How To Factory Reset A Google Home Or Nest Speaker

Many of us grew up as Google began its rise to prominence as the world's most ubiquitous search engine, so it could be seen as weirdly heartwarming to have a little piece of that giant in our homes in the form of a Google Home or Nest. Of course, no matter how smart Google and its products have gotten over the years, they're not completely foolproof.

On occasion, a Google smart speaker, be it a Home or Nest, can experience some manner of hardware or software failure, rendering it inoperable. In these situations, you may not be able to fix the problem by issuing voice commands or using the companion app on your smartphone. Ergo, the only remaining option is to perform a factory reset on your Google Home or Nest to clean it out and restore it to proper working order. The process isn't too complicated, and fix the device's accessibility — here's how.

If it's possible, you should refrain from performing a factory reset on your Google smart speaker at all costs. While the process won't harm your device, it can be a pain to get everything back to the way you want it after. After all, a factory reset completely wipes all custom settings and saved data from your Google device, which means you'll need to set everything up once it's finished.

Before you attempt a factory reset, try to access your Google speaker with voice commands or through the Google Home app. If you're still able to make contact with it either way, it's best to try to solve the problem using those avenues. You may be able to get your Google speaker working normally again with less invasive measures like a quick power cycling, so try that first. If the Google Home app can't properly detect or command your speaker and it won't take your voice commands, that's when a factory reset may be the only solution without more technical support.

In order to ensure users can perform a factory reset even when a Google smart speaker's normal functions are inaccessible, every Google Home and Nest device has one or two physical buttons somewhere on their bodies that can be used to trigger the process. For the most part, it's as simple as pressing and holding these buttons for a few seconds, then allowing the reset to carry out on its own.

• If you're using a standard Google Home, press and hold the mute button on the back of the device for 15 seconds until it announces a reset. 
• When using a Nest Mini, switch off the mic, then press and hold the center button for 15 seconds. 
• On a Home Mini, press and hold the circular reset button found under the power cord for 15 seconds. This process is the same for a Google Home Max, which has its button is near the power cord, and the Google Nest Audio, which has a button on the top-front.
• If you're using a first or second-generation Nest Hub, just press and hold both of the side volume buttons for 10 seconds. 
• If you're using a Nest Hub Max, you'll need to remove the device from your Google Home app, then press and hold the volume buttons for 10 seconds.

Whichever device you're using, once the reset is finished, you can boot it up again and get to work restoring your preferences.