If you have guests over and want them to have access to the Google Home’s speaker functionality, you can enable Guest Mode, which allows them to connect without being on your Wi-Fi network.
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Granted, if you have guests over to your house, you probably wouldn’t mind giving them your Wi-Fi password, in which case they can just connect directly to your Google Home device without any trouble.
However, in a situation where you don’t give out your Wi-Fi info to just anyone who walks through the door, you can still have them connect to your Google Home from their phone to beam audio through the device’s more-capable speaker.
Guest Mode on the Google Home works pretty much the same as the Chromecast’s Guest Mode: It allows other users who aren’t connected to your Wi-Fi network to be able to beam audio content from their own phone to the Google Home’s speaker. However, Guest Mode needs to be manually enabled before you can allow others to do this.
First, you’ll need to open up the Google Home app on your own phone and tap on the Devices button in the top-right corner of the screen.
Next, tap on the menu button in the upper-right corner.
Select “Guest Mode”.
Tap on the toggle switch to enable Guest Mode.
Once enabled, a PIN code will appear on that same screen. Your guests may not need the PIN code to connect and it’s merely just a backup form for connecting.
Once Guest Mode is enabled, you can have anyone open up an app that supports Google Cast and connect it to your Google Home. To do that, they’ll tap on the Google Cast button within the app.
Select “Nearby Device”.
Tap on “Connect”.
You’ll then need to give the app permission to use your phone’s microphone if it doesn’t have permission already. The Google Home emits an audio signal that you can’t hear, and when a device in the vicinity hears it, it uses that signal to connect to the Google Home. Alternatively, if that doesn’t work, you’ll enter the four-digit PIN code mentioned above.
Once connected, you can adjust the volume of the Google Home speaker during playback, as well as tap on “Disconnect” to unpair from the Google Home at any time.
It’s probably easier just to have guests connect to your Wi-Fi network, as the Google Cast-enabled app will automatically recognize the Google Home device and make it easier to connect to. However, Wi-Fi passwords can be sacred, so we don’t blame you if resort to other means when guests want to blare their own music at a get-together.