Picture of the Original Google Home smart speaker, during booting, along with AC power adapter plugged Into wall outlet..

How to Reboot Google Home

You may wish to reboot your Google Home speaker if it begins behaving erratically, becomes non responsive to questions and commands, emits strange noises and so on.  Always try a speaker reboot first, as this often clears up many problems, and avoids the unnecessary action of hard resetting your speaker.

How to Reboot Google Home Method One: The Local Method

If you’re near the Google Home, you can just disconnect it from AC power, wait ten seconds, and then plug it back in.  The unit will complete rebooting in less than a minute.

How to Reboot Google Home Method Two: The Remote Method

However, if you’re far away from your Google Home speaker, such as upstairs from it, or even away from home, you can issue a reboot command via the Google Home app on your mobile device as follows.  This method depends on you having the Google Home app installed and linked to the same Google account to which your Google Home speaker is linked.  If all of that is in place, then do the following, to effect a remote reboot of your speaker.

1. Run the Google Home App on your Mobile Device

Firstly, we use an iPad Air computer tablet in this scenario.  This app we find on page three of our iPad’s home screen, although yours may appear in a different location, depending on how many apps you have installed as well as how you might have arranged them.

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

Upon running this app, the Google home screen appears, as follows.

Picture of the Home app on iOS, displaying the Home screen, with the Hamburger control highlighted.
The Home app on iOS, displaying the Home screen, with the Hamburger control highlighted.

2. Tap the Hamburger Menu Control

Find this control in the top left corner of the Google Home app Home screen, as we point out in the previous picture with the pink arrow.  This brings up the main menu as shown next.

Picture of the Home app on iOS, displaying its main menu, with the devices item highlighted. How to Reboot Google Home.
The Home app on iOS, displaying its main menu, with the devices item highlighted.

3. Tap the Devices Menu Item

This brings up a list of your Google Home devices that have been configured on the current Google account, as shown next for our case.





We only have one speaker.  So there’s only one displaying in the next screenshot.

Picture of the Home app on iOS, displaying the Devices screen, with its hamburger menu link highlighted. How to Reboot Google Home.
The Home app on iOS, displaying the Devices screen, with its hamburger menu link highlighted.

4. Tap the Device’s Hamburger Menu Control   

Find this in the top right corner of its card, as shown by the pink arrow in the previous picture.  The speaker’s control menu then appears, as shown next.

Picture of the Home app on iOS, displaying the -Devices- menu, with the -Reboot- item highlighted.
The Home app on iOS, displaying the -Devices- menu, with the -Reboot- item highlighted.

5. Tap the  Reboot Menu Item

The pink arrow points at in the previous picture. The   Reboot Confirmation  dialog box displays, something like that shown in the next picture.

Picture of the Home app on iOS, displaying the -Device Reboot Confirmation- prompt, with the -REBOOT- link highlighted. How to Reboot Google Home.
The Home app on iOS, displaying the -Device Reboot Confirmation- prompt, with the -REBOOT- link highlighted.

6. Tap the REBOOT Link

This starts a remote reboot of your Google Home speaker, closes the reboot confirmation dialog box, and returns you to the Devices List screen, as shown next.





Notice that your speaker no longer appears here.  This is temporary however, as the speaker will again appear once if completes its restart cycle.

Picture of the Home app on iOS, displaying the -Devices Discovered List-Screen, which is empty while Google Speaker reboots.
The Home app on iOS, displaying the -Devices Discovered List- Screen, which is empty while Google Speaker reboots.

After reboot is complete, the speaker should then reappear on the Devices screen, as shown next.

Picture of the Home app on iOS, displaying the -Devices- screen, with one speaker device up and running.
The Home app on iOS, displaying the -Devices- screen, with one speaker device up and running.

7. Done with How to Reboot Google Home !

Finally. once the speaker again appears, reboot has finished successfully. Then you can try some commands and questions.

Hopefully, rebooting solves any issues you had.  If not, you can always try more drastic measures. E.g. Hard reset your speaker, and then set it up again.  See our links in the Related Posts section below for instructions on how to take those more drastic steps.

Other Posts About the Google Home 

    1. How to Connect Google Home to WiFi
    2. Resetting the Google Home Speaker
    3. How to Set Sleep Timer on Google Home Speaker
    4. Unboxing Google Home Voice Activated Speaker
    5. Google Home Factory Reset Instructions

Related Posts to How to Reboot Google Home 

    1. How to Reboot Google Home Mini Speaker
    2. How to Reboot Chromecast Audio
    3. Rebooting the Echo Studio Speaker
    4. How to Reboot Invoke Speaker by Harman Kardon
    5. How to Reboot an Unresponsive iPod Touch Player

References for How to Reboot Google Home

    1. Google Home Official Support Page

Revision History

    • 2021-08-28: First published.