Google will replace Home devices bricked due to latest firmware update

If your Google Home or Google Home Mini has recently stopped working, good news: Google will likely replace it.

This year, there have been a growing number of reports of bricked Homes and Home Minis on Google’s support forums (via 9to5Google) and on Reddit (via Android Police), and the volume of reports has picked up since mid-September. It’s wasn’t clear what the issue was, and Google finally acknowledged that there was a problem in September.

It seems Google’s had a breakthrough, issuing a statement to 9to5Google today saying it’s found a fix for the issue, which was caused by an error in an automatic firmware update. Google says the fix will roll out to working devices soon to (hopefully) prevent them from bricking at any point in the future. The company will also replace affected Google Homes and Home Minis, even if they’re out of warranty.

“We are aware that a small number of Google Home and Google Home Mini devices are affected by an issue that causes the device to stop working. We have a fix that will prevent the issue from happening and will be rolling it out soon. We are replacing affected devices,” the statement reads.