How to remove a device from Google Home

We’ve come a long way from the early days of the smart home, where it was kind of a pain to add and remove devices. If you look around, pretty much everything has become a “smart home accessory”, and Google Home is arguably the best ecosystem out there today. Many devices and accessories are compatible with Google Home, with Amazon Alexa ranking right alongside Google, with Apple’s HomeKit (powered by Siri), and Samsung SmartThings rounding out the pack.

Remove a device from Google Home

Chances are, you’ll find yourself needing to remove a device from Google Home because it either doesn’t work anymore, of you’ve upgraded it to something better. The process for removing devices from Google Home is as simply as it gets, provided that you know where to look within the app. Here’s how you can remove a device from Google Home:

1. Open the Google Home app.
2. Select the device that you want to remove.
3. Tap the Gear icon in the top right corner.
4. At the bottom of the Device Settings page, tap the Remove device button.
5. Tap Remove to confirm.

From time to time, the Google Home app could hang up during the removal process. If that happens, simply just restart the app and follow the steps above to try again. If the problems persist, you might need to reach out to the accessory maker directly in order to figure out why it can’t be removed.

And those who prefer using Google Assistant powered smart home accessories, but like using iOS don’t have to do anything different. The Home app on iOS and Android are practically identical, so the same steps can be used on both platforms.

Unlink a device from Google Home

Some smart home accessories are branded to work with Google Home, but aren’t integrated into the app the same way we connect things like the Nest Hub or Nest Audio. When setting things up, this requires you to go through and “link” a device to the Google Home app instead of just adding it. Because of this, the steps to unlink a device from Google Home are a bit different from simply removing them.

1. Open the Google Home app.
2. Select the device that you want to unlink.
3. Tap the Gear icon in the top right corner.
4. From the Settings page, tap Unlink device name. 
5. Tap the Unlink button to confirm.

Compared to removing a device from Google Home, the process required to unlink a device from Google Home is a bit more reliable. It may not remove the device from appearing in the Google Home app right away, but in most instances, that’s not the case as it’s instantly removed.

Smart home accessories are continuing to grow in numbers, while also being more reliable and useful than ever before. And with the Google Home app, you can control pretty much everything and anything, right from your phone.