Picture of the Google Home speaker, booting in progress, displaying the multi colored light ring, indicating that.

How to Use Google Home as Bluetooth Speaker

You may now use all Google Home speakers as a Bluetooth speaker, thanks to firmware and Google Home app updates in 2017. So here, we show how to connect your tablet or phone to a Google Home smart speaker via Bluetooth. Then you can transmit audio to that speaker for room-filling, great sounding playback given how small these smart speakers are.  Moreover, we offer Google Home Bluetooth speaker pairing instructions.  But while this demo shows the process using the Google Home Mini, a like process also works with the original Google Home smart speaker, and the Google Home Max.

We wish to connect (pair) a Google Home smart speaker to an iPad Air tablet, such that the speaker becomes a Bluetooth speaker.  This lets it play any audio that the iPad is playing, through that speaker wirelessly. So 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.





Use Google Home as Bluetooth Speaker, How To Instructions

1. Connect all Devices to the Internet

Firstly, make sure that both your tablet and your Google Home based speaker are online and connected to the Internet.

2. Turn Bluetooth ON  

Secondly, do this on the source device that you’re pairing with the Google Mini (in our case, we’re pairing from an iPad Air), 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, Run the Google Home App

Thirdly, we run the app on our iPad, and 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 Home app on iOS, displaying its home screen, with the hamburger menu control highlighted.
The Home app on iOS, displaying its home screen, with the hamburger menu control highlighted.

4. Then, Tap the Hamburger Item

Find this at 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 2017, showing the Home screen with Devices menu item highlighted.
Home App 2017, showing the Home screen with Devices menu item highlighted.




5. Next, Tap the Devices Menu Item to Continue with How to Use Google Home as Bluetooth Speaker

This brings up the list of Google Home devices that the app knows about, as shown next.  We’ve scrolled down the list of in-network devices and located our Mini, as shown.

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

This is the item pointed at by the purple arrow in the previous picture. The hamburger menu opens, as shown in the next picture.

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

7. Tap the Settings Item in the Hamburger Menu

See this displayed in the previous picture, with the purple circle around it. You then see the Device Settings screen for the specific Google Home speaker device, similar to as displayed on the previous screen, whose specific setting options appear on the screen shown next. In our case, that device, the Google Home Mini, 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 Home App 2017, showing the Device Settings screen with the Paired Bluetooth Devices option highlighted.
The app, showing the Device Settings screen with the Paired Bluetooth Devices option highlighted.

8. Tap the Paired Bluetooth Devices Item

This is circled in the previous picture.

The   Paired Bluetooth Devices   screen then appears as shown next, where we can 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 2017, showing the Paired Bluetooth Devices screen, with the Enable Pairing Mode link highlighted
The app, showing the Paired Bluetooth Devices screen, with the Enable Pairing Mode link highlighted Use Google Home as Bluetooth speaker.




9. Tap the Enable Pairing Mode Link to Continue with How to Use Google Home as Bluetooth Speaker

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 Home App 2017, displaying the Paired Bluetooth Devices screen, showing the Ready To Pair message highlighted.
Google Home App 2017, displaying the Paired Bluetooth Devices screen, showing the Ready To Pair message highlighted.

10. Go to the Bluetooth Settings Screen in the Settings App on your Mobile Device

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 Home Mini speaker, that is named Office Speaker, circled.
iOS Bluetooth Found Devices list, showing our Mini speaker, that is named Office Speaker, circled.

11. Next, Tap the Desired Device in this List that you Wish to Pair

In our case here, that would be 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 the pairing feature on 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 Home Mini Office Speaker, successfully paired.
iOS Bluetooth Found Devices list, showing the Mini Office Speaker, successfully paired.

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

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

Picture of the Google Home App 2017, displaying its Paired Bluetooth Devices history screen, showing our Tom's iPad device as having paired with the Google Home speaker.
The app, displaying its Paired Bluetooth Devices history screen, showing our Tom’s iPad device as having paired with the Google Home speaker.

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

How to Stop Using Google Home as a Bluetooth Speaker

You would unpair your Google Home Bluetooth speaker from a source Bluetooth device as follows.  Say “Okay Google, disconnect”.  Or, say “Hey Google, disconnect”. Plus, if you do not fancy giving voice commands, go into the Bluetooth settings on your source device, because you can break the Bluetooth connection from there.

Other Posts About Google Home

    1. How to Disconnect Google Home from Spotify
    2. Factory Reset Google Home Instructions
    3. Connecting Google Home to Honeywell Thermostats
    4. Google Home Change WiFi Instructions
    5. How to Set Default Music Provider on Google Home

Related Posts to How to Use Google Home as Bluetooth Speaker

    1. Use Echo Dot as Bluetooth Speaker, How To

References for How to Use Google Home as Bluetooth Speaker

    1. Official Google Assistant Page

Revision History

    • 2019-05-13: Add targeting for ‘Use Google Home as Bluetooth Speaker’, deleted ad code, and added tags.
    • 2017-01-02: Originally published.