How to Turn Down Google Home Mini Volume

There are many ways for how to turn down Google Home Mini volume. These depend on the app(s) you’re streaming from mainly. But the speaker itself has two touch pads as well, for volume control on its left and right edges. Plus, you can set volume with the native Google Home app. Finally, the Mini also sets loudness via voice commands.

Below, we show these basic ways, which you can do regardless of the app you’re streaming from. But we do not delve into app-specific volume setting of the output device. Why? Because with so many apps that send audio, this post would quickly grow too big. So, we’ll stick here with the basic volume setting methods here.

How to Turn Down Google Home Mini Volume

You can turn the volume down without using any apps, doing it this way, as follows.

1. Place the Google Home Mini Such That the USB Power Cord is at the Top (Twelve O’clock)

Shown next.

Top view of the mini, with power cord at twelve o'clock. How to Turn Down Google Home Mini Volume.
Google Home Mini speaker, showing top view, with power cord at twelve o’clock.

2. Turn Down the Volume by Tapping the Left Edge of the Speaker (Nine O’clock)

The next pic shows the locations of the touch pad zones. Find them in the same straight line formed by the four activity lights.

Tap the left edge of the speaker (nine o’clock) to lower the volume by ten percent.

Showing the volume adjustment in progress on the speaker. See the highlighted volume touch pads, in purple.
Volume adjustment in progress on the speaker. See the highlighted volume touch pads, in purple.

If you need finer volume lowering, use the Google Home app to turn down speaker volume, described below.





How to Turn Down Google Home Mini Volume with Voice Commands

This speaker understands two scales for volume adjustment: 0-10 and 0-100 percent. If you want to say a percent to set the volume, then add the word ‘percent’ to your command. Example commands follow.

    • Hey Google, set volume 10 percent.
    • Hey Google, set volume 76 percent.
    • Okay Google, set volume 100 percent.

If you say the percent label, then 0 means lowest volume (muted) and 100 means max (full) volume. But if you omit the percent label, then the volume range runs between 0 and 10.

    • Okay Google, set volume 5. [Adjusts the volume to half, 50 percent of maximum.]
    • Hey Google, set volume 0. [Sets the volume to minimum.]
    • Okay Google, set volume 10. [Sets the volume to maximum, 100 percent]
    • Hey Google, lower volume. [Reduces volume.]
    • Okay Google, turn down the volume.  [Again, reduces the volume.]
    • Hey Google, decrease volume.  [Again, reduces the volume.]

There are also shortcut commands for minimum and maximum volume setting, as in:

    • Okay Google, mute. [Sets the volume to zero percent, minimum, muted state.]
    • Hey Google, max. [Sets speaker volume to maximum, 100 percent.]
    • Okay Google, set volume half. [Adjusts volume to fifty percent, or half of full.]
    • Hey Google, volume full. [Sets speaker volume to maximum, 100 percent.]
    • Okay Google, volume half. [Adjusts volume to fifty percent, or half of full.]
    • Hey Google, volume minimum. [Sets the volume to zero percent, minimum, muted state.]




How to Turn Down Google Home Mini Volume with the App

In the Google Home app, which must have WiFi access to your speaker, you can turn down the speaker volume as well. How? By finding the speaker in its available devices list. Then, move the volume slider left until you hit your desired volume level.

Note that you can’t lower speaker volume in this way unless it is actually streaming / playing something. Why not?  Because you won’t see the volume control in the app unless streaming.

To lower the volume from the app, follow the routine listed next.

1. Run the Home App

Bring up Home on your mobile device. You should see its Home screen, as shown next.

Picture of the Google Home app on iOS, displaying its home screen, with the hamburger menu control highlighted. How to Turn Down Google Home Mini Volume.
Google Home app on iOS, showing its Home screen, with the hamburger menu control highlighted.

2. Tap the Main Menu ‘Hamburger’ Control

This item is pointed at by the purple arrow in the previous picture.

