The Google Home Mini and the Nest Mini are two wonderful smart speakers coming straight from Google at the very reasonable price tag of $49. These speakers are just about everything you need from a smart speaker experience.

However, since they rely on the Google Assistant to function, these speakers always require an active WiFi connection to be able to do pretty much everything. 

So if you’re stuck without WiFi, your options with the Home Mini and Nest Mini are actually pretty limited. You can, however, use them as a Bluetooth speaker in absence of a WiFi network.

Do keep in mind that it’s only possible to do so after you’ve initially set up your smart speaker. As a failsafe, when the speaker loses connection, it automatically turns on Bluetooth so that users can still use it in some capacity.

Also read: Why should you use Spotify especially if you have Google Home?

Using the Google Home Mini/Nest Mini without WiFi

So if you’ve lost your WiFi connection, or if you’re out and have the smart speaker with you, you can connect to it just like you would with any other Bluetooth speaker.

Make sure your speaker is plugged into power. You can power these speakers using a battery bank as well if you want. The first-gen Home Mini used a MicroUSB plug, so that shouldn’t be a problem but the Nest Mini uses a proprietary barrel jack so you might have to look for a cable there. 

• Head over to your phone’s Bluetooth settings, make sure the Bluetooth is enabled on your phone and the smart speaker is switched on. Tap on Pair new device
• Look for your smart speaker’s name in the devices’ list. Tap to Connect. 

Now, you can use your smart speaker just as a regular speaker. You can also connect the speaker to your PC or any other device using the same steps above. 

Also read: How to change WiFi on Google Home?