Picture of the Google Home Mini and Original smart speakers together, side by side, front view.

How to Pair Google Home with Bluetooth Speaker

We cover here how to pair Google Home with a typical Bluetooth speaker. These instructions include the Google original, Mini, and Max Home speaker versions. Indeed, all them support pairing with wireless speakers, and this allows you to route sound that would normally play on the Google Home, to the wireless speaker!  Since this pairing happens directly between the speaker and the Home Google speakers, there’s no need to turn Bluetooth on in the mobile device you’re using to pair the speakers together.

How to Pair Google Home with Bluetooth Speaker, a Typical Bluetooth Speaker That Is

In this demo, our speaker of choice is the JBL Xtreme portable Bluetooth speaker.  Why?  Because it’s easy to pair with, and it sounds absolutely phenomenal.  Furthermore, we’re pairing this speaker with the Mini Home Google small speaker, which provides a definite sound improvement over the speaker built into the Mini.  Thus we’ll run though these directions, showing how to do this with these two devices.

Now with your Bluetooth speaker powered down, run through these step-by-step instructions to pair it to your Google speaker.  Note that the pairing directions are roughly the same for Original Home, the Mini, and the Home Max from Google.

We appropriated an iPad Air tablet to configure this Bluetooth pairing.

Now, to the directions, step-by-step.

1. Find the Google Home App on your Mobile Device

To pair Google Home with Bluetooth speaker we first locate the Home app on our iPad Air iOS tablet as shown in the next picture. For us, this app is on the third Home screen page. It’s pointed at by the purple arrow.

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

2. Run the Google Home App

The Home app displays its  Home  screen as seen in the next screenshot.

Screenshot of the Google Home app on iOS, showing its Home page.
Home app on iOS, showing its Home screen.

3. Swipe UP to Scroll Down to Find the Speaker Group and Speaker to Pair that you Want

If you don’t spot the speaker group in which the Google Home speaker you wish to pair belongs, then swipe up on the Home screen until it comes into view.  Swiping up scrolls you down the Home page that contains all your Google speaker devices and groups set up right now in your Google account.

Now in this demo, we pair a Mini Google Home speaker, as mentioned above. This speaker belongs our  Office  group.  So we scrolled down the page until we saw that group and speaker, as shown in the next photo, encircled in green.

Screenshot of the Google Home app, iOS version, showing its -Home- page, with the -Office- group circled.
The Home app, iOS version, showing its -Home- page, with the -Office- group circled.

4. Tap the Google Speaker Device you Desire to Pair with your Bluetooth Speaker

Here,  we pair our portable speaker with our Google Home Mini, named  Office Speaker.   So we tap the picture of the that device. See this inside the green circle above.





This brings up the main page for the chosen Home Google speaker, as seen next.

Screenshot of the Google Home app on iOS, showing the main screen for Office Speaker, with the -Settings- button highlighted.
Home app on iOS, showing the main screen for Office Speaker, with the -Settings- button highlighted.

5. Tap the Device Settings  Icon on the Speaker’s Main Control Screen

We call out the Device Settings option with the green arrow in the last screenshot.

Tapping the gear-shaped Device Settings button brings up the Device Settings screen for your chosen Home Google speaker, as shown in the next screenshot.

Screenshot of the Google Home app on iOS, showing its -Device Settings- screen, top of that page.
The Home app on iOS, showing its -Device Settings- screen, top of that page.

6. Scroll Down to the Default Speaker  Setting to Continue with How to Pair Google Home with Bluetooth Speaker

Scroll down the Device Settings screen, until you see the Default Speaker item. We’ve pointed this out with a purple arrow in the next screen shot.

Screenshot of the Google Home app on iOS, showing its -Device Settings- screen, with the -Default Speaker- item highlighted.
Home app on iOS, showing its -Device Settings- screen, with the -Default Speaker- item highlighted.

7. Tap the Default Speaker Item

This brings up the  Choose a Default Speaker for Music and Audio  screen, as shown next.

Picture of the Google Home app on iOS, showing its -Choose Default Speaker- screen, with the -Pair Bluetooth Speaker- item highlighted.
Home app on iOS, showing its -Choose Default Speaker- screen, with the -Pair Bluetooth Speaker- item highlighted.

At this point, you’re ready to start your Home Google speaker scanning for nearby Bluetooth units that themselves are in pairing mode. You’ve selected the Home speaker to pair with in step 4 above. So, that smart speaker is the one that scans for Bluetooth devices like our typical Bluetooth speaker, the JBL Xtreme.

But  WAIT JUST A MINUTE!  don’t press that Pair Bluetooth Speaker item button just yet. To pair Google Home with Bluetooth speaker, we must first power up your BT speaker and put it into discovery / pairing mode.

8. Switch On your Bluetooth Speaker

Put down your mobile device for a second, and power up your speaker by quickly pressing and releasing its Power button. We note the Power button with the green arrow in the next picture on our BT speaker.

Picture of a typical Bluetooth speaker powered OFF, showing its dark Power button highlighted.
A typical BT speaker powered OFF, showing its dark Power button highlighted.

Your speaker then turns on.

But since our Google Home has never paired with this Bluetooth speaker before, it has no connection info for it in its paired-previously BT devices list.  So,  the speaker will not yet connect with this Google Home without some human help. Thus in our case, the light that comes on in the Power switch tells of this non-paired state by lighting up either solid white or flashing blue, as seen next.  Your  Bluetooth speaker may show pairing status in a different way.  But the idea is the same.

Picture of a common Bluetooth speaker powered on and in pairing mode, with its blue glowing Power button highlighted.
A common BT speaker powered on and in pairing mode, with a light blinking that indicates it’s ready to pair.

