Could not communicate with your Nest Hub (FIX)

Even though you can usually change a lot of settings directly on your Google Nest Hub, most users will resort to Google Home to tweak their smart displays. Some of them were unpleasantly surprised when the device suddenly got offline and the Could not communicate with your Nest Hub error appeared in the Google Home app. If you are among them, check the instructions we provided below and, hopefully, we’ll fix the problem without too much hassle.

Table of contents:

1. Reboot the Nest Hub
2. Troubleshoot the network
3. Remove and re-link your Google Nest Hub again
4. Clear data from the Google Home app
5. Reinstall or rollback the Google Home app
6. Factory reset the Google Nest Hub

Why won’t my Google Nest hub connect?

If your Google Nest Hub won’t connect and it appears offline in the Google Home app, make sure to reboot your router, your phone, and the smart display. Try some network-related troubleshooting steps that are commonly recommended on Google Nest forums and Reddit that we listed below. Don’t forget to reinstall the Google Home app on your smartphone and, if everything fails, reset the Google Nest Hub to factory settings and start anew.

1. Reboot the Nest Hub

The first thing you should do is reboot your Google Nest Hub. The problem might be a temporary glitch quickly resolved by simply restarting the device. Usually, you can restart smart speakers/displays from the Google Home app but in this case, unplug the device and plug it back in after 10 seconds. That should address the problem most of the time so just wait for the device to reconnect to the network.

On the other hand, if you are still stuck with the problem, make sure to check the network as the “Could not communicate with your Nest Hub” error often occurs due to a failed Wi-Fi connection.

2. Troubleshoot the network

Obviously, if you don’t see a linked device in Google Home or get one of the common errors on the speaker, the most probable reason is usually the network. Especially if you have a lot of smart devices connected to the same Wi-Fi network, we recommend getting a good traditional router or Wi-Fi Mesh router. In the meanwhile, there are some things you can do to try and fix the problem.

Here are some network-oriented troubleshooting steps to try:

• Restart your router and your phone.
• Confirm that your phone and Google Nest Hub are connected to the same network.
• Configure your Google Nest Hub on a network with the 2.4GHz wireless band instead of 5GHz.
• Keep your smart display closer to the router.
• Check router settings and ensure that Google Nest Hub isn’t blocked by the firewall.
• Reset your router to factory settings and factory reset the Google Nest Hub, as explained in the last step.

3. Remove and re-link your Google Nest Hub again

You can also try re-linking the Google Nest Hub before you go for the factory reset. This action, unlike a factory reset, won’t require setting up the device again but it might sort out the temporary halt. Of course, you’ll need to see Google Nest Hub in the Google Home app for this to work. If you don’t, skip to the next step.

Here’s how to remove and re-link your Google Nest Hub with the Google Home app:

1. Open Settings.
2. Open Google Nest Hub from the list of devices.
3. Tap on the gear icon to bring out Settings.
4. Tap Remove device at the bottom and confirm.
5. Add the device again from + (Plus or Add) > Set up a device > New device.

4. Clear data from the Google Home app

Bugs in Google Home smart devices are not as common as some usability issues (e.g. speech recognition that substantially dropped in recent years) but they do occur from time to time. And, most of them occur due to some underlying issues of the well-known companion app called Google Home. That’s why we suggest clearing the local data from Google Home as the first troubleshooting step concerning the app instead of the device itself.

Here’s how to clear data from the Google Home app on Android:

1. Open Settings.
2. Select Apps.
3. Select Google Home from the list of installed apps.
4. Choose Storage.
5. Tap Clear data.
6. Open Google Home and check if the Google Nest Hub appears in the list of available devices. Expand it to see if you can increase/lower the speaker volume.

If you run Google Home on your iPhone, check the next step and reinstall the app to fix the Could not communicate error on your Google Nest Hub.

5. Reinstall or rollback the Google Home app

If the previous step did nothing, you can reinstall the app (Android and iOS) or sideload an older version via the APK (available only on Android). Hopefully, after you reinstall and configure Google Home again, the app will start working and show available devices.

Here’s how to reinstall the Google Home app on Android:

1. Tap and hold on to the Google Home shortcut. Any shortcut will do.
2. Tap Uninstall in the contextual menu.
3. Open Play Store.
4. Search for Google Home and install the app.

Or you can uninstall the app, navigate to the Google Home section on APK Mirror (trusted APK source) and get a slightly older version of the Google Home app. Once you run the APK, just allow installation from unknown sources and install it. Sign in with your Google Account and check if there are some changes or if the error keeps reoccurring.

And this is how to reinstall Google Home in iOS:

1. Tap and hold on to the Google Home shortcut.
2. Select Remove App.
3. Tap Delete App.
4. Then navigate to App Store and install Google Home again.

6. Factory reset the Google Nest Hub

In the end, if none of the steps worked for you, we suggest resetting your Google Nest Hub to factory settings. Considering that nothing we’ll be lost in the process except some settings, we always recommend doing a factory reset on Google Home/Nest device as soon as you identify an issue that won’t go away after a reboot or two.

Here’s how to factory reset the Google Nest Hub:

1. Press and hold both Volume buttons for 10 seconds. This should reset your device to factory settings and you can set it up anew.
2. Open Google Home.
3. Tap Add or + icon and select Set up a device.
4. Tap New device. Enable Location Services and Bluetooth on your smartphone.
5. Select Google Nest Hub, choose preferred services and configure settings.

And, on that note, we can call it a wrap. Thank you for reading and don’t forget to share your thoughts, questions, or suggestions with us in the comments section below.