Your smart speaker may not have a screen, but your phone certainly does, and you probably use it to watch YouTube all the time.
Of course, even the best phone speakers can’t match the volume and accuracy of your Google Home or Home Mini, and so you can use your smart speaker to listen to YouTube while you watch on your mobile device.
You might even assume that this feature is built into YouTube, since Google Home supports Cast, and YouTube has a Cast icon right in the app.
Unfortunately, if you’ve ever clicked on the YouTube Cast icon and expected it to give you the ability to listen to YouTube audio on your smart speaker while watching a video on your phone, you were probably disappointed.
While you can cast YouTube from your phone to a Chromecast or other smart TV device, you cannot use Cast to stream one audio to a speaker. And while that might sound like a bummer, the good news is that your Google Home isn’t just a smart speaker, but a Bluetooth device as well.
To listen to YouTube on your Google homepage, all you have to do is connect your phone to the speaker.
Go to the Google Home app on your phone and select the speaker you want from the toolbar. Click on the settings icon in the upper right corner of the app, then scroll to the middle of this page.
You’re looking for Paired Bluetooth Devices, a menu that lets you view and connect your phone, tablet, laptop, or any other Bluetooth-enabled device to your speaker.
Tap this option, then select “Enable Pairing Mode” at the bottom of the screen. This will put your speaker into pairing mode. Go to the settings menu on your device and search for Bluetooth. Search for devices waiting to be paired and you will see your home speaker appear in this list. Once connected, your Google Home will work like any other standard Bluetooth speaker.
Go back to YouTube, select the video you want to watch, and the audio of that video will start playing through your Google Home speaker. The volume can be adjusted using the speaker or phone, and all other playback controls remain on your device.
Using YouTube Music
We’ve learned how to use Google Home to stream YouTube audio, but if you’re interested in using YouTube music, things get a little easier. Whether you’re using the free ad tier or the paid tier, the YouTube Music app lets you stream directly from your speaker without using Bluetooth. In fact, you can even set YouTube Music as the default streaming service on your speaker.
To get started, open the Home app and select the Profile icon at the bottom of the app. Find the “Settings” option, then select the “Services” tab. From this list, select Music, then select YouTube Music as your default music service. Since you are already signed in to your Google account at Home, you will not need to sign in again.
Play YouTube Music on Google Homepage
With YouTube Music set as the default playback service in Google Home, you can now use voice commands to request specific songs, artists, radio stations, and more.
To get started, just say, “Hey Google, play [artist: song name] on YouTube Music. »Your home speaker will respond with a confirmation or ask you to repeat the command if it doesn’t hear you properly, and you’ll hear your favorite songs right away.
You can do the same with commands such as “Hey Google play the song that goes (partial or full lyrics)” or “Hey Google play this song (artist) in (movie / TV show)”. This is useful if you are not sure of the exact title of a song, but you know specific parts, or you can remember a movie you heard from.
If you don’t want to set YouTube Music as your default playback service, or you just want to stream music from the YouTube Music app on your device, you can do that as well.
Make sure you have YouTube music installed on your device, open the app, and then use the Cast icon at the top of the screen to add the selected music to Google Home. You can also use the Bluetooth feature described above, but Google Cast is simpler, faster, and much better at maintaining a stable connection.
Using voice commands from YouTube TV
If you unplug the cord and subscribe to YouTube TV to watch home TV at home, you can use Google Home to control your TV.
You want to make sure you have Google Chromecast connected to your TV for streaming, and make sure your Chromecast is synced to your Google account used on both Google Home and YouTube TV.
Once that’s done, you can use Google Home to send commands directly to your TV.
Start with “Hey Google,” then use any of the following examples:
- “Play (channel name) on YouTube TV.”
- “Play (TV show name) on YouTube TV.”
- “Play the last episode of (TV show name) on YouTube TV.”
- “Play (movie name) on YouTube TV.”
- “Play (sports game) on YouTube TV.”
- “Play (team name) game on YouTube TV.”
- “Recording (TV show / game / movie)”.
Of course, when you watch something on YouTube TV, you can use Google Home to control playback. Asking Google to pause, resume, and stop can prevent your lost remote from interfering with your favorite movie, and it won’t stop there. Skip forward, rewind and closed captioning can also be controlled directly from your voice.
Making the most of Google Home
There are many things to love about your Google homepage, but above all, being able to stream YouTube to it is one of the most important.
With YouTube TV and YouTube Music, you can sync your accounts straight from Google to your home speaker, and luckily, the support doesn’t stop there.
With Bluetooth pairing capability, your Google Home speaker is ideal for downloading the latest vlogging or preparing videos from your phone or tablet without using the built-in speakers.
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