You may lose the WiFi connection when booting your Google Home Mini smart speaker. Or, your speaker may not show up in the Google Home app. Both problems happen when the speaker no longer links to your WiFi network. To see it and use it, the Mini Google Home must be “plugged in” to a WiFi with internet access. This post details how to setup WiFi on the Google Home Mini when you first get one, or to set up on one you already own on new WiFi routers, or to get it going again after you make other changes on your network.
We assume here that you have the Home App installed and linked to your Google account, as ours has in the following demo.
With your iOS or Android mobile device and the Home app, setting up your Mini smart speaker on WiFi is pretty easy, and you do that as follows.
The screenshots below were taken from an Apple iPad Air. However, a similar Home app for Android is also available from the Google Play store.
Now, to the routine.
How to Setup WiFi on Google Home Mini
1. Connect your Mini Speaker to AC Power
If not already operating, plug your Mini Google Home into a power source, because you must update the network date stored in its memory, as described below. So you won’t be able add new settings without AC power.
The next picture shows the speaker connected to AC power via the included AC adapter.
Wait until your speaker finishes booting before moving ahead to the next step.
2. Turn On Bluetooth
Avoid being further than fifteen to twenty feet away, for maximum setup speed and minimum errors. The app and your speaker both need Bluetooth on your mobile device to be ON. This way, the settings that you enter in the app, prior speaker setup on WiFi, can be downloaded to the speaker via Bluetooth.
3. Link your Mobile Device to the Same WiFi Network that you’re Setting Up your Google Home Mini Speaker On
Follow the instructions for the mobile device you have to accomplish this. This is necessary for the Home app to successfully setup your speaker on the desired WiFi network. E.g. If you hope to set up the speaker to the AABBCC network, then you should link your mobile device to that same WiFi network (AABBCC).
4. Run the Google Home App on Tablet or Phone to Continue with How to Setup WiFi on Google Home Mini
This app gives you access to your current Google devices and settings, and lets you change them for the network you want to use.
Find the Home app somewhere on the home screen pages, depending on where you might have moved it. On our iPad Air for example, we find the app on home page three, as shown next, pointed at by the purple arrow.
We got the following screen at app startup.
After a short delay, you’re taken to the app’s home screen. Ours displayed as follows.
5. Tap the Hamburger Menu on the App’s Home Screen
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.
6. 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.
If your speaker is powered up but not connected to any WiFi network, then you’ll see a screen like the one pictured next.
7. Speaker Offline or Disconnected from WiFi to Continue with How to Setup WiFi on Google Home Mini
If your Mini Google Home is not currently setup to WiFi, then you’ll get something like the next screen.
Your speaker may not be able to setup on a wireless network for example, if you have just replaced the WiFi router / access point that your speaker had been working on before it stopped, but you used a different network name (SSID). In that case, the old WiFi network is no longer “on the air.” But the Google Mini speaker cannot yet connect 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. Without a WiFi connection, the Home app knows about your speaker via Bluetooth only. This is why, when you change WiFi on the Mini, you need your mobile device within Bluetooth range of the speaker.
Further, with the speaker not connected to any network, Google Home Mini will not respond to any questions / commands you say to it, except to announce, “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 suggests that the speaker is not currently joined to a WiFi network.
8. Press the SET UP Link on the Devices Screen
Remember to position your tablet within a few feet of the speaker. Otherwise, setup may fail.
If all goes well, the Home app will search for your speaker and try to set up on 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 signed into. Then, it displays the following screen.
9. Tap the YES > Link to Continue with How to Setup WiFi on Google Home Mini
The app then asks you where you’re placing this device in your home. Here you have many choices that Google already defined. Plus, you may define your own location name. But in this demo, we’re keeping it simple, and using the predefined “Office” as our speaker placement, as shown in the following screens.
10. Tap the Location Name you Want
Here, we tapped “Office,” and the screen then changes to display the “Office” selection checked, as shown next.
11. Tap the NEXT > Link
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.
12. Tap the Desired WiFi Network to Continue with How to Setup WiFi on Google Home Mini
We did so, and then the screen in the next picture appears, showing our choice has changed color from black to blue.
13. Tap the NEXT > Link
This brings up the Enter WiFi Password prompt for the chosen WiFi network above, as shown next.
14. Enter the WiFi Password for your Chosen Network
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.
15. Tap the CONNECT > Link to Continue with How to Setup WiFi on Google Home Mini
The app then tries to link to the chosen WiFi network. It displays this activity as you can see in the next screen shot.
After a short pause, the Mini speaker sets up on your chosen WiFi network, and the app puts up the following screen to show you that the speaker joined successfully.
After a short pause, the app again displays its Home screen, as follows.
16. Done with How to Setup WiFi on Google Home Mini !
You have now managed to set up the Google Home Mini on WiFi. That is, your speaker now joins a working WiFi network automatically.
To check it out, ask it the time or weather. If the Mini Google Home answers, then you know that the new connection is okay.
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References for How to Setup WiFi on Google Home Mini
Revision History
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- 2020-08-08: First put up.