Some Google Home Speakers download excessive amounts of data, the company says it's on it
It’s not just music playing in the background.
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- Some Google Home speakers have downloaded hundreds of gigabytes of data in the background.
- Users reported examples including 300GB in 30 days and 294GB down with 544GB up.
- Google says the fix is already available, but the cause and scale remain unclear.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
Google Home Speaker owners report that the device is downloading hundreds of gigabytes of data in the background.
The issue appears to have been ongoing for several weeks, according to some user reports.
“Google speakers sure like their internet connection. Got 1 old Google mini and 3 of the new Google speakers. They are used about 20 minutes a month for music,” wrote one Redditor.
“Something’s up with them. This just started in the past 2 weeks for mine,” said another user.
While it’s not clear how widespread the issue is, the discussion prompted other Google Home Speaker users to check their devices.
“This post made me have a look and yep, 300GB in 30 days,” shared a Redditor.
“I'm at 294GB down and 544GB up, wild,” wrote another.
Some Google Home Speakers downloading massive amounts of data in the background
by u/TechGuru4Life in GooglePixel
Google responds to the issue
Some users noticed that the data was actually being downloaded from Google and speculated that the issue could be related to firmware that failed to download, leaving the process stuck in a loop.
Google has responded to the problem and said that a “fix is already rolling out,” according to 9to5Google. Users interested in how much data a certain device is using can check it via their router.
Users with a Google Nest Wifi, a replacement for a traditional router, can check the information in the Google Home app's Wifi tab.
Tap on “Devices,” select the speaker, and choose “Device usage graphs,” which show data for 1, 7, or 30-day periods.
