What you need to know
- Some Google Nest Mini owners have been reporting connectivity issues since 2019.
- Another problem has seen the Google Nest Mini persistently unlinking itself from the Google Home app.
- Google has acknowledged both issues, but a fix hasn't been forthcoming.
The Nest Mini, one of Google's best-selling smart speakers due to its inexpensiveness and cheap design has been facing reports of connectivity issues.
As per Android Police who cited Google support threads, the issues are twofold; the constant dropping of WiFi connections and an unprompted unlinking from the Google Home app. In the first case, users would find their Nest Minis unable to connect to their Wi-Fi connection inexplicably and intermittently.The second issue would see their Nest Mini's become unlinked from their Google and account ergo their Google Home app, requiring a secondary set up. Relinking didn't always help as affected users would frequently see their newly linked devices unlink again. Google has acknowledged that reports of those issues exist and that they have increased in frequency, but not much else.
For what it's worth, I haven't experienced any of these issues and I've had my Nest Mini for a year now at this point. However, browsing into user reviews over at the UK retailers Currys and Argos, I have seen less than 10 mentions of this issue out of over 1300 reviews. It's not clear how widespread this is and how likely a user will run into this problem. Google has yet to share any solid updates since October 2020, and that information vacuum is sure to contribute to its stained reputation.
Sure, it could fix this one problem tomorrow, and then it could tackle the Wear OS one the next day, but the fact that it's dragged on for so long without clarification or resolution is likely to have turned some people off the company with the perception that it doesn't care. Coupled with its (sometimes unearned) reputation for dropping promising value-add services like Stadia, Google may find itself unable to pull new buyers away from Apple and Samsung in the future.
