Bose Portable Home Speaker - Google assistant (Speaker grouping + Voice Match)

[oth8man]

Hello,

My questions related to Bose Portable Home Speaker: https://www.bose.com/en_us/products/speakers/smart_home/bose-portable-home-speaker.html

Does anyone know if there is a limitation that the speaker only can voice match one person? I'm not able to figure out how to let it able to recognize my wife's voice!

Also, when I group speakers via Google home, BOSE speakers don't show up. And when I group BOSE speakers via the app then that grouping will be gone after some time so it's not a permanent grouping! 

I hope someone can help me figure a workaround or confirm that these are known limitations and if there are any plans for software updates (so I don't return them!)...

Thank you in advance, 

[Andy_B]

Hey,

As noted here, Voice Match is not supported on Bose speakers at this time. 

Grouping the Portable Home Speaker with other Google speaker groups is also not supported. You can, however, group the Bose speaker with other supported Bose speakers in the same group. Whilst permanent grouping is not directly supported, any Home Speaker systems that are put into a group within the Bose Music app should retain their group association until the systems are powered-down, or internet connection is lost. We continue to explore opportunities to develop and expand our current support for Google Voice Assistant and thank you for your feedback. I hope that this helps clarify. 

[oth8man]

Thank you so much for answers. Do you know if I can use the feature "Music Share" (via Bluetooth) with two of Bose Portable Home Speakers?

[Simmo]

Hi Andy - I think it's very poor that so-called Smart Speakers don't have full functionality when interacting with the major Smart Home Services.

I recently bought the speakers and the lack of support for Google Home means I will be returning them. It is not made clear anywhere in the advertising that the features are limited by Bose's desire to control the interactions through the proprietary Bose app. I think this limitation should be made clear upfront and am writing reviews wherever possible to recommend people don't purchase the product if they want to connect it with a smart home.

[Andy_B]

@oth8man - You can certainly group the Portable Home Speaker - there are two main ways of doing this. Firstly, using groups within the Bose Music app. Information can be found HERE. Alternatively, you can use SimpleSync. This enables you to connect your speaker via Bluetooth to another SimpleSync supported device. Information can be found HERE, but our first "grouping" link will also help provide additional information.

@Simmo - We're sorry to hear that you feel that way. We're continually working with our partners like Google in efforts to expand the supported capabilities of our integrated voice assistants. However, we appreciate your thoughts.

[oth8man]

Are you sure that my speaker (Bose Portable Home)  supports SimpleSync?

I found the following in the FAQ https://www.bose.com/en_us/better_with_bose/simplesync.html

Which Bose products have SimpleSync?

All members of the Bose Home Speaker family (Bose Home Speaker 300, Bose Home Speaker 500, Bose Portable Home Speaker, Bose Soundbar 500, and Bose Soundbar 700) can be paired with the Bose products listed below. The number of compatible products will grow over time — for the complete list, please see Using Groups in the Bose Support section.

Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700
SoundLink Revolve Bluetooth speaker
SoundLink Revolve+ Bluetooth speaker
SoundLink Mini Bluetooth speaker
SoundLink Mini Bluetooth speaker II
SoundLink Color Bluetooth speaker
SoundLink Color Bluetooth speaker II
SoundLink Micro Bluetooth speaker

[Andy_B]

@oth8man

Which Bose products have SimpleSync?

All members of the Bose Home Speaker family (Bose Home Speaker 300, Bose Home Speaker 500, Bose Portable Home Speaker, Bose Soundbar 500, and Bose Soundbar 700) can be paired with the Bose products listed below.

Hope this helps! 🙂

[oth8man]

Thank you @Andy_B 

What app I should use with SimpleSync for Bose Portable Home Speaker?

Also, is there a way to use SimpleSync from PC?

Thanks,

[Keith_L]

To use SimpleSync, you would create the group in the Bose Music app that you use to control your Portable Home Speaker.

You can find instructions on how to do this HERE.

You can't set up a SimpleSync group from your computer, but if your computer supports it, you can connect that to the speaker via Bluetooth and then send that audio to other speakers and headphones using SimpleSync!

[Docluck@yahoo.com]

Such a huge disappointment. I love Bose but have other speakers connected to Google home. I have a few Bose speakers connected using chromecast discs (that have to be plugged in) and was looking for a a portable alternative. I thought a “smart” speaker with WiFi would be able to connect to Google home groups, but was wrong.  I’ll have to send the Bose home 300 “smart” speaker back. Such a drag.