Picture of the Google Home Mini smart speaker, top front view, shown in muted mic mode.

How to Control Google Home Mini Volume

There are many ways for how to control Google Home Mini volume.  These depend on the app(s) you’re playing from mostly.  But the Mini itself has two touch pads for controlling volume on its edges as well. Plus, you may control the volume with the Google Home app.  Finally, the Mini also controls loudness through voice commands to the Google assistant.

Below, we show these basic ways, which you can do no matter the app you’re streaming from.  But we do not explore any app-specific volume controlling of the output device. This is so because with so many apps that send audio, this article would fast grow too large.  So, we stick here with the basic volume controlling means here.

How to Control Google Home Mini Volume 

You can control the volume without using any apps as follows.

1. Position the Mini so Cord is at Twelve O’Clock

Firstly, see the right way to sit the Mini Google Home next.

Picture of the Google Home Mini speaker, showing top view, with power cord at twelve o'clock.
Google Home Mini speaker, showing top view, with power cord at twelve o’clock.

2. Tap Left and Right Edges to Control Volume

Touch the left edge of the speaker (nine o’clock) to lower the volume one increment.  You can also tap the right edge of the speaker (three o’clock) to raise the volume one notch.

The next pic shows the locations of the volume control touch pad regions.  Find them in the same straight line formed by the four activity lights.

Picture of the Google Home Mini smart speaker, showing volume adjustment in progress. See the highlighted volume touch pads, in purple.
Google Home Mini smart speaker, showing volume adjustment in progress. See the highlighted volume touch pads, in purple.

If you need finer volume controlling, then use the Google Home app to set speaker volume.  Discussed below.





How to Control Google Home Mini Volume with Voice Commands

Google Home understands two scales for volume adjustment: 0-10 and 0-100 percent.  If you want to say a percent to control the volume, then add the word ‘percent’ to your request.  Example commands follow.

    • Okay Google, set volume 10 percent.
    • Hey Google, set volume 76 percent.
    • Okay Google, set volume 100 percent.

If you say the percent label, then 0 means lowest volume (muted) and 100 means max (full) volume.   But if you omit the percent label, then the volume control range is between 0 and 10.

    • Okay Google, set volume 5.  [Sets the volume control to half, 50 percent of maximum.]
    • Hey Google, set volume 0.  [Sets the volume control to minimum.]
    • Okay Google, set volume 10.  [Sets the volume control to maximum, 100 percent]

There are also shortcut commands for minimum and maximum volume setting, as in:

    • Okay Google, mute.  [Sets the volume to zero percent, minimum, muted state.]
    • Hey Google, max.  [Sets speaker volume to maximum, 100 percent.]
    • Okay Google, set volume half.  [Sets volume control to fifty percent, or half of full.]
    • Hey Google, volume full.  [Sets speaker volume to maximum, 100 percent.]
    • Okay Google, volume half.  [Sets volume control to fifty percent, or half of full.]
    • Hey Google, volume minimum.  [Sets the volume to zero percent, minimum, muted state.]

How to Control Google Home Mini Volume with the Google Home App

In the Google Home app, which must have Wi-Fi access to your speaker, you can control the speaker volume.  How?  By finding your speaker in the available Google devices list in the app.  Then, move the volume control there left and right, until you hit the loudness you want.

Note that you can’t control speaker volume unless it is actually streaming / playing something.  That is, you won’t see the volume control in the Google Home app unless streaming is in progress.

To adjust the volume from within the Google Home app, follow the procedure listed next.

1. Run the Google Home app

on your mobile device.  You should see its Home screen, as shown next.

Picture of the Google Home app on iOS, displaying its home screen, with the hamburger menu control highlighted.
Google Home app on iOS, showing its Home screen, with the hamburger menu control highlighted.

2. Tap the Main Menu ‘hamburger’ Control

Find the hamburger pointed at by the purple arrow in the last photo.

This then brings up the Main Menu, as shown next.

Picture of the Google Home app on iOS in 2017, displaying its hamburger menu, with the Devices Item highlighted.
Google Home app on iOS in 2017, displaying its hamburger menu, with the Devices Item highlighted.

3. Tap the Devices Menu Item

See this, pointed to by the purple arrow in the last picture.

You then see the  Devices  screen, as seen in the picture shown in the next step.





4. On the Devices Screen, Find your Currently Playing Google Home Mini Speaker

See this as shown next.

The speaker is currently streaming when you see a small speaker icon (volume controlling link).  Find this  in the lower right edge of its device card, as pointed at by the purple arrow.

But this button does not show when not streaming. Thus, you cannot control the volume like this, when the Mini is playing nothing.  So, be sure to start an audio stream to your Mini before setting volume as is done here.

Picture of the Google Home app on iOS, displaying its Devices screen. This shows the smart speaker playing an iHeart radio station.
Google Home app on iOS, showing its Devices screen. This has the smart speaker playing an iHeart radio station.

5. Tap the Speaker Volume Button

See the speaker volume button in the last picture.

Tapping it then brings up the volume control screen, as pictured next.

Picture of the Google Home app on iOS, displaying its volume control screen for the Google Home Mini smart speaker.
Google Home app on iOS, displaying its volume control screen for the Google Home Mini smart speaker.

6. Touch and Drag the Volume Slider Button

Drag these left and right around the circle, until you hear your preferred volume.

The slider volume control here provides more granular control than the touch pads on the Mini itself.  That is, you can raise and lower the volume in much smaller increments.  This is much finer than the ten-percent jumps up and down that you get when tapping the Mini touch pads.

Note that moving this onscreen volume control around takes effect right away.  No need to press any  Submit  buttons to force the new setting into effect.





How to Control Google Home Mini Volume on Bluetooth Source Device

If using your Mini as a Bluetooth speaker, you can control volume with the adjustments on the paired device.  Now in this demo, we’re playing YouTube content on our iPad Air, and streaming to the Mini via a Bluetooth connection.

1. Pair your Google Home Mini as a Bluetooth Speaker

See our post  here,  that demonstrates how to pair.

2. Begin Playing an Audio Source

These sources include internet radio stations, a song from Spotify, or an Audible book.  In this scenario, we stream YouTube audio to our Google Home Mini, as shown next.

3. Use Source Device’s Volume Buttons to Control Google Home Mini Volume

See this shown next.

Picture of the YouTube app on iOS, as seen during adjusting the volume while playing a video.
YouTube app on iOS, as seen during adjusting the volume while playing a video.

Note the purple arrowed volume control square with a speaker inside of it in the last picture.

Also note that the volume change you hear is behind by a second or so.  Why?  Because of the delay (latency) of the commands going across the Bluetooth airwaves.

How to Control Google Home Mini Volume when Casting to It

Finally, you can cast to the Google Home devices like the Mini  too.  Similar to Bluetooth, but done over Wi-Fi instead.  Yet like in this Bluetooth example, you can usually change the volume of the speaker.  How?  By adjusting it in the app that’s doing the Chromecasting.

But a, we don’t cover here how to control volume in individual apps. So, we leave this task as an exercise for the reader to discern.

Other Posts About the Google Home Mini Smart Speaker

    1. How to Set Up Spotify on Google Home Mini
    2. Google Home Mini Bluetooth Pairing Instructions
    3. How to Pause Google Home Mini
    4. How to Resume Google Home Mini
    5. Lower Volume on Google Home Mini, How To

References for How to Control Google Home Mini Volume

    1. Google Home Mini Support Page at Google.com

Revision History

    • 2020-05-10: Added the Other Posts About… section.
    • 2019-02-19: First posted.