How to Turn On Bluetooth in Google Home

Original Google Home smart speaker, front left view, sitting on desk.

All smart speakers in the Google Home family now support Bluetooth. They can act as Bluetooth speakers themselves. This allows you to play audio from your phone or other mobile device through them. Indeed, you get better sound quality through a Google speaker. So in this demo, we prepare the Google Home Mini speaker to act as a Bluetooth speaker. For that, we show how to turn on Bluetooth in a Google Home speaker. This makes it discoverable by other Bluetooth devices.

When you enable Bluetooth pairing mode on any Bluetooth speaker, the speaker broadcasts its name. It also sends out other connection info over the Bluetooth airwaves. Then, nearby Bluetooth devices can pick up these signals. They then can connect with the discoverable Bluetooth speaker. So, to connect, you first must turn on pairing / discovery mode on your Google Home speaker. Here’s how to do that.

We assume that you have set up and connected your Google Home speaker to your Wi-Fi network. You’ll also need the Google Home app on a mobile device. You should connect this app to your Google account. Then finally, set up your Google Home speaker there. Do this first, so you can access the speaker’s Bluetooth settings pages.

Further, make sure that your mobile device connects to the same wireless network as your speaker. If it isn’t, you won’t be able to manage the speaker’s settings.

Take care of these details now, if not already done. Then, once complete, proceed with the steps below to enable Bluetooth pairing mode on your smart speaker.

How to Turn On Bluetooth in Google Home Smart Speakers

1. First, On your Mobile Device, Run the Google Home App

On our iPad, this app appears on the third home page, as pictured next.

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

The Google Home app home screen then displays, as pictured next.

The Home app on iOS, displaying its home screen, with the hamburger menu control highlighted.

2. Then, Tap the Hamburger Item

Find the hamburger control up at the top left corner of the Google Home app home screen. This brings up the main menu window, as shown next.

The Home app , showing the Home screen with Devices menu item highlighted.

3. Next, Tap the Devices Menu Item

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.

A Google Home speaker, as shown in the Home App. The app here shows in the Devices list, with its Device Menu location highlighted.

4. Then, Tap the Hamburger Menu Link for the Speaker you’re Pairing to Continue with How to Turn On Bluetooth in Google Home

This item we pointed at with the purple arrow in the last picture. The hamburger menu opens, as shown in the next picture.

A Google Home smart speaker, as displayed in the Home app, with its Settings menu item circled.

5. Next, Tap the Settings Item

The Settings menu item is in the hamburger menu as shown in the last picture. It has the purple circle around it. Then, find the Device Settings screen for the specific Google Home speaker. See an example of this in the last screenshot. These specific setting options appear on the screen shown next. In our case, that device, the Google Home Mini, we named Office Speaker.

Note that we’ve scrolled down to the Device Settings section on this screen. We found the Paired Bluetooth Devices option, as circled in the next picture.

The Home app, showing the Device Settings screen with the Paired Bluetooth Devices option highlighted.

6. Then, Tap the Paired Bluetooth Devices Item

We circled the Bluetooth Devices menu item in the last picture. The Paired Bluetooth Devices screen then appears as shown next. There, we can choose a Bluetooth device from a list of devices that we’ve previously paired with. Since we have never paired with any, the screen is all but entirely blank.

The Home app, showing the Paired Bluetooth Devices screen, with the Enable Pairing Mode link highlighted.

7. Next, Tap the Enable Pairing Mode Link

This puts the Google Home device we’re working with into Bluetooth discovery mode. That is, it will now show up on other in-range Bluetooth devices when they scan for Bluetooth devices. Confirmation shows as a black bar quickly appearing at the bottom of the Paired Bluetooth Devices screen, as shown next.

The Home app, displaying the Paired Bluetooth Devices screen, showing the Ready To Pair message highlighted.

8. Finally, Your Google Home Speaker is now Ready for Pairing

You may now scan for this speaker in the Bluetooth settings on the device you desire to pair with it. Then, it will show up with the same name as you named it when you set it up. We found our speaker in our iPad Bluetooth settings, for example, as shown next.

iOS Bluetooth Found Devices list, showing our Google Home Mini speaker, circled.

9. Done with How to Turn On Bluetooth in Google Home

Done! You may indeed place your smart speaker into Bluetooth pairing mode. So you may now connect to it on your source device.

References for How to Turn On Bluetooth in Google Home

1. Official Google Home Support Page

Revision History

- 2021-08-20: Shortened the tags and internal links lists.
- 2020-05-15: Added more tags and optimization.
- 2019-04-06: Removed ad code.
- 2018-02-13: Originally published.

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