How to Connect and Use Multiple Google Home Devices - Everything You Can Do

While having a single Google Home smart speaker in your home adds a ton of functionality and convenience, having multiple devices can significantly improve your experience. In order to make the most of them, you need to familiarize yourself with the world of options they unravel as well as how to get down to business.

First though, let us consider the benefits of having multiple Google Home devices.

If you are thinking of making your home intelligent, this question might have crossed your mind: “What can I do with multiple Google Home devices?” There is an amazing amount of functionality available across multiple devices on the Google ecosystem. You do not have to have multiple smart speakers in order to run a smart home. But having them will enhance your experience and make it all the more worthwhile.

To begin with, having multiple smart speakers means that if you set an alarm or reminder on one, you get a nudge at the right time from any of them at the right time. As such, you will not miss an appointment simply because you were not in the kitchen when your smart speaker mentioned the reminder.

Having several smart speakers also means that several people can use them at the same time. For instance, you can have Google Assistant read you a recipe as you prepare dinner while someone else plays music. Other benefits include having the ability to broadcast announcements across your smart home, playing music on multi-room audio and other features which we’ll discuss in greater detail below.

Getting started with multiple Google Home and Assistant devices is not difficult at all. First, you need two or more Google Home smart speakers. The best part is that you can mix and match different types of speakers, from the Google Home and Mini to the Google Home Hub and Max.

1. Begin by downloading the Google Home app on your smartphone. As you do this, ensure that all your Google devices are plugged in and are on
2. Once the download is complete, tap ‘get started’
3. If you do not already have a Google account, create one. Note that if you have a Gmail account, that will suffice. If you want to create an account for someone under age 13, use Family Link
4. Ensure that your smartphone and Google Home device are connected to the same Wi-Fi network
5. Tap on the Google Home app from your home screen
6. Tap ‘Add,’ ‘Setup Device’ and then ‘Set Up New Devices in Your Home’
7. The app will then scan for new devices nearby (It will only find devices that are plugged in)
8. Select the home you want to add the device to and tap ‘Next’
9. The app will connect the phone to your new Google Home device to allow you to configure it
10. To make sure that you are setting up the correct device, you will hear a sound from the device
11. When you hear the sound, tap ‘Yes’
12. Select the room you want the device to work in and then input Wi-Fi connection details
13. Repeat the procedure for all the devices to make them accessible via your Home app

In order to start using multiple Google Assistant devices, go to your app and assign them names. This will make it easier to identify the Home device you want to communicate with. Follow these steps to name your devices:

1. Open your Google Home app
2. On the bottom right side of the screen, tap the person profile icon
3. Tap on ‘Local Devices’
4. Select the device you want to name
5. To access the settings of that device, tap the adjacent cog
6. Select ‘Name’ and assign the device a relevant name. You might choose to identify devices according to their locations in the house

In addition to allowing you to identify devices, naming them also lets you control one device using another. For instance, when you are in the bedroom, you can tell Google Assistant to play soothing music on the living room speaker. However, this feature is still limited in the sense that you cannot tell one speaker to set an alarm or reminder on another speaker.

Even though only one person can own a Google Home device at a time, other people in your home can interact with it. You can train Google Assistant to recognize the voices of up to six users in your household. Once you teach the virtual assistant to recognize different voices, different family members can control any device connected to the ecosystem. Furthermore, each of the users can enjoy a personalized experience with regards to their calendar, reminders, music choice and daily commute.

To add a Home member:

1. Go to your Google Home App
2. On the bottom right side of the screen, tap the ‘Home’ tab
3. Tap the ‘Add’ icon
4. Tap ‘Add Home Member’
5. Type the email address or name of the person you want to add

To remove a Home member:

1. Go to the home tab on your Google Home app
2. Click on ‘Settings’
3. Tap on ‘Household’ to view the list of members
4. To revoke a member’s access, tap on the three dots next to their name

To set up Voice Match:

1. Go to the Google Home app and in the bottom right hand corner, tap ‘Account’
2. Confirm that the Google Account listed is the one you have linked to your Google Home account. If you need to switch accounts, click on the triangle next to the account name
3. Tap ‘More Settings,’ ‘Assistant’ and then select ‘Voice Match’
4. Ensure that the devices you want to link to your voice are all connected
5. Tap ‘Continue’ and select ‘I Agree’
6. Follow the instructions
7. If you want to hear personal information from your smart speaker, you need to turn on a feature known as Personal Results. Select ‘I Agree’ and continue with setup
8. To have another Home member set up Voice Match, tap ‘Invite,’ choose the mode of communication and send the invite.

Once you set up Voice Match, anyone who uses the relevant Google Assistant commands can access your music and video services. Additionally, all the people linked to shared devices can use all TVs and speakers linked to your account.

If you would rather not have other users accessing your music and videos, ask them to set their own default music service.

The invitee will need to accept the invitation so as to set up their Voice Match profile. In order to do this, they need to:

1. Download the Google Home app on their device
2. Under the ‘Home View’ tab, there will be 1 Pending Invitation. Tap on that to get the invite page
3. Under the invite page, there will be information on what the invitee can do and the devices they can access
4. To scroll down, tap ‘More’
5. Scroll to the bottom of the page to ‘Accept’

In case you are wondering, “Can I connect two Google Home devices?” the answer is yes. You can sync up multiple Google Home devices by creating a group. With all devices under a single group, it is possible to give Google Assistant a command to the group as you would a single speaker. If you command them to play music, all the devices in that group will then simultaneously play the music you specify. However, you cannot play podcasts or set alarms and timers on multiple devices.