After a factory default reset, and prior to any device pairings, many Bluetooth speakers automatically go into pairing mode, as does ours here.  Thus, our Power lamp blinks blue without us having to press the Bluetooth key.  For that scenario, skip the next step and continue on with Step 10.

Now for this demo, ours glows solid white, since we have indeed paired our chosen speaker with devices since its last factory reset.  So, for teaching reasons, we’ll run through the next step, to show how to get our speaker into pairing mode.





9. Put your Speaker into Pairing / Discovery Mode

That is, press and let go of the pairing button on on your BT speaker.  Our Bluetooth pairing button is highlighted in the next photo, called out by the green arrow.

Picture of an average Bluetooth speaker top view, with the Bluetooth button highlighted.
An average Bluetooth speaker top view, with the Bluetooth button highlighted.

When we press the Discovery Bluetooth Mode button, our speaker makes a recurring single note guitar sound four or five times. Yours may play different noises, or make no sound at all. So, it helps to know how your BT speaker signals you that it’s ready for pairing. But on ours, the Power button changes from steady white to flashing blue. See this in the last picture above, which shows the Power button glowing blue after we tapped the Bluetooth button.

10. Pick Up your Tablet / Phone Again to Continue with How to Pair Google Home with Bluetooth Speaker

The screen with the blue Pair Bluetooth Speaker option should still be there, as in the next picture.

Picture of the Google Home app on iOS, showing its -Choose Default Speaker- screen, with the -Pair Bluetooth Speaker- item highlighted.
Home app on iOS, showing its -Choose Default Speaker- screen, with the -Pair Bluetooth Speaker- item highlighted.

11. Tap the Pair Bluetooth Speaker Item

This starts your Google speaker scanning for any nearby Bluetooth speakers that are themselves in discovery mode. Our BT speaker is now in pairing mode. So Google Home should find it.  If yours does not though, then move the speakers nearer together and try again.

The next pic shows the Bluetooth scanning in progress.

Picture of the Google Home app on iOS in 2018, showing its -Pair Your Bluetooth Speaker- screen, while scanning for Bluetooth devices. 
Home app on iOS, showing its -Pair Your Bluetooth Speaker- screen, while scanning for Bluetooth devices.

After a short pause, your Google Home should detect your Bluetooth speaker (the Xtreme in this demo), and list it as pictured next, pointed at by the green arrow. 

Screenshot of the iOS version of the Google Home app, showing its -Pair Bluetooth Devices- page, with the JBL Xtreme speaker discovered and highlighted.
Home app, iOS version, showing its -Pair Bluetooth Devices- page, with our Bluetooth speaker name discovered and highlighted.

12. Tap your Speaker on the Discovered Bluetooth Devices List to Pair It

See the screenshot above. If Google found more than one device, you’ll have to tap the one you want. A blue check mark then appears beside the speaker you chose, as seen next.

Screenshot of the Home Google app on iOS, displaying its -Pair Bluetooth Devices- page, with a JBL Xtreme speaker selected, and the -Done- button highlighted.
Home Google app on iOS, displaying its -Pair Bluetooth Devices- page, with a speaker selected, and the -Done- button highlighted.

13. Tap the Done Item

Touching  Done  nudges our Google speaker to pair with the Bluetooth speaker we chose earlier.

The Google Home app then takes us back to its Choose a Default Speaker for Music and Audio screen, as shown next.

Screenshot of the Google Home app on iOS, displaying its -Choose Default Speaker- page for our -Office Speaker-, with the JBL Xtreme Bluetooth speaker highlighted. 
Home app on iOS, displaying its -Choose Default Speaker- page for our -Office Speaker-, with our Xtreme Bluetooth speaker highlighted.

Just prior to returning us to the Choose Default Speaker screen, pairing to the BT speaker happens.

When the connection goes live, common Bluetooth speakers make some sort of sound, and a status lamp many have, changes color to show that a BT connection was made with no problems.  We point at the now-paired Bluetooth speaker with the vivid green arrow in the last screenshot.

The BT speaker is now paired with your Google Home speaker. This means that it will now play content from Google Home.





14. You’re Done with How to Pair Google Home with Bluetooth Speaker !

We can now command Google Home to play media on our Office Speaker Google Home.  Then, this media now plays on our portable speaker, and not that only-so-good sounding one that’s built into our Google Home.

Note though, that only the media you ask for plays through your BT speaker. The Google Assistant voice though, still sounds from the Google smart speaker.

Finally, be sure talk right to your Google speaker, and not to the Bluetooth speaker, when asking the assistant to do things.  The Google Home mic still hears your commands, even when paired with a Bluetooth speaker.

Happy Bluetooth listening!

Other Posts About the First 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

Related Posts to How to Pair Google Home with Bluetooth Speaker

    1. How to Pair JBL Xtreme with Google Home Speakers, Home Max Mini, 2019
    2. Pair UE Roll with iPhone, How To
    3. Unlink Google Home from Pandora, How To
    4. JBL Flip 4 Alexa Pairing Bluetooth Speaker Instructions
    5. How to Pair Echo Dot with Bluetooth Speaker, Echo Dot 2

References for How to Pair Google Home with Bluetooth Speaker

    1. Google Home Smart Speaker with Google Assistant Product Page, at store.google.com
    2. JBL Xtreme Wireless Bluetooth Speaker Official Product Page, on JBL.com

Revision History

    • 2021-08-17: Shortened the internal links and tags lists.
    • 2020-05-15: Added more optimization and tags.
    • 2019-05-03: Tuned the targeting for ‘Pair Google Home with Bluetooth Speaker’, and added tags.
    • 2019-01-18: First released.