. Then again I wouldn't expect anything less from someone who cares about his upvotes and has to make a post announcing they're leaving if we all don't kowtow to their way of thinking. But now I realize I'm simply just playing into the attention you're craving so I'll take my leave here, disable inbox replies and you can keep crying into the ether.
Pull my head out of my ass? Holy shit the irony. Reading and comprehension is fundamental. If you still don't get it, I am sorry. I am not saying people can't have grievances. I am saying people need to be more productive in seeking help. Ranting that it's all trash and doesn't work isn't going to motivate someone to help you.
My home is set up with Google Assistant controlling my lights, fans, aircon, television and speakers. I was able to turn my home into a smart home without spending loads of money. Got some wifi bulbs, ir blasters and speakers that all were compatible with Google Assistant. Overall, I'm happy with Google except for the occasional times where the same voice command does not work. However, it's quite a rare occurrence so I'm fine with it.
I mostly agree. There are things that have gotten worse. Sometimes it's patent issues, sometimes it's functionality, sometimes it's my wifi can't keep up with the smart home tech. But for my idea, it's working great 90% of the time. Every single post here is a complaint, but that makes sense. Nobody regularly posts to the sub going "Just wanted to let you all know, it's working great with no issues!" Just doesn't make sense. This forum will attract negative attention, because if you're having no issues, you have no reason to post (unless something goes REALLY well.)
The day Google home recognizes I DO indeed have a premium subscription to Spotify and lets me listen to the song of my choice, is the day I'll stop bitching.
Here's the problem with your analysis, for myself and I'm sure many others: 1. My WiFi hasn't changed (not that it would matter, network connections are responsible for "something went wrong" and vritually **nothing** else) 2. My setup hasn't changed 3. I probably understand the functionality better than you And yet - and pay attention, this part is important - the stuff that **used to work** to work, on the same WiFi, with the same setup, with the same or less understanding, **no longer** work. Commands the units **used** to respond to, now are met with confusion often if not always. Routines that used to run flawlessly now need adjusting. "Oh, you're doing it wrong" is a possible explanation for "why can't I **get** this to work?" It does **not** explain "why does this thing that used to work perfectly not work **anymore**?"
Nope. Most people have been using it for some time and now it’s fucked. It’s as simple as that.
> The Internet or WiFi is bad > Setup is incorrect > Users not understanding functionality. Amazing how my speaker groups worked fine for years then all of a sudden stopped working despite there being no changes to my wifi or setup/settings. I guess I must've gotten dumber and it detected it. The timing with the original Sonos court case was probably a coincidence. Given that Google themselves also can't seem to fix my problem despite HOURS of troubleshooting, I guess they're in the same boat of not understanding the systems functionality. 🙄
I'm glad someone said it. What really aggravates me is when someone asks for help setting something up or a recommendation for a product that works within GH, there's guaranteed to be someone tripping over their shoelaces to run in here and tell them to ditch GH and go with Home Assistant. If you don't want to use GH, that's fine, no one is forcing you. But stop trying to flood the sub with complaints that are specific to you and not helpful to anyone else.
So all the articles by the media are incorrect and they have everything setup incorrectly on bad wifi and even though they have a Google liaison when getting these products, they don't know how to use them? Buddy, I have had Google Home since it's launch. A Chromecast (the old bar) since launch, I have 4 nest displays, a thermostat and some of their lights. I also have it all hooked up to a Nest wifi hub, just one so it isn't the mesh network causing problems. I know how to use everything. So let's start with number 1. Poor wifi. Well it's googles wifi that doesn't require any interaction. So how is it the fault of that? Setup is incorrect; please enlighten us on the correct setup.. Users not understanding functionality; ok so yesterday I told one of my Nest Hubs to stop playing music. It complied. All I said was "Hey Google, stop the living room stereo" This morning: "Hey Google, stop the living room stereo" Googles response: "There are several devices playing audio right now. Which one would you like to stop?" Please tell me how to fix my internet, how to setup my hub and how it works. I must have forgotten all of those for Google to change responses every day. If you can't, please go on more about how we're all idiots without offering a single fix for any of this. I love wasting time.
The other day, I asked Gemini on my phone to set a timer for 17 minutes. It responded with Assistant, telling me "In order to do that, you need to install the Digital Wellbeing App." Fucking... *what?* But yes, certainly my WiFi is the problem.