Yes. You can add as many Google Home devices to one account as you need to. This makes it easy to operate the devices as they all appear in one Google Home app. It also facilitates tasks such as creating groups for multiroom audio.

Yes. Google Assistant can recognize up to six different users. By virtue of this provision, each of these people can run their own separate account on a single Home device. In order to make the most of this feature, however, you need to use Voice Match. Essentially, this feature teaches the AI assistant to match the different voices to its different users. The procedure for setting up Voice Match is discussed in detail above.

Yes. Thanks to Google Assistant’s ability to recognize different voices, it is possible to have multiple users communicating with her from their separate phones. As highlighted above, training Google Assistant to recognize voices requires Voice Match. Once you follow the procedure for this and complete voice-training, you can invite other Home members to do the same.

When you send an invite, the recipient will get an opportunity to set up a personalized Google Home account. In order to do this, the user will download the Google Home app and customize their preferences. This means that at any given time, you can connect up to six phones to Google Assistant. If some of the users are underage, you can limit access to restricted content by setting parental controls on the Google Home devices.

The best part about this feature is that there is no need to keep switching between accounts. Rather, Google Assistant will know who is speaking and automatically switch accounts.

It is possible to use Bluetooth to play music that is stored on a mobile device or a computer on your Google Home speaker. However, you cannot play the same music using Bluetooth on multiple Google Home devices.

However, you can pair your Google Home speaker with Bluetooth speakers around the house. With this feature, it is possible to have a multiroom audio experience with a mixture of Google Home and non-Google Home devices.

Yes. This is in fact one of the top benefits of having multiple Google Home devices linked to the same ecosystem. These devices offer support for multiroom audio allowing you to simultaneously play the same music on several devices. With this feature, you can play music at a reasonable volume and move about the house without missing a single beat from your favorite audio.

In order to access this functionality, you need to start by setting up a Home group.

1. Launch the Google Home app
2. Tap the ‘Add’ icon
3. Select ‘Create Speaker Group’
4. Identify the speakers you want to include in the group. Keep in mind that these must be on the same Wi-Fi network as the smartphone you are using
5. Give the group a name and tap ‘Save.’ Remember that you will be using this name to give Google Assistant commands. So keep it simple and clear enough for ease of use

1. Go to your Home app
2. Tap the icon for the speaker you want to add
3. Tap the cog wheel to get to device settings
4. Select ‘Groups’
5. Assign the speaker to an existing group and tap ‘Save’

1. Launch the Home app
2. Tap the speaker group you want to edit
3. Go to ‘Settings’ and tap ‘Choose Devices’
4. Tap the devices you want to add/remove from the group
5. Tap ‘Save’

To play multiroom audio using Google Assistant voice commands, say:

• “Hey Google, play [song or playlist] on [name of group]”

You can play the same music on different Google Home devices. Simply give Google Assistant the voice command and specify the music you want to play.

For example, you could say:

• “Hey Google, play country music on Downstairs group”

At times, you might want to listen to some cool music while another Home member wants something more upbeat. While this is not exactly easy with Google Home devices, it is far from impossible. One of the best ways to do it is by going to a music app on your smartphone, selecting the music you want and casting it to a specific Home device. Then go to a different music app, select some other music and cast it to another device. Though this approach is quite lengthy, it works well, avoiding the typical confusion that at times arises with voice commands.

It is possible to install Google Home devices in two different houses and link them to a single account. This is an extremely useful feature for keeping an eye on granny in her countryside home.

If you already have things up and running in your house, it’s time to get things going in the second house too.

1. Before getting started, ensure that all devices including your smartphone are connected to the Wi-Fi network in the second house
2. Go to Home app and Use your Google account to set up devices following the usual initial setup procedure
3. You can create multiple homes under your Home app so as to separate the devices and make it easier to control them
4. Once this is done, you can control devices in both homes. To avert confusion, however, assign them distinct names that differentiate the devices in the two houses. You might have to explicitly reference the name of the home in question when issuing voice commands.

Google Home lets you play music from numerous sources including Spotify. Before you can start playing Spotify music on multiple Google Home devices, you first need to add the service to your Home app.

1. Launch the app and click on the Home tab at the bottom right left side of the screen
2. Tap the ‘Add’ icon on the top
3. Under the Add Services section, select ‘Music and Audio’
4. Select ‘Spotify’ from the list and follow the outlined setup instructions

Note that every Google Home app can only offer support for one Spotify account. Therefore, to access the service on multiple devices, Home members need to have their voice registered on the speaker. Additionally, they need to install the Google Home app on their individual smartphones. This way, it will recognize the different users’ voices and play music from their individual accounts. Additionally, it will not interrupt playback for one user when another user gives a voice command.

It is possible to use multiple Google Home devices to communicate between different rooms in your smart home. The feature is known as Google Broadcast and lets you send voice messages to all the smart speakers in your home.