Back in 2020, Sonos filed a lawsuit with the U.S. ITC (International Trade Commission) seeking an import injunction against Google Nest products that infringed on several of the company’s patents. Following an investigation, the ITC has now determined that Google Nest does infringe patents held by Sonos, particularly for multi-room audio systems. And with the import ban legal ruling in effect, Google is rushing to change the functionality of Nest devices/speaker products.
MSPU pointed out that the Speaker Group feature allows users to combine Google Nest, smart speakers/displays, and Chromecast devices in any combination to provide a music-syncing experience in the user’s home. Once you’ve set up a group, you can adjust the volume of the entire group of speakers with the help of the Google Assistant in the Google Home app, or directly on the touchscreen Nest Hub device.
However, with the import ban taking effect (PDF portal ), Google is cutting off this feature, which means that in the future users will need to adjust each speaker individually and cannot operate through the phone’s physical volume + buttons.
In the beginning, many people did not choose competing products for the Google Nest speaker grouping function, and they fell into embarrassment.
- After the feature adjustment, most speaker groups are expected to continue to function as expected, unless other brands of Cast devices are included in the group (eg JBL/Lenovo), which require firmware version 1.52.272222 or higher.
- A small number of users will need to use the “Device Utility” application to complete product installation and update operations, and then receive a prompt to download and run DUA. Make sure the device is connected to a Wi-Fi network at that time to receive the latest software updates.