Google Home Mini smart speaker, removed from original box, held in hand.
This post explains how to setup the Google Home Mini and get your speaker up and running after purchase, or when you move a speaker you already have to new WiFi routers or make other WiFi changes. With your iOS or Android mobile device and the Google Home app, setting up your speaker anew is easy, and you do that as follows.
We assume here that you have the Home App installed and linked to your Google account, as ours has in the following demo. If not, install the app and set up a new Google account if you do not already have one.
We snapped 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 instructions.
If not already operating, plug your Google Home Mini into a power source, as you’ll need to access the network parameters stored in its memory, as described below. So you won’t be able add new settings without AC power.
The next picture shows the smart speaker plugged into AC power via the included USB AC power adapter.
Wait until your speaker finishes booting before moving ahead to the next step.
Avoid being further than fifteen to twenty feet away, for maximum setup speed and minimum errors. The app and your speaker need Bluetooth on your mobile device be enabled. This way, the settings that you enter in the app, prior to when the speaker connects to WiFi, can be downloaded to the speaker via Bluetooth.
Follow the instructions for your particular mobile device to accomplish this. This is necessary for the Home app to successfully connect your speaker to the WiFi network. For example, if you’re planning to setup your speaker to the AABBCC WiFi network, then you should connect your mobile device to that same WiFi network (AABBCC).
This app gives you access to your current Google devices and settings, and allows you to change them as needed.
Find the app somewhere on the Home screen pages, depending on where you might have stuck it. On our iPad Air, the app is on Home page three, as shown next, pointed at by the purple arrow.
We got the following screen at Google Home app startup.
After a short period, you’re taken to the app’s Home screen. Ours displayed as follows.
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.
In the main (hamburger) menu, find the Devices item, as pointed at by the purple arrow in the last screenshot. You may have to flick up in the menu area in to scroll the Devices item into view.
Now if your speaker is powered up but not set up on any WiFi network, then you’ll see a screen like the one pictured next.
If your Google assistant speaker is not currently set up to WiFi, then you’ll see something like the next screen.
Your speaker may not be able to link to WiFi for example, if you have just replaced your wireless router / access point that your speaker had been setup on before, but you used a different network name (SSID). In that case, the old network is no longer “on the air.” But the Google speaker cannot yet link to the new one, as it does not yet have valid network SSID and password for it.
The screen above shows no WiFi because it flags your speaker as needing setup. With no WiFi connection, the app knows about your speaker via Bluetooth only. This is why, when you setup a Google Home Mini, you need to put your mobile device within Bluetooth range of the speaker.
Plus, with the speaker not set up to any internet network, Google Home Mini cannot answer any questions / commands, except to say, “I can’t find your WiFi network. You can reconnect to WiFi from your Google Home app, under Devices, then Setup.” This audio message from the speaker is a sure sign that it is not paired to any WiFi currently.
Reminder: Be sure your tablet is within several feet of the speaker. Otherwise, setup may fail.
If all goes well, the Home app will search for your speaker and attempt to connect to it, as shown in the next screen.
When a Bluetooth connection is made successfully, the app then plays a short chord sound on the Mini that it connected to, and it then displays the following screen.
The app then asks you where you’re placing this device in your home. Here you have many pre-defined choices, as well as the option to “write in” your own location name choice. In this demo, we’re going simple, and specifying “Office” as our speaker location, as shown in the following screens.
Here, we tapped “Office,” and the screen then changes to display the “Office” selection checked, as shown next.
You’re then taken to the Choose your WiFi network screen, as shown next. In our case, we’re going to pick the 937T681J4059H_5G network, as pointed at by the pink arrow in the picture following.
We did so, and then the screen in the next picture appears, showing our choice has changed color from black to blue.
This brings up the Enter WiFi Password prompt for the chosen WiFi network above, as shown next.
We entered ours, as shown next.
You may also choose to check the Use This WiFi Network To Set Up Future Devices option, if you want this network’s password to be remembered the next time you set up a Google Home device. This eliminates the need to type in the password again.
The app then tries to connect to the selected WiFi network, and it displays this activity as shown in the next screen shot.
After a short pause, the Mini speaker links to your chosen WiFi network, and the app puts up the following screen to show you that the speaker connected successfully.
After a short pause, the app again displays its Home screen, as follows.
You have now setup your Google Home Mini. That is, your speaker now connects to a working WiFi network and is ready to use. To check it out, ask it the time or weather. If the assistant answers, then you know that the new connection is okay.
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