The Google Mini, like the first Google Home, indeed does offer the ability to act as a Bluetooth speaker. You can connect your iPad, iPod, iPhone, or other Bluetooth audio source to the Mini, and then play music on your device, and have the audio come out of the Mini. While serving as a BT speaker, the Mini can still answer requests and commands.
Does Google Mini Have Bluetooth Yet?
You can now pair an external Bluetooth speaker to the Google Mini speaker. This means that you can now send audio streams from the Mini to a Bluetooth speaker. The Google Home app now includes a host of settings just for this. Keep in mind though, that the Google assistant voice still comes from the Mini even when paired with a BT speaker. Plus, even when you connect up a BT speaker to the Mini, it’s still the mics in the Mini that hear your requests, not the ones in the Bluetooth speaker, if any.
So it’s nice that in addition to Chromecast, Google also now provides the more generic Bluetooth function (“casting” to a speaker via Bluetooth). It was a year or so in the making. But it’s here now, and has been for well over a year. This function works quite well, although pairing a BT speaker for the first time to the Mini can be a bit tricky. But this is no big deal, once you get the hang of the Google home app.
Then, after the first pairing, the Mini remembers that connection. So, all you have to do to pair the speaker again to the Mini, is move it into Bluetooth range of the Mini, and then turn it on. Pairing takes place automatically then.
Other Posts About the Google Mini
References
Revision History
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- 2023-02-24: First published.