Guest Mode disappears on Google Home speakers but hangs around on Chromecast devices

Damien Wilde | Jan 13 2020 - 5:09 am PT

If you ever visit a friend or relative’s house and want to share some tunes, then the Guest Mode for Google Home speakers might be a handy feature. However, it appears that this mode has gone missing.

Guest Mode on Google Home and Nest Home devices works by accessing your location and Wi-Fi network information to allow you to connect to a device without needing to join the local Wi-Fi network. It’s great for when you have family gatherings, friends visiting, or even a house party and don’t want to give everyone access to your home Wi-Fi network.

Instead of needing you to be on the same network, you simply enter a PIN code to get connected. You can then stream music and other audio to your smart home speaker devices with little to no fuss.

According to the folks over at Android Police, the feature has all but disappeared from many Google Home speakers. It is still available on Chromecast devices. But within the Google Home app, the option to activate or deactivate Guest Mode has disappeared from Google Home and Nest Home speakers and Smart Displays.

It’s not entirely clear why this is the case, or if Google has removed the option entirely. However, as AP notes, the support pages for Nest and Home speakers have been removed. The support pages for Guest Mode on Chromecast are still live though. We’re sure many of you will be disappointed if you did use the feature quite heavily.

We’ve reached out to Google for comment on the removal of Guest Mode on Google Home and Nest Home devices and will update should we receive a response.