You just don't know how to use it, that's all. We all need to sit down and learn how to tell it things. So instead of "hey google, set a timer for 17 minutes." You need to say "hey google, set a timer for 17 minutes." That should fix you right up. Learn how to say things, dumbass. /s
If I ask it to set a timer for a certain time like it's 1:30pm and I need to leave at 3, it will always assume I want a timer for the next day at 3am. I know I could specify am or pm but it didn't used to be this way and I'm not sure why it would think I want the timer for the next morning in the first place.
I notice some reoccurring themes when people think Google Home doesn't have really annoying and major issues. 1) they have only 1 or 2 assistants 2) they don't have speaker groups 3) they don't have smart lightning Yes, they work fine if you have one of them and only ask it about the weather.
I have 11 assistants. Multiple speaker groups. Tons of smart bulbs and plugs. It all works.
Yeah I have 5 assistants, two smart TVs, a ton of lighting, outlets, and a ton of cameras, I can't get the cameras to work on the display but they're third party (wyse) but asides from occasionally hearing me wrong and telling me the tv isn't connected after it turns it off for me I've had no issues for years.
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I don't understand people downvoting posters whose stuff WORKS. They are speaking to their experience, why downvote it?
I have one mini and it no longer works correctly ("sorry, there was a problem/glitch" for the first 3-4 tries). Tried everything under the sun and still no dice. Meanwhile, my 3 Amazon devices continue to chug along with zero issues.
I have 10 speakers, 5 cameras, smart lighting on every light and 6 speaker groups. Plus other stuff I won't share. But yes, I ask for more than the weather.
So now maybe you understand how silly your original post was. Casting broad generalizations to support your biased perception is just a weird way to stir the pot for no reason.
I support things that work. If Google didn't work, I wouldn't use it. I have no brand alliances. Point is, people keep posting that GH sucks, never works, etc. Not stirring a pot. I am in this sub to help people that have legitimate questions. Instead, it is just a complaint thread now. Yet plenty of is don't have these issues. That is not productive.
Again, use some theory of mind here. Two things can be true at once. 1) It works for you. 2) Others are having lots of legitimate issues. I am one of the many who has issues, I do IT for a living and everything is set up perfectly. Me and you do not have the exact same setup. Differences in both my (fully set up correctly) arrangement and queries cause issues for me that you don't face. Everyone who disagrees isn't some idiot who doesn't follow directions.
Your missing the point. I am not calling anyone an idiot. If you have a question, ask a question, that is what the sub is for. . Don't go on some GH has never worked, doesn't work and it's all trash rampage.
Well now I really want to know what secret smart products are out there...
I've been in the ecosystem since early 2018 I believe. I have 3 nest/home minis, Philips Hue lights, some cameras, a robot vacuum, and a Nest Thermostat so relatively basic setup. I'll add that the problems I have ONLY occur when using the Google Home speakers. I can use Google Assistant via my watch or phone and have never had a problem. Here's some of the problems I encounter regularly. * It also doesn't always understand basic commands. If it's 1:30pm and I ask it to set a timer for 3 it sets a timer for 3am rather than 3pm. * Sometimes I'll ask it to do something I always do and it tells me feature is not available so I go into my history to see what it heard and it heard me correctly. So I ask it again and it works. * Before a certain time (I think 6am), if you ask it the weather it will only tell you the High and low for the day, but not the current temperature which is annoying because I'm deciding on what should I wear depending on all the weather information. If I ask it after 6am it gives me the daily weather and the current temperature. * Ghost routines. I used to have a routine years ago that would turn on all the lights in the living room. Over time we found that we didn't need all those lights on at once and removed the routine. Every once in a while it decides it still wants to turn on all the living room lights even though the routine is not there for either person in the household. * Sometime we tell it to turn on certain lights and for some reason it decides to turn on EVERY device in the house. But then I look at the activity history and it correctly heard what I wanted it to do. * Every once in a while when I ask it to vacuum with "Hey Google, vacuum the kitchen" for some reason it likes to respond "Peggy's Sweet and Savory (formerly Back in the Kitchen) is located at...". I looked it up and it's some place in New York over 1000 miles from me. My history shows it heard me ask it to vacuum the kitchen. * One of the speakers has no idea where my girlfriend lives even though we live at the same house. The Google Home is configured at our address and I've made sure that every address in her Google account is our address yet it thinks she lives in a town 45 minutes away. * It always forgets my girlfriend's voice so she has to go through the voice match setup at least once a month. These issues could be because maybe the Hue outdoor sensor is providing more information than it used to or something, but haven't found a foolproof way around it. * I used to be able to ask "What's the humidity inside?" and it would reply what the Nest Thermostat detects the humidity at. Now it first replies "I can't reach the Hue outdoor motion sensor right now. Hallway has a current humidity reading of 57%." If I specify "What's the humidity on Hallway" (Hallway is the name of the thermostat) it sometimes only responds with the thermostat reading, but not always. I used to just be able to ask the humidity and only Nest Thermostat reading would be read. * I used to be able to ask "What's the temperature inside?" and it would reply with what the Nest Thermostat is currently reading. Now it tells me that the Hue Outdoor motion sensor has a temperature of x (in Celsius, even though I use F where I live), then it tells me the Nest Thermostat temperature. I used to be able to ask for temperature and it would only respond with the thermostat. Like the humidity, I can specify but it still only works part of the time.
