Google Home and Chromecast are down, affecting users worldwide

It’s not just Slack — there’s a Google Home and Chromecast outage, too. A Google spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch that there’s an issue affecting “some” of its customers of these platforms, and it’s currently investigating the issue and working on a solution. The company declined to share other information about the nature of the outage or how many customers were without access.

It’s not unusual for cloud services to go down at times due to software issues or data center problems, but it can be difficult for users to get information when such an event occurs. Even when the service provider offers an online health dashboard, they aren’t immediately updated when issues are occurring.

In the case of Chromecast, users on the Chromecast Product Forum noticed the problem in the wee hours of the morning today — noting that the Chromecast icon disappeared from streaming apps like Netflix, HBO and YouTube. The problems were reported around the world, and those who were able to reach support channels were told it’s a global issue, they said.

Google would not confirm if the issue was related to a broken software patch, though that’s being reported on Twitter.

The @madebyGoogle Twitter account is responding to some incoming customer complaints with apologies, but little other info on the cause or timeframe to a resolution.

The issue is also bricking Google Home devices, many have noticed. The Google Home Help Forums are filled with similar complaints about the outage, also from users worldwide.

We’ve confirmed this here ourselves with our own Google Home Mini.

Saying “Hey Google” will have the device immediately answer “there was a glitch, try again in a few seconds” or “sorry, something went wrong, try again in a few seconds.”

A Google spokesperson has offered the following comment:

“We’re aware of an issue affecting some Google Home and Chromecast users. We’re investigating the issue and working on a solution.”

Update, 6/27/18, 3:41 PM ET: Google says the team is still heads down on the problem.

Update, 6/27/18, 4:35 PM ET: Google has an updated statement: “We’re aware of an issue affecting some Google Home and Chromecast users. Some users are back online and we are working on a broader fix for all affected users. We will continue to keep our customers updated.”

Update, 6/27/18, 7:00 PM ET: We understand from Google that the outage was caused by an issue with one of the backend systems that supports Google Home and Chromecast, and the company is working to prevent this from happening in the future.

Google has a new statement regarding the fix:

“We’ve identified a fix for the issue impacting Google Home and Chromecast users and it will be automatically rolled out over the next 6 hours. If you would like an immediate fix please follow the directions to reboot your device. If you’re still experiencing an issue after rebooting, contact us at Google Home Support. We are really sorry for the inconvenience and are taking steps to prevent this issue from happening in the future.”