Picture of the original packaging for a brand new Google Home Mini smart speaker, front view.

Google Home Mini Restart Instructions

You may want to restart Google Home Mini smart speaker if it behaves erratically, becomes non responsive to questions and commands, locks up, emits strange noises, breaks up, chirps unexpectedly, and so on. Always try a speaker restart first, as this often clears up many problems, and avoids the unnecessary action of hard resetting your speaker.  Note that restarting Google Home Mini differs from resetting it.

Google Home Mini Restart Method One: The Local Method

If you’re near to the Google Home Mini speaker, you can just disconnect it from AC power, wait ten seconds, and then plug it back in. The unit will complete restarting in less than a minute.

Google Home Mini Restart Method Two: The Remote Method, Through the Google Home App

But if you’re far away from your Mini, such as upstairs from it, you can issue a restart command via the Google Home app on your mobile device as follows.

This method depends on you having the Google Home app installed on your phone or tablet, and linked to the same Google account to which your Google Home Mini speaker is linked. Your phone or tablet must also be connected to the same local network as the speaker you’re restarting.  If all of that is in place, then do the following, to initiate a remote restart of your speaker.

1. Run the Google Home App on your Tablet or Other Mobile Device

We’re using an iPad Air computer tablet in this scenario. We find this app on page three of our iPad’s home screen, although yours may appear in a different place, depending on how many apps you have installed as well as how you’ve arranged them.

Picture of the Google Home App entry, as shown on the iOS home screen.
Google Home App entry, as shown on the iOS home screen.

Upon running this app, the Google home screen appears, as follows.

Screenshot of the app on iOS, displaying the Home screen, with the Hamburger control highlighted.
The app Home screen, with the Hamburger control highlighted.

2. Tap the  Hamburger  Menu Control

Find this control menu link in the top left corner of the Google Home app Home screen, as pointed at in the previous picture by the pink arrow.

This brings up the main menu as shown next.

Screenshot of the Google Home app on iOS, displaying its main menu, with the devices item highlighted..
Google Home app on iOS, displaying its main menu, with the devices item highlighted..

3. Tap the   Devices   Menu Item

This brings up a list of your local Google Home devices that have been configured on the current Google account, as shown next for our case.





4. Find the Google Home Mini Speaker you Wish to Restart

Locate the speaker by scrolling down through the list until you find it.  We currently only have one. So we found ours straight away, as shown below.

Picture of the Google Home Mini Speaker, as displayed in the Google Home App, showing in the Devices list, with its Device Menu location highlighted.
Google Home Mini Speaker, as displayed in the Google Home App, showing in the Devices list, with its Device Menu location highlighted.

5. Tap the Device’s   Hamburger   Menu Control

Find this control in the top right corner of its card, pointed at by the purple arrow in the picture just above.

The Google Home Mini speaker’s control menu then pops up, as shown next.

Screenshot of the device control menu, with the Reboot option highlighted.
The device control menu, with the Reboot option highlighted.

6. Tap the   Reboot   Menu Item

We’ve circled this in purple in the last picture. The   Restart Confirmation   dialog then appears, something like that shown in the next picture.

Picture of the Google Home App, displaying the Google Home Mini speaker Reboot Confirmation dialog box, with the Reboot option highlighted.
Google Home App, Displaying the Google Home Mini Speaker Reboot Confirmation Dialog Box, with the Reboot option highlighted.

7. Tap the   REBOOT   Link in the Restart Confirmation  Dialog Box

This begins a remote restart of your Google Home Mini speaker, closes the restart confirmation dialog box.  The app then returns you to the Devices List screen. Your Mini then temporarily disappears from the Devices List screen while it restarts. Later, it reappears, once the restart Google Home Mini routine finishes.

Note the light patterns on your Google Mini.  They show that a restart is in progress within thirty seconds of your issuing the restart command, as shown next.

Picture of the speaker rebooting, showing white scanning lights pattern.
The speaker rebooting, showing white scanning lights pattern.

8. Finished with Google Home Mini Restart Instructions !

Once the Google Mini again appears in the Devices list in the Google Home app, and the lights on the speaker go out, restart has wrapped up successfully. Then, you can try some commands and questions.

Hopefully, restarting has fixed any issues plaguing your speaker. But if not, you can always try more drastic measures, such as hard resetting your Mini, and then setting it up again. See our links in the Related Posts section below for instructions on how to take those more dramatic steps. Good luck.

Other Posts About the Google Home Mini 

    1. How to Turn Down Google Home Mini Volume
    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

Related Posts to Google Home Mini Restart 

    1. Charge 3 Restart Instructions to Fix Pairing Problems
    2. Samsung J7 Force Restart Instructions, How to Restart Phone
    3. Honeywell Thermostat Restart Instructions

References for How to Restart Google Home mini Speaker

    1. Factory Data Reset (FDR) Google Home, from Google Support

Revision History

    • 2020-05-10: Added the Other Posts About… section.
    • 2019-04-22: Added tags.
    • 2019-01-03: First published.