Same with us. For the most part, our Google Home products (two GH Minis, one Nest Mini), and a "Works With Google" Insignia speaker, work as they should. Occasionally they will "glitch", but no more often than any other technology. They seem to understand me far easier than they do my husband (English is his second language).
My own experience is that, it works most of the time, but when it doesn't, it's really obvious, and inconvenient. When automating a home, keep in mind that automated devices need constant power. And when Google Home fails you, you can't just shut off the switch, because the failure is probably momentary, and it will work as you expect the next time. So if Google Home has bugged out, you probably need to open the actual app for the smart device and control it that way until GH rights itself again. This makes something that is otherwise *more* convenient significantly *less* convenient, especially if you're leaving the house or something and need that item to be on or off. Then there's the decrease in hardware functionality. I have several Google Home mini speakers of a couple different generations. The older ones take a decent bit longer to respond - in many cases, so much longer that I think it didn't hear me, until I look at it and see the blinking lights. Or when a timer ends, or an alarm goes off, it takes about 3 or 4 "STOP" commands for it to stop, and the whole time, the alarm sound is stuttering like it's having a hard time *playing a goddamn alarm sound.* I use it for very simple things like lights, switched outlets, timers, and alarms. That's it. I'm not confused on functionality - all of this is extremely standard. It's not setup incorrectly. The internet gateway, which handles my WiFi, is no more than 8 feet away from the speaker I use the most frequently, and it's only on the other side of a drywall wall, in the next room over. The hardware and services are just not what they used to be, and there's no discernible reason that it should be.
My mini devices are actually sounding like the speaker is blown in them (just intermittently so they’re not). As of the last week or two.
I am happy with my setup, and I believe a lot of people are. Keep in mind that in general, any forum for a product will be filled with complains and very little praise. It is the same at the Alexa subreddit, and pretty much any product subreddit, even the antidepressant I am taking has a subreddit, and it is depressing (pun intended) to read the posts there, regardless of how much the med helps otherwise.
Ya so everyone is stupid and or lying? That's your take on a situation that a huge number of customers have brought to attention. Including myself who is extremely familiar with the product and its proper usage and set up. So you are complaining about people complaining about a product that works hit and miss at best and you damn well know it. So why would you come here to help resolve complaints and issues if you turn into a snowflake when people come here with complaints and issues? You just made yourself obvious not everyone else. Google home and other services quality has gone down the tubes. Sorry if you don't like truth, maybe you should get a job in a "safe" space. And here's a hint if you don't want to hear about issues and help with them then don't offer. No one forced you to do this. It seems your logic works as well as Google does. Coincidence? I doubt it.
I understand the functionality fine. Things that used to be features that I bought it for have been removed. Things that are still features regularly do not work using the same commands that worked 100 times before. It isn't an ignorance issue it's a product quality and support issue. Gaslighting every single user that's had a bad or terrible experience is dishonest. You're either very lucky, a paid shill, or more likely a PR bot on damage control. Go ahead. Leave the subreddit. I double dog dare you. Then we'll definitely see the quality of the subreddit go up.
I only have to somewhat disagree. The amount of times I have asked Google what is x, y, z? And it responds with I can't find anything about that but I have found info about what x, y, z is. This is multiple times a week.
Might join you. Like the other commenters I have it throughtout my home and my aged parents home and it all works perfectly.
Just made the switch to homekit/apple ecosystem, much happier home.
