For several hours, thousands of users worldwide have been experiencing severe issues with their Google Home devices. Voice commands are going unnoticed, the assistant takes up to a minute to react, or it completely times out. The situation, mainly reported on Reddit, indicates a widespread outage that is testing the patience of smart home users.
The problem manifests as extreme delays and timeouts when using the voice assistant
Affected users describe a frustrating experience: saying 'Hey Google, turn on the lights' and waiting tens of seconds before the device responds, if at all. Some report that the LED blinks as if listening but then takes no action. Hundreds of comments have appeared on dedicated threads in the last few hours, and the problem seems to affect both older models and the new Google Home Speaker based on Gemini, launched last month.
The transition to Gemini might be the root cause of the massive service disruption
Google is gradually replacing the old Google Assistant with the more advanced Gemini system, which is evidently still unstable. Many users speculate that the forced migration to Gemini servers is causing request bottlenecks. In forums, some compare the situation to reliability issues seen in past software update rollbacks. The lack of official communication from Google is adding to the discontent.
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Reports are concentrated on newer speakers but also affect third-party devices
In addition to Google Home, the problem also involves third-party speakers and displays that integrate the Google Assistant, such as those from Lenovo and JBL. Some users have tried restarting the devices, reconfiguring them, or even factory resetting, all without success. Others suggest temporarily disabling Gemini features and reverting to the old Assistant, an option not always available on newer models.
Comparison with other assistants: ChatGPT and Amazon Alexa remain stable while Google falters
The outage comes at a delicate time for Google, which is betting everything on Gemini to compete with ChatGPT, Amazon Alexa, and other AI chatbots. While rivals like ChatGPT and Claude continue to run smoothly, Google Home's reliability is being questioned. A similar case occurred with the integration of AI-generated voices in other products, which sparked controversy.
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Temporary workarounds for users to try while waiting for a fix
While waiting for Google to resolve the large-scale glitch, users can try some solutions. Disconnect and reconnect the Google account in the Home app, or switch to the old assistant if available. For urgent commands, use the Google Home app manually. It is advisable to monitor the Google Workspace Status Dashboard (external link) for official updates.
Source: https://www.androidauthority.com/google-home-problems-3683051
