Google Home Mini can now also work as a Bluetooth Speaker due to firmware and Home app updates back in 2017. So in this post, we show how to put the Google Home Mini in pairing mode so your streaming smart devices can find and connect to it.
How to Put Google Home Mini in Pairing Mode, Step by Step
1. Connect All Devices to the internet
First, make sure that both your tablet or phone, and your Google Home Mini are online and connected to the internet.
2. Turn Bluetooth ON
Next, enable Bluetooth on the source device that you’re pairing with the Google Home Mini. In our case, we’re pairing from an iPad Air.
Then, and assure that you see the “Now discoverable as” message, as shown next.
3. Next, on the Tablet, Run the Google Home App
On our iPad, this app appears on the third home page, as pictured next.
That app’s Home screen then displays, as pictured next.
4. Then, tap the Hamburger Item to Continue Forward with How to Put Google Home Mini in Pairing Mode
Then, find the hamburger menu control near the top left corner of the Google Home app home screen. This brings up the main menu window, as shown next.
5. Tap the Devices Menu Item
This brings up the list of Home devices that the app knows about, as shown next.
6. Tap the Hamburger Menu Link for the Mini Speaker you’re Pairing
Find the control menu (hamburger) item pointed at by the purple arrow in the last picture. The hamburger menu opens, as shown in the next picture.
7. Tap the Settings Item
in the hamburger menu as displayed in the previous picture, with the purple circle around it. You then see the Device Settings screen for the specific Google Home Mini speaker device displayed on the previous screen, whose specific setting options are shown on the screen shown next. In our case, that device 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.
8. Tap the Paired Bluetooth Devices Item to Continue with How to Put Google Home Mini in Pairing Mode
The Paired Bluetooth Devices screen then appears as we see next, where we could 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.
9. Tap the Enable Pairing Mode Link
This puts the Google Home device we’re working with into pairing 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.
10. Go to the Bluetooth Settings Screen
Find Bluetooth Settings somewhere in the Settings app on your phone or tablet.
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.
11. Next, Tap the Desired Device in this List
Now once you put the Google Home Mini in pairing mode, you’ll usually want to then connect to it as well. So for completeness, we include that step here.
Then, if all goes well, the Google Home Mini plays a short burst of musical chords, and pairing then occurs.
12. Done with How to Put Google Home Mini in Pairing Mode
At this point, all your tablet’s generated sounds would play on your Google Home Mini smart speaker. Pairing is complete.