How to Set Up a Google Home

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Setting Up a Google Home in Your House

Chances are if you’re reading this you’ve either just purchased a Google Home or you are seriously considering buying one in the near future. The convenience of smart home tech like the Google Home is a major draw for a lot of homeowners, but that convenience only happens if the device is set up properly. Here’s a rundown of the steps you’ll need to take to get a Google Home up and running on your home network.

Note: This setup guide assumes that this is the first time you’ve set up a device on the Google Home app. If you’ve done this process before, some of the steps may be unnecessary.

Decide Where You Want Your Google Home

Choosing which room in your house you want your new Google Home to live in is a big decision, especially if you’re only starting off with one of the devices. It’s a good idea to put your first Google Home device in the most populated, high traffic area of your home. You can fill the rest of your rooms with additional devices (like the Google Home Mini), but for now place this device in the location where it will see the most use.

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Plug In the Device

Plugging in a Google Home is simple. One end of the cord plugs into an outlet and the other slides into a slot at the base of the device. If you plug in your Google Home and a series of lights displays on the top of the device, that means that everything is functioning property and it’s time to start setting things up in the Google Home app.

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Download, Install, and Open the “Google Home” App

From this point on the rest of the setup of your Google Home is done through the Google Home App, which you can download onto pretty much any popular smartphone or tablet. Once you have the Google Home app downloaded and installed, open it up.

Begin Google Home Setup

The Google Home app should automatically detect the device that you’re trying to set up and prompt you with a notification to begin the process. If you do not receive that prompt, just tap the “+” icon on the app’s main page and then select “Set up device” from that menu.

Next, you will be given the choice to either set up a new device or link devices and services that you already have in place. Tap on the option to set up a new device. The app will then ask you to “choose a home”; select the only option on that list, “Home”.

Courtesy of Google

Find Your Device

If your Google Home is plugged in and working as it should the Google Home app should have no problem locating it. Select the device from the list that will pop up on your screen and then wait until you hear a chime come from its speaker. This step is mainly in place to stop someone from accidentally setting up the wrong Google device, which is really only an issue if you have more than one of them in your home.

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Security and Data Sharing

Next, Google will ask you a couple of questions related to sharing your data and legal issues. The first will ask you if you want to send device stats and crash reports with Google. This is mostly harmless but you can opt out of it if you want to. The next question asks if you agree to Google’s Device Arbitration Agreement, which you will also need to agree to in order to continue with the setup.

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Add a Google Account to the Device

If you have already created a Google account in the past, whether it was for Gmail, YouTube, or any other Google-backed service, syncing your Google home to that account should be fairly simple. The Google Home app may have even already logged you into your Google account, at which point all you would need to is select the right account from the list and continue with the setup.

If you do not already have a Google Account, creating one is easy and free. You can either create an account for personal use or create one specifically for your Google Home devices so that you can share the login information with family members without worrying about privacy.

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Add Your Google Home to a “Room”

The Google Home app will give you a pre-made list of rooms in which to sort your devices. As you add more and more devices to you smart home system, grouping each one into a specific room will help keep them organized. Just choose the room from the list that best matches the location of your Google Home or create a new, custom room to be as specific as possible.

Courtesy of Google

Connect the Device to Wi-Fi

Connecting your Google home to your Wi-Fi network is the step that will finally connect your device to the world wide web. Connecting your Google Home to WiFi should be straightforward, as long as you know your network’s login information. The Google Home app will present you with a list of all of the networks in range of your device. Just tap on the name of your home network to connect to it.

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Personalize Your Google Home

Once you’ve connected to WiFi, the setup of your Google Home becomes much more personalized and specific to you individually. Now you will be able to set up the device to recognize your voice, link it to whatever music and video services you are subscribed to, add payment options, and decide whether or not you want the Google Home to connect to your phone and take calls. At this point, how you set up the Google Home is mostly a matter of personal preference, so just run through the options that the app is giving you and complete the last few steps of set up.

Once you’ve verified your phone number with the device (or chosen not to do so), Google Home setup is complete. Now you can use it to control other smart devices, and learn essential commands that will help organize your life.