This then brings up the main menu, as shown next.

Screenshot of the app, displaying its hamburger menu, with the Devices Item highlighted.
The app displaying its hamburger menu, with the Devices Item highlighted.

3. Tap the Devices Menu Item to Continue with How to Turn Down Google Home Mini Volume

See this, pointed to by the purple arrow in the last picture.

You then see the Devices screen, as exemplified in the picture shown in the next step.

4. On the Devices Screen, Scroll to Find your Currently Playing Speaker

See this as shown next.

The speaker is currently streaming when you see a small speaker icon (volume setting link). Find this in the lower right edge of its device card, as pointed at by the purple arrow.

But this button does not show when not streaming. Thus, you won’t be able to turn down the volume like this, when the Mini is playing nothing. So, be sure to stream something to your speaker before lowering the volume this way.

Screenshot of the app, displaying its Devices screen. This shows the smart speaker playing an iHeart radio station.
The app, showing its Devices screen. This has the smart speaker playing an iHeart radio station.

5. Tap the Speaker Volume Button

See the speaker volume button in the last picture.

Tapping it then brings up the volume control screen, as pictured next.

Screenshot of the app, displaying its volume control screen for the Google Home Mini smart speaker.
The Home app, displaying its volume control screen for the Google Home Mini smart speaker.

6. Touch and Drag the Volume Slider Button to Continue with How to Turn Down Google Home Mini Volume

Drag the slider left (counterclockwise)  around the circle, until you reach your preferred volume.

The slider control provides a more granular lowering of the volume than the touch pads on the Google Mini itself. That is, you can lower the volume in much finer increments. This is much finer than the ten-percent bumps you get when tapping the touch pads on the speaker.

Note that moving the volume slider around takes effect right away. No need to press any Submit buttons to force the new setting into effect.





How to Turn Down Google Home Mini Volume on Bluetooth Source Device

If using your Google Mini as a Bluetooth speaker, you can turn down the volume with the controls on the paired device. In this demo, we’re playing YouTube content on our iPad Air, and streaming to the Google Mini via a Bluetooth connection.

1. Pair your Google Home Mini as a Bluetooth speaker.

See our post  here,  that explains how to pair.

2. Begin Playing a Music Source

Stream such recordings as an internet radio station, a song from Spotify, or an Audible book. In this demo, we streamed YouTube audio to our Google Mini, as shown next.

3. Use your Source Mobile Device’s Volume Control Buttons 

Shown next.

Picture of the YouTube app on iOS, as seen during turning down the volume while playing a video. How to Turn Down Google Home Mini Volume.
YouTube app on iOS, as seen during turning down of the volume while playing a video.

Note the purple arrowed volume setter square with a speaker inside of it in the last picture.

Also note that the volume drop you hear lags by a second or so. Why? Because of the latency (delay) of the commands going across the Bluetooth airwaves.

Finally, you can cast to the Google Home devices like the Mini too. Similar to Bluetooth, but done over Wi-Fi instead. Yet like in this Bluetooth example, you can usually lower the volume of the speaker. How? By turning it down in the casting app.

But again, we’re not covering in this piece how to lower volume for individual apps. So, we leave doing this as an exercise for the reader.

Other Posts About the Google Home Mini Smart Speaker

    1. Google Home Mini Bluetooth Pairing Instructions
    2. How to Pause Google Home Mini
    3. How to Resume Google Home Mini
    4. Restart Google Home Mini Instructions
    5. Link Spotify to Google Home Mini Instructions

References for How to Turn Down Google Home Mini Speaker

    1. Google Home Support Page at Google.com

Revision History

    • 2020-05-10: Added the Other Posts About… section.
    • 2019-07-23: Added more tags and links.
    • 2019-04-15: Removed ad code, shortened post URL, tweaked the targeting, and added tags.
    • 2018-05-04: First published.