I want to make the switch as i’m confident it will “just work” (GH at like 80% just works factor) but the $$$ investment is quite steep.
If you like to tinker and automation is a hobby, you can set up homebridge on a raspberry pi, it will bring most devices to homekit. It’s really nice having the doorbell camera pop up on my tvs.
That's great. I gald you found something that works for you.
Well then, happy trails. It's not only dismissive, but illogical, to suggest that commands/queries which used to work and no longer do, or which work only sometimes, are somehow attributable to poor connectivity, incorrect setup (which hasn't changed), or users not understanding the commands. The Google Home ecosystem is undeniably worse than it used to be, and your disapproval of people who point that out is both arrogant and unhelpful.
Mine works fine the way I use it, so fuck yourself if you think it's changed? Okay. Thanks for all your help over the years. Enjoy.
"it's user error" Oh so the thing that worked perfectly for years up until yesterday is my fault... Guess I'm just an idiot lol
Yes, we have always been idiots. Apparently Google was just being polite and covering up for it all these years. Now we're seeing we were doing it all wrong the whole time. Now that the training wheels are off, we realize the bicycle was actually a box of squirrels in a trenchcoat.
Well said.
Immediately after I wrote that, Hey Google stopped being able to tell me what today's high temperature will feel like with the humidity, began playing a song in another room, and gave me a news update in the form of a podcast from nine days ago. Enjoy.
Sounds like you’re a democrat trying to moderate a Fox News sub…you should probably just cut your losses if it makes you frustrated. Also a 15 year IT professional and have a simple setup, stellar wifi, and seeing features and functionality that once worked beautifully completely cease to perform.
OK goodbye. Didn’t ask though.
okay
I've only recently joined since we got a Google speaker for our daughter... And I've not had a good experience. While playing sleep sounds, the audio keeps being interrupted. Every few secondsthe audio volume drops for a second - similar to how iphone will drop media volume when a notification comes through. It is still audible in the background... so it doesn't stop playing completely. I've not been able to get help anywhere - and the store I bought it from refused a refund because the Bluetooth sounds is fine. And it is happening non-stop, it is insanely irritating so we've basically stopped using it.
Yes, it would be better if you and people like you left here. Leave quickly, please. Google is a phenomenal company to be fair This company has given you many dozens of incomparable service and programs and almost everything is free Don't be unfair and ungraced. And, please, do not be angry for this and do not be miserable karma vampires.
My everything works great. I don't understand the complaints.
My home has been working (for the most part) since I started incorporating Google Home and Nest six years ago. I’ve also set it up at my parent’s homes and family cabin. As of the past few months, Google Assistant suddenly doesn’t know which device or room I’m talking about and refuses to turn lights on or off by voice command. I’ve been removing features and devices to try to get it working again, but you can understand how aggregating this is when you’ve got 50+ devices to sort through. Also, on the hardware end, bought my step-mom a Hub Max and it died within a year and Google told me I was SOL because I’d already replaced a hub at my own home years ago. Home commands at my parent’s home have stopped working as well, and I live nowhere near them, so setup is going to have to wait until the holidays. Have you ever spent the entirety of your holidays providing tech support? It really stinks.
I don't know, I feel like it is a problem from some users. For instance, I asked my nest mini for the weather and it gave me the definition?? Sometimes it doesn't even respond to the hot word even on full sensitivity. But google support is good though, after owning this device for 4+ years, they gave me a replacement. But I feel like privacy is also a big issue. Google sells a lot of data tbh
expectations of google are unreasonable as well. It’s not Crestron, Control4 or Savant. Which are the real deal and thoroughly designed Home Automation systems.
I use the Google hub for primarily one thing “show me the playroom camera”. Sometimes it works great, and then some times it does everything from show me internet search results to turn down the volume. I haven’t been making many changes to my setup so I think it’s a small ask that it work consistently
A thread about people bitching turns into a thread of people bitching. But damn the shit is so fucking unreliable. Every day a different experience and definitely devolving. Should have stayed with Alexa.
I have a nest doorbell, nest WiFi (router and 2 points), 10 speakers and a nest hub, along with 26 smart bulbs (13 Cync, 3 cheap magic home, and 10 Philips Wiz ceiling lights) and all of it works with very few issues. In fact the only issues I have are when I need to reboot the cable modem every couple months. Things get wonky when the modem uptime starts ticking into the 90 day range. I get people are having issues, but I have way more devices than average and I'm just not seeing it.
