Picture of the Google Home Mini smart speaker, lights dark during reset or when powered off.

How to Use Google Mini as Bluetooth Speaker

You can now use Google Mini as a Bluetooth Speaker due to firmware and Google Home app updates back in 2017.  So in this post, we show how to connect your tablet or phone to this speaker via Bluetooth, and transmit audio to the speaker for room-filling, surprisingly awesome sounding playback given how small the Mini is.

We’d like to be able to connect (pair) the Google Mini smart speaker to an iPad Air tablet, such that the speaker becomes a Bluetooth speaker, allowing us to play any audio that the iPad is playing, through the Mini. You might do this if you’re watching a Netflix movie or playing your Amazon music library on your iPhone, but wish to have louder, and over all better sound for it than what you get via the speakers built into your phone / tablet. You wish to enjoy the full sound of your Mini Google speaker for all this content.





How to Use Google Mini as Bluetooth Speaker

1. Connect All Devices to the internet

First, make sure that both your tablet and your Google Mini are online and connected to the internet.

2. Turn Bluetooth ON

Next, enable Bluetooth on the source device that you’re pairing with the Google Mini.  In our case, we’re pairing from an iPad Air.

Then, and assure that you see the “Now discoverable as” message, as shown next.

Picture of the iPad Bluetooth Discovery Mode Screen, showing that Bluetooth is ON.
iPad Bluetooth Discovery Mode Screen, showing Bluetooth is ON.

3. Next, on the Tablet, Run the Google Home App

On our iPad, this app appears on the third home page, as pictured next.

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.

The Google Home app home screen then displays, as pictured next.

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

4. Then, tap the Hamburger Item to Continue Forward with How to Use Google Mini as a Bluetooth Speaker

Then, find the hamburger menu control near the top left corner of the Google Home app home screen. This brings up the main menu window, as shown next.

Picture of the Google Home app, showing the Home screen with Devices menu item highlighted.
Google Home App 2017, showing the Home screen with Devices menu item highlighted.




5. Tap the   Devices   Menu Item

This brings up the list of Google Home devices that the app knows about, as shown next.

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

6. Tap the Hamburger Menu Link for the Mini Speaker you’re Pairing

Find the control menu (hamburger) item pointed at by the purple arrow in the last picture. The hamburger menu opens, as shown in the next picture.

Picture of the Google Mini smart speaker, as displayed in the Google Home App, with its Settings menu item circled. Use Google Mini as Bluetooth speaker.
Google Mini smart speaker, as displayed in the Google Home App, with its Settings menu item circled.

7. Tap the   Settings   Item

in the hamburger menu as displayed in the previous picture, with the purple circle around it. You then see the Device Settings screen for the specific Google Mini speaker device displayed on the previous screen, whose specific setting options are shown on the screen shown next. In our case, that device is named   Office Speaker.

Note that we’ve scrolled down to the Device Settings section on this screen to find the Paired Bluetooth Devices option, as circled in the next picture.

Picture of the Google Home App 2017, showing the Device Settings screen with the Paired Bluetooth Devices option highlighted.
Google Home App 2017, showing the Device Settings screen with the Paired Bluetooth Devices option highlighted.

8. Tap the   Paired Bluetooth Devices   Item to Continue with How to Use Google Mini as a Bluetooth Speaker

as circled in the previous picture. The Paired Bluetooth Devices screen then appears as shown next, where we could select a Bluetooth device from a list of devices that we’ve previously paired with, had we ever paired with any before. Since we have not, the screen is almost entirely blank.

Picture of the Google Home app, showing the Paired Bluetooth Devices screen, with the Enable Pairing Mode link highlighted. Use Google Mini as Bluetooth speaker.
Google Home App 2017, showing the Paired Bluetooth Devices screen, with the Enable Pairing Mode link highlighted.




9. Tap the   Enable Pairing Mode   Link

This puts the Google Home device we’re working with into Bluetooth discovery mode. That is, it will now show up when other in-range devices scan for Bluetooth Devices. Confirmation of this is shown by a black bar momentarily appearing at the bottom of the Paired Bluetooth Devices screen, as shown next.

Picture of the Google Home app, displaying the Paired Bluetooth Devices screen, showing the Ready To Pair message highlighted.
Google Home app, displaying the Paired Bluetooth Devices screen, showing the Ready To Pair message highlighted.

10. Go to the   Bluetooth Settings   Screen

Find   Bluetooth Settings   somewhere in the   Settings   app on your phone or tablet.

On our iPad Air, we hit the home button, tapped the Settings app, and then tapped Bluetooth on the left side of the screen, to reveal the following screen.

Picture of the iOS Bluetooth Found Devices list, showing our Google Mini speaker, that is named Office Speaker, circled.
iOS Bluetooth Found Devices list, showing our Google Mini speaker, that is named Office Speaker, circled.

11. Next, Tap the Desired Device in this List

In our case here, we wish to pair the   Office Speaker  device, as circled above.

Then, if all goes well, your Mini plays a short burst of musical chord, and pairing then occurs. Your paired device then moves up from the Other Devices list to My Devices if you’re using pairing with an iOS device, as shown next for our case; the purple circled Office Speaker device.

Picture of the iOS Bluetooth Found Devices list, showing Google Mini Office Speaker, successfully paired.
iOS Bluetooth Found Devices list, showing Google Mini Office Speaker, successfully paired.

12. Return to the   Paired Bluetooth Devices   Screen in the Google Home App

There, you’ll now find that the Google Home App had added the source device (your phone or tablet) to its known Bluetooth devices list for the Mini, as illustrated in the next picture.  Our pairing source device is called Tom’s iPad.

Picture of the Google Home app, displaying its Paired Bluetooth Devices history screen, showing our Tom's iPad device as having paired with the Google Home speaker.
Google Home app, displaying its Paired Bluetooth Devices history screen, showing our Tom’s iPad device as having paired with the Google Home speaker.

13. Done with How to Use Google Mini as a Bluetooth Speaker

At this point, all your tablet’s generated sounds would play on your Google Mini smart speaker. Pairing is complete.

You would unpair your speaker from a source Bluetooth device by saying, “Okay Google, disconnect” or “Hey Google, disconnect.” Google Mini allows you to unpair your speaker from the source by either issuing these voice commands to it, or by going into the Bluetooth settings on your source device, and breaking the connection from there.

Other Posts About the Google Mini Smart Speaker

    1. Where to Find the Google Mini Reset Button
    2. Google Mini Charger Specs
    3. How to Change Google Mini WiFi Network

References for How to Use Google Mini as a Bluetooth Speaker

    1. The Google Assistant Official Page

Revision History

    • 2023-02-23: Retargeted.
    • 2020-05-10: Added the Other Posts About… section.
    • 2019-05-05: Added key phrase targeting for ‘Use Google Mini as Bluetooth Speaker’. Added tags and deleted ad scripts.
    • 2017-12-11: Fixed some typos.
    • 2017-11-05: Originally published.