A basic feature is now nearly unusable.
Dozens of Google Nest users report that their smart speaker won’t play SiriusXM. Additionally, the Google Assistant appears to have trouble with terrestrial radio stations, as commands like “play 99.5 FM” aren’t working on some smartphones and Nest speakers.
Complaints about these problems are littered all over the Nest Community forum and the Google Home subreddit. In fact, there are so many complaints about SiriusXM performance that Google is actively investigating the issue. The company has also asked users to send in feedback when SiriusXM isn’t working correctly on Nest speakers.
Here’s the situation, as described by affected users; when requesting SiriusXM, the Google Assistant appears to accept the command. The Google Home app even says that SiriusXM is playing on a Nest speaker. But the Nest Speaker refuses to play audio from SiriusXM—it sits in silence.
As for terrestrial radio—well, the problem is harder to pin down. Some users say that Google Assistant (on a smartphone or Nest Hub speaker) will open the wrong radio station (or play ambient noise) when asked for a specific station. Other users say that Google Assistant refuses to play any terrestrial radio. (In every complaint that I’ve come across, users say that they’re using the same voice commands that they always have. This doesn’t appear to be a case of user error.)
For what it’s worth, the Review Geek team is having plenty of trouble with Google Nest devices and the Google Assistant. Basic features, like voice commands and routines, have slowly grown less reliable throughout 2023. Many Redditors have made the same observation, and some have developed outlandish theories as to why this is happening.
We’ve reached out to Google and hope to receive more information about these problems. Unfortunately, we don’t have any quick fixes or tips for affected users. You’ll just have to wait for a solution.
Source: Google Nest Community (1, 2, 3) and Reddit (1, 2, 3, 4)