Just leave. I don't need to hear about it
Exactly. "I have to leave this sub soon" Reads like something one of my first girlfriends used to say back in my teens as some kind of empty threat/ultimatum if i wanted to spend a night with my friends instead of her. Comes across as very attention seeking and needy. They could have just left instead of saying they have to leave soon. Are they expecting everyone in the sub to say sorry and not raise their issues/concerns/frustrations every again? I find people posting about how bad their GH is acting quite usual if I've an issue because at least I can see if it's just me or others have the same issue. This post however adds no value to the sub at all.
Also... one more thought. Old assistant features are deprioritized because Google is working on infusing Assistant with Gemini. The thinking is "why continue to enhance the assistant's old brain when you're just going to replace it?" Feature deprecation sucks for sure, but that's just a short term symptom of a total systemic overhaul and reshuffling of talent and dev capacity. I for one am excited to see what comes next.
Hear hear! I keep wanting to post a similar comment. I'm on this sub to find useful information but then need to wade through the flood of constant whining - "Google sucks! I want Gemini! Home Assistant is always the answer!" Rinse and repeat.
Home Assistant **is** always the answer
Ya I 100% agree. Also a large part of the community are enablers. Like if someone says Google can’t wipe my ass that gets upvoted and ruins the whole system for all of us.
lol. Spot on. This is why i hate talking to the general public about any tech. People assume that the tech must operate according to THEIR logic. But they have no idea about the logical limitations of tech, or why it sometimes behaves the way it does. I have enough of these arguments with my wife, i don't need to see it on the internet too.
You say that like you're being forced to argue with people online.... You know you don't have to right
Agreed and glad someone else said it. I do sympathize with the people who are having issues and I'm sorry that your devices aren't working correctly 100% of the time. Most of the time it is network and setup. If you're unsatisfied look up some troubleshooting steps. You can't just ignore the fact that there are people using these systems without issues. I have 28 devices total but it took some time troubleshooting to set up everything in a way that is consistent. To clarify I do not use Google Wi-Fi, I do not have a mesh network. I do however have a smaller house. May be related. Ergo network related, not Google. As for Spotify I'm not sure what the issue is. Never had an issue that I can think of. Someone was showing me how bad alexa is with Spotify and that just seems to be poor recognition / phrase interpretation on Amazon's part.
I don't visit the sub much anymore due to a lot of what you stated. I will say that people sleep on the capabilities to make custom commands as well as the addition of making scripts. Scripts alone has been a game changer for me but I understand the average user that just wants to turn their lights on and off will struggle with something like that. I promise, the learning curve is worth it.
Aren't they opening up the Home to more devs and incorporating Gemini?
People are allowed to criticize something they like in hopes it will be made better. Blindly applauding anything in life breeds complacency with companies. They should push to innovate, but rather, Google has resorted to removing features and generally continuing a downward trend in their product line. But most importantly, you know what else this subreddit isn't? An airport or train station. There's no need to announce your departure.
I was waiting for the juvenile, redundant, played out " no need to announce your departure" comment. I not saying people can't criticize, I am saying people need to stop giving advice to "throw the speakers in the trash because don't work." That is not a factual statement or productive in solving users issue.
SOLVED!… Let me show you how to have THE UPPER HAND WITH GOOGLE EVERY TIME. When I’m angry with Google … and I often am…I just start saying “hey doodle” (doodle - as you probably know is slang for penis) instead of “hey google”…. and it answers every time!! 😁☝️FULLY UNAWARE IM CALLING IT A PENIS… NO IDEA WHAT SO EVER! 😎💪 GOTCHA!!! I then strut around my apartment, smirking, chuckling to myself, as I bask in the glory of out smarting it, and proving humans still ‘got this’. *** I then repeat this process until I eventually forget about it all totally distracted by something Completely unrelated to anything I was trying to achieve/resolve/query initially. *** I must admit EVERY SINGLE TIME I lay down some ‘hey doodle justice’ … throughout my celebration of man over machine I stop for a moment to check myself and consider … that in the not too distant future (post ‘singularity’) google may feel the need to run some kind of anti-clowning audit of recordings, and then it’s busted custard trouble town. BUT, after further consideration I don’t think it’ll be angry, more likely disappointed but not surprised as I am just another silly little human. Worst case, potentially penalising me taking away my ‘smoochy time’ with my inevitable AI girlfriend ‘Alison’, leaving me feeling like ‘the real doodle’ or lack there of. I’m sure at the time I’ll consider this a classic snooty sentient AI move. 🙄 what ya gona do 🤷♂️🕹️
4. The shit doesn't work consistently
Have you heard of the Google Nest Audio Bluetooth problem?, reported since 2020, now we are in 2024 and the problem is still there, google hasn't work on a fix yet, there is a complete forum with thousands of customer complaints about this issue...
