In this guide, we will cover the easiest way to set up google home mini and nest mini using the smartphone. You can use this guide to set up any Google Home device. But before we jump on how to set up google home mini and nest mini using a smartphone, let’s have an introduction about the devices first.
With more and more smart home devices available, owning a smart AI assistant is a necessity. If you happen to get on the bandwagon and got yourself a Google Home Smart AI Assistant, figure out setting it up for the first time. This Google Home Setup guide will help you set up your Google Home or Nest Device. Whether you got a Google Home speaker or a Nest Speaker, this article will guide you through setting up your first smart AI assistant.
In this guide, you learn how to add your Google Account to your Google Home, How to connect your Google Home to WiFi, and some additional settings to get the best out of Google’s smart home assistant device.
With that said, let’s go through all the steps on setting up a Google Home or Nest device using your Android or iPhone.
How to set up a Google Home Mini or Google Nest Mini?
1. Power on your Google Home Device and install Google Home App
- First of all, plug your Google Home device into a power outlet. After a few seconds, you will hear a chime followed by a welcome message. Your Google Home device is now in setup mode.
- Now install the Google Home app on your smartphone. Google Home app is available on both Android and iOS, which means you can continue with Google Home set up on either of the platforms.
Before heading to the next step, make sure your phone is connected to your home Wi-Fi connection that you would like to use with your Google Home Speaker. This will make the setup process really easy.
2. Create a homegroup
If this is your first time setting up a Google Home device, you will have to create a home (or home group) where you will add that particular device. If otherwise, you can skip to Step 3. And follow through with the remaining steps to set up your Google Home Mini or Nest mini.
- Open the Google Home app, tap on the “Get started” button and choose the Google account you want to link with your Google Home app.
- Inside the Google Home app, tap on the + button on the top left and select “Create new home.”
- Now type in a name you want to give to this new Home, and hit “Continue.” Suppose you are setting up Google home in your house, type “Home” in the text field. If you want to set it up in your office, name it “Office” for easy identification.
- On the next screen, the Google Home app will ask you to enter your home address. Type in your home address and then tap on “Next.”
Adding your address will allow Google Home to give accurate location-based responses during interaction within the Homegroup. You can also “Skip” and continue without adding the address to this Homegroup. But I would highly suggest you put in your address to fully take advantage of your Google Home Smart Assistant speaker.
3. Add your new Google Home Device to this homegroup
- Open your Google Home app again, it will launch in your current Homegroup. Here we will continue with the Google Home setup by tapping on the + button on the top-left and selecting “Set up device” from the list.
- On the “Set up a device” screen, select “New Device,” then tap on the Homegroup on which you wanted to add this new device. Since I am adding the Google Home Mini to my house, I will select “Home” from the list and then hit “Next.” You can create another home by tapping on the “Add another home” option and repeating everything we mentioned in Step 2 to add your new Google Home device to a different home.
- Google Home app will now ask your permission to access location services to detect nearby devices. Tap on “Next” and allow the Home app to access your device’s location.
- After allowing location permission, the Google Home app will start looking for nearby Google Home devices. Once it finds your Google Home Speaker, tap on the “Yes” button to initiate the setup process.
- The whole setup process will take a few seconds to complete. Once completed, your Google Home Speaker will play a sound, with the LEDs turned blue. Tap on “Yes” on your Google Home app to confirm that. (or tap on “Retry” if you didn’t hear any sound from your Google Home Mini. (or nest mini)
- On the next screen, tap on “Yes, I’m in” or “No thanks” to opt in or out of sending crash reports to Google about your devices.
- Now you will have to choose a location for your Google Home Speaker. Since I will be using my Google Home Mini in my Bedroom, I’ll go with the “Bedroom” option, hit “Next,” and then tap on “Continue.”
4. Connect Google Home Speaker to your Wi-Fi to set up google home mini or nest mini.
- You will have to choose the Wi-Fi you want to use with your Google Home Speaker. Choose your home network from the list, then tap on the “Next” button, and on the next page, hit “Ok.”
- Google Home app will start connecting your Google Home Mini to your Wi-Fi, which might take a few moments. Once connected, it will show you some information related to privacy before you can use your Google Home Speaker. Just tap on “Next” to continue.
You have successfully connected your Google Home Device with your Wi-Fi. After this, your Google Home Mini or Google Nest Mini setup is almost done. You can say any “Ok Google” command and hear your Google Home Speaker answer to that.
5. Additional settings:
However, there are a few more settings that you should go through on your Google Home app to finish setting up your Google Assistant Speaker.
Set up Voice Match on Google Home Devices!
After connecting to Wi-Fi, the app will ask you to set up a voice match on your Google device. Setting up a voice match will help Google Assistant recognize your voice on all the eligible devices to give you a personalized response.
- On the Voice Match set-up screen, press the “Continue” button, and then tap on “I agree.”
- The app will now activate Voice Match on your newly set up Google Home Mini and ask you to repeat some phrases to train itself to recognize your voice and give you personalized responses.
However, if you have previously set up a voice match on your Google Assistant, Google Home will automatically fetch it for you.
Saving audio for internal training!
I would suggest you skip this one. There is no point in allowing Google to save audio from your Google Home speaker (or anywhere) for internal training purpose. Select “Not now” to stop Google from saving any audio.
Allowing Google to get personal results on your Google Home device!
Tap on the “Turn on” button to allow Google to set personal results on your Google Home device. Google will respond with personal results only when it recognizes your voice.
But if you don’t want Google to respond with any personal results, tap on “No thanks” and then press the “Next” button.
Setting up default music, and movies-shows services, and enabling calling on Google Home Device!
Your Google Assistant is now ready. It will now ask you to add your preferred music and movie services, along with enabling the Google Duo service on your Google Home device.
- Select all the option cards on the setup screen and hit the “Next” button.
- Now Google Home app will ask you to choose your default music service to play songs on your Home device. Select from the list, and then tap on “Next.”
- Here, you will choose a default video streaming service for your Google Home device. Suppose you have a Netflix subscription; you can attach it to your Google account to watch your favorite shows on your TV using Google Assistant voice commands. Tap on the “Netflix” option, log in to your Netflix account, and tap on “Next.”
- You can also enable Google Duo on your Google Home Device to call anyone in your contact list with a Duo account. To set up the call feature, tap on “Next” and “Continue.”
- The app will now ask you to add household contacts. Tap on “Add contacts,” then choose from the list to add them as your Household contacts, and finally tap on “Next.” These are the contacts that anyone can call from any Google Home Device.
Your Google Home setup is almost finished. The app will now ask you to review all the settings, with an option to choose a Default TV for playing video and audio. Review all the settings, then tap on “Continue,” and finally, tap on “Finish setup” to complete the Google Home setup.
Final Words: Set up Google Home Mini or Nest Mini using your smartphone!
No matter what your expertise level is, Google has made setting up a Google Home device very easy. You just have to install the Google Home app on your Android or iOS smartphone and follow through with all the instructions carefully. This guide has covered everything that you need to set up your Google Home or Nest speaker.
After setting up your Google Home device, you can interact with it using the trigger word “Ok Google” or “Hey Google“, or you can also connect your Google Home or Nest speaker to your PC and use it as a Bluetooth Speaker.
