WiiM Ultra reported as "offline" in Google Home

[pieterv1]

My WiiM Ultra is always shown as being offline in my Google Home app's device overview. However, I can perfectly open it and adjust its volume - making the Ultra (and my amp) go active if it was still in standby. Even when the Ultra is turned on and playing, it will still show as offline in the overview. It is working as a Chromecast destination just fine.

The main issue with it reporting to be offline is the fact that I'm unable to use it as the playback device for audio when asking any of my other Google Home speakers to play music. Even though I've set them to use the Ultra, they will default to the built-in speaker instead. The only reason I can think of is the issue with the Ultra showing as offline because this feature works perfectly between my different smart speakers.

I've already sent feedback through the WiiM Home app. Just curious if other people are encountering the same issue.

 

[edgarnavarro]

Same issue here. And this is already becoming annoying.
Chromecast feature worked well when I got my Wiim Ultra but as firmware updates have gone through the issue is becoming worse and worse.

 

[adias]

Use the WHA instead. You can still create Groups in the Google Home app and cast there from the WHA.

 

[harkpabst]

@pieterv1, if you ask me, the Google Home app is and always has been a PITA.

Does your Ultra show up as an enabled device in the WiiM Home app (Settings => Voice and Streaming => Google Cast)?

Some time ago some Apple user mentioned that Google Home integration would only work for them if they did not complete the initial Googlecast setup when installing their WiiM device. If everything else fails and you are willing to perform a full reset, maybe it's worth a try.

 

[adias]

Does your Ultra show up as an enabled device in the WiiM Home app (Settings => Voice and Streaming => Google Cast)?

Not the original poster… but in my case, Google app is exactly as the OP described and WHA works fine and casts to Google groups set in the Goggle app.

 

[Burnside]

I seem to recall our very own stable genius @Wiimer posting some threads around the use of Google assistant - maybe they can shed some light on this?

 

[Ronnie D]

I seem to recall our very own stable genius @Wiimer posting

I remember that. He described it as esoteric.
I had this before and ended up deleting the ultra from the Google home app and setting it up again. I wonder if it's down to the ultra being changed from 2.4ghz to 5ghz? I can't remember what was involved with setting it up again but I think it was fairly easy.
@pieterv1
@edgarnavarro

 

[edgarnavarro]

Factory restore is the only thing that works for me. Just did to be able to see it back online in Google Home App. It's the second time I do and now I'm wondering how many times I will have to do it before we see a fix from firmware/WHA. By the way I'm using wired ethernet so I don't think it has to do with Wifi.

And yes, I know I can do the casting some other ways but I have my own reasons to use voice commands to play music.

 

[Wiimer]

- maybe they can shed some light on this?

Unfortunately this is an issue I haven't experienced with my Android; it's only devices that are not powered on that show up as offline on the Google home app...

I think @harkpabst has already come up with a solution, but I am not sure.

Very esoteric!

 

[Wiimer]

@pieterv1

This may not be related to your issue, but could you go to the Manage Accounts page of the Google Account you are using with Google home, and check the connections for third-party apps?

Google Accounts >>
Security >>
'Manage connections for third-party apps and services'


Here you can view all third-party devices connected to your Google Account.

In my case, I can find two Linkplay adapters. Presumably 2022 is a WiiM pro and 2023 is a later WiiM device (including Ultra).


Removing these two adapters will remove the WiiM device from the room in the Google home app and return it to the local device. When I put the device back into the room, the adapters are reconnected and appear on my Google account.

And in my case, when I put the Ultra back into the room, the "WiiM Ultra" now shows up as new.


Again, this may or may not be related to your issue. (I honestly not sure..)

In any case, the Ultra did not go offline in all circumstances on my Android phone and I was able to use Google Cast even after removing the adapter.


Edit;
If I remove the "WiiM Ultra" adapter from my Google account, I can still use Google Cast, but can no longer play music from the Ultra via Google Speakers; when I put the Ultra in the room, it works fine again.

 

[pieterv1]

@pieterv1

This may not be related to your issue, but could you go to the Manage Accounts page of the Google Account you are using with Google home, and check the connections for third-party apps?

Google Accounts >>
Security >>
'Manage connections for third-party apps and services'


Here you can view all third-party devices connected to your Google Account.

In my case, I can find two Linkplay adapters. Presumably 2022 is a WiiM pro and 2023 is a later WiiM device (including Ultra).
View attachment 22007

Removing these two adapters will remove the WiiM device from the room in the Google home app and return it to the local device. When I put the device back into the room, the adapters are reconnected and appear on my Google account.

And in my case, when I put the Ultra back into the room, the "WiiM Ultra" now shows up as new.
View attachment 22008

Again, this may or may not be related to your issue. (I honestly not sure..)

In any case, the Ultra did not go offline in all circumstances on my Android phone and I was able to use Google Cast even after removing the adapter.


