How to set up Multi-room Music Play on a Google Home device

Google Home and its growing family of devices are great companions that can help you with anything. If you have more than one of these smart speakers, they can work together as a networked audio system.

Plus, the Google Home app for Android and iOS makes it easy to set up an individual smart speaker, but dig a little deeper, and you can connect them to fill your entire floor with music.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to set up your device and create a group so you can play music throughout your home when you’re having a party, cleaning the house, or want to liven up.

Set up each new Google Home device

When you plug in a new smart speaker, your mobile device will automatically let you know there’s a new Google Home to set up. If you don’t get a notification, open the Google Home app and tap the bubble that says “Set up one device” at the top. Select the home you want to add this device to (you’ll probably only have one).

Next, you will be asked to confirm which device you are setting up. A tone will sound from your speakers to confirm that it is the right sound. If the sound plays successfully, you are good to go. Google will briefly ask if you’re okay with sharing usage stats. Once you have made your choice, you can move on to the next step.

Add your device to the room.

The next stage of the setup will allow you to choose the rooms each speaker will reside. If you have multiple speakers in one room, this can be a quick and easy way to group them, but you can set up a multi-room group later in the process. Here, choose which room your room belongs to, such as Living Room or Kitchen, and tap Next.

Connect to Wi-Fi and complete the setup

Next, you will connect your device to Wi-Fi. The Google Home app will automatically detect available networks. If you’re already connected to a Wi-Fi network on your phone, tap the network and select Next.

The Google Home app will walk you through the final setup stages, which may vary if you’ve already set up other devices. You will be asked to confirm the privacy policy, add your address, and enable voice matching. This last feature will allow you to get personalized feedback based on your voice in multi-user households.

Link your music account

Right before you complete the setup process, you will be asked to link your music streaming services. That lets you access your playlists and get personalized music recommendations once you’ve got your speakers up and running. Tap the (+) icon next to the service you want to enable. Sign in to the account or link it if you’re already signed in on your device. Click Agree and link together to complete the login. You can then repeat this process to stream video services if you have a Google Home Hub/Nest Hub. Your device will then be fully set up and ready to go.

Add device to a group.

Once all your devices are set up, it’s time to start adding them to groups. Multiple speakers in a room are automatically grouped. However, let’s say you want to add all the speakers on the floor to the “Downstairs” group. To do that, open the Google Home app and tap Add and select “Create speaker group.”

On the next screen, you’ll see a list of all the audio devices you’ve connected to your account. Tap the ones you want to include and click Next. Finally, give the group a name and press Save. You can create any number of groups with any arrangement of speakers you want.

You can also include most Google Home devices, including the full-size Google Home, Google Home Mini, Chromecast Audio (RIP), or the Google Hub smart display. Keep in mind that the sound quality of some of these devices may vary depending on your setup. Even if you have more speakers available, it may not be worth including a poorer speaker in a grouping with better ones if that makes the whole system sound worse.

Organize your speakers

Once you’ve connected all your speakers to a group, you may want to give them room by room to get that perfect sound. Experiment with moving speakers around in your room to get the most coverage. Any music you play will be synced, so you can walk from room to room without noticing you’re listening to another speaker.

Remember that having speakers next to each other can result in multiple devices responding to your voice commands. That isn’t usually a problem, as Google Assistant will pinpoint exactly where you’re talking and respond from the device closest to you. However, this may be something to keep in mind if you use a smart display and want to make sure that, for example, a device with a display is a responsive device when you enter the kitchen.

How to enable multi-room audio

You have several options for listening to audio across multi-room groups. First, you can use voice commands just like you would a normal music player. Just say, “Hey Google, play music on [Group Name]” speaker, and it will start playing on all devices in that group. You can also replace “music” in that command with an artist, album, or playlist.

Alternatively, you can stream the group from your music app. In apps like Spotify or YouTube Music, tapping the cast icon or the Available devices option brings up a list of potential casting targets. You can select an individual speaker or a group of multiple speakers in an area.

When playing in a group, you can adjust the volume of each speaker on each device. You can also use the volume buttons on your phone (when casting) or voice commands to increase or decrease the master volume for the entire group. That helps balance the sound between rooms and sets a steady level whether you want loud or silent sounds in each room.

Turn on multi-room music playback on Echo.

If you have multiple Amazon Echo devices instead, here’s how to set them up and manage them in your household and play the same music on multiple Alexa devices at once.