Picture of the Google Home smart speaker, front view, with box open.

How to Connect Google Home to WiFi

You may sometime relocate your Google Home speaker, and want to link it with another WiFi network.  Or, the Google Home does not show as connected in the Home app. In either case, the speaker is no longer linked to your Wi-Fi network. So this post shows how to connect your Google Home to WiFi again, to account for new router additions or replacements

With your iOS or Android based tablet and the Home app, connecting your smart speaker to WiFi either for the first time, or again, is simple, and you do this as follows.

We assume here that you have linked the Home app to your Google account, that you’ve installed this app on a mobile device, and that your mobile device as well as the speaker are in range of the network you wish to connect your Google Home to.

We took the screenshots below from an Apple iPad Air. But a similar Home app for Android is also available from the Google Play store.

Now, to the routine.

How to Connect Google Home to WiFi

1. Connect your Google Home to Power

If not already operating, plug your speaker into a power source, as you’ll need to access the network parameters stored in its memory, as described below. You won’t be able to change these settings without AC power. The next picture shows the Google Home speaker connected to AC power via the included AC adapter.

Picture of the Google Home Speaker powering up, showing multi-colored ring of lights on top, spinning and blinking during boot.
Google Home Speaker powering up, showing multi-colored ring of lights on top, spinning and blinking during boot.

Wait until your speaker finishes booting before proceeding to the next step.

2. Move your Tablet Close to the Google Home

Avoid being further than fifteen to twenty feet away, for maximum setup speed and minimum errors.





3. Start Up the Home App

Run this app on your tablet computer. This app gives you access to your current Google devices and settings, and allows you to change them as needed.

The app is located somewhere on the home screen pages, depending on where you might have moved it. On our iPad Air, it’s on home page three, as shown next, as pointed at by the purple arrow.

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.

We got the following screen at Google Home App startup.

Picture of the Google Home app on iOS, displaying the startup banner screen.
Google Home app on iOS, displaying the startup banner screen.

After a short period, you’re taken to the home screen. Ours displayed as follows

Screenshot of the app Home screen, with the hamburger menu control highlighted.
The app Home screen, with the hamburger menu control highlighted.

4. Tap the Hamburger Menu Control to Continue with How to Connect Google Home to WiFi

This item (the three horizontal stacked lines) is located at top left corner of the Home screen, as displayed in the previous picture. The app’s main menu then displays as shown in the next picture

Screenshot of the hamburger menu, with the Devices Item highlighted.
The hamburger menu with the Devices Item highlighted.

5. Tap the  Devices  Menu Item 

In the main (hamburger) menu, find the Devices item, as pointed at by the purple arrow in the previous screenshot. You may have to swipe up in the menu area in order to scroll the Devices item into view.

Depending on whether or not your speaker is connected currently to a Wi-Fi network, different screens will appear at this point.

If your speaker is currently connected and functioning correctly to an access point in your home network, you’ll then see a screen similar to the screenshot in step 6. Go there for further instructions in this case.

If your speaker is powered up but not connected to any Wi-Fi network, then you’ll see a screen like the one pictured at the top of step 7. Go there for specific instructions that address this case.

6. Speaker is Online or Connected

Picture of the Google Home Devices screen, with its hamburger menu link highlighted.
The Google Home Devices screen, with its hamburger menu link highlighted.

This shows that your speaker is online and can accept voice commands and questions. This would be the case if you have multiple WiFi networks in your home, and you wish to disconnect your speaker from one of them that is working, and connect it to another of them. Maybe you moved the speaker from the first to the second floor, and would like to connect it to the second floor access point if you have one, because its Wi-Fi signal is stronger and more reliable up there. In short, you’re moving your speaker from one working Wi-Fi network to another.

6a. Tap the Device’s Hamburger Menu Item

Find the hamburger control item pointed to by the purple arrow in the last picture.  You then see a pop-up menu appear in place of the hamburger button, as shown in the next picture.

Picture of the Devices screen, showing an original Google Home speaker control menu, with the Settings option circled.
The Devices screen, showing an original Google Home speaker control menu, with the Settings option circled.

6b. Tap the Speaker Device’s Settings Menu Item to Continue with How to Connect Google Home to WiFi

The Settings item is circled in the last picture.  The original Google Home speaker’s Settings screen then appears, as shown next.  Then, scroll down that screen until you locate the Wi-Fi setting, as circled in the next picture.

Screenshot of the -Wi-Fi Settings- option.
The -Wi-Fi Settings- option.

6c. Tap the Wi-Fi Setting on the Device Settings Screen

The WiFi item is  shown in the above picture. This setting shows the Wi-Fi network to which the speaker is currently connected, as circled in the previous screenshot.