Edit;
If I remove the "WiiM Ultra" adapter from my Google account, I can still use Google Cast, but can no longer play music from the Ultra via Google Speakers; when I put the Ultra in the room, it works fine again.

No Linkplay or WiiM devices in that list unfortunately. My dishwasher is present though

In the meantime I had disabled/enabled the Ultra's Chromecast functionality in the WiiM Home App + removed it in my Google Home app.

It now shows up as a new Local device in Google Home, but I'm getting an error trying to add it to a room

 

[Wiimer]

No Linkplay or WiiM devices in that list unfortunately. My dishwasher is present though

In the meantime I had disabled/enabled the Ultra's Chromecast functionality in the WiiM Home App + removed it in my Google Home app.

It now shows up as a new Local device in Google Home, but I'm getting an error trying to add it to a room

View attachment 22015

In that case, you may need to perform a factory reset using the procedure here...

J

Post in thread 'WiiM Amp shows up as Local Device in google home app but cannot be added to any Home/room'

Dec 30, 2024

Hi everyone, I heard back from customer support, and they gave me instructions that finally worked for me, and my device now works 100% as expected with Google Home. The problem was that the setup for the most recent version of Google Home on iOS requires different steps than their official documentation. If you’re on iOS and having this problem with Google Home, try this:

1. Perform a factory reset on your WiiM device by pressing and holding the Play button for 10 seconds, then reconnect it to Wi-Fi.
2. During the setup process, do not enable Chromecast.
3. Open the...

• jefftravilla

• 
• 

 

[edgarnavarro]

Just to confirm I have exactly the same issue as @pieterv1 , if I try to remove and add the Wiim Ultra back to Google Home I get the "Unable to put the device into your home." error so I have to do the factory reset which is the only thing that works.
But again, that looks like a temporary solution as not so long after I had to repeat the procedure because it suddenly stopped working again. Very frustrating.

 

[adias]

Also when a new firmware package drops the WiiM device is often (not always) removed from the 'Room' in the Goggle Home app. I agree that the Google Home app ia bad, not only for device casting but other features unrelated to audio.

 

[pieterv1]

Alright, one complete factory reset later, the issues seem to be solved:
- I was able to add the Ultra back to my living room
- the Ultra shows up as "Online" in the Google Home overview
- setting the Ultra as the default music playback device for my other Google Home smart speakers now works as it should

Let's see how long it'll last
Thanks for the suggestions everybody!

 

[adias]

Alright, one complete factory reset later, the issues seem to be solved:
- I was able to add the Ultra back to my living room
- the Ultra shows up as "Online" in the Google Home overview
- setting the Ultra as the default music playback device for my other Google Home smart speakers now works as it should

Let's see how long it'll last
Thanks for the suggestions everybody!

It may last up to the next FW drop, but who cares?

 

[pieterv1]

It may last up to the next FW drop, but who cares?

Me, my partner and many other Google Home users probably do?

If it weren't for the Chromecast & Google Home support, I might have looked at other brands.

 

[adias]

Me, my partner and many other Google Home users probably do?

If it weren't for the Chromecast & Google Home support, I might have looked at other brands.

I did not mean to indicate that you (or others) did not care for the cast performance. I meant the strange/broken environment of the Google Home app. By who cares, I refer to the fact that even if the Google app goes haywire we stoo can GoogleCast to that device and controlling it with the WiiM Home app. Not the case for you?

 

[pieterv1]

I did not mean to indicate that you (or others) did not care for the cast performance. I meant the strange/broken environment of the Google Home app. By who cares, I refer to the fact that even if the Google app goes haywire we stoo can GoogleCast to that device and controlling it with the WiiM Home app. Not the case for you?

Yes, many aspects of the WiiM could still be controlled with their own app, of course.

You seem to suggest though that the Google Home environment is the root cause of the issue I was experiencing. All my other Google enabled devices (Google, Lenovo and JBL speakers, Sony TV) have continued to work just fine. Since fully factory resetting the Ultra solved the issue, I suspect some kind of bug on WiiM's side actually. This could've been fixed weeks or even months ago. It took me a bit long to get to the bottom of it

 

[adias]

Yes, many aspects of the WiiM could still be controlled with their own app, of course.

You seem to suggest though that the Google Home environment is the root cause of the issue I was experiencing. All my other Google enabled devices (Google, Lenovo and JBL speakers, Sony TV) have continued to work just fine. Since fully factory resetting the Ultra solved the issue, I suspect some kind of bug on WiiM's side actually. This could've been fixed weeks or even months ago. It took me a bit long to get to the bottom of it

You may be right; it may be a WiiM issue. My comment above stems from how I use GoogleCast. I cast from the streaming app or radio station app supporting it and never see the Google Home app. What do you use the Google Home app directly for?

BTW... my experience is iOS-based not Android.