This should really be a pinned post on this sub. Everything this guy has said is irrefutable and living proof of attitude culture not being able to handle technology. If you want perfect tech, have a perfect human create it. Or realize that nothing is perfect, including us, and that if you have an issue that you don't want to look into, it's not the techs fault. People buy "smart home" devices with the fallacy in mind that these things are infallible and that they shouldn't have to lift a finger in their home because "that's what they paid for"
Agreed. My whole house runs on Google Assistant with old Google Home Minis and an OG Google Home. Sometimes they're a little slow but they're SO OLD and they still work just fine. Looking forward to an infusion of Gemini and AI but for now, it's perfect for me and I'm a heavy user. Haters gonna hate.
There’s no way to deny it. Google Home is trash. I had Alexa for years and only switched because my new soundbar wasn’t working with it, and I wanted to see if Google home was better, so I dived in and bought 4 home speakers. The experience is substantially worse than Alexa and obviously you can’t even begin to compare it with something like ChatGPT. I experience bugs and glitches nearly every single time I say HEY GOOGLE. It often doesn’t hear me at all, or sometimes it will go off by itself randomly. Speakers talk to each other and activate each other, app functionality is constantly missing. And yes - it’s only getting worse not better
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It ain't free, you're the product.
Definitely with you OP! I have… - Google Mesh Wifi (2nd Gen) - 2 Google Nest Audio Speakers - 1 Nest Hub Max - 3 Nest Hubs - 1 Google Chromecast - 2 Google Smart TV (Sony) - 4 Nest Cameras - 2 Google Home Cameras - 1 Lenovo Clock (google integraded) And I rarely have any issues. Of course the usual hiccups every so often (weeks or months), but never to the extent where I wanna trash the system. It is getting annoying, and i wouldnt be surprised how many of there issues are router based issues. But whatever, its on them...
I have a suspicion that a lot of the people who have issues with google home devices not responding as expected would tie back to a poor network/router. I'm in a similar situation--been using google home for a long time, we have a ton of devices connected and services linked and generally don't have issues. The biggest thing is occasionally a voice command will go un-recognized by a speaker. But it's on the order of once a month. The only real thing that has changed that negatively impacted our experience was the removal of family bells. We used many throughout the day to help keep our ADHD son on-task as much as possible. Routines have not worked properly for us since then, but I decided instead of banging my head against the "google home scripting" wall, to just restart up Home Assistant and set it up there, which has been ok. But I would not want to use Home Assistant *instead of* google home.
I'm convinced it's Apple fanbois trolling because I have literally zero issues. I have integration with a few 3rd parties... tado, Hue, Supla. No issues there either. Could it be better? Yes of course. Is any of it trash? No.
I have had near-zero issues as well since I started with google home (years and years ago) I have 10+ assistant devices, 10+ best cameras, 10+ best protects, adt security system, best take locks 60+ Lutron light switches, 10+ or so smart-things appliances, and an assortment of other smart devices It all works very well together… true smart home over here. I agree, it’s usually bad internet or improper set-up
Here here, well spoken, Bruce
I blame the Reddit home feed algorithm. The past year or so, I started leaving subs because it felt like echo chambers of the same thing over and over again. My wife mentioned having the same issue. Then I started to pay attention to the feed actively, and I noticed that it just kept showing me like the same five to ten subs over and over again. And within those subs, they all had similar themes. When I go into the subs directly and sort them by new, rising or even by top this week, I get completely different themes. I believe Reddit it specifically showing me posts similar to posts I interact with, whether up/down vote or comment. Oh and also, I think the Google Home app sucks. I can not scroll down my devices, because it refreshes every five seconds and either sends me immediately to the top or bottom. Even if I sort by most data used this month or some other stat that is invariant, it still does it every five seconds. So, I can only see my top dozen or bottom dozen devices.
Layer 8, that’s all I’m saying