Picture of the -Forget This Network- link.
The -Forget This Network- link.

In this scenario, we wish to disconnect from the 937T681J4059H_2G_Guest network, and connect to the 937T681J4059H_5G network. Both are in range and available to our Google Home speaker.





6d. Tap the  Forget This Network  Bar 

As shown in the last step, our speaker is currently connected to the 937T681J4059H_2G_Guest network. We want to forget that network, as mentioned. So we do so by tapping the red bar.  The -Forget This Network Confirmation- screen then appears, as shown next.

Picture of the Google Home app on iOS, displaying its -Forget This Network- prompt, with the -Forget Wi-Fi Network- button highlighted.
Google Home app on iOS, displaying its -Forget This Network- prompt, with the -Forget Wi-Fi Network- button highlighted.6e.

6e. Tap the  Forget Wi-Fi Network  Button

The   Forget Wi-Fi Network   option is pointed at by the purple arrow in the previous picture.  The Google Home app then briefly displays the   Forgetting Wi-Fi Network   screen, as shown next.

Screenshot of the -Forgetting Wi-Fi Network- screen.
The -Forgetting Wi-Fi Network- screen.

Executing this step disconnects your speaker from its current Wi-Fi network while the above screen is displayed, as well as forces your speaker to forget the settings it retains in its memory for that network (SSID, security type, and password et al).

After a short pause, you are returned to the Home screen in the Google Home app, as shown next.

Picture of the app home screen, with the hamburger menu control highlighted.
The app home screen, with the hamburger menu control highlighted.

6f. Again, Tap the Hamburger Menu to Continue with How to Connect Google Home to WiFi

Again, find the hamburger control on the app Home screen. The main menu then displays as shown in the next picture.

Picture of the hamburger menu, with the Devices item highlighted.
The hamburger menu, with the Devices item highlighted.

6g. Tap the Devices Menu Item

In the main (hamburger) menu, find the Devices item, as pointed at by the purple arrow in the previous screenshot. You’ll now get the same screenshot as covered next.  Now, continue with step 7.

7. Speaker Offline or Disconnected from Wi-Fi

If your speaker is offline (i.e. not able to connect to any in-range Wi-Fi networks), or if you previously disconnected it from Wi-Fi as described in step 6, then you’ll see something like the next screen.

Screenshot of the -Devices- screen, with the -Add New Device- button highlighted.
The -Devices- screen, with the -Add New Device- button highlighted.

If your speaker does not appear in the Devices list, then proceed with step 7a.  If it does, and is showing that it requires set up, then skip ahead to step 8.

7a. Press the  Add New Device   Button to Continue with How to Connect Google Home to WiFi

If you and your mobile device that you’re running the Google Home app on are close to the speaker, and it still does not appear in the Devices list, then you may have Bluetooth on your mobile device turned off.  If that’s the case, then the Google Home app asks you to turn Bluetooth on, as shown next.

Screenshot of the -Turn On Bluetooth- prompt, with the -Bluetooth Settings- button circled.
The -Turn On Bluetooth- prompt, with the -Bluetooth Settings- button circled.

7b. Tap the   Settings   Button

This takes you to the   Settings   app on your mobile device, specifically, to the Bluetooth settings page.  We got the following page on our iPad Air when we did this.

Picture of the iOS 11 -Bluetooth Settings- screen, with Bluetooth turned off, and the -Turn Bluetooth On- control highlighted.
iOS  -Bluetooth Settings- screen, with Bluetooth turned off, and the -Turn Bluetooth On- control highlighted.

7c. Enable Bluetooth 

In our case, we toggled on the switch pointed at by the purple arrow in the previous picture.  Then, our Bluetooth Settings screen filled in as shown next.

Picture of the iOS -Bluetooth Settings- screen, with Bluetooth enabled, and the -Turn Bluetooth Off- toggle control highlighted.
The iOS -Bluetooth Settings- screen, with Bluetooth enabled, and the -Turn Bluetooth Off- toggle control highlighted.

As circled in the previous picture, our Bluetooth is now turned on.

7d.  Return to the Google Home App

The app then displays the Devices screen again.  But this time, your original Google Home smart speaker should now appear in that list, with a needing setup status, as shown next.

Picture of the Google Home app displaying its -Devices- screen, showing an original Google Home speaker needing setup, with the -Set Up- button circled.
The Google Home app displaying its -Devices- screen, showing an original Google Home speaker needing setup, with the -Set Up- button circled.

8. Press the SET UP link on Devices screen to Continue with How to Connect Google Home to WiFi

The app then attempts to find and connect to the original Google Home speaker, and displays the following screen and message while doing so.

Screenshot of the -Connecting To Google Home Speaker- screen.
The -Connecting To Google Home Speaker- screen.

Reminder: Be sure your tablet is within several feet of the speaker. Otherwise, setup may fail.

If all goes well, the Google Home app will search for your speaker and find it.  When it does, it plays a chord sound on the speaker and displays the following screen.

Screenshot of the -Did You Hear the Sound- prompt, with the -Yes- link highlighted.
The -Did You Hear the Sound- prompt, with the -Yes- link highlighted.

9. Tap the   Yes   Link 

Tap the Yes link if your speaker did play the chord noise.   The app then displays the   Where is this device?   screen, as shown next.

Screenshot of the -Where Is This Device- screen, with the -Living Room- choice circled.
The -Where Is This Device- screen, with the -Living Room- choice circled.




10. Tap a Room Name for your Google Home  

Google provides a list of suggested names on the list as seen on the last screen.  We picked  Living Room   for ours.

The screen then changes to the following, showing our room choice (Living Room) checked, as shown next.

Screenshot of the -Where Is This Device- screen, showing the -Living Room- choice checked and the -Next- link circled.
The -Where Is This Device- screen, showing the -Living Room- choice checked and the -Next- link circled.

11. Tap the  NEXT >  Link to Continue Forward with How to Connect Google Home to WiFi

The   Choose Your Wi-Fi Network   prompt then appears as follows.

Screenshot of the -Choose Your Wi-Fi Network- screen, with our choice highlighted.
The -Choose Your Wi-Fi Network- screen, with our choice highlighted.

12. Tap the Wireless Network Name you Wish your Speaker to Connect With

on this screen.   For ours, we’re selecting the 937T681J4059H_5G network.  So we tap that, and it becomes checked, as shown in the next screenshot.

Picture of the -Choose Your Wi-Fi Network- screen, showing our choice as turned blue after tapping it.
The -Choose Your Wi-Fi Network- screen, showing our choice as turned blue after tapping it.

13. Tap the  NEXT >   Link

If you’ve never logged into this network before with its current password, the system will prompt you to enter a password for it, as shown next.

Screenshot of the -Enter Wi-Fi Password- screen, with the -Use this Wi-Fi network to set up future devices- check box circled.
The -Enter Wi-Fi Password- screen, with the -Use this Wi-Fi network to set up future devices- check box circled.

If you wish this same wireless network to be used if you add any other Google Home devices at this location in the future, then leave the   Use this Wi-Fi network to set up future devices   checkbox checked.  If not, then uncheck this.  





14. Enter Password of the New WiFi Network

Tap the Enter your Wi-Fi password field, observe the virtual keyboard appear, and then type in the password. Your screen should look similarly to the next screen shot.

Screenshot of the -Enter Wi-Fi Password- screen, showing virtual keyboard and the password field filled in.
The -Enter Wi-Fi Password- screen, showing virtual keyboard and the password field filled in.

After you’ve punched in the correct password, collapse the virtual keyboard.  You should then get the following screen.

Picture of the -Enter Wi-Fi Password- screen, showing the -Password- box filled In, and the -Connect- link highlighted.
The -Enter Wi-Fi Password- screen, showing the -Password- box filled In, and the -Connect- link highlighted.

15. Tap the   CONNECT >  Link 

Do this step once you’ve typed in the password.

Your speaker then attempts to connect to the Wi-Fi network of choice.

Screenshot of the -Connecting To Wi-Fi- page.
The -Connecting To Wi-Fi- page.

If it encounters no trouble, the Wi-Fi Connection Successful screen appears briefly, as shown next.

Screenshot of the -Connected To Wi-Fi- screen.
The -Connected To Wi-Fi- screen.

After several seconds, the app returns you to its home screen, as shown next.

Picture of the Google Home app Home screen once again.
Back at the Google Home app Home screen once again.

Your speaker is now connected to a different Wi-Fi network. Ask it the time, and you’ll know the connection is good if the speaker responds with the correct answer.

16. Done with How to Connect Google Home to WiFi !

Other Posts About Google Home

    1. Factory Reset Google Home Instructions
    2. How to Adjust Bass and Treble on Original Google Home Smart Speaker
    3. Google Home Bluetooth Speaker Pairing Instructions
    4. How to Turn On Bluetooth Pairing Mode in Google Home Smart Speakers
    5. Google Home Power Supply Specs for the Original Google Home Smart Speaker

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References for How to Connect Google Home to WiFi

    1. Google Assistant Official Page

Revision History

    • 2021-08-23: Updated the internal links and tags lists.
    • 2020-08-02: Revised tags list.
    • 2020-05-15: First published.